THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
God’s Complete Salvation
Message Four—The Full Salvation of the Triune God in Three Stages
Scripture Reading: Exo. 12:7-8; 16:31-32; 17:6; Deut. 8:7-10; Rom. 3:22-25; Gal. 1:4, 6:14; Rom. 6:19, 22; 12:2; 8:10; 2 Tim. 4:22; Rom. 8:4; Gal. 5:16, 25
I. According to the whole revelation of the Bible, God’s salvation is of three stages; it is a matter of a gradual process; the salvation which God intended for the children of Israel to partake of was related to three places: Egypt, from which they were delivered; the wilderness, in which they wandered; and Canaan, into which they entered; their history in these three places signifies the three stages of their participation in God’s full salvation—Exo. 12:7-8; 16:31-32; 17:6; Deut. 8:7-10:
A. In Egypt, the Israelites participated in the first stage of God’s salvation—Exo. 12:7-8:
1. At the time of the Passover, they experienced the redeeming blood of the lamb and the nourishing meat of the lamb and were saved from God’s righteous judgment—Exo. 12:7-8.
2. They had been saved from God’s judgment and from Egyptian bondage, tyranny, and slavery; however, they had only shared in one-third of God’s full salvation; with the children of Israel at that time, there was not yet the divine expression nor the divine dominion; the tabernacle had not yet been erected, and God’s divine government had not been established on earth.
3. Although the children of Israel had been saved from Egypt, they had to experience two further stages of God’s salvation for the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose.
B. After the Israelites were saved from Egypt where they ate the Passover lamb and the unleavened bread, they experienced salvation through the wilderness—16:31-32; 17:6:
1. Although they had had a sweet enjoyment of Christ, typified by the lamb in Egypt, that was merely the initial stage, the beginning; they had to enjoy, partake of, and experience Christ more, as typified by the manna and the rock flowing with living water.
2. After the exodus from Egypt, God brought wilderness; in the wilderness they enjoyed the feeding manna and the quenching water—16:31-32; 17:6.
C. After wandering in the wilderness, the children of Israel crossed the Jordan River and entered into the good land of Canaan, the third stage of their salvation—Deut. 8:7-10:
1. Here, in the third stage, in the good land, they enjoyed something more than the lamb, the unleavened bread, the manna, and the water—they enjoyed the rich produce of the land of Canaan.
2. The Passover lamb, the heavenly manna, the living water, and the produce of the good land of Canaan are all types of the different aspects of the riches of Christ.
D. All the rich enjoyment of Christ in the three stages of salvation is for the securing of the good land and the building up of the temple that there might be the expression of God and the divine government of God among men on earth; The full salvation of God with the rich enjoyment of Christ is for God’s expression and kingdom—Deut. 12:5.
E. According to what has been depicted of the children of Israel, not all believers who have been redeemed through Christ will partake of Christ as a prize to them as their rest, their satisfaction, both in the church age and in the coming kingdom; Only those who, after being redeemed, seek Christ diligently will do so—1 Cor. 10:5; Heb. 3:7-19; Num. 14:27-30.
II. According to the type of the salvation of the children of Israel, the salvation of the New Testament believers is also in three stages—Rom. 3:22-25; Gal. 1:4; 6:14; Rom. 6:19, 22; 12:2; 8:10; 2 Tim. 4:22; Rom. 8:4; Gal. 5:16, 25:
A. Firstly, we experience salvation from the world; we are justified through the blood of Jesus and separated from the world—Gal. 1:4; 6:14; Rom. 3:22-25:
1. If anyone has not made his exodus from the world, he has not completed the first stage of his salvation.
2. Today there are millions of real Christians who have been justified by faith through the blood of Christ but who are still in the world; they need an exodus.
3. We praise the Lord that we are out of the world, which includes religion; we are out of Judaism, Catholicism, and Protestantism.
B. The second stage of our salvation is salvation through the soul, which includes being sanctified and being transformed—Rom. 6:19, 22; 12:2:
1. Our soul, that is, our being, must be sanctified and transformed, saturated with all that Christ is; the very essence, element, and substance of Christ in our spirit must spread into our soul.
2. Transformation is not a moral correction nor a change of ethical behavior; transformation means that our humanity is firstly cleansed by the Lord’s redeeming blood and then mingled with the anointing oil—the Holy Spirit—until we are sanctified, made holy, both positionally and dispositionally.
3. In this stage, the second stage of our salvation, we enjoy Christ as the heavenly manna and as the living water, as the life-giving Spirit which comes out of the cleft rock which is Christ Himself; in this stage of transformation, we enjoy Christ in a richer and more subjective way.
C. The third stage of our salvation is salvation into our spirit; we must all leave the wilderness and cross the river into our spirit, where we enjoy Christ as our life and where we should live and walk—Rom.8:10; 2 Tim. 4:22; Rom. 8:4; Gal. 5:16, 25.
III. Since the tabernacle and the temple are of three sections, the three stages of God’s salvation correspond to the experiences in the tabernacle and the temple—Lev. 4:7; Exo. 30:18-21; 25:30, 37; 30:7; 25:22:
A. Firstly, we have the experiences in the outer court, where we are redeemed at the altar and washed at the laver .The washing at the laver is the real crossing of the river. This corresponds to our salvation from the world—Lev. 4:7; Exo. 30:18-21.
B. Secondly, we have the experiences in the Holy Place, where we are fed with the showbread, enlightened by the lampstand, and accepted through the incense altar; this corresponds to the transformation in our soul—Exo. 25:30, 37; 30:7.
C. Thirdly, we have the experiences in the Holy of Holies, where we enjoy God’s presence and share God’s shekinah glory; here, in the Holy of Holies, we are in God’s habitation; here we are in the Sabbath rest; this corresponds to the salvation into our spirit—25:22.
IV. The writer of this book advised the Hebrew believers not to stagger in the wandering of their soul, which soul they must deny, but to press on into their spirit to partake of and enjoy the heavenly Christ that they may participate in the kingdom rest of Christ’s reign in the millennium; if they staggered in the wandering of their soul, they would have missed God’s goal and suffered the loss of the full enjoyment of Christ and the kingdom rest—Heb. 4:11; 10:19-20.
Ministry Excerpts:
WITH THE NEW TESTAMENT BELIEVERS
Salvation from the World
According to the type of the salvation of the children of Israel, the salvation of the new testament believers is also in three stages. Firstly, we experience salvation from the world. We are justified through the blood of Jesus (Rom. 3:22-25) and separated from the world (Gal. 1:4; 6:14). If anyone has not made his exodus from the world, he has notcompleted the first stage of his salvation. The salvation offered in Christianity is mainly a salvation with justification by faith through the blood of Christ, but without an exodus. Today there are millions of real Christians who have been justified by faith through the blood of Christ but who are still in the world. They need an exodus. We praise the Lord that we are out of the world, which includes religion. We are out of Judaism, Catholicism, and Protestantism.
Salvation through the Soul
The second stage of our salvation is salvation through the soul, which includes being sanctified (Rom. 6:19, 22) and being transformed (Rom. 12:2). Many think that the word soul is not a good word. We should not say this. The soul may be either very good or very bad. The New Testament reveals that after we have been justified and regenerated, we need to be sanctified and transformed. In the past years, it has been made clear that transformation, including sanctification, concerns our soul. Our soul, that is, our being, must be sanctified and transformed, saturated with all that Christ is. The very essence, element, and substance of Christ in our spirit must spread into our soul. Undoubtedly, Christ’s divine essence has been sown into our spirit. Now it must permeate and saturate our soul until our soul is completely transformed by His divine element. Transformation is not merely a change; it means that the divine essence of Christ is wrought into us. Andrew Murray used the word “woven,” saying that something of Christ is woven, like textile, into us. During the early years of our ministry we also used this expression as an illustration. Although it is not wrong, we cannot find such a term in the Bible. Instead, the Bible uses the words mingling or mingled.
Leviticus 2:4, speaking of the meal offering, says that fine flour is to be mingled with oil. The word mingled, a biblical term, is much better than the term woven. Consider the picture of the meal offering in Leviticus 2. Fine flour is mingled, that is, permeated and saturated with oil. Eventually, the fine flour is transformed, not by changing itself but by having the oil mingled with it. The fine flour signifies humanity and the oil signifies divinity. God’s intention in His economy is that our humanity be mingled with His divinity. We, the fine flour, and He, the oil, shall be mingled together. When the fine flour is mingled with the oil, both the fine flour and the oil still have their own substance. Likewise, in the mingling of divinity with humanity, the substance of humanity and divinity both remain, but these two substances are mingled together as one entity. This is a marvelous and clear picture of God’s mingling with us. This mingling is our transformation.
What is transformation? It is not a moral correction nor a change of ethical behavior. Transformation means that our humanity is firstly cleansed by the Lord’s redeeming blood and then mingled with the anointing oil—the Holy Spirit—until we are sanctified, made holy, both positionally and dispositionally. In this stage, the second stage of our salvation, we enjoy Christ as the heavenly manna and as the living water, as the life-giving Spirit which comes out of the cleft rock which is Christ Himself. In this stage of transformation, we enjoy Christ in a richer and more subjective way. We praise the Lord that in the past years many saints in the Lord’s recovery have been brought into the actuality of such a transformation. Although there has been some outward adjustment and correction, our trust is not in this but in the Lord’s marvelous transforming work. Second Corinthians 3:18 says, “But we all, with unveiled face beholding and reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit” (Gk.). We all need this transformation. Hallelujah, we are now passing through the second stage of our salvation!
The real church life is filled with transformation. I am more than encouraged with the transformation taking place among the young people in the churches. The churches are going on. We do not need to correct the saints very much, although we do need to take care of the young ones in the way of life. We are seeing the young people in the church being transformed by the divine life. What a wonderful transformation!
Salvation into the spirit
The third stage of our salvation is salvation into our spirit. We must all leave the wilderness and cross the river into our spirit, where we enjoy Christ as our life (Rom. 8:10; 2 Tim. 4:22) and where we should live and walk (Rom. 8:4; Gal. 5:16, 25). Here, in the spirit, we have God’s habitation, the heavenly ladder, and the gate of heaven. Therefore, in our spirit is the expression of God with the kingdom of God. Here we are enjoying the Sabbath of the heavenly rest. (Life-Study of Hebrew, msg. 26)
The full salvation of the Triune God is in three stages
Not salvation from eternal perdition but the salvation of our souls from the dispensational punishment of the Lord’s governmental dealing (v. 9 and note 2). The full salvation of the Triune God is in three stages and comprises many items:
(1) The initial stage, the stage of regeneration, which is composed of redemption, sanctification (positional— v. 2; 1 Cor. 6:11), justification, reconciliation, and regeneration. In this stage God justified us through the redemption of Christ (Rom. 3:24-26) and regenerated us in our spirit with His life by His Spirit (John 3:3-6). Thus we received God’s eternal salvation (Heb. 5:9) and His eternal life (John 3:15) and became His children (John 1:12-13), who shall not perish forever (John 10:28-29). This initial salvation has saved us from God’s condemnation and from eternal perdition (John 3:18, 16).
(2) The progressing stage, the stage of transformation, which is composed of freedom from sin, sanctification (mainly dispositional— Rom. 6:19, 22), growth in life, transformation, building up, and maturing. In this stage God is freeing us from the dominion of indwelling sin— the law of sin and of death— by the law of the Spirit of life, through the subjective working of the effectiveness of the death of Christ in us (Rom. 6:6-7; 7:16-20; 8:2); 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 (4:17); causing us to grow in His life (1 Cor. 3:6-7); 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); building us together into a spiritual house for His dwelling (2:5; Eph. 2:22); and maturing us in His life (Rev. 14:15 and notes) for the completion of His full salvation. In this way we are being delivered from the power of sin, the world, the flesh, self, the soul (the natural life), and individualism into maturity in the divine life for the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose.
(3) The completing stage, the stage of glorification, which is composed of the redemption (transfiguration) of our body, conformity to the Lord, glorification, the inheritance of God’s kingdom, participation in Christ’s kingship, and the topmost enjoyment of the Lord. In this stage God will redeem our fallen and corrupted body (Rom. 8:23) by transfiguring it into the body of Christ’s glory (Phil. 3:21); conform us to the glorious image of His firstborn Son (Rom. 8:29), making us wholly and absolutely like Him in our regenerated spirit, transformed soul, and transfigured body; and 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 that we may reign with Christ as 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). In this way 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 (v. 6; 4:12; 3:14; 5:9) into a new realm, one that is full of glory (4:13; 5:10), and will share in and enjoy all that the Triune God is, has, and has accomplished, attained, and obtained. This is the salvation of our souls, the salvation that is ready to be revealed to us at the last time, the grace to be brought to us at the revelation of Christ in glory (v. 13; Matt. 16:27; 25:31). This is the end of our faith. The power of God is able to guard us unto this that we may obtain it (v. 9). We should eagerly expect such a marvelous salvation (Rom. 8:23) and prepare ourselves for its splendid revelation (Rom. 8:19). (Holy Bible Recovery Version, 1 Pet. 1:5 note 6)
THE SITUATION OF THE HEBREW BELIEVERS
The Hebrew believers had been saved in the first stage but were staggering in the second stage. They were wandering in the soul by wondering in the mind and were in danger of drifting back to the first stage. The book of Hebrews was written to warn them and to encourage them to go on and enter into the third stage–into the rest of the good land (Heb. 4:11) and into the Holy of Holies in the spirit (10:19-20). To enter into the rest of the good land is to enter into the church life with the expectation of being ushered into the coming kingdom. To enter into the Holy of Holies is to be in the spirit. Entering into the Sabbath rest and into the proper church life are altogether a matter of our spirit. Today the throne of God and the Holy of Holies, both of which are in the heavens, are joined to our spirit. Hence, our spirit is a most crucial spot. Here, in our spirit, we have God’s habitation, the heavenly ladder, the gate of heaven, the throne of God, and the Holy of Holies. Here, in the spirit, we enjoy the church life and are in the present Sabbath which will usher us into the Sabbath rest in the coming kingdom.
Hebrews 3:7 through 4:11 refers to the children of Israel falling away from entering into the rest of the good land. We have seen that with them there were three places–Egypt, the wilderness, and Canaan–that their history in these three places signifies the three stages of their participation in God’s full salvation, and that this is a type of us, the New Testament believers, in our participation in the full salvation of God. In the first stage we received Christ and were redeemed and delivered from the world. In the second stage we became wanderers in following the Lord. This wandering always transpires in our soul. In the third stage we partake of and enjoy Christ in a full way. This is experienced in our spirit. When we pursued the pleasures of material and sinful things, we were in the world, typified by Egypt. When we wander in our soul, we are in the wilderness. The wilderness in which the Israelites wandered signifies our soul. When we enjoy Christ in our spirit, we are in Canaan. When the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness, they were always murmuring, reasoning, and chiding. That was surely in their soul, not in their spirit. But Joshua and Caleb believed in the word of God, obeyed the Lord, and pressed toward the goal. This was surely not in their soul but in their spirit. The receivers of this book, the Hebrew believers, were at that time wondering what they should do with their old Jewish religion. This wondering in their mind was a wandering in their soul, not an experience of Christ in their spirit. Thus, the writer of this book says that the word of God, that is, what has been quoted from the Old Testament, can pierce like a sharp two-edged sword into their wondering and divide their soul from their spirit.
Hence, the writer of this book advised the Hebrew believers not to stagger in the wandering of their soul, which soul they must deny, but to press on into their spirit to partake of and enjoy the heavenly Christ that they may participate in the kingdom rest of Christ’s reign in the millennium. If they staggered in the wandering of their soul, they would have missed God’s goal and suffered the loss of the full enjoyment of Christ and the kingdom rest. (Life-Study of Hebrews, msg. 26)