“Eternal Salvation”
"And being made perfect, he became
the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.” -- Hebrews 5:9
Today, men talk about salvation only as something done in the
experience of time with eternal consequences. But in the Bible salvation is
described as something done by God in eternity past, revealed and experienced
in time, and enjoyed in eternity future. Read the Word of God, marking the verb
tenses used, and you will see that salvation was accomplished for God's elect
in the covenant of grace before the world began (Rom. 8:28-31; 2 Tim. 1:9; Eph.
1:3-6).
Since it was done in eternity, it must have been done by God alone.
Without our aid, cooperation, assistance, work, or even our will, God saved us.
Salvation is the work of God alone. That salvation which God gives is the
salvation God performs. And it is an “eternal salvation.”
Before the world began, we were accepted in Christ, “accepted in the
Beloved,” according to the will of God. We were accepted in Christ as our
covenant Head and Surety, accepted in union with him by electing love, accepted
in his heart as the objects of his mercy, from eternity. But why is this
eternal aspect of salvation so important?
The nature of God's everlasting covenant demands it. In the infinite
mind of God all things are eternally present. What he purposed is accomplished.
God has always looked upon his elect in Christ. Before the world was, he
blessed us with every spiritual blessing of grace in Christ.
God's holy character tells us that he must have looked upon his people as being justified and accepted in Christ from eternity. Had it not been for the chosen seed in Adam's loins, whom God had eternally justified in Christ, at the moment Adam sinned, the holy Lord God would have wiped our race off the earth. The only thing that keeps God from destroying the world in his wrath right now is the fact that he has an elect remnant in it, whom he has accepted in Christ and is determined to save (2 Pet. 3:9).
And the immutability of God demands that our salvation by him be
eternal. God never changes. Neither does his attitude and relation to men
change (Mal. 3:6). God's will to elect is election. God's will to adopt is
adoption. God's will to justify is justification. And God's will to save is
salvation. I do not suggest that this is the whole of salvation. Redemption,
regeneration, repentance, faith, and perseverance are necessary. But in the
mind and purpose of God, his people were as truly saved before the world began
as they shall be when all are gathered around his throne in heaven.
Grace Baptist Church of Danville
- Grace For Today Radio Message #895
2734 Old Stanford Road -
Danville, Kentucky 40422-9438 -- Donald
S. Fortner, Pastor