The Doctrine of Revelation - Part Four, Revelation in Glory - Booklet Eight

Extract

The Doctrine of Revelation – Booklet Eight
A. W. Pink
Part Four

3. Revelation in Glory, The State of Saints in Glory
4. Revelation in Glory, Conclusion

3. Revelation in Glory, The State of Saints in Glory We have shown that there is a real and radical difference between the death of a believer and that of an unbeliever, and having contemplated some of the accompaniments of a Christian’s departure from this world we are now ready to consider how he exists in the disembodied state. It is not to be wondered at that the unregenerate should be thoroughly befogged at this point, for they are so materialistic that they find it very difficult to form a definite concept of anything that is incorporeal and intangible. But those who, by God’s grace, enjoy a real communion with Him who is “Spirit” (John 4:24), ought not to flounder on this matter, for they have proved by experience how much more important is the soul than the body, and how infinitely more real and satisfying are spiritual objects than the perishing things of time and sense. So far from regarding his soul as a mysterious, nebulous and indefinable thing, the believer looks upon it as a living, intelligent, sentient being—his real self We should view a disembodied soul as one which has cast off its earthly clothing and is now apparelled in a garment of light, or, to use the language of Scripture, “clothed in white raiment” (Rev. 3:5; 4:4).

At death the soul of the saint is freed from all the limitations which sin had imposed upon it, and its faculties are then not only purified, but elevated and enlarged. It will be like a chrysalis emerging from its cramped condition, or a bird liberated from a cage, now free to spread its wings and soar aloft. It is true the body is a component part of man ’s complex being, yet we must …