A Final Salvation

Sometimes we can feel sad that things are not right yet. That is understandable. Lament and sorrow are appropriate postures as we see the pain and heartache in this world. But if this goes too deep, it turns into bitterness, cynicism, and despair.

If you go one Christmas without any presents, that will sting. But if you go for twenty Christmases without any presents, you might start to think there won't ever be a present for you under the tree.

We live in the already but not yet tension of salvation. We need to experience the present reality of salvation so that our hope and joy for our future salvation remain strong. Yes, we are saved! And… one day God will complete his work of salvation.

For instance, what does Peter say as he opens his letter?

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."

Peter clearly states both of these truths. First, Jesus's resurrection established salvation, so we are already saved. And second, we will be saved - when our full salvation is revealed in the future.

The same idea is in Hebrews 9:

"And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him."

Again, we see the promise of a future salvation. This is a confident hope. As Paul writes in Philippians 1, "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."

The theologian David Garland explains:

"Paul takes over the 'day of the Lord' concept—a standard feature in OT prophetic texts for the moment when God will completely and decisively establish his reign—and transforms it into the 'day of Jesus Christ.' He ties it to the parousia (the arrival, or Second Coming) of the risen Lord, when Christ will right all wrongs, bring judgment, and put all things under his feet."

Garland also states, "The opposite of joy is not gloom but despair, the incapacity to trust in any new and good future."

Or as Fanny Crosby wrote in her hymn Blessed Assurance:

"Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. Heir of salvation, purchase of God, Born of His spirit, washed in His blood. Perfect submission, all is at rest. I in my Savior, am happy and blessed. Watching and waiting, looking above, Filled with His goodness, lost in His love."

Sadly, the vivid descriptions of our salvation that we find in the Scriptures are not always real to us. There are seasons when we do not feel this joy and hope, and confidence in our current and future salvation.

Why is that?

The first answer is that I don't know. I have no idea. I cannot diagnose you from a distance. There are no cheap, easy, or simplistic answers. Sometimes our questions have ambiguous or unknowable answers.

I will say this - these are the times when we want to walk with a pastor. A counselor. Friends. A small group.

When we can't walk with God, we can at least walk with others. It was friends who carried a paralyzed man to Jesus. If you feel paralyzed, ask your friends to bring you to Christ.

But there's no formula. You don't pray seven times and give seven dollars, and you get seven blessings. This is a relationship with a Triune God of love.

Still, here is our hope: one day, God will save us completely, forever.