Salvation: Past, Present, & Future

            But we ourselves have had the answer of death in ourselves and at this time still have that                        experience, in order that we should not be trusting in ourselves but in the God who raises the                 dead; who delivered [rhuomai – snatched from danger – past tense] us out of so great a death                 and will deliver [present middle indicative – does deliver – present tense] us, on whom we have             placed our hope and right now still maintain that attitude of hope that also He will yet deliver us             [future tense], you also helping together on our behalf by your supplication, in order that                         thanksgiving may be given for the gracious mercy shown to us by reason of the many [who                     prayed for us].                      2 Corinthians 1:8   Wuest 

Salvation is the central theme of the Bible, and the very heart of the gospel. The promise of salvation is what stirs the heart of the new believer and continues to encourage Christians until the time they are called home. Salvation is a promise, a reality, and a hope: past, present, and future.

Past

For by grace, you have been saved [sozo – saved, delivered] through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship [poiema – something made], created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.                    Ephesians 2:8-10

He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy ]eleos – compassion], by the washing of regeneration and renewing [anakainosis – making qualitatively new] by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.               Titus 3:5-7

Salvation, regeneration, redemption, justification, and adoption are just some of the different aspects of the same event in the New Testament. According to Ephesians 2:8-9, salvation is that anyone can experience eternal life through their relationship with Jesus Christ by grace (unearned), through faith in who Jesus is and what He did. It is a work of God that must be understood from God's perspective. The true believer is born from above (John 3:3) and recognized by God as a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). In Colossians 1:13, the believer has been (past tense) delivered from the realm or kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His beloved Son. His position before God is perfect since it does not depend on man's efforts. He [the Father] chose us in Him [Christ] before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).

Positional truth refers to the eternal, unchanging facts about a person's relationship with God, grounded in their position in Christ, established at the moment of salvation. It contrasts with experiential truth, which depends on one's unique personal experiences and the quality of one's fellowship with Christ. While positional truth is secure, personal fellowship can vary based on a believer's choices and actions. This fellowship is affected by the strength of his confidence in who Jesus is and what He accomplished. Understanding positional truth helps believers recognize the strength and ability of their position in Christ, that the righteous man lives by his faith in the quality of that position, demonstrated at Calvary by the personal love God has for each one.

God in His grace saves those who believe, not because of any righteousness in them, but because of His mercy. The mercy of God is his compassion toward fallen man, motivated by His love and goodness. The dual means of grace through which He accomplished this salvation are (1) the rebirth spoken of as a washing from the filth of sin, and (2) the new creation by the Holy Spirit. In Titus 3:5, Paul's entire focus is on what God has done, not on human response. He promises believers an inheritance of eternal life, a life that never ends.

Present 

For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power [dunamis – divine ability] of God.                   1 Corinthians 1:18

Finally, then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more. For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification [hagiasmos – separation unto God]; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality [porneia – any sexual sin]; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.   1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

The message of the cross cuts to the heart of self-centeredness. Paul saw it as central to salvation which he understood to be a process begun by justification, advanced by sanctification, and climaxed in glorification. Paul speaks in this verse and in the letter as a whole to the second of these phases, progressive sanctification. The message of the cross is the message of self-renunciation, of obedience to God, which may lead to humiliation and death, but which does not lead to self-destruction but to the ability of God for the believer to live a godly life. That was the recurring theme of the first 17 verses of this letter, an idea that those who are perishing consider foolishness.

The will of God is clearly set forth in many places in Scripture, even though Christians often seem to have a great deal of difficulty applying it in everyday decision-making. It is God's clear will that His people be sanctified. Hagiasmos can mean a state of being set apart from sin to God, or the process of becoming more dedicated to God. Most likely, the latter meaning was intended by Paul. He was not referring to the final state of all Christians when they will be separated from the presence of sin as well as its penalty and power. He most likely had in mind the progressive sanctification of his readers by which they were conformed to the image of Christ in daily experience by proper responses to the Word of God and His Spirit. 

The first instruction designed to produce an environment of progressive sanctification is abstinence from sexual immorality. Paul called his readers to avoid it, implying the need for exercising self-discipline, enabled by God's Spirit. Christians are to avoid and abstain from any and every form of sexual practice that lies outside the circle of God's revealed will, namely adultery, premarital and extramarital intercourse, homosexuality, and other perversions. The Thessalonians lived in a pagan environment in which sexual looseness was not only practiced openly but was also encouraged. In Greek religion, prostitution was considered a priestly prerogative, and extramarital sex was sometimes an act of worship. To a Christian the will of God is clear: holiness and sexual immorality are mutually exclusive. No appeal to Christian liberty can justify fornication. 

“Behold, how happy is the man whom God reproves, so do not despise the discipline [musar – instruction to correct] of the Almighty [shaddai]. “For He inflicts pain, and gives relief; He wounds, and His hands also heal. “From six troubles He will deliver you, even in seven evil will not touch you. “In famine, He will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword. “You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, and you will not be afraid of violence when it comes. “You will laugh at violence and famine, and you will not be afraid of wild beasts.                        Job 5:17-22

As we have stated previously, salvation is a work of God, representing the past, present, and future. In the present, progressive sanctification includes the discipline of the Almighty, Hebrews 12:5-11 further explains the role and purpose of the discipline of the Lord as a loving father instructs and corrects his son for his own good. When the Lord does it, His intention is that the believer may share in His holiness (verse 10). In verse 11, All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Discipline is all about the Lord training his sons in righteousness.

El Shaddai also restores and heals. He delivers from six troubles and even seven He delivers from evil. Eliphaz then mentioned famine, war, slander, destruction, and wild beasts. He would have good crops, security from enemies, numerous descendants, health, and a long life. Going to the grave in full vigor, like stacked sheaves of grain, beautifully pictures a life lived to the full and ready to be completed.

Future

Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed [allasso – change for the better], in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.         

            1 Corinthians 15:51-52

And not only this, but also, we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope, we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?                    Romans 8:23-24

Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.              1 John 3:2-3

Therefore, if [since] you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking [zeteo – strive to find] the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.              Colossians 3:1-4

The night before Jesus was crucified, He prayed to His Father, I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was (John 17:4-5). Jesus recognized that the completion of the work given to Him by the Father was not only the glorification of the Father, but it also was the Son’s glorification. And Jesus answered them, saying, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified “[doxazo – honor, esteem, glory as a result of the completed work] (John 12:23). The evidence of His glorification was His resurrected body, seen by more than 500 witnesses (1 Corinthians 15:6).

For the believer, his glorification occurs at the Rapture of the Church, the beginning of Jesus's Second Coming, when a change will take place, and mortal will put on immortality, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. Each believer will receive his glorified body, according to many scholars, one similar to that of Jesus. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory (1 Corinthians 15:53-54). The resurrection of Lazarus was Jesus’s message to His disciples that they, too, would experience victory over death. 

Having received this promise as a believer in Christ, the Christian lives with that hope, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body despite the corruption he faces in the world. Living with this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. One who sets his hope by faith on the Son of God experiences an inward purification that is as complete as Christ's own purity. John thus prepared the ground for the assertions he would soon make. The new birth involves a perfect purification from sin. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

Hold Fast

Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, "TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME, AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS, WHERE YOUR FATHERS TRIED Me BY TESTING Me, AND SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS. "THEREFORE, I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS GENERATION, AND SAID, 'THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART, AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS'; AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, 'THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.'" Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving [apistia – distrusting, unbelieving] heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become [ginomai – present active indicative, are becoming] partakers [metochos – partner, fellow worker] of Christ, if we hold fast [katecho – hold intensely] the beginning of our assurance firm until the end [when we maintain the same confidence we had in the beginning].   Hebrews 3:7-14

The Jews in the wilderness were not able to trust God for their day-to-day provisions and thus, they were governed by their evil, unbelieving [apistia – distrusting, unbelieving] heart that falls away from the living God. Although they had seen the supernatural power of God displayed for them when the Red Sea was parted, their faith in God was waning. Moses told them, "Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. "The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent” (Exodus 14:13-14). The Lord had made significant promises to them, but they were drifting in their belief. Salvation past is all about believing the promises of God. The crossing of the Red Sea is a picture of salvation past.

The power of the sin nature takes charge when anyone is trying to manage his details rather than trusting God Today.  The believer’s present reality is Today and how he faces the daily challenges he faces. In the case of the Jews in the wilderness, they grumbled. Moses said, “This will happen when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening, and bread to the full in the morning; for the Lord hears your grumblings which you grumble against Him. And what are we? Your grumblings are not against us but against the Lord” (Exodus 16:8). Sanctification is the setting apart of His people from worldly influences for God’s purposes. God’s provisions for the believer’s life are always defined by his needs from God’s perspective. The forty years spent in the wilderness is symbolic of sanctification, salvation present. The believer learns to become a fellow worker with Christ in His work and accept His provisions as sufficient.

The Jews in the wilderness lost sight of the promised land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which is the ultimate conclusion of their time in the wilderness. Joshua, a picture of Jesus, would lead them into their promised land upon the death of Moses, representing the completion of the old covenant and the introduction of the new covenant with Jesus as mediator. Glorification of the believer is confirmed when he holds firmly to the truths of his faith with his eye on seeing Jesus as He is, acknowledging the believer's likeness to Jesus Christ. As 1 John 3:3 confirms, this hope purifies each believer as Jesus Himself is pure. Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2).

Salvation is a promise, a reality, and a hope: past, present, and future.