Glorification and Conditional Immortality: What Happened to the Living and the Dead in 70 AD?

Glorification and Conditional Immortality: What Happened to the Living and the Dead in 70 AD?


Modern theology often presents glorification as a future, one-size-fits-all event: one day, Jesus will appear, and poof—all believers everywhere get immortal bodies at the same time. But what if that’s a misunderstanding rooted in tradition, not Scripture?


What if glorification was not only covenantal—but also already fulfilled?


If we take Jesus and the apostles seriously about the nearness of the end, and if we understand Conditional Immortality—that only those in Christ receive eternal life—then we have to rethink what happened in 70 AD to both the living and the dead.



The 144,000: Glorified in the Body


In Revelation 14, the 144,000 are called “firstfruits to God and the Lamb.” These were not random believers. They were the faithful remnant—living saints who passed through the fire of the Great Tribulation, stood with Christ on Mount Zion, and were “redeemed from among men” (Rev 14:4).


Paul wrote that “we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed” (1 Cor 15:51). Some of those first-century saints would not die but would be transformed—glorified in the body without experiencing physical death.


But glorification wasn’t about turning flesh into steel or becoming immortal superheroes. It was about receiving immortality through union with the Father and the Son by the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 14:23, Romans 8:11).


Their mortal bodies became living temples of God in a new way—not in promise or shadow, but in realized presence.


This was the mystery: God fully dwelling in His people, no longer through a veil, not in a temple made with hands, but in glorified bodies under a new covenant reality (2 Cor 6:16; Eph 2:22).




Not Everyone Was Changed in the Same Way


Paul says “we shall all be changed”—but the change wasn’t identical for all. The living saints received glorified, immortal life by covenantal transformation and presence. They didn’t go anywhere; they were the first to walk in the new age.


The dead in Christ, however, who had been waiting in the intermediate state (Sheol or Hades), were raised—not back to corruptible, fleshly life, but to spiritual, immortal existence in the direct presence of God.


Hebrews 11:39–40 says the saints of old “did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.” That perfection came when the new covenant was consummated in 70 AD.


So the dead were raised into glorified presence, and the living saints were transformed into vessels of that same presence—but still on earth. Different experiences, same glorified life.



Glorification in the Old Testament: Hints and Shadows


The Old Testament anticipated a day when God would clothe His people with incorruption and dwell with them forever:


Isaiah 25:8 – “He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces...” (quoted by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15).


Daniel 12:2–3 – “Many who sleep in the dust shall awake... and those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the heavens.”


Ezekiel 37:14 – “I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live... then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken it.”



These weren’t just promises of future disembodied bliss. They pointed to bodily transformation, resurrection, and indwelling Spirit—fulfilled in stages, and culminating in the age-ending transition of 70 AD.



Glorification Is a Covenant Reality, Not a Cosmic Reset


To be glorified means to be fully alive in God’s presence, not just in some distant heaven, but in the here and now. The 144,000 were the first to enter that reality on earth. The dead saints entered it in heaven. And we, as the ongoing body of Christ, share that same indwelling life now. That’s Conditional Immortality fulfilled—not by nature, not by default, but by union with the Father through the Son, by the Spirit.



Conclusion


If you're still waiting for glorification, you might be missing the greater truth: God’s glorified people are already here. You’re not robbed. You’re invited. You live in the age of fulfillment—not waiting for a second coming, but walking in the wake of the first. And just like those firstfruits saints, you can live in the reality that death is conquered, and life is now.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

No One Knows the Day or Hour — Matthew 24:36, the Feast of Trumpets, and the Witness of 70 AD

 No One Knows the Day or Hour — Matthew 24:36, the Feast of Trumpets, and the Witness of 70 AD When Jesus said in Matthew 24:36, "But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only," many have taken this to mean a far-future, end-of-the-world event. But what if this phrase had a much more specific meaning to Jesus’ Jewish audience—one tied to their festal calendar, their historical context, and even the events of 70 AD? Let’s unpack this verse and its connection to the Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah), the idea of two witnesses, and the prophetic imagery of Revelation 11—all pointing to a first-century fulfillment. The Feast of Trumpets and the Phrase "No One Knows the Day or Hour" The phrase “no one knows the day or the hour” was commonly associated in Jewish idiom with the Feast of Trumpets—the only festival that began on a new moon (Tishri 1). Since the new moon is difficult to predict precisely, ancient I...
Read more

Ezekiel 38-39 has been fulfilled in the book of Esther-Quick Reference

Ezekiel 38-39 has been fulfilled in the book of Esther-Quick Reference ***The Jews’ victory caused 75,310 people (Esther 9:10, 15, 16). This corresponds with the enemy deaths in Ezekiel 38-39. ·          Esther 9:10 10 the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. But they did not lay their hands on the plunder . ·          Esther 9:15-16 15 The Jews in Susa came together on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and they put to death in Susa three hundred men , but they did not lay their hands on the plunder . 16 Meanwhile, the remainder of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces also assembled to protect themselves and get relief from their enemies . They killed seventy-five thousand of them but did not lay their hands on the plunder. ·          Ezekiel 39:11 11 “‘On that day I will give Gog a burial place in Israel, ...
Read more

Ezekiel 40

Image
INTRODUCTION Picture yourself as a Jew in the exile. You lost your home, your family, and even questioning your faith in the midst of God’s promises. You are traumatized and broken by the events that have transpired. All hope seems loss. Then Ezekiel the Priest says that you will inherit a new Temple and a new land with more responsibility added to you. More responsibility that you couldn’t fulfill the first time, which is why you are exiled in the first place. And get this, it is all invisible. This would have not gone well for Ezekiel by simply telling the Jews their inheritance was invisible. However, that’s not the case. Thankfully, our God is very descriptive about the measurements and dimensions of the Temple. We have a basis to compare the old Temple and old land to these new promises. Since the Jews were involved in the construction, they would be familiar with the size of the Temple and the land. When Ezekiel was telling the Jews about these measurements, it blew their mind...
Read more