When Does Glorification Happen—at Our Death or at Christ’s Return?

What is glorification? At what point does God make His redeemed people incorruptible? Today, Ken Jones explains the meaning of glorification and the ultimate hope Christians have as they await Christ’s return.

NATHAN W. BINGHAM: Reverend Ken Jones is joining us this week on the Ask Ligonier podcast, and he’s the pastor of Glendale Missionary Baptist Church in Miami. Reverend Jones, when does glorification happen—at our death or at Christ’s return?

REV. KEN JONES: At Christ’s return—that’s an easy one. And I say easy, but it is layered because of Paul’s wonderful chain in Romans 8:29–30. And at the end of it he says, “Those He has justified, He has glorified.”

So, what does glorification mean? It means to be incorruptible. It means a final state. And so, that state, and what happens in our death, is that our soul is in the presence of God, but God had created us body and soul. But the body is separated. And Paul’s language and logic in 1 Corinthians 15 is that the mortal must give way to immortality, and that which is corruptible must give way to that which is incorruptible. So right now, Paul could say in Romans 8:30, that we are, if we are justified, then we are glorified.

To go back to that chain again, what God has decreed is the guarantee that it will come about. So, those who have genuine saving faith in Him, who are justified in Him or by Him, ultimately, they will be glorified. And in the mind of God, we are glorified. But the reality of glorification, which means a mind and body that not only does not sin but cannot—that’s the final state. And so, that final state of glorification does not come until the return of Christ.