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Scripture Reading: Luke 21:5-19
By reading through verses 5 to 19, we know that this portion of the word also speaks concerning the salvation of the soul. "In your endurance you will possess your souls" (v. 19). I have said before that the Bible always mentions faith when it talks about our salvation. However, here it says that by your endurance you will gain your souls. Hence, there must be a difference between the salvation of the soul and the salvation of the spirit.
If I remember correctly, the Gospel of John mentions the matter of receiving eternal life through faith on thirty-five occasions. In the whole New Testament, justification by faith, receiving eternal life by faith, and salvation through faith are mentioned one hundred fifty times. Here, however, it mentions endurance. To endure is not to believe; it is a work. So the salvation of the soul is very different from the receiving of eternal life.
Let us see how these verses talk about the salvation of the soul. Verses 5-7 say, "And as some were speaking about the temple, that it was adorned with beautiful stones and consecrated offerings, He said, As for these things which you are looking at, the days will come in which there will not be left a stone upon a stone which will not be thrown down. And they questioned Him, saying, Teacher, when therefore will these things be? And what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?" The temple is the holy temple in Jerusalem. "You" refers to the disciples. "These things" refers to what the Lord Jesus said in verse 6: "The days will come in which there will not be left a stone upon a stone which will not be thrown down." This signifies the coming destruction of the temple. Take note of verse 7. The questions asked are very similar to those in chapter twenty-four of Matthew; nevertheless, there is a difference. Let us compare the two.
Matthew 24:3: "And as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, Tell us, When will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming and of the consummation of the age?" Matthew is concerned not only with the destruction of Jerusalem but also with the Lord's coming and the completion of the age. Luke 21 is concerned only with the matter of Jerusalem's destruction. In Luke the disciples asked when these things (Jerusalem's destruction) would be and what would be the sign before these things take place. They did not ask anything about the Lord's coming back or the completion of the age. We should remember that three things were asked in Matthew. The first was, "When will these things be?" The second and the third were, "What will be the sign of Your coming and of the consummation of the age?" Only one thing was asked in Luke, that is, when would these things be and what would be the sign before these things take place? The questions recorded in Luke are identical to the first question in Matthew.
The destruction of Jerusalem was fulfilled in A.D. 70. The Lord's word about there not being one stone left upon another was fulfilled.
Verses 8-9: "And He said, See that you are not led astray, for many will come in My name, saying, I am the Christ! and, The time has drawn near! Do not go after them. And when you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be terrified, for these things must take place first; but the end does not come immediately." This is what the Lord instructed the disciples to watch for at the time when Jerusalem would be destroyed. Church history can attest to the fact that when the Lord ascended, some did come in His name saying, "I am the Christ." The Lord meant that when some come claiming to be Christ and when the disciples hear of wars and revolutions, they must realize that the end has not yet come.
Verses 10-12: "Then He said to them, Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. But before all these things they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for the sake of My name." All these were fulfilled during the age of the apostles. They were apprehended, persecuted, scourged, and imprisoned, and they were brought before kings and governors.
Verse 13: "It will turn out to you for a testimony." They suffered so much, yet those sufferings became the very occasions for them to testify. They testified in synagogues, before Felix, and before those in Rome.
Verses 14-18: "Settle it therefore in your hearts not to take thought beforehand how to reply in defense, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all those opposing you will not be able to resist or refute. And you will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. And you will be hated by all because of My name, yet a hair of your head shall by no means perish." Here, the Lord prophesied concerning what they would experience.
Verse 19: "In your endurance you will possess your souls." The disciples are held responsible for this last matter. When all these sufferings and persecutions come, they must endure; in this way they will possess their souls.
To possess the soul means to reign with the Lord and share in His glory when He comes. If possessing the soul means the same as receiving eternal life, then the words "possess your soul" in verse 19 do not make sense. It is saying that if, in the midst of extreme hardship, we are able to endure, we will possess our soul. Through faith we have eternal life and are saved. But here we are told that to possess our soul we need to endure all these sufferings.
"He who loves his soul-life loses it; and he who hates his soul-life in this world shall keep it unto eternal life." The Lord says here that it is possible for one to lose his soul-life. One loses his soul-life only because he loves it.
What is it to love the soul-life? It means to gratify our desires and please our emotions. For example, the Lord calls us to stay away from a certain matter; if we want to obey Him, we must lay down our self. Each time we want to obey the Lord, we must lay down the self. If we seek to do His will while loving our soul-life, we will fail. Perhaps the Lord wants us to drop something which we enjoy doing or give up a person or an object we like. If we love our soul-life, we will not succeed. Many times we are entangled with a person, thing, or matter. Many are beset by friends; they would rather have the friends than lose the soulish enjoyment in this age.
We recognize that many of the bad things are sins. However, we do not realize that we can also be entangled by the things we normally enjoy. We are aware that money is too base and contemptible a thing to be mentioned, yet many cannot part with it. Even a dress or a meal may ensnare a person. Why is it so difficult for man not to love his soul-life? Because not loving the soul-life means to cause it to suffer, while loving the soul-life means not to allow it to suffer. Such a person, however, will undoubtedly lose his soul-life because he has already cared for his soul-life and allowed it to enjoy!
When does one lose his soul-life? It will be when the Lord establishes His kingdom. Whoever loves his soul-life in this age will not enjoy glory or reign with the Lord at that time. To have eternal life through faith is certain; our going to heaven is certain. But to reign as a king and ensure that the soul-life will find enjoyment in the millennium requires that we do not love our soul-life today.
Brothers and sisters, I have said before and I say again: God gives sinners a choice between heaven and hell. If a sinner can see clearly, no doubt he will choose heaven. Now God gives Christians a choice between the kingdom and the world. Do we choose the kingdom? Or do we choose the world? How sad that although a sinner prefers heaven, many Christians prefer to have the world! We think that it is good enough to be saved, yet after we are saved, God still puts the coming kingdom before us for us to choose.
Those who are full now will not be filled in glory; they will lose their enjoyment. The Lord said that whoever loves himself shall lose his soul-life; whoever hates his soul-life in this world shall keep it unto eternal life. Our soul is linked to the world. To love the soul in this world means to care for ourselves in this world. Good food, nice clothing, friends, happiness, compliments, fame — all are desirable. However, they nourish the soul-life as food nourishes us. To nourish the soul-life now is to lose the soul-life in the kingdom.
To lose the soul-life is not to be cast into hell. It is to cause the soul to suffer in that it cannot reign with the Lord. In the kingdom age, the Lord will assign ten cities or five cities for us to rule. According to the Old Testament prophets, this will be such a pleasant time. How pleasant it will be to rule ten cities or five cities in such an atmosphere! However, whoever has already gained his soul-life in this world shall lose his soul-life in the kingdom. This is serious! Whoever is full now and has satisfied his soul-life in the present age, will not gain anything in the kingdom. I have said this many times, and I will keep saying it: to hate the soul-life in this world is to not allow the soul-life to have satisfaction and enjoyment in this age. It is to turn your back to the world and your face to God, and to be armed with a will to suffer, whatever the situation may be. If one does this, he will gain his soul-life in the kingdom. If you gain something here, it follows that you will lose something there. Either you gain or you lose. To gain today is to suffer loss in the future. To gain in the future, you must suffer loss today.
Once a person believes, it is definite that he has eternal life, and it is definite that every believer will be in the New Jerusalem. But before heaven and earth pass away, some believers will have no part in the kingdom. "He who hates his soul-life in this world shall keep it unto eternal life." Therefore, please pay attention to this: the Lord hates two things. First, He hates our sins; second, He hates our soul-life, which is just our self. Because the Lord hates our sins, He died for us. By believing in Him, we receive eternal life. Because the Lord hates our soul-life, He wants to do away with it (that is, to eliminate the soulish life, not the function of the soul).
Here is the difference between the soul-life and sins: whatever the soul desires may not be sinful. Lying, pride, jealousy, etc., are sins. But to wear what you should not wear or eat what you should not eat is the soul-life. Nice clothing, good food, and extravagant spending cannot be considered sinful, but they certainly gratify the soul.
Madame Guyon was one who was very deep in the Lord during the seventeenth century. She clearly realized the difference between sins and the soul-life. She did not express it in the same way we do, yet her experiences verified the same thing. She was born and raised in France; her family was related to the class of nobility, and she had the title of "Madame." Each time she visited Paris, she was fearful because she knew very well that her heart would be moved by the things she saw. Later, she overcame this. However, she became fearful of another thing: to look into the mirror. She was very attractive; the more she looked at herself in the mirror, the more she was conscious of her beauty. She even thought that when she walked, she carried herself far more gracefully than all the other women. This is the soul-life. The soul is man's natural nature, that is, the nature he has as a creature.
If a person believes in the Lord and overcomes sins, he can enter heaven. But if he puts away the soul-life and overcomes it, he can enter the kingdom. The reason God does not allow us to indulge ourselves in the matter of clothing, food, and shelter in this age is that these things have already been infected with the world. To possess these things is to be contaminated with the world. Today even a dress or a meal readily causes us to fall into the world. However, when we are in the kingdom, no matter how much we appreciate the beautiful scenery, it will only cause us to praise God's creation the more. Even the appreciation of ourselves at that time will only motivate us to praise God for His salvation. There will be no trace of sin in the kingdom because Satan will be bound and sin will not be in this world.
When God's Son was on the earth, the only thing He took was the cross; the rest was borrowed. The manger was borrowed; the inn was borrowed; the donkey which carried Him into Jerusalem was borrowed; and the room where they kept the Passover feast was borrowed. Finally, even the tomb was borrowed. He had nothing that was not borrowed. How different we are from Him!
Those who overcome sins go to heaven; those who overcome the world go to the kingdom. This is certain. God is calling us for this one thing — to not love the world and only desire the kingdom. He wants us to hate our self and seek after the kingdom.
Verse 38: "But My righteous one shall live by faith." The righteous ones here are us who have been saved through faith in Jesus. For the righteous ones to live by faith means that those who are saved shall live by faith day by day. Many have asked me, "If justification is by faith, and the justified ones still have to live by faith, are there then two faiths?" Well, I shall talk about the second faith later. For now, just remember that every justified person must live by faith.
"And if he shrinks back, My soul does not delight in him." "He" refers to the righteous one. "If he shrinks back." Only a believer has the possibility of shrinking back. Although a justified person is saved, it is still possible for him to shrink back. "My" refers to God. God has no pleasure in a justified person who shrinks back.
Verse 39: "But we are not of those who shrink back to ruin but of them who have faith to the gaining of the soul." What happens when one shrinks back? He shrinks back to ruin. Believers have eternal life and shall not perish. However, it is still possible for us to shrink back to ruin. What is ruin? It means that everything has become vain, destroyed, and finished. But we are "of them who have faith to the gaining of the soul." Here again, this word speaks of the salvation of the soul. To shrink back is to shrink back to ruin; to come forward is to come forward to the saving of the soul. We either shrink back to ruin or come forward to the saving of the soul.
Some think that since "shrink back to ruin" sounds so unpleasant, it must not refer to Christians. However, only a Christian has the possibility of shrinking back. Sinners have nowhere to shrink back to. Where can they shrink back to? Whoever does not believe in the Son, his sins are condemned already. Only a Christian has the possibility of shrinking back. A believer should actually be rewarded for his works on earth. But because he shrinks back, all is lost. Although he has preached the word in the Lord's name, cast out demons in the Lord's name, and performed many miracles, the Lord will not acknowledge any of those. Instead, He will say to him, "I never knew you. Depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness" (Matt. 7:23).
However, "we are not of those who shrink back to ruin but of them who have faith to the gaining of the soul." Here it speaks of the salvation of the soul through faith. What is this faith? What is meant by "but of them who have faith to the gaining of the soul"? Let us read Hebrews 11:1. "Now faith is the substantiation of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." This is the faith for the salvation of the soul. This is the faith which the righteous ones live by. Chapter eleven should immediately follow the last verse of chapter ten. This faith is "the substantiation of things hoped for"; it is not the faith in Jesus. This faith can save your soul. This faith is "the conviction of things not seen"; it is not faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Gospel of John mentions many times that one receives eternal life by believing in the Son. Those instances refer to the faith in the Lord. Here faith refers to a thing.
What is the thing? Let us read Hebrews 11:13-16. "All these died in faith, not receiving the promises but seeing them from afar and joyfully greeting them and confessing that they were strangers and sojourners on the earth. For those who say such things make it manifest that they seek after a country of their own. And if indeed they continued to remember that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return; but as it is, they long after a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them." Have we seen it? What does it say this faith is? It is believing that God has prepared a city for them in the kingdom; it is believing that they are but strangers and sojourners on this earth, that this earth is not their country, and that everything they have is in the future and not in this present age. A city standing firmly cannot fall. The righteous ones believe in this daily, and they live by this faith. The soul is saved by this faith. Unfortunately, many believers forget that they are merely strangers and sojourners on the earth!
Verses 17-18: "All good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variation or shadow cast by turning. He brought us forth by the word of truth, purposing that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures." Verse 17 mentions the gift; verse 18 says that God brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. These two verses go together. Verse 17 says that God gave a gift; verse 18 says that this gift is the eternal life which God has given us. This shows that those who received this Epistle of James already had the gift. They were already the firstfruits; they had already been brought forth of God by the word of truth and were already saved.
Verses 19-21: "You know this, my beloved brothers; but let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not accomplish the righteousness of God. Therefore putting away all filthiness and the abundance of malice, receive in meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls." That the hearers were addressed as the beloved brothers in verse 19 proves that they were saved already. It is as if James is saying, "You know that you have been regenerated and are saved, but this is not enough; you still need to `receive in meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.'" James shows us very clearly that even though a man is regenerated, his soul is not yet saved; he still needs to receive the word that is able to save his soul. The salvation of the soul is a matter which comes after regeneration. If a person is not regenerated, it is not possible for his soul to be saved. God has preached to us the word, which is the gospel of the kingdom. Now we must lose our soul-life today. I have already mentioned twice that there are many things which we ourselves are unable to do. However, if we are willing to allow the Holy Spirit to work in us, He can do these things for us. Gaining the soul is similar to gaining eternal life; if a sinner refuses to be saved, God will not put him in heaven. Whoever will, may certainly drink freely the water of life. Nevertheless, if one is not willing to come to the Lord, He has no way to save him. Likewise, if we are not willing to lose our soul-life, neither will the Lord put us into the kingdom. We must ask the Lord to bring us to the point where we are willing to lose our soul-life; then the Lord can have a way.
Verses 3-4: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, kept in the heavens for you." These two verses tell us that those who received this Epistle have been saved.
Verse 5: "Who are being guarded by the power of God through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed at the last time." What is the faith referred to here? It is the same faith which the righteous live by in Hebrews 10:38. Although they are saved, they still have not obtained the salvation which is ready to be revealed at the last time. It is good to be regenerated, but it is not sufficient. We still need to gain the salvation ready to be revealed at the last time.
Verses 6-8: "In which time you exult, though for a little while at present, if it must be, you have been made sorrowful by various trials, so that the proving of your faith, much more precious than of gold which perishes though it is proved by fire, may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; whom having not seen, you love; into whom though not seeing Him at present, yet believing, you exult with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory." These verses say that because of the salvation that is to come, one is able to rejoice in spite of the various trials.
Verse 9: "Receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls." Again, this verse clearly speaks of the salvation of the soul. Peter is also one who says that those who have been regenerated need a further salvation, the salvation of the soul. When will one receive this salvation? It will be received at the last time, which is the time of the Lord's manifestation on the earth. The final end of every saved person is the same, but in the kingdom there are differences. It is true that once we believe on the Lord, we are saved. But our soul also must be saved.
"Beloved, I entreat you as strangers and sojourners to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul." When the lusts war against the soul, the soul profits nothing.
"For you were like sheep being led astray, but you have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls." Let us lay hold of this verse; we do have a Shepherd who oversees our souls.
Finally, I want to mention two more verses. Let us pay attention to them.
"For it is time for the judgment to begin from the house of God; and if first from us, what will be the end of those who disobey the gospel of God? And if the righteous man is saved only with difficulty, where will the ungodly and sinner appear? So then let those also who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls in well-doing to a faithful Creator." Let us lay hold of God's word. We are God's house already. Yet judgment begins from the house of God. Some of the righteous ones are scarcely saved! So brothers and sisters, we must suffer according to the will of God and commit our souls to the faithful Creator! We must not hold back anything for the soul-life or allow the soul-life to have enjoyment. Rather, let us suffer according to the will of God.
"Therefore, brothers, be the more diligent to make your calling and selection firm, for doing these things you shall by no means ever stumble. For in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly and bountifully supplied to you." The fact that these ones were called brothers shows that they were saved. However, they still needed to be more diligent to make their calling and election firm. Eternal life, once received, cannot be shaken. But in the kingdom, some shall be shaken.
Let us compare the two phrases: "saved only with difficulty" and an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ being "richly and bountifully supplied." The one is scarcely saved and has not advanced any further than regeneration. It is like obtaining only a mark of 70 when the lowest passing mark is 70. This is a half salvation. We must be one unto whom the entrance into the kingdom is richly and bountifully supplied.
I will now relate a story to illustrate this point. At the end of the European War, there was a huge celebration in London. The turnout was unprecedented in the history of London. The war had just concluded, and the soldiers were having a victory parade and were there to be welcomed by the crowd. As the soldiers paraded through, the people cheered and applauded. In the minds of many, were it not for the courage of these soldiers, England could not have been saved. The applause persisted as the soldiers marched onward step by step. While the units passed by rank after rank, suddenly, there was a crescendo of applause; in fact, many started weeping. The nobility saluted, and even the king took off his crown. What had happened? Trailing behind was car after car of soldiers who had either broken arms, injured legs, missing limbs, or serious wounds. These were the ones who were wounded in battle. They were received with the greatest honor and respect. The soldiers who marched ahead of them made it; however, the glory they received could hardly be compared to that of these wounded soldiers.
Those who are scarcely saved will enter into heaven on that day, but they will not have a rich and abundant entrance into God's kingdom. If we have suffered on earth and forsaken things for the Lord's sake, on that day we will enjoy what those wounded soldiers enjoyed in their triumphant procession. The applause will be loud, the praises will be great, and the glory will also be great. Every one of us should endure pain and suffer loss for the Lord's sake. On that day, we will receive a crown on our head. Our soul must be saved. May we be poorer, may we suffer more, and may we forsake all for the Lord's sake. May God bless us.
