The Redemption of the Purchased Possession - Part 3

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver

THE REDEMPTION OF THE PURCHASED POSSESSION
The Earnest Looks Forward to the Fullness. Everything we now experience in Christ will be improved and increased upon the redemption of the purchased possession. Our experience in Heaven will not be entirely different than our experience here, but it will be better. What I am saying is that the earnest is in accord with the fullness. Because our fellowship with the Lord will be more intimate and unhindered our experience of salvation will be more potent and abundant. This vile body, this present evil world, the frailty of our minds and partial nature of our knowledge all hinder us from greater fellowship with the Lord. But when this mortal shall have put on immortality and when we know as we have been fully known, then our fellowship with Deity will be enhanced. Our hearts will be given a greater capacity to be enlarged. Again, this is similar to our experience now but without the limitations accompanying the "now".

Our Inheritance is a Purchased Possession. The inheritance and possession for which we long is not something that we are working towards but something that we are waiting for. It is not "for sale." Christ has already purchased our inheritance and it is reserved in heaven for us. We are awaiting the redemption of the purchased possession.

The great price for the redemption of a man’s soul is briefly expressed through the psalmist in the following words:

“Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about? They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him; for the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever, that he should still live for ever and not see corruption.” (Psalm 49:5-9)

How can man the soul of man be redeemed? How? By what means? Through what payment? Who could pay such a steep cost? The gospel reveals that God has purchased His church with His own blood. It declares that He who was rich became poor that through His poverty we might be made rich! Our hope of salvation and blessing rests on the purchasing power of the Savior and His currency. Can He do it? Does He have the means? Will His payment be accepted? “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Pet 1:18-19).

The Redemption of the Purchased Possession - Part 2

OUR PRESENT EXPERIENCE

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver

In Whom. Our salvation will never be separated from Jesus. We will never be able to experience or maintain an acceptable standing with God without Jesus ever living to make intercession for us. Whether we be here or there our association with the Lamb is what makes us pleasing to God. Everything we are and everything we do has to do with this phrase "in Whom".
     He is gathering all things together in Christ
     We have obtained an inheritance in Christ.
     We have trusted in Christ.
     We have been sealed with the Holy Spirit in Christ.

We Heard the Word of Truth. The mystery of His will is manifested through the gospel: the preaching of the good news of our salvation. That God is delivering, blessing, and rewarding men through the Man, Christ Jesus. The gospel announces that everything necessary for the fulness of joy to be realized is brought to us in Jesus. God is blessing the world through Him. The word of the truth of the gospel reveals the hidden mystery that God “spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all” and in view of this great sacrifice, “how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Rom 8:32). The “redemption of the purchased possession” speaks of the full obtainment of “all things” that are freely given to us in Christ. The gospel both announces and reveals this; it both declares the truth and gives the understanding of these things.

The Will of God was Made Known to Us. It is God's will that has been made known to us. He is showing us, through the gospel, His intention, desire and purpose. Our salvation is progressing from us being enlightened to this truth to actively experiencing it.

The will of God is primarily concerned with what He is doing in Himself, His Christ and His Spirit. It is in accord with His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself. The will of God involves Him gathering all things together in Christ. His will includes predestinating us to obtain an inheritance through Christ. He is working all His purpose after the counsel of His own will. He is glorified in salvation! What are we to do? Trust in Jesus.

We Trusted in Jesus. We have committed our lives and our souls to the One who is able to keep us and present us before God without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. We have staked the eternal condition of our souls on the fact that God is satisfied with the sacrifice of Christ and that Christ is, and will remain, one with the Father: acceptable to Him, blessed by Him and seated at His right hand. We have trusted that the blood of Christ is able to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesses. This is our present experience and our future experience will be in accord with it but better. We know in Whom we have believed and are persuaded that He is able to keep that which we have committed to Him against that day and we trust that we will be better for having done it. We will, now and always, follow the Lamb withersoever He goest, trusting in His provision of green pastures and still waters.

We Were Sealed IN Jesus WITH the Holy Spirit. We have, in Christ, “tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come” (Heb 6:4-5). We have been given an earnest, a pledge, a down payment of what we will be given in heaven. And by receiving of His fullness we have been "sealed unto the day of redemption” (Eph 4:30). He has "sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts” in order to establish us, anoint us and transform us into what we will be when we shed this robe of flesh. All this has been done by Jesus with the Holy Spirit and it has great utility for us to live by faith and patience. Having a treasure in an earthen vessel makes us grossly discontent with our present condition and causes us to long for a better more fitting dwelling. The Holy Spirit is our pledge that we will possess that which was purchased for us by Christ. We will receive a body that will not be a hindrance but a help to us. We will receive a body fit for heaven and a body fit to house the Holy Spirit.

For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:1-8)

“And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.” (Romans 8:20-25)

The Redemption of the Purchased Possession - Part 1

Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver

purposed in Himself: that in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him: in Whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will: that we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ. In Whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in Whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1:9-14)

PRELIMINARY THOUGHTS CONCERNING SALVATION

First, the work of salvation is progressive in nature and it is actively moving toward it’s ordained end. In other words, God has begun a good work through Christ and He fully intends on bringing it to completion. The fullness of God's intention in salvation has not yet been brought to pass but it will in the world to come. If the Lord has said it you can be certain that He will do it. If He has purchased it, you can be certain He will redeem it. 

Furthermore, the partaking of Divine benefit and blessing, as everything in the kingdom of God, is increasing. So, everyone engaged in it now will see further involvement then. Thus, as those in Christ are translated from this world to that which is to come, their experience will be in accord with their current experience but also enhanced, improved, increased, and perfected. What we have partaken of here in the first fruits sense will be abundantly enjoyed there in the full obtainment sense. It will be of the same source and of the same substance but it will be better; a sort of unfiltered and unabated experience of the provision of God and the work of God. Specific to the text before us we can say, “we have been given an earnest of our inheritance, but the redemption of the purchased possession is in order to a better work than the earnest of it.”

Lastly, salvation is a fellowship and as such it’s benefits are mutually enjoyed by both the Savior and the saved. In fact, what God is working in Christ is pleasing and beneficial to all involved in it. The Godhead is involved and blessed by men being saved. Men themselves are involved and benefit greatly from salvation. The heavenly angels are even involved in ministering to the heirs of salvation and they are blessed by beholding such a great work, also. All those involved in the work of salvation are benefitted by it. Therefore the completion of the work will be to the end that all are blessed for evermore and all readily praise the Savior saying, "it is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes." It will all be to the praise of His glory.

THINGS KEPT SECRET ARE NOW MADE MANIFEST

God is making known mysteries that have been in hidden from man since before the foundations of the earth were laid. And because the wisdom of man never comes to the knowledge of God, of His own will, God has revealed these mysteries to us by His Spirit. And both the revelation of the mystery of His will and the accomplishment of it are unto the praise of His glory.

“Hermeneutics” has been defined as the science of studying, interpreting, and understanding a text, primarily Scripture. When it comes to understanding the mysteries of heaven the only effective and true hermeneutic is Divine revelation. The mysteries of God must be revealed by God and if they are not, no amount of earthly expertise will find them out. Here is some good news: God is a revealer of mysteries.