What a glorious day it will be when, as the old spiritual says, the saints go marching into heaven. OK, maybe we won’t be marching, but subsequent to the Rapture the Lord Jesus will indeed take us into heaven, the Father’s house, so that where He is we may be also (Joh 14:1-3).
But how often do we ponder what it will be like when we come out of heaven, that is, when the saints go marching out? At the Rapture, Christ will not only take us to be with Him but make us to be like Him (1Jn 3:2). He will come then, not as the Savior of sinners (His mission at His first coming), but to be the Savior of the body. “The Lord Jesus Christ … will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body” (Php 3:20-21).1 At last, sanctification, the slow and often painful process of being changed from one degree of glory to another (2Co 3:18) in these bodies of flesh, will give way to glorification – final conformity to Christ, which will happen in the blink of an eye (1Co 15:51-52). We could (and most certainly will) revel in our new glorified state of Christlikeness forever. Yet there is so much more ahead. We are going to be made manifest to an onlooking world at our Savior’s return to this earth.
This world has yet to behold God’s people at their best. But it will. It sees us now in our frailty, our fallenness, and with our failures. Although our lives have never been the same since the Savior came in, only at His coming will it be true: “Then we shall be what we should be, that which is not now, nor could be.”2 What they will see at Christ’s return is what all creation has been anticipating. “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God” (Rom 8:19). Notice the words Paul uses to describe this dramatic future event. He does not speak of creation eagerly awaiting the revelation of God’s plan or even the revelation of His Son, both of which will occur, but his emphasis is on the revelation of the sons of God. Although Christ’s manifestation is obviously of chief importance, our manifestation with Him as sons of God fully conformed to His image will perfectly display the great power of His redemptive work and declare afresh His credentials. As we come out of heaven with Him, we will stand as proof that the one who has brought about such a glorious transformation in His people has the power to transform all of creation itself. In our glorified state, we will be the evidence that He is indeed able “to subject all things to himself” (Php 3:21).
Thankfully, as we anticipate that glorious moment when the saints go marching out, we don’t have to sing, “Lord, I want to be in that number”; there is no doubt about that – we will be. This is not the destiny of a mere handful of His most faithful followers; everyone who has been justified will also be glorified (Rom 8:30). “When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Col 3:4).
1 Bible quotations in this article are from the ESV.
2 Thomas Kelly (1769–1855)
