Food for Friday
And being made perfect, He became the Author of eternal salvation to all them that obey Him. Hebrews 5:9
When I was working with some secure information recently, the program on my computer prompted me to select a security question and provide a security answer to the question. One of the options was the question, Who is your favourite author? That got me thinking about a favourite author when I was a youngster. James Oliver Curwood wrote a good many stories about the Canadian north, adventure stories with some wonderful human and animal characters. Who was your favourite author from your childhood? There were, and are, so many wonderful authors! But there never was an author like the One identified in our text as the Author of eternal salvation. He is also known as the Author and Finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). Those are high titles for One Who as far as we know never wrote anything other than a message in the dirt (John 8:6-8) and we don’t know even what that message was! But the Scriptures identify Him as Author, and unlike the works of other authors, the works of the Lord Jesus never need to be revised. And that is especially true of His great work of eternal salvation.
What is eternal salvation? Let’s ask a man who knew something of the subject, and who preached about it often, none other than that prince of preachers, Charles H. Spurgeon: ‘Brethren, what a grand expression that is, ‘eternal salvation’! You know that there are some who preach a temporary salvation; they say that you may be in Christ today and out of Christ tomorrow, that you may be saved by grace at one hour, but damned by sin the next. Ah! but the Bible says no such thing. This may be the gospel according to (Jacobus) Arminius, but it is not the gospel according to John, nor according to Paul, nor according to our Lord Jesus Christ. That gospel is, – ‘Once in Christ, in Christ for ever; Nothing from his love can sever.‘ Thank you, Brother Spurgeon! Eternal salvation is what Jesus was speaking about when He told Nicodemus about eternal and everlasting life in John 3:15 and 16. Eternal life is what the Lord Jesus was purchasing for us when He shed His blood on the cross of Calvary. Eternal life is what He provided when He made one sacrifice for sins forever (Hebrews 10:10, 12, 14). All those who are saved have eternal salvation.
But some will point out that our text says eternal salvation belongs only to those who obey the Lord Jesus. Is that so? In one way, they are right, because it is impossible for anybody to obey the Lord Jesus without first trusting Him as Saviour and Lord. The first step of obedience is that step that brings us forever into the value of the obedience of the Lord Jesus. Eternal damnation is the lot of all those who obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thessalonians 1:8) and eternal salvation is the gift to all those who obey that same Gospel.
You and I are characters in that great work called Eternal Salvation, because its Author loves us. – Jim MacIntosh