The Traditional Goal of Salvation
The Traditional Goal of Salvation
The traditional goal is to arrive at and remain for eternity in a mansion in Heaven. What we will do once we are in Heaven will be arranged by the Lord.
The main purpose is to obtain everlasting love, peace, and joy. "We'll sing and shout and dance about." ( The Homecoming Week; Dr. Raymond Browning)
We arrive at our goal by mercy and grace, as we place our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. God views us as righteous because of our faith in Christ.
Belief in Christ, which may or may not be a genuine faith in the living Christ, is the most important aspect of our salvation.
The Scriptural Goal of Salvation
The scriptural goal is to attain to eternal righteousness, love, joy, and peace in an incorruptible body. Our location will be wherever God places us. The mansion Christ spoke of is a room, a place of abiding for the Father and the Son in us.
Our main purpose is to provide a home, a place of rest, and a location for the Throne of the Father and the Son.
To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. Revelation 3:21—NIV)
Upon placing our faith in Christ, our righteousness initially is imputed to us apart from observing the tenets of the Law of Moses. After that we must obey the commands of Christ Jesus in order to maintain our righteousness in the sight of God.
The monstrous error of today's Evangelical teaching is that "grace" is a permanent alternative to growth in godly behavior.
We must live always in the rest of God; abiding in Christ. This means that we look continually to Christ for all we think, say, and do. All of our personality and behavior that is not of Christ is loss for God, for us, and for humanity.
We will work with Christ, in whatever role is assigned to us, at the task of bringing justice and stern obedience to God throughout the creation of God.
To maintain our position in the rest of God we must faithfully obey the Spirit of God by confessing our sins and self-will as they are pointed out to us; and, with the assistance of the Lord Jesus, turning away from them.
If it is true, that the goal of our salvation is to conform us to the image of God and to find untroubled rest in His will, and if it is true that we are not saved to live eternally in Heaven but so God can have a home, a rest, and a place in which to install His Throne, can you see how radically this change of goal would affect Christian teaching?
For example, the concept that grace forgives our sinful behavior and brings us safely to Heaven without any effort on our part, no longer is valid. Grace can be seen for what it is---a Divinely ordained instrument which releases us from the authority of the tenets of the Law of Moses, freeing us so we can follow Christ without distraction.
Our hymnology would change. We no longer would be singing about how merry we would be in Heaven, dancing around in a state of bliss.
In actuality when Christ has come to the fullness in us, God will change our environment to conform to our new spiritual state. We always will be in Heaven and will bring Heaven wherever we are.
We may wonder, "How about the Christians who have died? They have not had a chance to come to such perfection?"
I believe the Scripture indicates that they will proceed past the basic salvation experience, or the Pentecostal experience, after they die and are in the spirit world. It may be true that our place in Heaven will be what we make it!
Let me hasten to state that I am not teaching "second chance." We will not be able to proceed toward perfection after death unless we already have been leading the life of victory in Christ while alive on the earth.
Of course, there are people on the earth who for one reason or another during their lifetime never heard of Christ or the Bible. God will deal with them according to His righteousness. But the Christians who wasted their time while living on the earth will not then be invited to press forward to perfection after they die.
The parable of the talents reveals what will happen to the lazy, wicked believer after he or she dies.
Let us proceed now to speak about our assertion that diligent Christians who never were taught about maturity in Christ will be brought further along after they die and are in the spirit world.
I am basing my belief on the fact that there is only one elect, one Wife of the Lamb, one Body of Christ, whether the members be on earth or in the spirit world. We all will come to perfection together.
These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. (Hebrews 11:39.40—NIV)
Please consider carefully that the heroes of faith mentioned in the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews are in Heaven. But they had not received what had been promised. Can you see from this that Heaven is not the land of promise?
These deceased members of God's elect have not been made perfect as yet. But they are being made perfect along with us.
But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to human standards in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit. (I Peter 4:5,6—NIV)
Christ is ready to judge the living and the dead. This judgment is the fulfillment of the Jewish "Blowing of Trumpets" and "Day of Atonement" that lead to the spiritual fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles.
This judgment is taking place today on the earth. The Holy Spirit is bringing us past the Judgment Seat of Christ by showing us our sins and self-will and enabling us to put them to death by turning away from them. We are assisted in doing this as we call upon our Lord Jesus for wisdom and strength.
This identical judgment is being experienced by the diligent Christians in the spirit world. They are being judged and directed and strengthened so they are able to turn away from their sins and self-will and receive the Fullness of Christ in exchange.
Next Part This judgment is taking place now.