Scripture Reading: 1 Pet. 1:5
In this message I would like to say a further word on the three stages of God’s full salvation.
First Peter 1:5 says, “Who are being guarded by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the last time.” Many years ago I was bothered whenever I read this verse. I was troubled by the phrase “unto salvation.” According to this phrase, it would seem that we do not yet have salvation, for we are being guarded by the power of God unto salvation. I could not understand why we are being guarded unto salvation if we have already received salvation. I was certain that I had received God’s salvation and had been saved. Regarding this matter, I was very strong. Whenever someone asked me if I had been saved, I replied, “Yes, I have been saved.” Furthermore, I visited many places preaching the assurance of salvation. I pointed out the verses in the New Testament that indicate that, when we believed in the Lord Jesus, we were saved and that we may have the assurance of this salvation. But here is a verse in 1 Peter 1:5 with the phrase “unto salvation.” I wondered if Peter was correct in his knowledge regarding salvation. I thought that he might have said something wrong according to doctrine. I had such a consideration because I was puzzled, bothered, by this verse.
In 1:5 Peter says that this salvation is “ready to be revealed.” This means that salvation is not yet here. Therefore, I said to myself, “What does it mean that salvation is ready to be revealed? I have already received God’s salvation. How, then, can salvation be ready to be revealed? Peter says that salvation is ready to be revealed at the last time. What is this last time?” I was bothered not only by the phrase “unto salvation,” but also by the words “ready to be revealed at the last time.” I did not know why salvation had yet to be revealed, and I did not understand when the last time would be.
I was puzzled by 1:5 for almost forty years. Only in the last period of my Christian life did I begin to understand it. Now I realize that salvation is not a simple matter. Salvation covers a long span and cannot be enjoyed or experienced all at once. God’s full salvation is of three stages: the initial stage, the progressing stage, and the completing stage. I would encourage all the saints, especially the young people, to gain a thorough knowledge of these three stages of God’s full salvation. In particular, we need to understand what God’s salvation does for us in each stage. We need to know from what we are delivered by each stage of God’s full salvation. We also need to know the items or aspects of this salvation and its results. In each of the three stages of God’s full salvation we are delivered from particular things, we experience certain matters, and we have definite results.
The word “salvation” in 1:5 denotes the full salvation of the Triune God. This means that it does not refer only to a part of our salvation, to that initial aspect of salvation that comes through the Savior, Jesus Christ. Rather, this is the full salvation of the Triune God, of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. In this full salvation a great part is accomplished by the Father; another great part, by the Son; and yet another great part, by the Spirit. Therefore, this salvation is the full salvation of the Trinity of the Godhead.
The full salvation of the Triune God comprises many items in three stages. As we have pointed out, these stages are the initial stage, the progressing stage, and the completing stage. These three stages are not divided according to knowledge or merely according to objective aspects of God’s salvation. On the contrary, these stages are arranged according to life. Spiritual life, as we all know, begins with regeneration, continues in transformation, and reaches maturity in the stage of consummation. Therefore, these three stages of salvation are divided according to the experience of life.
The initial stage, the stage of regeneration, is composed of redemption, sanctification (positional — 1:2; 1 Cor. 6:11), justification, reconciliation, and regeneration. Redemption, sanctification, justification, and reconciliation are all for regeneration. Regeneration is the totality of redemption, sanctification, justification, and reconciliation. Regeneration is the result of these four matters.
In the stage of regeneration God has justified us through the redemption of Christ (Rom. 3:24-26), and He has regenerated us in our spirit with His life by His Spirit (John 3:3-6). Thus, we have received God’s eternal salvation (Heb. 5:9) and His eternal life (John 3:15), and we have become His children (John 1:12-13), who shall not perish forever (John 10:28-29).
God has regenerated us in our spirit. The element, the substance, God used to regenerate us is His own life. Furthermore, this regeneration with God’s life was accomplished by a Person, that is, by God’s Spirit. As a result of this regeneration, we have received God’s eternal salvation and His eternal life. In this sense we have already received God’s salvation. No one can deny that we have received God’s salvation in its first stage. There is no need for us to grow unto this stage, and it is not necessary for us to wait until it is revealed to us. We have received two things that are eternal — eternal salvation and eternal life. This is not my teaching, theology, or opinion; it is the revelation of God’s pure Word.
Because we have been regenerated and have received God’s eternal salvation and eternal life, we have become God’s children. As children of God, we shall never perish. This truth should strengthen us and keep us from the erroneous teaching that says if we sin after we have been saved, we shall perish. That teaching is nonsensical and is absolutely not according to the truth. Once we have received God’s eternal salvation, we are saved forever, for eternity. God’s eternal salvation is not dispensational; it is not temporary. Because it is an eternal salvation, we shall never perish.
This initial salvation of God has saved us from God’s condemnation and from eternal perdition (16, John 3:18). However, although this initial salvation saves us from God’s condemnation and from eternal perdition, it does not save us from God’s discipline. During our lifetime God will discipline us and may even punish us. In 1 Corinthians 11 Paul indicates that God judges, disciplines, and even punishes the believers. This does not mean, however, that those who are disciplined by God will lose their salvation. According to Scripture, on the one hand, we have been saved for eternity. We shall never be condemned by God, and we shall never perish. On the other hand, while we are living on earth in the flesh, God will deal with us and discipline us. Sometimes He may even judge us or punish us. By this we see that through the initial stage of God’s salvation, we receive eternal salvation and eternal life. Although we shall never perish, we may experience God’s discipline during our lifetime. But it is altogether contrary to the Bible to teach that to be disciplined by God means that we shall lose our salvation. God may punish us for certain things, but we have been saved for eternity and we shall never lose this eternal salvation.
The second stage of God’s full salvation, the progressing stage, is the stage of transformation. This stage is composed of freedom from sin, sanctification (mainly dispositional — Rom. 6:19, 22), growth in life, transformation, building up, and maturing. The sanctification in this stage is mainly dispositional, although there is still an amount of positional sanctification. In the first stage sanctification is altogether positional; in the second stage sanctification is mainly dispositional.
In this stage of transformation God is freeing us from the dominion of indwelling sin — the law of sin and death — by the law of the Spirit of life through the effectiveness of the death of Christ working subjectively in us (Rom. 6:6-7; 7:16-20; 8:2). In the second stage God is also sanctifying us by His Holy Spirit (Rom. 15:16), with His holy nature, through His discipline (Heb. 12:10) and His judgment in His own house (1 Pet. 4:17). God is now sanctifying us by a Person, and this Person is the Holy Spirit. The element, the substance, God uses to sanctify us is His holy nature. The means through which we are sanctified is God’s discipline and judgment, the judgment He exercises in governing His own house.
In the progressing stage of salvation God is also causing us to grow in His life (1 Cor. 3:6-7). He is transforming us by renewing the inward parts of our soul by the life-giving Spirit (2 Cor. 3:6, 17-18; Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23) through the working of all things (Rom. 8:28). He is building us together into a spiritual house for His dwelling (1 Pet. 2:5; Eph. 2:22), and He is maturing us in His life (Rev. 14:15) for the completion of His full salvation.
In the first stage of God’s salvation we are saved from God’s condemnation and from eternal perdition. But in the second stage we are being delivered from the power of sin, the world, the flesh, the self, the soul (the natural life), and individualism. Therefore, in this stage we are in the process of being delivered from so many negative things. The goal of this deliverance is that we would have maturity in the divine life for the fulfilling of God’s eternal purpose.
The third stage of God’s full salvation, the completing stage, is the stage of consummation. This stage is composed of the redemption (transfiguration) of our body, conformity to the Lord, glorification, inheritance of God’s kingdom, participation in Christ’s kingship, and the topmost enjoyment of the Lord. These matters are beyond our present experience. They will be revealed to us in the future. Although we have experienced the first stage of salvation and are now in the second stage, the third stage is still far beyond us. The items in this stage will be revealed at the unveiling of the Lord Jesus.
In the completing stage of salvation, God will redeem our fallen and corrupted body (Rom. 8:23) by transfiguring it into the body of Christ’s glory (Phil. 3:21). He will conform us to the glorious image of His firstborn Son (Rom. 8:29), making us holy and absolutely like Him in our regenerated spirit, transformed soul, and transfigured body. He will also glorify us (Rom. 8:30), immersing us in His glory (Heb. 2:10) that we may enter into His heavenly kingdom (2 Tim. 4:18; 2 Pet. 1:11), into which He has called us (1 Thes. 2:12), and inherit it as the topmost portion of His blessing (James 2:5; Gal. 5:21), even to reign with Christ, to be His co-kings, participating in His kingship over the nations (2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 20:4, 6; 2:26-27; 12:5) and sharing His royal, kingly joy in His divine government (Matt. 25:21, 23). Our body will be freed from the slavery of corruption of the old creation into the freedom of the glory of God’s new creation (Rom. 8:21), and our soul will be delivered out of the realm of trials and sufferings (1 Pet. 1:6; 4:12; 3:14; 5:9) into a new realm, full of glory (4:13; 5:10). In this new realm we shall share and enjoy all the Triune God is, has, and has accomplished, attained, and obtained.
Recently some brothers said to me, “Brother, in this country we enjoy all manner of riches, but the saints in other places are poor and they are suffering many things, including persecution. This does not seem fair. While they are suffering so much, we are here in this country enjoying good things.”
I replied, “The saints in other countries are suffering their own kind of trials, whereas we in the United States are suffering in a different way. When I was in China, I didn’t suffer the kind of things I am suffering now. Do not think that because we may have an abundance of material things we do not have sufferings. Many Americans suffer from heart disease, ulcers, and mental illness. In this country we may suffer in one way, whereas those in other countries may suffer in a different way. Wherever we may be, we shall suffer and be subject to God’s discipline.”
There is no way for us to avoid suffering in our soul. To live on earth as a human being is to suffer. The earth today is not for our enjoyment.
The young people may expect to finish their education, find a good job, and then have a very pleasant married life. They need to realize, however, that on this earth there is no paradise. We must wait for the Lord’s coming to be saved from the realm of suffering into a realm of comfort. That will be the full salvation of our soul.
I can testify that although I have a good wife and although I am loved by the saints and the churches, I continue to suffer a great deal in my soul. No one can help me to avoid this suffering. Therefore, I am waiting for the unveiling of the Lord Jesus. At the time of His coming back, I shall be rescued from this realm of suffering into a realm of enjoyment. In that realm we shall have the full enjoyment of the Triune God and of all that He is, has, and has accomplished, attained, and obtained.
This is the salvation of our souls that is ready to be revealed to us at the last time. This is also the grace that will be brought to us at the unveiling of Christ in glory (1:13; Matt. 16:27; 25:31). Furthermore, this is the end of our faith (1 Pet. 1:9). The power of God is able to guard us unto this that we may obtain it. Therefore, we should eagerly expect such a marvelous salvation (Rom. 8:23), and we should prepare ourselves for its splendid revelation (Rom. 8:19). Hallelujah for the full salvation of the Triune God in its three stages!
