Redeemed, Sanctified, Glorified

Our sanctification is for the holy city, New Jerusalem. Sanctification has two stages. First is positional sanctification; this is immediate, once for all, and objective. By this stage the Corinthian believers, although having many problems, could be addressed as saints in 1 Corinthians 1:2. The second stage is throughout our Christian life, experiential and subjective. Thus in Hebrews 2:11 we are “those who are being sanctified.”

Through these two stages of sanctification we are prepared to be “the holy city, New Jerusalem” (Rev. 21:2).

Ephesians 5:25-27 proclaims three steps of Christ’s work to prepare us. First (v. 25) “Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” This was accomplished by His death. Second (v. 26) “He might sanctify her [the church], cleansing her by the washing of the water in the word.” This is His sanctifying us day by day. Third (v. 27) “He might present the church to Himself glorious…holy and without blemish.” This will occur when He returns visibly and in glory.

The cleansing here [in v. 26] is the inward metabolic cleansing of our inward being with the washing Spirit as the water of life, the flowing life of the Triune God (John 7:38-39; Rev. 22:1). This inward cleansing washes away the spots of our natural life, the oldness of our old man, and all our fallen defects so that we become glorious, “not having spot or wrinkle or any such things” (Eph. 5:27). This metabolic washing also saturates us with God’s holy nature to make us holy and without blemish.*

The washing today and the coming glorification will bring forth the holy, glorious city New Jerusalem to be the eternal expression of God the Father and the wife of Christ the Son.
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* From page 21 of Ed Marks, The New Jerusalem—A Corporate Person, Affirmation & Critique Monograph, A&C Press, © Living Stream Ministry (2025).

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Posted by Don on June 3, 2026

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2026/06/03/redeemed-sanctified-glorified/