I’m so thankful for the gospel: “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).
I’m so thankful for the sealing of the Holy Spirit within that guarantees my salvation:
“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 1:13-14).
Praise God!
My concern, though, is that we’re taking this amazing guarantee of eternal security given to us in the Church Age and misapplying it to pre and post Church Age times.
I call it wearing Church colored glasses. We, the Church, look at many biblical themes through Church colored glasses. A prime example of this is eternal security.
Why do we do this?
- Because we know it’s true for us so it must be true for all times?
- Because it seems right?
- Because we’ve been taught it since the day we got saved?
Though these reasons are probably accurate for most of us, I’m proposing to you that it’s because:
- We are not rightly dividing the Word of Truth.
Whatever the reason is, the fact remains that we do it.
So let’s take off our Church colored glasses and look at this topic without bias so we can better see how God divides time.
But first, a reminder. I know we’re eternally secure. (Key word is we’re!) There are many verses besides Ephesians 1, quoted above that support this truth. A few are Ephesians 4:30; 2 Corinthians 1:22 and 2 Corinthians 5:5. We’ve been given something we could never, ever earn.
The simplest way to begin looking at this is by understanding our time slot. We, the Church, are in God’s Great Parenthesis, the Church Age. The Church Age had its beginning at Pentecost in Acts Chapter 2 and will have its end at the Rapture.
“And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30).
The precious promise given to the Church of the indwelling Holy Spirit actually has an end date! Did you see that? Unto the day of redemption. (I know I had always thought it was a forever thing.) Well, we were redeemed at the moment of salvation, right? So when is he talking about?
Now look again at the earlier mentioned Ephesians passage, verse 14, “which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”
See it again? When is the redemption of the purchased possession?
Both passages are saying the same thing. The redemption time/day is in regard to the redemption of our bodies at the Rapture. The Rapture of the Church:
“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians 15:51-54).
Our souls, like I said, were already redeemed so they’re not talking about that. What they’re saying is we’ll no longer need Him sealing us because we are given our eternal glorified bodies at that point. We’ll have it all, not just the down payment!
After we’re raptured, we’ll no longer need the Holy Spirit to be sealed within us, since the event His presence guaranteed will have taken place. [1]
So the guarantee of the indwelling Spirit was for the Church in the Church Age. Period. Salvation is available to those outside the Church Age, obviously, but in a slightly different format. I know that sounds crazy, but stay with me.
Continuing on with the above GracethruFaith article:
So during the 70th week of Daniel the Holy Spirit, having been released from the Church, will resume a ministry on earth similar to the one He performed in Old Testament times. Once again He’ll come upon people, and be with them, but won’t be sealed within them. [2]
The 70th Week of Daniel he mentions is the last seven years of a prophecy found in Daniel 9:24-27. I go into detail on this prophecy in my booklet which is available for free on Rapture Ready at: https://raptureready.com/soap2/pam1.pdf
Daniel 9:24-27 tells us that the seven-year Tribulation period is actually the tail end of this prophecy to the JEWS and about the JEWS, not the Church. We cannot be on earth at the time of this event. The Rapture must precede the Tribulation.
Do you see how “rightly dividing” matters? Do you see why we need to focus on witnessing to our loved ones now while they can still join the Church? Do you see now without your glasses on?
Endnotes
[1] [2] https://gracethrufaith.com/end-times-prophecy/the-nature-of-post-church-salvation/
Pam Nichols