Resurrection of the Body

Pastor Martin moves from the second to the third peak of the mountain of sanctification — climactic sanctification or final glorification. He unfolds the essence (the actual realization of perfect conformity to the image of Christ in both inner and outer man, Romans 8:29, Philippians 3:20-21), the order (for those who die before the consummation, the spirit perfected at death and the body raised at Christ's coming; for those alive at his return, both perfected instantaneously), and the certainty of this great hope, grounded in the commitment of the entire Triune God — the Father's purpose and execution begun, the Son's sacrifice, intercession, and triumphant mediatorial reign, and the Spirit's irreversible pledge as the down payment of completed redemption.

Pastor Martin draws four practical implications from the doctrine of climactic sanctification. First, the Christian should not live in morbid dread or fear of death, since death's penal sting has been removed by Christ — illustrated by Stephen and Peter. Second, the believer should not give the disembodied state more emphasis than Scripture does, since the predominant biblical hope is the resurrection of the body (Romans 8, 2 Corinthians 5). Third, a biblically instructed Christian should neither deify the body (hedonism, humanistic health and birth theories, body worship) nor demean it (asceticism, fasting as more spiritual than feasting, doctrines of demons of 1 Timothy 4). Fourth, the Christian should not live with crippling discouragement over present imperfection, but with the confident refrain: I am not what I should be, not what I desire to be, not what I once was, and not what I shall be.

The final demonstration from the third group of witnesses to Christ's deity: He performs the work of raising the dead and executing final judgment, a work only God can perform. Pastor Martin expounds John 5:17-29 as the central passage, shows how all the resurrection and judgment texts attribute to Christ the power to raise the dead by a word, the omniscience to judge secret deeds and thoughts in their full context, and the omnipotence to execute the sentence. He closes with solemn warning to the impenitent and blessed assurance for believers who are acquitted by the Judge who bore their hell.