God's plan of salvation is as simple as one, two. His adversary, "that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan", is trying to make it as simple as two, one.
We finite, fallible, fallen human beings who see through a glass darkly, whose spiritual vision has been dimmed by the Fall, have difficulty discerning the difference between the two.
Satan's plan appeals to our self-centered, egocentric nature, by placing what we feel to be our part in salvation in the spotlight, on center stage, more so than God's part.
Of the two factors in religion, God and man, we acknowledge that the focus should be on God. However, in practice, man becomes the object of our attention.
There are two aspects to salvation:
#1 - God's work of
grace IN Jesus Christ; and
#2 - God's work of grace IN man.
All humanity has been reconciled to God by the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary's cross 2000 years ago. This is #1.
When we accept that we have been accepted by God's work of grace FOR US, He performs a work of grace IN US, which is #2. We are given a small amount of the Holy Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing that we will receive the full measure of redemption in that day.
We are not saved by God's work IN US. But we are not saved without it. God's work IN US is only the result of God's work of saving grace FOR US in the Person of His dear Son.
The proper order of salvation is #1 and then #2. In our confusion, man and what takes place in him, is given the prominent place in preaching, teaching, Bible study, and testimonies. This makes the order of salvation #2 and then #1.
Today many Christians believe that they are saved by THEIR decision for Christ, by THEIR new birth, by THEM letting Christ come into THEIR hearts. A #2 salvation.
We are saved by Christ's decision for man, "not my will but thine be done". We are saved by Christ's birth, life, death, and resurrection. By His experience, not our's. A #1 salvation. Read the Apostle Paul's definition of the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. The gospel is about Christ and His experience. Not about man and his experience. Our experience is the result of His.
Generally speaking, the Bible has two tenses: present and future. The now and the not yet.
The present tense of Genesis 3 is that man is a sinner. The ground is cursed for his sake. The woman bears children in pain. But this present condition, this now, was not to last forever.
A Deliverer would come, not now but in the future, who would crush the head of the evil one. Man's hope was to be in the future (verse 15). We can imagine how Adam and Eve longed for the day when the Promised One would appear and restore all things. For hundreds of years, they looked for this Messiah. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, preached the Second Coming according to Jude 14. Their focus was on the future, the not yet. Not on the now.
Two thousand years after Adam, Abraham was given the Promise that in his seed all the nations would be blessed. When? Not now … but in the future, in the not yet. Abraham and his descendants "… looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. … These all died in the faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth", Hebrews 11:10,13.
The Promise of God is first and foremost, a promise of a future deliverance from sin when this corruption puts on incorruption and this mortal puts on immortality. "O death, where is they sting? O grave, where is they victory", 1 Corinthians 15:54,55.
Secondarily, God has given promises for the present, the NOW. An example would be the 23rd Psalm. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."
Our hope is in the Second Coming … but we must occupy this earth till He comes. Here we will have tribulations, but God will be with us and strengthen us for these ordeals. The goal, the real objective, for the Christian is that Holy City whose builder and maker is God. Of first importance is God's promise for the future, #1. His promises for the present is #2.
The proper order of God's salvation is:
1. God; and
2. Man.
1. God's work of grace
FOR US; and
2. God's work of grace IN US.
1. God's promise of
the future; and
2. God's promises of the present.
Unfortunately, the thrust of today's Christianity is a #2 thrust. The focus of preaching, teaching, Bible study, and Christian literature are on man, God's work in man's heart, and how to live in this present world. The true way to live presently is by focusing on the Future Promise. A #1 thrust.
The confused order of salvation is:
2. Man; and
1. God.
2. God's work IN US;
and
1. God's work FOR US.
2. Promises for the
present; and
1. The promise of the future.
One teaching held by a majority of Christians is a primary reason for the lack of focus on the promise of the future.
The Apostle Paul preached the Second Coming to the believers at Thessalonica. Their hope was in the future. Imagine their shock when some of their members died before the return of Christ. They wrote to the Apostle, expressing their grave concern.
Paul writes back in 1 Thessalonians and tells them about this great consummating event:
"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, COMFORT ONE ANOTHER WITH THESE WORDS", Chapter 4:16-18.
They were to be comforted that their friends and loved ones would be resurrected at the Promised Second Coming of Christ. And, in 1 Corinthians 15:16-23, Paul penned these words:
"For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is in vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished."
"IF IN THIS
LIFE ONLY WE HAVE HOPE IN CHRIST, WE ARE OF ALL MEN
MOST MISERABLE." (Think on these words.)
"But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at His coming."
Now if Paul of Tarsus had been influenced by Greek philosophy, especially Plato's treatise, "On the Immortal soul", surely he would have told the Thessalonians, "Your loved ones have gone on to be with the Lord." But he didn't do this. He told them their hope was in the resurrection at the Second Coming of Christ. In the future, the not yet.
Yet today, the majority of Christians bear the mark of Plato rather than that of the greatest teacher of Christian doctrine who said, "… if the dead rise not … then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished", … notice, not gone on to be with the Lord.
Of what use is the resurrection if the believer goes on to be with the Lord when he dies? Belief that he does, almost completely nullifies the most important Promise in the Bible: That the Deliverer will come, destroy the Devil, and that Death will be swallowed up in victory. SHAME! SHAME! SHAME!
Once again man, in his fallen nature and with the help of Satan himself, has confused the truth of God.
The two words "immortal soul" are never used together in the Bible. The word "immortal" always refers to God in the Bible, and the word "mortal", that is, subject to death, always refers to man.
Once again, the Apostle enlightens us with words from Colossian 3:3,4. "… your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." Jesus himself said, "… I am the resurrection and the life…", John 11:25.
Just as our redemption, justification, and righteousness is IN Christ, so our life also is hid with Christ in God. In our confusion, we Christians have been led to believe that we have an immortal soul or life within ourselves. We have taken what God has given us IN Christ (i.e., redemption, justification, righteousness, and life), and we have put these things in man, thus putting the focus on man - putting man on center stage.
In the ancient tongue, the word Babylon means "gate of God", "Heaven's Gate". In the Bible, the word (Babel) means confusion. Babylon is a confused gate of God. The religion of Babylon was to bow to the image of man, making man the focal point of religion, Daniel 3. The image was 60 cubics high and 6 cubits, wide - "66", the number of man.
After the flood, Nimrod founded Babylon. He was the son of Cush, who was the son of Ham, who was under the curse of his father Noah.
Abraham and his father's house were called out of Ur of the Chaldees, which was part of old Babylonia. In other words, Abraham was called out of darkness, out of confusion, and out of Babylon.
Then there was the renewed Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar, where men bowed to their own image. If Israel, God's visible church on earth, was held captive by literal Babylon, is it possible that spiritual Israel, today's Christianity, could be held captive by spiritual Babylon?
Spiritual Babylon is mentioned in Revelation, Chapters 14, 16, 17, and 18. There are over 275 references to Babylon in the Bible. Could there be some reason for so many?
One must acknowledge that with the various practices and beliefs across the spectrum of Christianity, from Eastern Orthodox to neo-Pentecostalism, there appears to be a lot of confusion in the Church. A lot of confusion. A lot of confusion.
No doubt God has winked at our ignorance, just as He did at the ignorance of pagan intellectuals at Athens, Acts 17:29,30.
However, a message is to come from Heaven saying that Babylon, the confused religion, has fallen … and God's people are to come out of this confusion, Revelation 18:1-4.
Yes, the time is coming, and maybe now is, when God will no longer wink at the confusion within Christianity today. His great truth will be proclaimed. It will go forth as in Joel and as in Revelation 14 and 18.
By the sacrifice of Christ 2000 years ago on Calvary, every human being has been made acceptable to God the Father, and in the Person of His Son has been given redemption, justification, righteousness, and life. As Christ is lifted up from the earth, all will be drawn to Him. And if man doesn't resist, he will be saved. Salvation is God's work from beginning to end. Man has no part. Just don't resist the drawing of the Spirit.
When the truth of God lightens the whole earth with His glory, those who have refused this light from Heaven and who have continued to believe that salvation - redemption, justification, righteousness, and life - is something that they have within themselves, because of THEIR decision for Christ, because of THEIR surrender, because THEY let Christ in THEIR heart, and because of THEIR new birth, and THEIR changed life, the film of confusion over their eyes will fall away and they will see that they are exposed, naked, and wretched before God. Woe is me, can be their only cry.
The greatest deception for these last days - and there will be other deceptions in the future - is already here, in that those precious things which true believers have been given IN Christ, have been put IN man, which is a confused, Babylonian gate of God.
Those who have come out of the Babylonian confusion of today's Christianity will shout, TO GOD BE THE GLORY, GREAT THINGS HE HAS DONE!
Jack D. Walker, 5353
Cane Ridge #115, Antioch, TN, 37013, 615.731.8795