An Offer of Salvation
Dearly beloved of God, in Christ we have the hope of receiving the glory of God, but the scoffers who walk after their own lusts say, “Where is the promise of his coming?”
I thank God for the mercy and grace He has shown us in Christ. Without it we would be hopeless, but with it we are full of hope.
“For this they [the ungodly] willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: but the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”
The ungodly are willfully ignorant of God’s goodness to us in Christ. The LORD is not slack concerning His promises, but He is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
But, dearly beloved, after God has sent His Son to gather the Church of the Grace of God up to meet him in the air, the day of the LORD will come as a thief in the night [unannounced] on the earth. It will no longer be man’s day to judge; it will be the Lord’s Day.
God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we are awake or asleep, we should live together with him. Rejoice and thank God for His great love and grace to us in Christ!
The ungodly, (which we also were before we were saved,) decide to reject the Savior and God’s offer of salvation to them. It is a choice to believe what God says, or to not believe Him.
Instead of salvation, those who do not obey the gospel regarding our Lord Jesus Christ will be sentenced to eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his prevailing ability AFTER the Lord Jesus Christ comes to be glorified in his saints and to be admired in that day by all those who have believed (for our witness to you was believed).
Those who confess Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead will be saved, have eternal life, enter the kingdom of God, have glorious new bodies like Christ’s glorious body, receive an inheritance as the children of God, and see new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells, and so much more.
For the saved there will be no more sorrow, tears, pain, or death; only life, fullness of joy, glory, rest, comfort, and it will take God our Father the ages to come to display the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness to us in Christ Jesus. To those who reject him: eternal destruction.
God will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth; why would anyone reject such a gracious offer?
The Lord Jesus Christ is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God by him. When he returns he will raise the dead in Christ first; then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we always be with the Lord.
This salvation was God’s idea, and He made it available to us by His great grace, mercy, and love. Jesus Christ was willing to give his life to make it possible. The only thing God asks of us is to believe what He says; such great grace!
His offer of salvation is the only hope there is for mankind. Christ is coming!