Salvation takes place initially and specifically when we first place our faith in the Lord Jesus and are baptized in water.

Salvation takes place throughout our lifetime as we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.

Salvation is coming in the future when the Lord Jesus appears with the saints and holy angels. Salvation is past, present, and future. If we would finally be saved we must endure to the end.

In order to gain a more accurate view of the Christian salvation we might compare salvation to physical healing.

Let us consider tuberculosis. Let us say a person had an advanced case of tuberculosis. He goes to the doctor. The doctor says, "I can heal you. Do not worry about it. Your healing is guaranteed."

The patient rejoices at this news. His healing is assured. He need have no more fear of dying at an early age.

The doctor then says, "First of all, you will be in the hospital for a month while we monitor your vital signs. If all goes well you may return home. But you must stay in bed for an entire year, doing no work at all. Also, we have a medicine that has proved to be very effective and you must take it regularly. If you will follow my advice your healing is guaranteed."

The question is, has the sick man been healed or not?

One might say, he has been guaranteed healing but he must follow the doctor's advice if the healing is to become a fact.

Then the patient thinks to himself, "I have so much I want to do I cannot go to the hospital or remain in bed for such a long time. I will get some rest and take the medicine and hope I will recover."

Will he be healed or not?

Each of us was born with the guilt of sin hanging over us and a disfigured personality. It is God's will we be forgiven our sin, conformed to the moral image of the Lord Jesus, and brought into complete, untroubled union with the Father through the Lord Jesus. This is what it means for us to be "healed" spiritually, to be saved.

We are healed (saved) so we may have eternal fellowship with the Father and the Son (that which was lost in Eden) and so we may be suited for the many purposes God has in mind for the saints. God's purposes include the establishing of a royal priesthood, the forming of a Bride for the Lamb, the development of brothers for the Lord Jesus, and the perfecting of living stones in the eternal Temple of God.

We come to the Lord Jesus. He forgives our sin, gives us of His body and blood, and provides us with a portion of His Holy Spirit, a deposit on the fullness to come in the Day of the Lord.

The Lord Jesus assures us we shall be healed. He will keep what we have committed to Him so in the Day of the Lord we shall be saved from destruction.

Then the Lord tells us what we must do in order to be "healed." We must pray, read the Scriptures, and keep His Word. We must obey the commandments of the Apostles. We must confess our sins and turn away from them as the Holy Spirit leads and enables us. We must endure throughout the persecutions and temptations of the great rebellion against authority.

To be continued.