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The Salvation of Scripture—Its C£own B y B. B. S utcliffe , D.D. (Portland, Oregon) "(All rights reserved)
is written, Death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Cor. 15: 51-54). When our Lord comes and the believer is clothed upon with his house from heaven, that “ house,” the re deemed body, will be impervious to sickness and pain as it will be impervious to sin and death. T he N ew C reation W ill B e F inished As far as his standing before God is concerned the be liever is now perfected and like unto the Lord Jesus Christ. But God will not be satisfied, nor could the believer be sat isfied, unless finally his state before men and angels should match his standing before God. Hence it is God’s eternal purpose that the believer should be in all things “ con formed to the image of his Son” (Rom. 8 :29 ). The Apos tle writes that “ it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3 :1, 2 ). This likeness to God’s Son will be complete in every department of the believer’s being. We shall be like Him in environment; He will never again be seen alone. When He comes again to this earth the saints will all be with Him, and manifested with H im : wherever He is the saints will be, and wherever He goes the saints will go. Then His promise will find fulfillment, as He said, “ I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3). And so the Holy Spirit gives us assurance that “when Christ, who is our life shall appear [or be made manifest]
HE crown or consummation of the salvation of Scripture will be the end of the journey for the Church on earth. She will emerge from all the shadows and lay down all her burdens; all her hopes will be fulfilled and all her ambitions real ized. This will be when He who is her salvation comes from heaven. The scope of. Christianity is stated in 1 Thess. 1 :9, 10: “ Ye turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.” When He so comes from heaven salvation will be consummated. T he S alvation W ill B e R evealed Forgetting the exhortation to “ let us not sleep,” (1 Thess. 5 :6) in relation to this great hope, the Church must be warned to “ awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand” (Rom. 13:11, 12). The believer is not nearer having life than when he believed; he has the word of the Lord that “ he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life” (John 3:36 ). He is not nearer having peace because the Lord hath said, “ Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you” (John 14:27). He is not nearer having title because “ ye are all the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ” (Gal. 3:26) ; and, “ behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God, and such we are” (1 John 3:1, 2, R. V .). He is not nearer having fitness, “ because as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). He is not nearer having acceptance because he is “ accepted in the beloved” (Eph. 1 :6 ). But he is nearer having Sal vation, that is, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. When He comes from heaven salvation will be revealed in His person, and the believer made manifest in the same revela tion (Col. 3 :l-4 ). R edemption W ill B e C omplete Redemption includes the perfection not only of soul and spirit, but the body as well. But the body will not be fully redeemed in actuality until that great event when the heavens will once more be opened and our Lord will descend to receive from the world His own. Now the whole crea tion groans and travails in pain waiting for its full redemp tion, and “ not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Rom. 8:23 ). We wait to be clothed upon with our body which is from heaven; as long as we abide in our present house of this earthly tabernacle we shall know this groaning (2 Cor. 5 :2, 4 ). Not until so clothed upon by the house from heaven will redemption be com plete. Then death will be forever past. “ Behold,” says the Apostle, “ I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: . . . for this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immor tality. | . . Then shall be brought to pass the saying that
The Blessings o f Salvation The burden o f our guilt is gone; The slavery o f sin is done: W e owe it all to this alone That Christ has died. Self as our lord no more we own; Our wills are fettered to God’s throne : The heart no more to sin is prone Since Christ has died. W e have a message to proclaim, A Gospel in Christ’s saving name, A fount o f blood to cleanse from blame That Christ has died. We lift our eyes and see above The saints, redeemed by dying love! And towards their home we daily move Since Christ has died. While here on earth we, pilgrims still, Desire to do our Saviour’s will; And all His purposes fulfill, Who for us died. — William Olney.
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