We continue today with the theme started two sabbaths ago on impatience and divine purpose. We examined in depth why Yahweh appears to go silent and why it sometimes appears that there is a brass wall blocking our communion with Him. At times we are required to wait exceedingly long periods of time while promises made to us are fulfilled and we looked at how important it is to keep ourselves occupied with the affairs of the Kingdom until He chooses to make good those promises in His own time and way. We saw that what made Job special was not his impatience but his perseverence or steadfast endurance, of refusing the abandon Elohim (God) for atheism in his darkest hour. And in the story of David we learned that forgiveness for sin, especially heinous sin, does not cancel the consequences of that sin.

Beautifully summarising my message one of our readers remarked:

"The silence is what brings us into maturity, it's what brings us into His stillness. I learned this the hard way, by being thrown into complete silence...and the silence amplified my sinfulness to such a self-loathing level I could hardly bear it, and then it produced repentance, and repentance produced a closer oneness."

My task today is to examine all of these things in terms of salvation. How does all of this impact of affect my salvation in Messiah? Is the 'Once Saved, Always Saved' true or false? And in what sense does Yahweh preserve our salvation in those who may think they have lost it but have not? And how does this tie in to the idea of there being three anointings and three degrees of salvation that form a part of what we call Universal Graded Salvation [1].

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal chayim (life) [2], and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand" (John 10:27-29, NKJV).

While not wishing to get into a debate on Calvinism vs. Arminianism [3], important a subject though it is [4], I do wish to state that this ministry is openly and unapologetically Arminian [5] because we do not believe that the god of Calvinism is a god of ahavah (love) or of true justice. We therefore view John 10:27-28 with Arminian eyes, that is to say, we believe that what Yah'shua (Jesus) is here saying is that those who receive the fullness of His chayim or life cannot by definition those who cannot fall away because they have walked to, and in, all three anointings. We do not believe, as the Calvinist would see it, that those who have been saved can never fall. Thus those who cannot be snatched away are those who are truly the Bride. They are kept or preserved because Yahweh knows their hearts. They will continue choosing the right after their initial salvation. Those who insist on the 'Once Saved, Always Saved' (OSAS) teaching are forced to ignore or twist those passages of Scripture that speak of graded salvation, different glories and resurrections. Theirs is not a concordant or consonant view of the Scriptures, meaning they do not seek to harmonise all Scriptures by searching out the doctrine that explains them all at once and in proper order. But because so many believe these other discordant doctrines because of tradition that may be hoary with frost - doctrines that have been believed for so long, or because they are afraid to lose face (or salary) - they are loathe to let them go and instead defend them implacably.

Calvinists and Arminians likewise, respectively, view Peter's admonition with the same pair different lenses:

"Blessed be the Elohim (God) and Father of our Master Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ), who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living tiqveh (hope) through the resurrection of Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of Elohim (God) through emunah (faith) for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Peter 1:3-5, NKJV).

Who are these people dwelling in the spiritual security of the promise of an incorruptible inheritance, who are preserved by Yahweh because of their emunah (faith)? And what salvation is here being referred to? To answer the second question, that salvation is not salvation past, or salvation present, but salvation future - our salvation at the point of death. And to answer the first, those who are inheritors of this untarnishable reward are the overcomers who have come up to Yom haBikkurim, Shavu'ot and finally to Sukkot. How have they done this? By living a life of continuous emunah (faith) and teshuvah (repentance) from dead works (Heb.6:1; 9:14), by remaining IN Messiah Yah'shua (Jesus) and rejecting atheism when the going gets tough, as Paul also testifies:

"There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Messiah Yah'shua (Jesus), who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Ruach (Spirit)" (Rom.8:1, NKJV).

"Nothing, consequently, is now condemnation to those in Messiah Yah'shua (Jesus)" (Rom.8:1, CLNT).

In other words, if you are in Messiah, no matter your imperfections, no matter how great your struggle as you try to work out your salvation in fear and trembling (Phil.2:12), you are in a state of grace - you are saved and moving steadily toward your final salvation because you are making teshuvah (repenting) when you fall and are getting up again to try once more.

Paul continues:

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither malakim (angels) nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the ahavah (love) of Elohim (God) that is in Messiah Yah'shua (Jesus) our Master" (Rom.8:38-39, NIV).

So long as you are in Messiah - facing Him, moving toward Him, overcoming the flesh step by step, earnestly working out your salvation diligently by making daily teshuvah (repentance), the Enemy cannot separate you from Yahweh. Impossible! That initial deposit, that pledge, remains good! You don't have to worry about getting lost or losing your initial salvation, because doing these things is to keep it. So long as you are continuing to believe - to exercise emunah (faith) - and are responding obediently to the mitzvot (commandments)you possess "life eonian" or "eternal chayim (life)". The Calvinist cannot understand how a believer can have "eternal life" temporarily because he does not understand what an 'eon' is. An 'eon' is a fixed span of time, not an endless one. So the believer is secure in this 'eon' before he dies or before Messiah returns. It is a deposit or pledge of eternity, not eternity itself that is received at the resurrection, because for-ever chayim (life) is resurrection-life! Yes, the spirit of the resurrection is in those who are in Messiah but nobody believes they are literally and physically resurrected yet, do they? That is an event yet to come! Besides there are two types of resurrection destinations:

"...those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation" (John 5:29, NKJV).

Endnotes

[1] Not to be confused with what is more commonly called 'Universalism' or 'Universal Salvation', the doctrine that in the end everyone is saved with the same glory and in the same single Heaven irrespective of what they may have chosen or done in mortality. For the full series of devotionals and studies on this important subject, please see Yahweh's Promise of Universal Salvation

[2] "I am giving them life eonian" (Jn.10:27, Concordant Literal New Testament / CLNT - Concordant Publishing Concern, Canyon Country, CA: 1983). The 'eon' or 'aeon' is the longest segment of time known in the Scriptures, of which a total seven are indicated: pre-eonian time (2 Tim.1:9), five eons, of which two are future (called the 'eons of the eons' - Rev.1:6), and time after the conclusion of the eons (Heb.9:26). These eons synchronise with the worlds (Eph.2:2), the eons dealing with the time aspect and the worlds with the cosmic aspect or constitution

[3] I recommend for study, Dave Hunt, What Love is This? Calvinism's Misrepresentation of God (The Berean Call, Bend, Oregon: 2006); Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist: The Biblical Hope That God's Love Will Save Us All (SPCK, London: 2008); and ed.s Robin A. Parry & Christopher H. Partride, Universal Salvation? The Current Debate (William B. Eerdman's Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, MI: 2003)

[4] Calvinism presupposes that salvation is pre-ordained and that no human choice is involved - Elohim (God) does the choosing which means that there are only two existences - Heaven and Hell - and that we are predestined to the one or the other

[5] Arminian presupposes that we have genuine free choice, allowing not only for the possibility of the saved falling away but also of graded salvation