Still waiting...praise God

Hebrews 9:28 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.

 

This is the text that began my thought process and questions recently on our status in salvation and the true significance of the Second Advent. He will come the second time NOT TO BEAR SIN but TO BRING SALVATION to those who are waiting for him. He came the first time to deal with the sin problem. He came the first time to die, to provide the blood for the covenant to be fulfilled. The second time he comes he will bring salvation to those who are waiting. Wait a minute…does that mean we aren’t saved yet?

This is the question that resonated in my mind when I recently reread this passage of scripture. The strange thing was I was not worried by this question or given to fear because of this question. I was relieved by it. I know it sounds strange, how can I be relieved by the thought that I have not yet been saved. The relief comes from the fact that this statement, salvation has not yet come, and my feelings match up. I don’t feel saved. There is still too much suffering in my life for salvation to have come.

The last two and a half years have been some of the most trying and beautiful of my life. Beautiful because my little girl Lorelai was born on April 18, 2006; trying because my wife Laura has followed that birth with a post partum depression that has almost undone us. She has gone through thoughts of suicide and ending not only her life but also the life of our child so that the burden or her mental instability would come to an end. There was even a time in the midst of camp meeting 2007 when I thought, “it would be so much easier for it all to be over.” With this kind of suffering going on around us how can we really be saved?

But I thought that scripture said today is the day of salvation, and today salvation has come to this house (Zacheus), and salvation is here. Don’t we proclaim in a loud voice we have been saved by grace through faith alone? So how does this match up? We are saved but Jesus is still bringing salvation with him? Some passages refer to salvation as if it has already happened, others in a present tense, and still others in a future tense; believe with your heart confess with your lips and you WILL be saved, he is coming the second time to bring salvation to those who are waiting. These questions brought me to recall something that I heard back in undergrad theology classes about the three phases of Salvation.

Justification is the salvation of the past, it’s the first phase of salvation and it came with the first advent. Jesus dies on the cross and through his shed blood we are pronounced not guilty before the throne of God. Jesus’ blood covers us takes away our sins. Sanctification is the salvation of the present; work out your salvation with fear and trembling…its not you who does it but God’s spirit within you. Finally glorification is the salvation of the future at the Second Advent; this mortal puts on immortality, we are changed in the twinkling of an eye.

I knew all of this in my mind; I understood all of it from a different perspective though. I understood it from the perfection side of things. Justification makes you not guilty so that begins your perfection, Sanctification makes you step by step more perfect as we learn and grow in our relationship with God. Glorification finishes is off, we aren’t really perfect until we are changed at the second coming, until the old sinful nature is removed from us and our bent is no longer towards sin. This is a good thing, coming to a place were we have no more tendency towards sin and we can stand perfect in the presence of the Father is a good thing. But this leaves salvation in the land of the mind. It doesn’t enter real life and the grit of what we go through on a day-to-day basis. It leaves the second coming in the same place. The second coming will be good, we will be made perfect and we will get to be with Jesus. We are saved from the theological concept of sin. Great…so what!

What I have come to understand now is that salvation, all three phases, is from suffering. This is where the rubber meets the road. Justification saves us from the suffering of guilt and shame. We no longer have to suffer with those feelings because Jesus has died for us. Sanctification progressively lessens the suffering in our lives. We are saved from our addictions and the poor ways in which we treat others around us thus saving them from the suffering that we can cause. But the fullness of salvation from suffering doesn’t come until the second coming. When we are glorified when sin is done and all of creation is set free. All creation groans for the adoption of mankind as the sons of God.

This is where the significance of the second coming hits me full on. There is a day coming when we will be changed. There is a day coming when as Laura, Lorelai, and I are lifted up to meet Jesus in the air Laura will be healed. It is interesting that the Greek words for save and heal in the New Testament are the same. We have prayed so many times for Laura’s healing, for her salvation not only from post partum but also from the bi-polar that complicates it all the more. There is a day that is coming when she will finally be saved, when the suffering will end, when there will be no more sorrow, nor death. I rest in the assurance of Justification, I surrender daily to the process of Sanctification, and I long for the day of Glorification.

There is a reason I felt the relief when I discovered salvation is still to come, because in my life there is still saving I am longing for. Come Lord Jesus, Come.