The Future Salvation

Repent, then, and turn to God, so your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, And that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you-even Jesus. He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. (Acts 3:19-21-NIV)

Times of refreshing come from the Lord. There shall come a period when God will restore all that the Prophets have promised.

Actually, salvation is a program. There are major types of the program of salvation, such as the Tabernacle of the Congregation. The type that we use most frequently consists of the seven feasts of the Lord.

We have been at the fourth feast, Pentecost, during this century. The fifth feast, the Blowing of Trumpets, is now at hand.

Say to the Israelites: "On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts." (Leviticus 23:24-NIV)

Pentecost speaks of the Holy Spirit. The Blowing of Trumpets has to do with the King, Jesus, coming to His churches and waging war against His enemies that dwell in us. I think this is an example of the promised "times of refreshing" that are to come from the Lord.

But does the New Testament speak clearly of a salvation to come at the end of the age? Indeed it does!

And this do, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. (Romans 13:11-NIV)

We usually don't think of salvation coming in the future. But it is a fact that there is a past salvation (when we received the Lord), a present salvation which we are to work out with fear and trembling, and a future salvation. The future salvation is a judgment against the evil in God's people so they may be delivered from worldliness, lust, and self-will in preparation for the return of Jesus Christ to the world.

Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. (Hebrews 9:27,28-NIV)

The above passage would seem to be speaking of the Lord's return in the clouds of glory. But a close look will see that it is speaking of His coming only to those who are waiting for Him.

The Lord's historical coming is described as follows:

Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen. (Revelation 1:7-NIV)

In the Lord's historical coming (above), every eye will see Him. But in the coming mentioned in Hebrews 9:28 (above), He is coming to those who are waiting for Him.

Thus we see there shall be a coming to the believers prior to Jesus' coming to the world. This is affirmed as follows:

Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him. (John 14:21-NIV)

The verse above speaks of a revealing of the Lord Jesus to those who keep His commandments. We think the Lord comes to His true disciples and drives the sin from them in preparation for His historical second to the world.

The New Testament clearly speaks of a future salvation, which we maintain is salvation in the sense of removing sin from His Kingdom.

For example:

Who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. (I Peter 1:5-NIV)

We Christians through faith are shielded from the penalty of the Lake of Fire until such time as the Lord decides to come and deliver us from those behaviors over which the Lake of Fire always retain authority. This is a salvation that is to be revealed in the last time.

Who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession-to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:14-NIV)

God's possession, which is our personality, especially our body, shall be redeemed from the hand of Satan. The Holy Spirit we have now is a deposit on the day when our mortal body is made alive by the Spirit of God. Since our body is dead because of sin, the sin must be dealt with in some manner before the Holy Spirit can make it alive.

Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. (Romans 8:23-NIV)

And notice further:

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30-NIV)

So there is no doubt there is coming a day of redemption. In that day the believers will be delivered from the sin that dwells in their personality. We think the day of redemption is beginning now and will continue throughout the thousand-year Kingdom Age and is the purpose for the Kingdom Age.

Let us remind the reader again of the foolish virgins and the man who buried his talent. These two parable warn us against not following Christ diligently and then expecting Him to come and magically deliver us from sin. It is not going to happen.

Rather, as in the case with every aspect of salvation, the Lord comes to us and offers the possibility of our moving ahead in the program. It then is up to us to grasp the opportunity by faith and diligently press forward into the new pasture that has been set before us.

The danger in today's teaching is that it leaves the impression that after Pentecost, every Kingdom event, including deliverance from sin, change into the moral image of Christ, and our resurrection from the dead, will overtake us as a sovereign act of God over which we have little control.

The truth is, every inch of ground in the Kingdom has to be taken by faith, patience, and the most resolute, diligent seeking of the Lord possible to us humans. Even the Apostle Paul toward the end of his life was seeking to gain Christ; was attempting to experience the power of Christ's resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings; was endeavoring to attain the early resurrection from the dead, the resurrection of the royal priesthood.

The trumpet must be blown in Zion today. It appears the majority of Christian believers are woefully unprepared for their physical death as well as for the return of the Lord. They are being taught a lawless grace and an unscriptural pre- tribulation catching up of all believers regardless of spiritual maturity. They simply are not prepared to stand in the evil day.

Therefore they will be of no help in the age of moral horrors we are approaching. When the people of the world are having heart attacks because of being terrified by the events of the future, the Christians, instead of being sources of comfort, strength, and Divine Life, will be equally terrified because they have been taught they will not be present on the earth when serious trouble arrives. What Satan desires is that the believers remain unprepared to help other people in their hour of dire need.

There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth in that day-gnashing of teeth because of the anger of the believers when they are put in the outer darkness instead of being brought into the Presence of the Lamb of God. This day is coming. Be prepared for it! It is a day of thick darkness. It is the Day of the Lord!