Part 9.1 - ..Salvation Of The Spirit..

The Salvation Of The Spirit-Eternal Life At this point, we need to turn exclusively to the third group-the Church of God-because it is this group that has been God’s focus for the last two millennia and is being offered the Reign of the Heavens.

How does a person come into the Church of God? To ask the question another way, how do people become Christians? Do they join a church just like they would a club or an organization? Do they just decide that it makes sense, so they might as well go along with others who call themselves Christians? Do they find a place called a church and attend the meetings that are held there every Sunday and take on the name of the people that attend because they go there week after week? What makes a person a Christian? To quote a phrase used by many, how does a person "get saved"? Why does a person need to be saved? Does a person really need to be born again?

Obviously, there are many questions that could be asked, but these are enough to make the point. There are a lot of misunderstandings about this matter of salvation. We even could say that some misunderstandings are mere myths, not reality as presented in the Spirit-breathed Scriptures. It is a safe assumption that there is a fair amount of confusion over the matter of eternal salvation, just as there is confusion over the coming Kingdom. If eternal salvation is not properly understood, then the Kingdom, in turn, will be misunderstood, as well. We need to start with the right foundation for the whole structure to be strong and stable. In the last century, there have been cartoons depicting Peter standing at the pearly gates of heaven with a book in hand to see if a person can enter into heaven or not. If the person’s name is not on the list, then he goes to "hell" where Satan is standing with his pitchfork with the unquenchable fire in the background. People might laugh at this and say this is not what they believe, but the fact of the matter is that many Christians are not too far from this thought in their belief. At times, people are told that if they believe, when they die, they will "go to heaven" and receive their reward for being a good person. If they don’t believe, they will "go to hell." At other times, a sentimental gospel is preached that tells people (begs people) to let Jesus into their heart because He is outside the door of their heart, knocking to be let in. This is based on a Scripture that is spoken by the Lord to His own saved people who have fallen away from Him (Revelation 3:20). This word has nothing to do with the lost. He is outside the door of His church. Still others preach that if you don’t live a good life, then you will lose your salvation and "go to hell," even though you have believed on Jesus. Others pervert the message by stating that you can live any type of life you want, even a life of sin, and you will "go to heaven" and receive a reward because you have believed on Jesus. Further, others lead people to believe on Jesus but then offer them no assurance of what happens to them when they die. Having believed on Jesus, they are led to believe that when they die, they are left hanging in some nebulous place that requires the living to pray for them so that they can get out. The message gets further complicated when entering the Kingdom and "going to heaven" are joined together as one event when a person dies. In addition, there are other distortions of the message of the Kingdom, such as the Kingdom of God’s Son has come upon earth and Christ is ruling over the earth today, or the Kingdom is within His people and we are to conquer the world for Christ so that He can come back. These are only a few of the many views held by Christians today. In fact, these few examples do not do justice to the confusion that exists in the presentation of the gospel today. For this reason, we must go back to the beginning and lay the foundation of eternal salvation so that we can move ahead to the more mature knowledge of the Kingdom or, as the Word of God calls it, the meat of the Word (1 Corinthians 3:2; Hebrews 5:12; Hebrews 5:14). The Gospel Of The Grace Of God

Paul the apostle declared that he testifiedsolemnly of the gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20:24). It is this message, this good news that is to be preached to the lost, those who do not have eternal life and who are destined for an eternity outside the presence of God in the lake of fire that burns forever (Revelation 20:11-15). The gospel of the grace of God is the message that must be heard by the lost. What is the good news that the lost must hear? The message is so simple, and yet it seems that we have made it so complex. The heart of the message is to believe. The shortest and clearest gospel message recorded in the Bible was delivered by Paul and Silas while they were in prison in Philippi. At midnight, they were praying and singing hymns to God when suddenly there was a great earthquake that shook the foundations of the prison and opened all the jail doors. The keeper of the prison was taken by great fear that his prisoners had escaped, which would have meant death to him. When he saw that the prisoners were still in the jail cell, the jailer fell trembling before Paul and Silas and cried out, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" The answer was: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household" (Acts 16:25-31NKJ).

Believe! As long as it is still today, this is the message to all the lost. What is lost mankind to believe?

Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. (1 Corinthians 15:3-5)

God’s Son, God Himself died for our sins, went into the grave, was resurrected, appeared to many as proof of His victory over death, ascended to the throne of heaven, and He is coming back from that throne to sit upon His own throne; and when He does, He will resurrect from among the dead all who have believed on Him. This is the simplicity of the gospel of the grace of God. The lost do not have to understand all the great depths of Christian truth. All they must do is simply believe on Jesus and what He accomplished on the cross. It is by grace: For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, {it is} the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). When we believe on Jesus, we are saved by grace through faith. We are not saved because we did any work that could redeem us. On the contrary, we were dead in trespasses and could do nothing, absolutely nothing, to save ourselves. Even if we were placed on a cross to die for the sins of the world, it would not be acceptable to God because we could never be an acceptable sacrifice. We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

What is grace? It has been defined as "the unmerited favor of God," "that which God is able to do, completely apart from human merit" and "the enabling power of God." If we take part of the second definition and add it to the third, we come to a good definition of grace-"the enabling power of God, apart from human merit." It is God’s power that enables us to believe, that enables us to run the race of the faith and that will enable us to stand in the presence of the Son of Man when He comes. If in every place that the word grace is used in the Bible, it is substituted with the enabling power of God, apart from human merit, it will add further light to how tremendous is this grace. It is all of God.

Once we are saved, we need to understand what this grace has truly accomplished for us. It has nothing to do with us, what we can bring to God or what we can do for God. It is all about what God has done for us in and through His Son.

Sin And Death To fully understand this wonderful gospel of the grace of God, we need to go to the beginning of the Bible and the fall of man. God breathed life into the first man, Adam, placed him in the Garden of Eden and commanded: "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die" (Genesis 2:16-17). Unfortunately, Adam disobeyed God’s command and ate from the forbidden tree. In that day, Adam brought his race into ruin as sin and death claimed dominion over man. The entire human race became sinners in the sight of God.

Some people cannot accept the thought that all born of Adam’s race are sinners, but the word of God is very clear on this matter.

What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written, "There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one." (Romans 3:9-12{ea}) …For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…. (Romans 3:23{ea}) But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8{ea})

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned…. (Romans 5:12{ea}) For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:19{ea}) For God has shut up all in disobedience that He might show mercy to all. (Romans 11:32{ea}) But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)…. (Ephesians 2:4-5{ea})

These Scriptures should serve as ample proof that all of mankind are sinners in the sight of God. According to the Greek, a sinner is one who misses the mark, who does not share in the prize. When he sinned against God, Adam missed the mark and brought all of mankind into the same condition-all fall short of the glory of God. Man was shut out from intimate communion with God and was left to live according to the tree of knowledge, which simply represents man’s will to choose good or evil. Instead of partaking of the tree of life and reigning forever in the glory of God, Adam and Eve came into shame and found themselves naked before God (Genesis 3:7-11). Through Adam, sin entered into the world, and along with sin came death, which spread to all men.

God’s unchangeable principle is that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Sin, which is rebellion or disobedience to God’s will, is likened to a work which requires a just wage (payment or compensation); when the work-sin-is performed, a wage-death-must be paid.

What is death? Man was created as spirit, soul and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Because of his sin, Adam’s spirit went into an immediate place of death and he could no longer have intimate fellowship with God (Genesis 3:9-10). This is seen as Adam and Eve hid from God. Adam’s soul entered into a kind of death because he could not partake of the tree of life (Genesis 3:22-24). Adam was left to choose good or evil, instead of trusting God to direct his path. Choosing evil leads to death of the soul (Romans 8:13). Finally, Adam’s body began to decay, leading to a physical death (Genesis 5:5).

Some people seem to believe that one day man will be some bodiless, spirit-being floating amongst the clouds, but this cannot be so. Man is a special creation of God, created with a spirit, a soul and a body. As we will see in this chapter and the following two chapters, man’s spirit, soul and body must be redeemed. It is the body which will be redeemed last when Christ comes and the dead in Christ are raised and, along with those who are alive and remain, are caught up to meet Him in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17). When Adam sinned, all of mankind fell under a sentence of death. The proof of this is that every man and woman born on this earth dies; they physically die and their bodies go to the grave to return to dust. By God’s command, this is what must transpire, for the work of sin must be compensated and the just compensation is death. Today, if there were no sin, there would be no death.

Now, when Adam fell, mankind faced a tremendous dilemma, and that dealt with sin itself. Once sin entered into the very fiber of man and became part of his nature, all of mankind came under the sentence of death, condemned to die. How could man overcome this sentence of death? There was only one way. Sin itself had to be taken away in order to overcome death, for man was captured in a body of death as a slave of sin (Romans 6:6). If sin is no longer operative, then death ceases, as well, because it is the payment for the work of sin. Take the work away and the wage is not required.

We could say that another work had to be done to take away sin, a work that paid all the wages of sin. According to God’s principle revealed in the Garden, a sacrifice had to be offered to take away sin and redeem man: And the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them (Genesis 3:21). God killed the first animal on the restored earth, shedding its blood and taking its skin to clothe Adam and Eve. An innocent animal was killed on their behalf to cover their shame of nakedness. In other words, God revealed that a substitute death and the shedding of blood were required to redeem man.

However, according to another principle of God, animal sacrifices only provide a temporary remedy for sin and cannot take away sin itself: For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins (Hebrews 10:4). This is seen throughout the history of Israel as they continually offered animal sacrifices. To take away the sin of man, the perfect sacrifice for sin had to come through man. But what fallen man could die for his own sins to redeem himself back to God? We could say that man had a debt to pay but no way to pay it. If this were possible, then Adam could have done it. It took someone who was a perfect sacrifice to die, one who was without sin. The work of salvation had to be done by a sinless, perfect sacrifice.

Paul the apostle saw this dilemma and God’s answer as he cried out: Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:24-25). Praise God, the answer is through Jesus Christ our Lord. The sacrifice of the first innocent animal pointed to a day 4,000 years later when God’s Son took away the sin of the world through death on the cross. His innocent blood was shed to blot out sin and its result, death. Without shedding of blood there is no remission (forgiveness) (Hebrews 9:22NKJ). When I see the blood I will pass over you (not bring the sentence of death upon you) (Exodus 12:13). God’s Son was sent to this earth to take away sin and remove the curse of death through the shedding of His own blood.

Behold, The Lamb Of God! When he saw Jesus coming to him, John the Baptist proclaimed: "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29). Takes away can be likened to taking up the anchor of a ship and sailing away.

We see a type of this in the book of Leviticus, which revealed how Israel was to live daily before God. There we discover the principle of taking away sin through the scapegoat.

"But the goat on which the lot for the scapegoat fell, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make atonement upon it, to send it into the wilderness as the scapegoat." (Leviticus 16:10)

"Then Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the sons of Israel, and all their transgressions in regard to all their sins; and he shall lay them on the head of the goat and send {it} away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who {stands} in readiness. And the goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a solitary land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness." (Leviticus 16:21-22)

Through Aaron, all the transgressions of the sons of Israel were placed on a goat which was released into the wilderness. In this way, the sins of the people were removed from them and sent into a solitary land. However, this did not remove the sin nature from the sons of Israel. They continued to sin, and year after year throughout their history, other scapegoats had to be selected to bear their iniquities. Praise God; the scapegoat was a type of something far greater that was to come-the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet. For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. (Hebrews 10:11-14)

Thousands of sacrifices for sin were offered for Israel but not one of them could take away sin, which in this verse, according to the Greek, means "to cast off an anchor." The Lamb of God was offered as a sacrifice for sin for all time. He cast off the anchor of sin which has held man in its grip since the fall in the Garden. Is this not what sin is to mankind? It is an anchor that moors man to death; sin entangles man and weighs him down, but the Lamb of God cut through all those cords and released man from the stranglehold of sin. But how did the Son of God, who was without sin (Hebrews 4:15), take away sin? He (God the Father) made Him (the Son of God) who knew no sin {to be} sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (in Christ) (2 Corinthians 5:21{ea}). The Lamb of God was sinless perfect but He became sin itself. It is beyond our comprehension how God Himself could become sin for us, but this is what the Word of God reveals. Jesus, as both God and Man, took all of man’s sins [the entirety of man’s sin for all of time and eternity (1 John 2:2), including the sin nature itself] as if He were the sinner and received the full wages of all the sin of the world. He took it all upon Himself and died, taking away the sin of the world, so that one day, death itself will be no more (1 Corinthians 15:26; Revelation 20:14; Revelation 21:4). Hallelujah! This is good news! God accepted the sacrifice for sin. God’s Son has the keys of Hades (the place of the dead) and of Death (Revelation 1:18NKJ). Although the bodies of those who believe in Him one day will go into the grave (unless He comes first), death will hold them only for a season. As it is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" (1 Corinthians 15:54-55).

It is important to understand that there is another dimension of death beyond the physical death of man. Death has a much greater meaning in light of eternity, for ultimately death means separation from God. Today, unredeemed man is separated from God because his spirit is in a place of death. If he is in this condition when he dies a physical death, he will be separated forever from God’s presence throughout the eternal ages. His abode for eternity will be the lake of fire that is reserved for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:11-15). However, today, the redeemed man is no longer separated from God because his spirit has been born again, he has a new life dwelling in him-eternal life-and he is able to communicate with God in the spirit. Eternal life is a present possession with a future promise of living in the presence of God throughout the eternal ages (Revelation 21:3). On the cross, Christ suffered the agony of being separated from His Father in heaven as He took on the sin of the world: "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying," Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:46). As the only begotten Son of God hung on the cross and became sin, God the Father turned His back on His beloved Son and crushed Him as the sacrifice for man’s sin (Isaiah 53:5). The Son had never been separated from His Father and He cried out in agony. He was all alone! For those three hours, Christ suffered not only the horror of the effects of sin on One who knew no sin but also of the separation from God that unredeemed man will experience for eternity. This is the horror and agony of the lake of fire.

One Work-It Is Finished!

Having received the full measure of man’s sin while He hung on the cross, the Lord Jesus said, "It is finished!" And He bowed His head, and gave up His spirit (John 19:30). What was finished? Christ had taken on all the sin of the world-the work was done-there was no more sin. He took it away. He drank the full cup of the curse of sin; every act of sin was poured out on Him to the point that He became sin itself. He experienced the sinner’s death, separation from God; He released His spirit and He died a physical death.

Christ suffered death for us so that we do not have to face the eternal agony of being apart from God, but instead can stand before God as righteous. This is why Christ’s death on the cross is a finished, fully completed work. The work of sin has been fully paid, and all that believe on Him are in Christ and possess the absolute and complete benefit of His finished work. He finished the work of sin and there are no more wages to be paid for sin for those who believe on Him and avail themselves of His priestly ministry in the heavenly sanctuary (Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 7:25; 1 John 1.7-2.1-2). This is the good news! When a person believes on Jesus and His finished work, he passes from death (separation from God) to life (eternal presence with God).

"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life" (John 5:24)

Believers will never have to face the judgment for which Christ paid the full price. This is confirmed by our Lord’s words: "He who believes in Him (Jesus) is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3:18{ea}). Because judgment of sin was fully accomplished on the cross, if a person does not accept this judgment, he is already judged. In other words, as long as he remains in unbelief, not availing himself of Christ’s work, he is judged and his future abode is the lake of fire. Once a person dies a physical death, there is no opportunity to change his position. The finished work of Christ is so important that it is worth restating. When Jesus, the perfect, sinless Lamb of God, went to the cross, taking on the sin of the world and dying as a substitute for all of mankind, He paid the full wages for the sin of man. As Paul wrote to the Colossians, God has forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; having nailed it to the cross (Colossians 2:14). It is as if God stamped the debt "paid in full." Jesus did all the work, having suffered once, never to suffer again (Hebrews 7:27). The work He did by dying on the cross was accepted by God and nothing can be added to this work or taken away from it. It is finished! (John 19:30). It is a finished work that all who believe on Jesus enter into the moment they believe. It is the gift of God, a love gift, not as a result of anyone’s works, either before salvation or after salvation: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16). But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). It was a work of divine love and all the work was completed while we were yet sinners. Everything that stood against us receiving eternal life was canceled out. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that anyone needs to do or can do to secure eternal life except believe on the finished work of Christ. In other words, Christ has done all the work for us. All we have to do is accept the work He did.

It is all by the grace of God. In writing to the Romans, Paul contrasted the work of Adam with the work of Christ. [See the chart at the end of the chapter.] Notice Paul’s emphasis on grace and the free gift. But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. And the gift is not like {that which came} through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment {arose} from one {transgression} resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift {arose} from many transgressions resulting in justification. For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:15-17{ea})

It is all by God’s grace and it is His free gift. Free means that we pay nothing, absolutely nothing for it. Why? Because God’s Son received all the wages of sin! There are no more wages to be paid in reference to freeing man from sin. Those who are in Christ have been set free from the slavery of sin and they do not have to fear an eternal death for they have been brought into eternal life. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. (Romans 6:22) As Christians, when we all appear before the Lord, not one of us will be able to boast that we did anything to secure our eternal salvation. When we believe, we receive eternal life with the unconditional promise of God that we will enter into the eternal presence of God in the Day of God (2 Peter 3:12). And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:11-13)

If a person believes, then he has eternal life because he has the Son. This is the gospel of the grace of God. The Son of God is our security of eternal salvation. Because of Jesus, all who believe on Him shall enter the eternal presence of God. This entrance is not based on our works, before we believed or after we believed, because it is based entirely on the one work that the Son of God accomplished on the cross of Calvary. We have been saved, not according to our own works or deeds (2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 3:5). Further, once saved, there is no work to be done to keep eternal life because it always must remain and forever will remain a finished work; otherwise, the death of Christ was not finished, contrary to the inspired Word of God. Eternal life is so secure to those who believe that it cannot be lost, forfeited or stolen. This truly is good news!

Born Again When we are saved by the grace of God, when we have faith and believe, what is saved? This is a very important question that often leads to misunderstanding. It is not unusual to hear evangelists preaching to "save souls." But the soul is not what is saved first; it is the spirit. The spirit must be born again, that is, born of God. The Lord Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). John the apostle wrote: But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, {even} to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13{ea}). Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God (1 John 5:1).

It is a rather sad commentary on the condition of things amongst those who say they believe. Many do not acknowledge that they are born again, and others seem to repel from the thought, as if it is something too extreme. However, according to the Word of God, we must be born again.

So, what does it mean to be born again? As seen already, man was created with a spirit, soul and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23). However, when Adam disobeyed God’s command in the Garden, he brought a spiritual death upon his race: You shall surely die! (Genesis 2:17). In that day, his spirit went into a death in the sense that he could no longer discern spiritual things nor communicate with God in the spirit (Genesis 3:9-11). God is spirit (John 4:24); and man, who was created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26), was to be a spiritual man clothed in the glory of God. When he sinned, Adam lost the glory of God, he found himself naked and he was aware of his sin (Genesis 3:10-11); his spirit was no longer able to communicate with God; and having partaken of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, his soul began to govern or rule his actions. In that day, Adam’s physical body also began to decay. No man born of Adam’s race has ever lived the full day that God set for man. God intended man to live 1,000 years and then enter into eternal life and glory forever. As we have seen, with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day (2 Peter 3:8). Adam died at 930 years and Methuselah, the longest living human, died at 969 years (Genesis 5:5; Genesis 5:27). Thus, no man has ever lived a full day or 1,000 years; and for this reason, every man has fallen short of the glory of God. This is the natural man (1 Corinthians 2:14) and this man is lost, dead in his transgressions (Ephesians 2:5). He is a man of flesh, ruled by the passions and desires of the flesh.

It is the spirit that first must be saved in man. The Person of the Holy Spirit must breathe a new life into the man of flesh. The Lord Jesus said, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6). In other words, to be born again, we must be born of the Spirit; and this new birth comes about when we receive the Spirit of God. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians: Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God (1 Corinthians 2:12). Our spirit is where the Holy Spirit resides; and the new birth involves our spirit becoming one with God, the Holy Spirit bearing witness with our spirit (Romans 8:16). With the Spirit of God in residence in our spirit, God begins to communicate with us, teaching us, combining or comparing spiritual thoughts with spiritual words (1 Corinthians 2:13). In summary, when we believe on this finished work of Christ, our spirit, which was dead to God, is saved and comes alive to God in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:22; 1 Corinthians 15:45); we are born again; the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our spirit, breathing in us a new life (Acts 5:32; Romans 5:5; 1 Corinthians 6:19; 1 Thessalonians 4:8; 2 Timothy 1:14); we become a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17NKJ); we receive eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord as a free gift by grace (Romans 6:23; 1 John 5:20); and we are forever secure to enter into the eternal presence of God (John 3:16). To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity (2 Peter 3:18).

All of this is not based on our works but on the one work of the Son of God who died to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29). We will enter the eternal presence of God because the work done by the Son is a complete, finished work to which nothing can be added and from which nothing can be taken away. This eternal life cannot be lost, forfeited or stolen. Thank God for eternal life!

Since Calvary, this matter of the security of eternal life has been a controversy; however, this book is based on the firm belief that no person, once having been accounted righteous before God because of faith in Christ (justified by faith), can ever return to his former state of unrighteousness before God. In other words, a saved person cannot revert back to being a lost person. In reference to Israel, the Bible tells us: Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition (1 Corinthians 10:11NKJ). As our example, we are shown that when Israel came out of Egypt, the entire nation was redeemed, having applied the blood on the door posts and the lintel. Once they came out, no redeemed person under Moses was ever permitted by God to go back to the place from which he was freed by the blood and power of God, not even those who later refused to obey God and enter Canaan (Numbers 14:26-37). The path through the Red Sea had long since been covered with water and the way back barred. Once out of Egypt, they could not go back. They missed the best part of their redemption, that is, entering the land of milk and honey; nevertheless, they could not reverse their redemption because the blood had been applied on their behalf. The same thing applies to those who have believed on Christ and have appropriated the blood of Christ which was shed on their behalf. On the other hand, as it will be stated in many ways throughout the chapters that follow, this book presents the firm belief that once a person is saved, the Kingdom of our Lord is set before the believer as a goal that must be sought through faithful service to the Lord, based on spiritual character and an active, living faith. A believer is to seek after the reward of the inheritance (Colossians 3:24) of the Kingdom by living a life that will be counted worthy to attain unto the Kingdom Age (Luke 20:35). As will be shown, some believers may not be counted worthy to receive reward and even may be excluded from a place of position or ruling in the millennial Kingdom. They will be shut out from reigning with Christ for 1,000 years; however, they will enter the eternal presence of God in the Day of God. Eternal life is a guarantee based on the free gift, but reward in the Kingdom is a privilege that must be earned. The latter is the heart of this book, but first we must be clear on eternal salvation.

Eternal Life

What is eternal life? When people hear of eternal life, the first thought is most likely of an eternal existence, immortality, never dying. Today, men die because they are mortal [that is, the body is mortal (1 Corinthians 15:42)]; but eternal life speaks of immortality, never having to face death again and living forever. With eternal life, we also think of eternity. In the English dictionary, eternity is defined as "continuance without end" or "time without beginning or end." In other words, there is no beginning or end. Our God is the Eternal God who lives outside of time. He has no beginning and He has no end. He is God! Man, on the other hand, lives in time and has a beginning; but actually, he was created to have no end. He was created to partake of the tree of life and reign with God forever (Genesis 3:22). A day is coming when those who overcome and enter the millennial reign of Christ will partake of the tree of life that has been kept from man since Adam’s fall (Revelation 2:7). In one sense, eternity is what Jesus promised when He said: "Whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16). "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life" (John 5:24). "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life" (John 6:47). As people of Adam’s fallen race, we are under a curse, a death sentence which locks us in time; but when we believe in God’s remedy for the curse of death, we go from death to life and eternity opens up for us. This truly is good news!

However, eternal life is far more than a matter of existence and time. We often place the emphasis on the eternal aspect, but the emphasis should be on life. The difference between those who will be cast into the eternal lake of fire and those who will be in the eternal presence of God is life. The former will not have life but the latter will. Life is what is needed to exist in eternity with God. The good news is that eternal life is the very life of Christ, and this life has an entirely different quality from the life of man. When the Lord was about to perform his seventh miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead, He proclaimed: "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die" (John 11:25-26). Jesus was not saying that He could raise people from the dead (although He most definitely could and did). He was saying that He is life itself. In Him is life and apart from Him no one has life. It is His very life that is the resurrection, for His life is a life that cannot be held in the grave. His promise to those who believe in Him is that He alone will raise them up on the last day ().

John, the beloved apostle, who was always looking, seeing, beholding, touching, declared the truth. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. (John 1:1-4{ea})

What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of Life-and the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us. (1 John 1:1-2{ea})

John touched the Word which is the Life and wrote that God’s Son is the Word of Life. Everything in existence came into being by Him, for He is the Creator. It was His life that was breathed into all of creation. Take the Son out of the universe and all life will cease to exist. There is no other way to say it except that He is Life, and it is this life that is given to all who believe. John declared the witness of God. And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:11-13{ea}) The life is in the Son and we must believe in the Son to receive this eternal life. He has given us His promise. And this is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life (1 John 2:25{ea}). For those who do not have this life, there is no promise; they are lost and destined for the eternal lake of fire. There is no other way given to fallen man today but to believe in the name of the Son of God, who is the true God and eternal life. And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding, in order that we might know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. (1 John 5:20{ea}) This verse is very important because John very clearly identifies the One who walked this earth and was named Jesus, God’s Son, as the true God and eternal life. He is the Eternal Son, the One who dwells in eternity, but who entered time and came to this earth to rescue man and bring him back to the eternal presence of God. Hallelujah!

There is another very important point: This life is in every believer when they believe. This life is to abide or remain in us. John tells us so, but states it in the negative.

Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. (1 John 3:15{ea}) On the positive side, John wrote that eternal life is to abide in a believer. This life is an indestructible (Hebrews 7:16), incorruptible (1 Peter 1:19; 1 Peter 1:23NKJ), overcoming life (John 16:33; Hebrews 4:15). How can we not rejoice in the wonder of eternal life? It is a glorious promise that is ours the moment we believe.

Now, there is one more matter that will help us to understand the greatness of eternal life. The Greek language from which our English translations of the New Testament come does not contain a word for eternal. The Greeks thought of time in terms of ages, so that when they expressed eternity, as we know it in the English language, they used the phrase "ages of the ages." Because of this distinction, in the New Testament, there are times when the word eternal (or everlasting, depending on the translation) might mean the age to come, which would refer to the coming Kingdom Age. This must be determined by the context of the Scriptures surrounding the word eternal. In some of the literal Greek translations, instead of the word eternal, the term age-during or age-lasting is used. In other words, it may speak of the age to come or the Kingdom Age. For example, Paul, at the end of his life, wrote to Timothy, and it is very clear from Paul’s letter that the Kingdom was in view. He wrote: "Be striving the good strife of the faith, be laying hold on the life age-during, to which also thou wast called, and didst profess the right profession before many witnesses" (1 Timothy 6:12YLT {ea}). What did Timothy profess? It was what the Lord professed about Himself. Christ is the King of kings and the Lord of lords (John 18:37; 1 Timothy 6:13-15). Other Scriptures that can be viewed in this same manner are Galatians 6:8 (sowing to the Spirit shall reap life age-during) and Titus 1:2; Titus 3:7 (hope of life age-during). When we join all these thoughts together, we receive a full picture of eternal life as presented in the Scriptures. Eternal life is the life of the Son; and this life is a life for today and tomorrow (present possession which abides in us now), it is a life for the coming millennial Kingdom (life age-during) and it is a life for eternity (the ages of ages, the Day of Eternity). When we believe in God’s Son, we are given eternal life which takes us through this life into the age to come and into eternity. This is the resurrection life, the life that is indestructible and incorruptible, the life that overcomes. It is the life that wins. It is the life that will raise us up in the resurrection. Can we ask for anything greater than eternal, age-during life? So Must The Son Of Man Be Lifted Up

Now, let us look at a gospel message unto eternal life. In this example, we will see the simplicity of the message of eternal salvation. In speaking to a Jewish leader named Nicodemus, Jesus used the story of Israel wandering in the wilderness after they miraculously were freed from bondage in Egypt. In telling this story, Jesus had Calvary in view.

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whoever believes may in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him." (John 3:14-17)

Jesus used the story of Moses lifting up the bronze serpent in the wilderness to point to what lay ahead-His being lifted up on the cross. The serpent being placed on the pole was set before Nicodemus as a type of Christ being placed on the cross.

Let us look more closely at this story of Moses and the bronze serpent as found in Numbers.

Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people became impatient because of the journey. And the people spoke against God and Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food." (Numbers 21:4-5) In spite of all that God had done to deliver them from the hand of Pharaoh, the people of Israel became impatient and began speaking against God and Moses. They questioned His sovereign act of removing them from Egypt and even loathed the food that God provided each day. Not only did they loathe the food, but they called it miserable. They had previously rejected God’s offer to them to enter the promised land and now they were accusing God and Moses of bringing them out to die. In 1 Corinthians 10:9, we are told that they tempted God and were destroyed by the serpents. In the Greek, this word tempted means that the Israelites tempted God "by going to the limit in trying Him out." They had passed a point to where God had to bring judgment upon them. They tried Him to the limit, and He sent poisonous "fiery serpents among the people." And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. (Numbers 21:6) The people went to Moses and acknowledged their sin. Moses interceded for them before the Lord. So the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD and you; intercede with the LORD, that He may remove the serpents from us." And Moses interceded for the people. (Numbers 21:7) The Lord then gave Moses the cure for their affliction-the medicine to counteract the bite of the serpents.

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery {serpent,} and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he shall live." And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived. (Numbers 21:8-9)

All the Israelites had to do was look upon the bronze serpent set upon the pole. Bronze or brass in the Scriptures refers to judgment (Revelation 1:15). They were under judgment and there only was one way to come out of judgment-Look and you shall live and not die. The sin of the Israelites condemned them before the Lord. At this point, the Israelites could do nothing to save themselves except believe what they were told to do. Moses did the work of preparing the bronze serpent. There was nothing for them to do but look. Can you imagine an Israelite refusing to look at the bronze serpent? Just picture him being bitten by a poisonous fiery serpent. He is about to die. He is writhing on the ground in pain and anguish, knowing that death is imminent. Then the bronze serpent appears and he is told to look up at it and he shall live. What person would refuse to look? Well, a person full of pride might refuse to take such an offer. Or a person who is so convicted of his sinfulness might believe that he must do something to atone for his own sin; therefore, he might refuse to look. Another type of person who might refuse to look is one who does not see his true condition but rather lives in deception, thinking that he is a "good person" who is acceptable to God instead of seeing this thought is based on fallen man’s standard. How many are like this today? Their pride will not allow them to be open to the truth. They have been deceived into thinking that they are a "good person" and that this is enough to commend them to God. If it were left up to us to define how we are to be saved, then all of the human race would be saved. Interestingly, there are some people who believe this. But it will not be and never will be! This account from Numbers is recounted in the book of John by the Lord Jesus to reveal the truth surrounding God’s judgment upon sin and His way of salvation for fallen man. It points to Christ’s finished work on Calvary. Since the time of Adam, fallen man has been under the sentence of death. Man is just as helpless as the Israelites were who had been bitten by the serpents. They were to die. This is the condition of all of the human race which was born of Adam. We all are under the sentence of death and we all are destined to die from our sins. The wages of sin is death. How can we be saved from this death? We need another to act on our behalf. In the story of the Israelites, the fiery serpent was responsible for their condition and the bronze serpent was brought forth as the remedy. This is the same situation for fallen man. A man (the first Adam, the first man) was responsible for the fallen condition of man. Another man (the last Adam, the second Man, Christ) brought the cure.

Also, Moses is a type of Christ. Moses performed all the work on behalf of the Israelites. They were told to look and live, based on the work that Moses did of preparing a bronze serpent on a pole. Likewise, Christ has performed all the work on behalf of man. He was prepared as the perfect sacrifice who was hung on a tree to die. He was lifted up for us.

"And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself." But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die. (John 12:32-33)

Now, the only thing that man can do is look to the One who hung on the cross, believe on Him and what He has done and live. In the wilderness, God judged sin in the camp of Israel. The bronze or brass serpent spoke of His judgment. When they looked upon the serpent, God was satisfied and the people were saved. When the Son of God was lifted up on the cross at Calvary, God judged sin and He was satisfied. Today, how are people saved? They are saved in the same way-Look upon the One who died in your place and live. The Israelites could do nothing to save themselves except to look at the remedy that God had provided through Moses. Today, fallen man can do nothing to be saved except to look at the remedy that God has provided through His Son. The Israelites exercised faith in looking at the bronze serpent. Fallen man must exercise the same type of faith. Fallen man must look at Christ, believing on His finished work on the cross.

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whoever believes may in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:14-16)

Jesus, the Son of Man, was lifted up on our behalf and died for our sin. How must we be saved? Look unto Jesus and believe and you shall have eternal life.

"Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved." (Acts 16:30-31) The message of the gospel of Christ is very simple. Believe on the finished work of another, the One who died in your place to redeem you back to God. He has done all the work to bring you into eternal salvation. You can do nothing to earn it and you can do nothing to receive it except believe on the One who was lifted up for you. He has done all the work to redeem man. When Jesus therefore had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And He bowed His head, and gave up His spirit. (John 19:30{ea})

There was nothing man could do then and there is nothing man can do now. It is finished! It is only after you believe that you can move on to become a disciple of Christ. Following the remedy of the bronze serpent, it is recorded: Now the sons of Israel moved out (Numbers 21:10). Likewise, we cannot move out until we are born again by believing on the One who died for us. Once we believe and have accepted God’s remedy for us, we can begin to see His Kingdom and seek to enter into the coming Kingdom of God’s Son.

Now, let us move out! We have a life to live today to prepare for a life in the coming Kingdom Age, followed by the eternal ages of glory.