The Moment of Salvation

…for He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ for Himself, according to His favor and will, to the praise of His glorious grace that He favored us with in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace – Ephesians 1:4-7 HCSB

Eons ago, long before creation, Elohim Elohay decided to create self-determining creatures and give them the opportunity to choose to love Him on their own.[1]

This was a phenomenally difficult decision, fraught with all types of complex ethical, moral and spiritual complications that only a God could work out.[2] For a sovereign God to delegate some of His abilities to think, reason and decide to lesser creatures is an unimaginable feat, one that the angels long to understand.[3]

Transcendent God looked ahead through the course of history and saw every single human.[4] He knew what their names would be. He knew what sins they would commit. He saw the wars, the genocides and the terrible crimes but apparently, decided it was a price worth paying.

Those whom He foreknew would choose well,[5] He predestined[6] to not only receive the Good News but to produce good works[7] – thereby giving meaning and value to their lives.

He took a part of Himself and became immanent[8], that is to say limited to this universe. The Son of God took this sacrifice upon Himself out of a passionate love for humans.[9] Then through that Immanent aspect of the Trinity, that Human/Divine interface, the creation of the Universe was brought about.[10]

Our salvation was thus enacted long before anyone could have ever done anything to deserve it. In fact, it was begun long before we even existed and in spite of the fact that we would all[11] willfully choose sin.[12]

Yet, the Son of God loved us anyway.[13] He came to Earth, did nothing but good, taught nothing but truth, and was completely motivated by love. In spite of this, or maybe more truthfully because of this, we killed Him.

But being as fully God as He was fully Human, He broke free of death’s clutches with the Holy Spirit’s help. Now He sits enthroned in Heaven, waiting for the moment the Father sets Him loose to come get us.[14]

Salvation may have been provided before Genesis 1.[15] But each of us must consciously choose to follow our Shepherd. We must recognize our innate sinfulness,[16] repent,[17] and place our unwavering trust in Christ’s power to save us[18].

Church attendance, good works,[19] good birth…even God’s plan can be made irrelevant if not willfully chosen. After all, free will is the point of this whole exercise.

At some time, we must bow our knees to His sovereign lordship and declare our unconditional surrender to Him.[20] That will be the moment of our salvation.

[1] Ephesians 3:8-9
[2] Isaiah 40:27; Romans 11:33
[3] Ephesians 3:10; 1 Peter 1:12
[4] Exodus 3:7; Deuteronomy 2:7; 2 Kings 19:27; Job 28:24; 31:4; 34:21, 25; Psalm 11:4; 33:13; 38:9; 66:7; 139:1; Proverbs 5:21; 15:3, 11; Isaiah 37:28; 46:10; Jeremiah 23:24; Amos 9:2-4; Matthew 10:29; 1 Corinthians 8:3
[5] 2 Chronicles 16:9
[6] Romans 8:9
[7] Ephesians 2:8-10
[8] Proverbs 8:22-29; John 1:1-2, 14; Philippians 2:7; Colossians 1:15, 17
[9] Proverbs 8:31; Psalm 16:3; John 13:1
[10] Proverbs 3:19; 8:30; John 1:3, 10; Colossians 1:16;
[11] Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8-10
[12] Jeremiah 7:24; Ezekiel 20:16; Matthew 12:33-35; 15:8
[13] Romans 5:8
[14] Matthew 24:36; Mark 13:32
[15] Ephesians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:20
[16] John 8:9; Romans 2:15
[17] 2 Chronicles 30:7-9; Job 36:10; Psalm 34:14; Proverbs 1:22-23; Isaiah 22:12; 31:6; 44:22; 55:6-7; Jeremiah 3:4, 12-14, 19; 6:8; Matthew 4:17; Mark 1:15; 6:12; Acts 2:38, 40; 3:19; 8:22; 17:30; 20:21; James 4:8-10
[18] Acts 4:12; Romans 7:24-25; 9:33; 1 Corinthians 6:11; Ephesians 1:13
[19] Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5
[20] Isaiah 45:23-24; Romans 14:11; Ephesians 1:10; Philippians 2:8-10