Spiritual Light

Hebrews

So few people enjoy or appreciate the book of Hebrews that I have called it "the Leviticus of the New Testament." I have concluded, however, that a major reason for the difficulty in understanding Hebrews is the popular misconception concerning the meaning of the word "salvation". If someone were to say to the author of Hebrews, "I got saved last night," the author of Hebrews would probably wonder why that person was still here on earth, for the author of Hebrews unequivocally taught that "saved" people are those who faithfully served Christ all their days and now are with him. The rest of us are in the wilderness, on our way toward salvation.

Listen to this God-given exhortation to God's people concerning Israel in the wilderness:

"Therefore, just as the holy Ghost says, Today, when you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation and said, They always err in their heart, and they have not known my ways. So I swore in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.

"Consider it, brothers, that there be not in any of you an evil heart of unfaithfulness, in departing from the living God. Rather, exhort one another each day, while it is called 'today,' in order that none of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we firmly maintain our confident beginning until the end. This is the reason it is said, Today, when you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.

"For who, having heard, rebelled? Was it not those who had come out of Egypt with Moses? And with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter into His rest, but those who disobeyed? And so we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.

"Therefore, let us fear, lest, having a promise left to us of entering into His rest, any of you seem to be excluded. For we have heard the gospel as well as they, but the word which was heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith by the hearers. . . . Therefore, let us labor to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall in the same pattern of disobedience."

(Heb. 3:7-4:2, 11)

Not all who were rescued from Egyptian slavery were allowed to enter the promised land, and not all who have been converted to Christ will be saved. Salvation will be given only to those who are faithful to their Deliverer and who do not harden their hearts against Him after He brings them out of bondage.13

This is the importance of "today" for God's people everywhere. Having yesterday obeyed God's commandment to repent and believe the gospel, are we still, today, yielding to His command? Or has the deceitfulness of sin subtly dulled our ears and hardened our hearts to what He would yet have us to do? In this sense, "today is the day of salvation" (2Cor. 6:2), for it is only our present spiritual condition that counts before the Lord. Or, as my revered father taught the flock of God under his care, "The only thing that matters with God is this day onward."

It is the constant theme of every biblical teacher that members of the body of Christ are required to be faithful unto death in order to be counted worthy of salvation. This was Jesus' message to all seven of the pastors in Revelation (2:7, 11, 17, 26-28; 3:5, 12, 21). And those exhortations were consistent with the message he gave while he was still among us:

"And then will many be offended, and shall betray one another, and will hate one another. And many false prophets will arise, and will deceive many. And because iniquity will abound, the love of many will wax cold. But he who endures unto the end, the same will be saved."

(Mt. 24:10-13)

Hope

If believers are not yet saved, one might ask, then what is the difference between saints and sinners? The answer is hope. To be without Christ is to be without any hope of salvation (cp. Eph. 2:12). But for Christ to dwell in us is to have hope of eternal life (Tit. 1:2; 3:7). Christ within us is a source of joy about which the world knows nothing (Rom. 5:2), as well as a source of boldness that the world has always misunderstood (Heb. 6:17-20), and that precious hope is a primary motivation for keeping ourselves from worldliness (cp. 1Jn. 3:2-3). Having the hope of salvation compels us to live so that we might receive it. Paul wrote:

"For we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man sees, why does he yet hope for it? But if we hope for that which we do not see, then we wait for it with patience."

(Rom. 8:24-25)

Kept By Power

Because Paul wanted to see his converts saved in the end, he continually warned them to obey Christ and be separate from the world. The surest way to accomplish this separation was, and is to be filled with the Spirit of God, for it is only God's power by which the saints overcome the unbelief, lust, and fears of the world. Outside the keeping power of God's Spirit, we all are certain to fall for the clever devices of Satan, the errors of foolish men, and perhaps most dangerous of all, our own opinions and desires. Peter wrote:

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and unto an incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading inheritance, reserved in heaven for you who, through faith, are kept by the power of God unto the salvation ready to be revealed in the end time."

(1Pet. 1:3-5)

When Paul wrote that the gospel of Christ is "the power of God unto salvation to every one who believes" (Rom. 1:16), he was agreeing with Peter; that is, he was saying that salvation will be given to every believer who trusts in God's power until salvation comes. He was not saying that sinners are given salvation at their conversion. Paul exhorted believers to learn to rely on the power and wisdom of God's Spirit. Men may sound theologically profound and have impressive personalities, but God, and God only, is worthy of utter trust, and God only has power to save. He told the Corinthians:

"My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God."

(1Cor. 2:4-5)

Salvation will be given to believers who walk in the Spirit and do God's will. In order to be able to live that way, we must let Christ live in us; we are incapable of godliness without God. But with God, we may have power over our own base desires, power to humble ourselves to do His will, and we may have this power in every situation we face.