To be glorified is to enter into glory. After passing through regeneration, shepherding, dispositional sanctification, renewing, transformation, building up, and conformation to the image of the firstborn Son of God, the believers are mature and qualified to be raptured, and they are simply awaiting the Lord’s coming back. When the Lord comes back, they will enter into glory to enjoy the highest portion of the divine sonship (Rom. 8:23). Hence, glorification is the spreading forth of Christ’s glory from the believers by their growing to maturity in Christ’s life. We may say that glorification is the manifestation of the glory of the firstborn Son of God from within us, or that it is our entering into glory (Heb. 2:10; 1 Pet. 5:10; 1 Thes. 2:12). This glory is the Triune God. Hence, to enter into glory is to enter into the Triune God. When our entire being enters into the Triune God, we are glorified. Glorification is also the believers’ enjoyment of the redemption of their body (Rom. 8:23; Eph. 4:30). This is also the ultimate consummation of God’s complete salvation in the believers. At this point, God’s organic work has been completed. God’s organic work is from regeneration to glorification, from God’s entering into man to man’s practically being brought into God. Regeneration is God entering into man, whereas glorification is man entering into God. Thus, man is altogether mingled and joined with God to express the image of God. That is glorification. The ultimate consummation of God’s complete salvation is the New Jerusalem—the crystallization of the union and mingling of God with man, the processed and consummated Triune God with His regenerated, transformed, conformed, and glorified tripartite elect.
Finally, we want to see the interrelation between God’s judicial redemption and God’s organic salvation. God’s judicial redemption and God’s organic salvation are very much related. The judicial redemption was accomplished by Christ on earth in thirty-three and a half years. The organic salvation is being carried out by Christ from His resurrection through eternity. The relationship between the two is that first, God’s judicial redemption as the procedure qualifies and positions the believers to enjoy God’s organic salvation and enter into God’s higher grace for the accomplishment of God’s eternal economy and the attainment of God’s ultimate purpose.
Second, judicially, the church of God was produced through God’s judicial redemption. Without such a redemption, the church could not have been produced, because Acts 20:28 says that God purchased, redeemed, His church through His own blood. On the other hand, organically, the church of God is constituted with the God-regenerated people in the divine life. This organic aspect issues in the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23).
Third, God’s organic salvation needs to be maintained constantly through God’s judicial redemption. You should not say that since you have the judicial redemption and therefore have entered into the organic salvation, you no longer have anything to do with the judicial aspect nor do you need the judicial aspect. No, you still need God’s judicial redemption. God’s organic salvation needs to be maintained constantly through God’s judicial redemption. For example, when the fellowship of the believers with God is interrupted due to their sins, they need to have their fellowship restored through the redeeming blood of Christ. Hence, 1 John 1:6-9 says that if we sin, we need to confess our sins to God and ask for His forgiveness; then God will wash away our sins with the blood of Christ and restore our fellowship with Him. Therefore, organically, when our fellowship with God is broken, it has to be restored through the redeeming blood. In addition, when the believers have a case against them before God because of their sinning, Christ, their Redeemer, is responsible for undertaking their case in His status as their Advocate in heaven before God (1 John 2:1-2). We should not say that since we are in the organic salvation, we have nothing to do with redemption anymore. The redemption is still here maintaining us because sometimes we may still be weak.
Fourth, the believers’ ultimate transfiguration in their body to enter into God’s glory is the redemption of their body (Eph. 4:30; Rom. 8:23). Why is it that at that time our body will still need to be redeemed? At that time we will have been transformed into the image of the Lord and will soon be raptured into glory, so why is it that our body will still need to be redeemed? This is because regardless of how spiritual, renewed, and transformed the believers are, their body still belongs to the old creation and therefore still needs God’s judicial redemption that it may receive God’s organic salvation and be transfigured to enter into glory (Phil. 3:21; Rom. 8:30). Our being raptured and transfigured to enter into glory is an organic matter, but our body still needs to be redeemed. Hence, there is the need of the redemption of the body.
Fifth, God’s judicial redemption as the procedure is purposeless without God’s organic salvation. It would be merely for sinners to be redeemed, have their sins forgiven, and become righteous people justified by God, but the purpose is unclear to the majority of believers who mistakenly consider their going to heaven as the purpose of their being redeemed and are unaware that, according to the revelation of the holy Scriptures, God’s judicial redemption as the procedure is with God’s organic salvation as the purpose, which is to regenerate us, shepherd us, sanctify us dispositionally, renew us, transform us, and build us up into the Body of Christ, which ultimately consummates the New Jerusalem as the ultimate purpose of God’s organic salvation to be God’s enlargement and expression in eternity.
(The Organic Aspect of God's Salvation, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee)