Is the living Person now in heavenly glory really the Object of our hearts? For some time after I knew the Savior I used to think of Him as One who had lived and died on earth long years ago, and I well remember the day when I knelt down with a dear brother who prayed that we might know the Lord Jesus as a living Person in heavenly glory, and it dawned on me that there was a present Object for my heart in heaven.
~ C.A. Coates
Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin’s every beck and call! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ’s sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, He took sin down with Him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your native tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That’s what Jesus did.
~ paul, The Least of The Apostles, in Romans 6 (The Message)
Oh beloved, it is true. We (those who have cast themselves in faith on Christ) have been saved. But, our problem is not in believing that we will be saved one day. It is in believing that we have been saved right now.
There are a number of deep mysteries in the Gospel (lit. “Good News”), and this mystery is one of the doozies. Even so, if we even begin to get a handle on the truth of it, and begin to reckon it true in our lives, everything begins to change.
It all starts by understanding a little theology. Don’t get nervous, we are not going to be looking at Greek verb tenses and stuff. This is the kind of theology that can encourage us and help us see the profound power that is involved in “salvation.”
G_d is beyond time. He is “trans-temporal.” He is eternal. All of Who He Is fills all time(s) and all space(s) at once. And so, each action the G_d takes is not isolated in a certain location at a certain time. Rather, each action is simple. That is, His activities impact all time(s) and space(s) in their doing. There may be loci or nexus upon which the impact are most clearly seen, but there are no limitations on His actions – as there are for finite beings like you and this fool of a writer.
And so, putting the technical jargon aside, hopefully what you are able to see here is that The Jesus who died some 2,000 years ago for all our sins, performed an act that is still happening at this very moment. His death for us is happening right now, in the same way that G_d is eternally alive.
What does this mean? Nearly everything.
This Jesus was not just some really good Son of G_d, who came and died a heroic death on our behalf a long time ago, so that someday we might get to go see Him in some far off place called Heaven. It was this indeed, but it was (and is) exceedingly more.
Yes, Jesus’ death is now. And as we come to faith in this reality, Scripture says we become one with Him. We become one with The One who is dying and living for us right now. Yes again, the loci of that event was 2,000 years ago, but the nature of the One doing the dying is such that His actions are pervasive across all time and space.
But it gets better. This same One who died for us, is Alive now forevermore. It is as if an everlasting G_d is now even more alive than He was, is and will be in eternity. His death did not take anything away from Him, but His Life is even more effulgent than it was before the dying.
And this is why.
We, those who are local and who are bound by time, have been made alive in Him. The tiny life we had before has now become His Life in us and through us and for us. And so, where there was just One eternal Son of G_d, there are now many brothers and sisters of The Son – and many sons and daughters of The Father.
Can we see it? Our salvation is now. We have all the power of the future kingdom, right now. We have all of eternal life right now. And, it is even bigger. G_d is made even more all-encompassing by our union with Him. And while it seems impossible to add to the infinite – it is not. Let me say this more simply: our salvation makes us amazing now… And our salvation makes G_d even better.
So, are you feeling like you are just trying to hang on until Heaven? Perhaps you don’t understand the good news. You are already there. You are one with Him in eternity – and the eternity you have entered is not just to entertain you, it is made better (already) because you are now a part of it.
Yeah, this is very good news! Tonight is your night beloved. Time to believe in your very large salvation and Saviour!
