The first time I can remember reading the entire Bible was when I was 8 years old. I had one of those “Precious Moments” Bibles in the New King James Version. It was pink and had a little lamb in the right bottom corner of the front cover. My name was imprinted on it in gold letter embossing. My paternal grandmother that we lovingly called “Nona” gifted it to me. And I remember being so excited to have my very own Bible. I read it from cover to cover that year. While reading it, I marked with a marker every verse I read. At that time, I was not reading it to learn. I was reading it to have read the entire Bible. When I finished, I was so proud that I read it. However, I didn’t retain much of it.
After so many years of reading and rereading the Bible, I now understand some of the principles. And I have a greater appreciation for the wisdom contained within its pages. I read the Bible to learn, not to simply consume. It is no longer a checklist of sorts. It is nourishment to my soul. And in learning, I now understand why and how I am saved from the wrath of God past, present, and future.
God loves His people past, present, and future.
God loves His people past. The sins that I committed in the past are forgiven and put away from me. The transgressions and iniquities are forgiven and put away from me. When I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior, I was declaring with my heart and mouth that Jesus is who He says He is: the very Son of God who came, lived a sinless perfect life, died on the cross for the sins of the world, resurrected after three days, ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father, and is so to return to take His people to Himself to reign and rule for eternity. This very act is “justification”. The definition of justification by the Oxford dictionary is “the action of declaring or making righteous in the sight of God.” I am considered righteous in the sight and presence of Holy God. That is done. The reason we are even able to be justified is by the finished work of Jesus. And as John 3:16 says, “all who believe in Him (Jesus) shall not perish, but shall have everlasting life.” All who believe in Jesus are justified. Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (ESV). This justification gives us peace with God. No longer are we at enmity with God, but we can be in His presence without receiving the wrath we justly deserve. The apostle John said in the first chapter of his gospel, verse 12, “But to all who did receive Him (Jesus), who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God” (ESV). Jesus gave us the right to become children of God by His justification. Justification is no good for any sinner until it is accepted by that sinner. You and I are legitimate sinners. And yet, by believing Jesus at His word, we are justified and are seen by the Father as righteous. And we did nothing to deserve this justification. We deserve death. However, the love of God. A passage in Romans explains this better than my words can.
"But now God has shown us a way to be made right with Him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard. Yet God, in His grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed His life, shedding His blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when He held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for He was looking ahead and including them in what He would did in this present time. God did this to demonstrate His righteousness, for He Himself is fair and just, and He makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in Jesus." - Romans 3:21-26 (NLT)
God loves His people present. Each day, I rely on Him to guide me and provide for me. I cannot do anything without Him. I wasn’t even able to believe Him without God first drawing me to Him. We are unable to come to God by our own selves because our natural inclination is toward sin. But God creates a desire for Him in our hearts. He pulls us toward Him even though we are drawn away from Him by sin and self. John 6:44 says, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” Our desire is to sin and please hedonistic wants. But the Father sets us free of the innate desire and pull toward things that lead to death. God draws us toward life. And He does this by what is commonly referred to as “sanctification”. I am going back to the Oxford dictionary for the definition of sanctification. It states, “the action or process of being freed from sin or purified.” So in the present, we are being purified of the sin and filth that is still apart of us. We are already declared righteous in justification. Now we are being cleansed of the residue that sin has left in us. Sanctification is a process. It is not a “one and done” event. It takes time. For some, it takes more time than others. However, the amount does not matter as much as the fact that there is a progression in our growth and sanctification. God loves us through it all. And by His Holy Spirit, He continues to chip away at the mess that continues tarnishing us. He continues His work in and through us. He allows us to be used for His purposes, not only in pleasing Him, but also in helping others become sanctified just as He is using others to sanctify us. We are being made holy and sacred which is being set apart for a special purpose. After trusting Jesus for salvation, we are justified and accepted into God’s family. Now we are being transformed into the likeness of Jesus. This involves a couple of things. Our heart is changed from selfishness to selflessness. Our desire is now transformed into loving God and others. Our minds are changed as we have a different perspective on how we fit in the world. And we embrace the truth about life, ourself, and others. Instead of chasing the ever changing opinions and speculations that others have, we can hold fast to the truth God has revealed to us. That truth leads us to live for God, which is the Holy Spirit’s sanctifying work. In John 17:17, while Jesus was praying to the Father, He asked God to “sanctify them (His followers) by the truth; Your Word is truth.” God’s Word recorded in the Bible is truth. As we read and study His Word and pray, we are being sanctified further. And here is a passage that tells us the purpose of Scripture for all God’s people, believers.
"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." - 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV)
God loves His people future. We are justified, sanctified, and once the sanctification process is finished at Jesus’ second coming, we will be glorified. Back to the Oxford dictionary we go. It states that “glorification” is “the action of describing or representing something as admirable, especially unjustifiably.” It is God’s final removal of sin from the life of His people, the saints. Glorification is when we are renewed into the image of Christ and made perfect. We are not perfect in and of ourselves. God perfects us into His Son’s image. And the Holy Spirit is the agent by which we are glorified on the last day, conforming us perfectly to the image of His risen and glorified Son, Jesus. Romans 8:16-17 says, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him” (ESV). In 2 Thessalonians 1:12, we read, “So that the name of the Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ” (ESV). The glorification of Christ’s name occurs when we exalt Him as Lord in our daily lives. In Romans 5:2, we see that our hope is placed in the glory of God. Our end goal is to be included in His glory. God Himself, in the person of Christ, will be directly and personally present in the lives of His people, and His presence assures them of a future life with Him when He returns. As I mentioned before, our goal is to obtain the glory of Jesus. In 2 Thessalonians 2:14, it says, “To this He called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (ESV). We will receive this glorification in the future with the second coming of Jesus.
"But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself." - Philippians 3:20-21
God loves His people past, present, and future.
In the end, God will judge righteously and impartially based on His Son’s work or our work. If we believe Jesus as Lord and Savior, His work becomes our work. If we refuse Jesus, then we are judged based on our works, and our works are as filthy rags. Paul wrote,
"He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, He will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulations and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality." - Romans 2:6-11 (ESV)
In the end, if we are in Jesus, we seek for “glory and honor and immortality”. If we refuse Jesus, we “do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness”. And when Paul says “the Jew first and also the Greek”, he means everyone. God does not show partiality when it comes to His Son. He will not pardon a particular race, nation, language, or kingdom unless we are part of Jesus’ people. And if we are Jesus’ people, given to Him by the Father, we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit. When Jesus comes again, the justification, sanctification, and finally glorification will be finished. We will live with Him forever and ever. Praise God!
Gotta go fill up my cup…..
Coffee with Candee 