Save Me For I Am Yours Your Sister in Indonesia You Asked PAGE 565 PAGE 566 PAGE 578 PAGE THE CANADIAN REFORMED MAGAZINE Volume 64, No. 21 • October 23, 2015 PROMOTED TO GLORY? EDITORIAL Promoted to Glory? Klaas Stam Minister emeritus of the Canadian Reformed Church at Hamilton, Ontario
[email protected] If we want to speak of promotion, then it is found by grace, through faith, in Christ alone Now and then in an obituary I come across the ex- When we speak about promotion, we speak about our pression that a deceased person has been “promoted” to Lord and Saviour. This is of the first importance. No one glory. This formulation mostly makes me feel a bit uneasy. will be “promoted” as the Lord Jesus is, for his exalta- Understand well, I do not automatically consider anyone tion is above all other being in whatever shape, place, who uses this expression to be guilty of perpetrating a or form. No one has served as he did, and no one will be heresy. But especially at a death bed, a funeral, or a grave- exalted as he is. We may think that this speaks for itself, side we want to be accurate in the usage of our words. but it doesn’t always. It can very well be that the deceased person led an It is true that in Christ and through him we may also exemplary life or persevered in great trials. Are we not look to heaven with full confidence that we will be glori- allowed at the death of such a loved one to use the stir- fied.