Salvation
There are three distinct stages or steps to salvation: marked by Pascha, Pentecost, and Tents. We were saved; we are being saved; we will be saved. At Pascha, circa 33 AD, the gift of salvation was offered to all, because of the precious body and shed precious blood of Jesus Christ, which we are free to accept or reject... those who reject this gift are lost. At Pentecost, circa 33 AD the Spirit was given to all who believe in this Christ... this is biblical Baptism... He makes the Law alive within us by joining us to Christ... not all who receive the water, receive the Spirit… those who despise this gift cannot be recovered. After this we walk through the rest of life, living in temporary shelters (Tents), longing and waiting to go home… many decide that it’s not worth the trouble and walk away…. We can only say, we have been saved, when we enter into the heavenly rest of God.
The remembrance of Pentecost is only two days away for many
of us… another week for others. As
crucial as this is to Christian salvation-life, the gift of the Holy Spirit is
the least developed of all biblical topics… we have no idea why this is
true. There are very few hymns about the
Holy Spirit. We have never heard a
single sermon on the Holy Spirit.
Whatever is available is colored and distorted by fads and extremism. To teach the Spirit is to teach the Father
and the Son. To teach the Spirit is to
teach the Church. To teach the Spirit is
to teach the Bible. These are indivisible
things. Moreover, the Church and the
Bible cannot be separated; they grew up together: The Spirit is Vicar over
both. To exaggerate or distort the
teaching of The Spirit is blasphemy.
Whenever you decide to honor it, this Pentecost, join with us
in commitment to studying and honoring the person and work of the Holy Spirit
in proportion to His presence in the Bible.
There is much work to be done; we have just begun to collect the New
Testament verses; the Old Testament verses still need to be collected. All the verses need study, as well as our
mutual growth in understanding; hymns must be written and sung: we have barely
scratched the surface. Only by giving
The Holy Spirit His due, can the tragic fracturing of the churches and
distortions of theology that surround us, hope to be healed. Even then, we at best prepare ourselves for
the Second Advent of Christ. Today, we
hope to continue in the process of being saved: we walk in The Spirit….
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