To: Hebraic-Foundations@yahoogroups.com
From: "Pastor Buddy Martin" <Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org>
Date sent: Wed, 13 Mar 2002 17:43:48 -0600
Subject: Bible Study HF057 - The Beginning of our Salvation
Hebraics,
Due to recent questions on predestination and free-will, I thought it
would help to resend a study that I gave in June, 2000. The original
study was HF003 - From the Foundation of the World.
I am
representing it with additions and modifications, as Bible Study
HF057 - The Beginning of our Salvation.
Please feel free to provide any dialogue you wish, ask questions,
offer insights, make corrections, or, simply set me straight. : )
Here tis ..........
In 1999, it fell my lot to do funeral services for two of my old
minister friends. I could spend hours just sharing with you how very
precious our relationship was. But most of you know as well as I,
that there is no friendship as beautiful as a friendship in Christ. Both
these ministers were long-standing warriors of the faith. They have
gone, and I remain.
One of my buddies was especially close to me. His name was
Calvin Cobb. I buried his first wife many years before. We shared a
friendship that lasted twenty-five years. It was this buddy that
passed an interesting thought to me, and, so, I will pass it on you,
both by way of memorial, and as part of this Bible study.
In Calvin's attempt to describe our salvation, he used a certain
illustration. Calvin said that when we get to heaven we will see a
great gate, and over the great gate, a sign would read, "Whosoever
Will, Let Him Come and Drink Freely." But after you pass through
the great gate, and look back from heaven's side, a sign would
read, "Saved from the Foundation of the World."
Of course that is only an illustration. But what a mystery, this our
salvation. And how so complicated we can make it. Yet there is a
question to be answered. Is there anything to the issue of our being
saved from the foundation of the world? Yes, this very thing is
taught in the Scriptures.
The Scriptures have a dual focus on salvation. Sometimes these
dual focuses are difficult to reconcile. But the early believers
accepted them as belonging together. The Bible teaches both the
free will of man, and it teaches predestination by God. Where we
get in trouble is trying to concentrate on one at the expense of the
other. The revelations go hand in hand.
During the times of the apostles it was a commonly held Jewish
belief that salvation was free will and predestined, and there was no
conflict to be had between them. This same understanding flowed
into the early Jewish Church. But it isn't simply Jewish belief. The
apostles and prophets wrote of it. And as a second witness, these
two beliefs are also found in the Essene writings.
Well, what does the Bible have to say about all this issue of being
saved from eternity? The Bible has much to say about things that
took place in eternity. The term "from the foundation of the
world" is
used several times in the new covenant writings.
Consider these examples:
(1) Concerning Messiah, it says, "I will open My mouth in
parables; I
will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world."
(Matt13:35)
(2) As to one phase of the kingdom of God, the King says to those
on his right, "Come, you who are blessed of my Father, inherit the
kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."
(Matt25:34)
(3) Of the Christ-rejecting leadership, the Lord said, "The blood
of
all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be
charged to this generation." (Luke11:50)
(4) When Jesus prayed, He said, "Father....You loved me before the
foundation of the world." (John17:24)
(5) Paul says of believers, "He chose us in Him before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless
before Him in love." (Eph1:4)
(6) The book of Hebrews speaks of God's rest in the Messiah, in
saying that, "His works were finished from the foundation of the
world." (Heb4:3)
(7) Of Christ's pre-existence in eternity, and with regard to our
salvation, it says, "He would have needed to suffer often since the
foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the
ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of
Himself." (Heb9:26)
(8) Peter says the Christ, "Was foreknown before the foundation of
the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you,
who through Him are believers in God..." (1Pet1:20,21)
(9 and 10) Both Rev13:7 and Rev17:8, speak of the names of the
saved being written in the Lamb's book of life, "from the foundation
of the world."
All these Scriptures involve the eternity of God. They are hard for
our finite minds to grasp. But in the eternity of God, time is of no
consequence. This is why the Lord could say of Jeremiah, "Before I
formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I
consecrated you..." (Jer1:5)
This is also why David could speak by the Spirit, in saying, "Your
eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book wre all
written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was
not one of them. " (Psalm 139:16)
What, then, is the issue in all this? The issue is that believers need
to have their conscious life filled with assurances of their salvation.
This is what moves our salvation out of the uncertaintities into the
very heart of new covenant salvation.
The old timers referred to this witness as 'divine assurance.' The
song says it well; "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. O what a
foretaste of glory divine. Heir of salvation, purchase of God. Born of
His Spirit, washed in His blood."
Salvation is much deeper than the emotions. Peter spoke of it as
our partaking of the divine nature. (2Pet1:4) This is why you never
have to tell someone who has truly been born again, "Tomorrow
when you wake up, you aren't going to feel saved. The devil will tell
you, you didn't receive anything."
Why is there no need to tell a person that they will question their
salvation so quickly? It is because in the born-from-above
experience carries its own testimony. There is an imprint upon the
heart of a believer. Paul speaks of this as the seal. This imprint
cannot be denied. And neither can it be broken. The Bible speaks of
it as the seal of redemption.
But the seal is only half the story. In the sealing is the occupation.
The Holy Spirit actually sets up permanent house keeping in the
heart of the believer. Thus the believer receives a portion of heaven
from the very start. It is this indwelling that gives the believer hers
or her upward call. It can become so strong at times that it causes a
'homesickness' in the heart. (Paul spoke of this.)
Jesus said that His sheep would follow Him in a 'knowing'
relationship. He also leaped for joy in expressing the wonder of our
salvation. Jesus said; "I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and
intelligent and have revealed them to infants." (Matt11:25)
Paul said the new covenant experience is based upon a believer's
conscious relationship with the Father. This relationship is activated
by the Spirit of God. He said, "The Spirit Himself testifies with our
spirit that we are children of God." (Rom8:16) In another place Paul
says, "Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His
Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!.'"
The Abba Father cry is the cry of Sonship. It is the birthing cry
made by the Spirit of Jesus. This cry speaks of a conscious
relationship with the Father of eternity. And this is why in the new
covenant, religion alone is of no benefit. No true child of God can
feed on the trappings of religion. That was done away with at the
cross. (This does not do away with the flocking of God's people.)
Every true believer has eternity in their heart. Paul said, "We
look
not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not
seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things
which are not seen are eternal." (2Co4:18)
This cry of sonship also speaks of God's eternal redemption that
was set in place from the foundation of the world. The prophet
heard it this way; "Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and
his Maker, 'Ask Me the things to come concerning My sons, and you
will commit to Me the work of My hands." (Isa45:11)
We are the children of eternity. We carry in our hearts the
knowledge that we are children of the throne. We have eternal
perspective. We have a longing for eternal things. We will never be
satisfied with this world and what it offers. And yet, while we
understand eternal things with our hearts, we are unable to put them
down on paper. This is just the way we are.
So, was my buddy Calvin Cobb right? After we pass through the
portals of eternity, will we look back and say, "Yes! Thank you Lord!
I was saved from the foundation of the world!" Who knows. But it is
wonderful to think about.
In Christ,
Buddy
Lawrence E. (Buddy) Martin, HF Host
email: Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org
Web: http://www.ChristianChallenge.org
"See to it that no one comes short of the grace
of God; that no root of bitterness springing up
causes trouble, and by it many be defiled." (Heb12:15)