Required reading
Initially, Murray is careful to tell us that glorification is not 'the blessedness upon which the spirits of believers enter at death'. Rather glorification 'is the instantaneous change that will take place for the whole company of the redeemed when Christ will come again the second time without sin unto salvation and will descend from heaven with the shout of triumph over the last enemy'.
Murray then makes two points, glorification is associated and bound up with:
(i) the coming of Christ in glory;
(ii) the renewal of creation.
Great point about the glory of believers being dependent on the glory of Jesus: 'So indispensable is the coming of the Lord to the hope of glory that glorification for the believer has no meaning without the manifestation of Christ's glory. Glorification is glorification with Christ. Remove the latter and we have robbed the glorification of believers of the one thing that enables them to look forward to this event with confidence, with joy unspeakable and full of glory. "But rejoice," Peter wrote, "inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy" (1 Peter 4:13).'
Final verdict
Top notch book on the redemption of Christians. What precisely happens in the act of atonement is carefully explained and then followed by examinations of the various acts that result from the atonement, from calling to glorification. Murray leaves no stone unturned and leaves the reader exalting Christ for his wonderful redemption of sinners.
All Christians should want to know what has happened to them and what will happen to them and this book is a solid step in the right direction.
Now it's your turn
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