The Age of Salvation

Jesus came “upon the last of these days” to provide salvation and redemption to men and women of every nation, and without distinction. Jesus of Nazareth declared that “all authority in heaven and on earth is given to me, therefore, go and make disciples of all nations.” He then sent his disciples to announce the salvation purchased by his death “to the ends of the Earth,” and this was in accordance with Scripture:

• “I will tell of the decree. Yahweh said to me: You are my son! This day, I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession” – (Psalm 2:7-8).

• “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give you for a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth” – (Isaiah 49:6).

[Photo by David Becker (Germany) on Unsplash]

The Age of Salvation, “the last days,” began with Christ’s Death, Resurrection, and Enthronement, and so, his life-giving message must be announced to all men and every nation before his return at the end of the present age. The Son of God has achieved everlasting salvation for his people, which is now being proclaimed across the Earth.

This salvation includes the redemption of the nations. The legal claims of Satan on humanity and nations were voided by the Death and Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. The World Empire will not prevail forever; it will vanish from the Earth.

The appearance of Jesus Christ in History signaled the new epoch that will conclude with his return “on the clouds,” the resurrection of the righteous dead, the end of death, the arrival of “the New Heavens and New Earth,” and the final judgment.

The Cross is the hinge on which History has turned, and ever since the death of the Nazarene, the existing World Order - its institutions and ideologies - has entered its terminal phase:

• “When the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, who came to be of a woman, who came to be under law, that he might redeem those who were under the law; that we might receive the sonship” – (Galatians 4:4-5).

• “For the forms of this world are passing away” – (1 Corinthians 7:31).

• “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. <…>  But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells” – (2 Peter 3:10-13).

The idea of a new era of salvation and fulfillment is implicit in the opening words of the Letter to the Hebrews. God has spoken with great finality in His Son:

• “Many parts and many ways of old, God, having spoken to the fathers in the prophets, upon the end of these days, has spoken to us in a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the ages, who being the eradiated brightness of his glory, and the precise impress of his essence, and upholding all things by the utterance of his power, having achieved the purification of sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high” – (Hebrews 1:1-3).

• “Yahweh said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool” – (Psalm 110:1).

Through his sacrificial death, Jesus has cleansed the stain of our sins. Therefore, God resurrected Christ and seated him on the messianic throne as our High Priest who mediates and intercedes for us in the very presence of God.

• “Now, in the things that we are saying, the chief point is this. We have such a high priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a servant of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord erected, not man” – (Hebrews 8:1-2).

The death of Jesus was not just another interim stage in a long series of redemptive actions, but the definitive saving act of God in history for His children. Everything that preceded Jesus prepared for and culminated in his Death and Resurrection.

ONCE FOR ALL TIME

Christ’s death on the cross was his once and for all sacrifice for sins that secured salvation for every man and woman who submits to his lordship, the nonrepeatable sacrifice that redeems men from bondage to sin and death:

• “Since then, the children are partners in flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same, that through death he might bring to nothing him that had the tyranny of death, that is, the Devil, and that he might release all those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to slavery” – (Hebrews 2:14-15).

• “And having been made complete, he became for all those who obey him the author of everlasting salvation” – (Hebrews 5:9).

• “For such a high priest as this was even suited for us: Loving, noble, undefiled, set apart from sinners, and become higher than the heavens, who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. For this he did once and for all when he offered himself” – (Hebrews 7:26-27).

• “But now, once, at the conclusion of the ages, he has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And since it is appointed to men to die once and for all, and after this comes judgment, so also Christ, having been offered once and for all to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, apart from sin, to those who are awaiting him for salvation” – (Hebrews 9:26-27. Note the verbal allusion to Isaiah 53:12).

This salvation is for men and women of every generation and nation without exception. Jesus died, and God raised him from the dead, so that we will no longer live in bondage to sin and the fear of death – (Philippians 2:6-11, Revelation 1:6-8,3:21, 5:5-14).

God has spoken with eloquent finality in and through His Son. He alone “achieved the purification of sin,” and he did so in recent times, “upon the last of these days.” Therefore, he sits as our faithful High Priest at God’s right hand, the only one who ever conquered death.

Because of his Death and Resurrection, anyone may now receive justification before God “from the faith of Jesus Christ.” For us, death will be reversed when he raises us from the dead on the last day. Death will not have the last word. Moreover, Biblical Christianity is a forward-looking faith:

• “By faith, Abraham, accounting that God can resurrect even from the dead, from whence he did also in a figure receive Isaac back” – (Hebrews 11:19).

• “Consequently, seeing that we also have encircling us so great a cloud of witnesses, casting off every incumbrance and the easily entangling sin, with endurance, let us be running the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who, instead of the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” – (Hebrews 12:1-2).

• “But now, apart from the law, a righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God through the faith of Jesus Christ for all those who believe, for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and lack the glory of God” – (Romans 3:21-23).

Salvation is provided on the same basis to every man, woman, and child, from the faith of Jesus Christ, namely, his sacrificial death. The Death and Resurrection of Christ has secured for all time our access to the Creator of all things.

• “Having then a great high priest, who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help us in time of need” - (Hebrews 4:14-16).

Jesus is the Messiah who “gave his life” as the ransom price to free us from sin, Satan, and death, and he did this “once and for all at the conclusion of the ages.”

• “But he, by reason of his remaining forevermore, holds the priesthood untransmissible. Therefore, he is able to be saving unto the very end those who approach God through him, since he lives evermore to be interceding for them” - (Hebrews 7:24-25).

• “Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us therefore go forth to him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For we do not have here an abiding city, but we seek the city that is to come. Through him, then, let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which make confession to his name” – (Hebrews 13:12-15).

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SEE ALSO:

• Good News For All Nations - (The Good News announced by Jesus of Nazareth provides salvation and life for men and women of every nation and people)

• Death, the Last Enemy - (The arrival of Jesus at the end of the age will mean the resurrection and the end of the Last Enemy, namely, Death - 1 Corinthians 15:24-28)

• Coming on the Clouds - (Portions of Daniel’s vision of the Fourth Beast with the Little Horn are applied to Jesus and his saints in the New Testament)

• L'Âge du Salut - (Jésus est venu “au dernier de ces jours” pour apporter le salut et la rédemption aux hommes et aux femmes de toutes les nations, et sans distinction)