Every man and woman who God has and will create as eternal beings will be Preserved and Reserved for their ultimate eternal destiny following their death.
Yet, we do seem to see a nuanced distinction between being Preserved and Reserved (as rendered in the KJV) in our two primary study verses of 2 Timothy 4:18 and 2 Peter 2:9, respectively. Though these two distinctions should not be thought of as universally applicable, they still afford the Bible student an interesting contrast to consider, as is the entire premise of all humanity being Preserved and Reserved by our mighty Creator God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
All underlined Scripture is my own emphasis.
God Will Preserve Believers unto His Heavenly Kingdom
Paul, as all believers should be, was thoroughly convinced that the Lord would “deliver [him] from every evil work, and preserve [him] unto His heavenly Kingdom.”
“And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” – 2 Timothy 4:18
The Greek for “will preserve [me]” or, more literally, “will bring [me] safely” is σώσει “sōsei” – used six times with the other five passages translated “shall save” in the King James Version – with the Greek word 4982 σῴζω “sózó” (from sōs, “safe, rescued”) – properly, deliver out of danger and into safety; used principally of God rescuing believers from the penalty and power of sin – and into His provisions (safety). To save, i.e. deliver or protect (literally or figuratively) —heal, preserve, save (self), do well, be (make) whole.
“Sózó” is the root of 4990/sōtḗr (“Savior”), 4991/sōtēría (“salvation”) and the adjectival form, 4992/sōtḗrion (what is “saved/rescued from destruction and brought into divine safety”). “Sōtēría” is where we get our technical term, soteriology, the study of salvation.
At this time in his life, Paul understood that he would not, in fact, be raptured as he obviously once thought but would rather be martyred for his faith in Messiah Yeshua.
“For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” – 2 Timothy 4:6-8
Even in Paul’s soon martyrdom, his focus was still on the resurrection/rapture, as someone who, instead of being raptured, would be resurrected “at that day,” he looked forward to the “crown of righteousness” that all believers would receive “that love Jesus’ appearing” when Jesus comes to receive His bride unto Himself – the dead and the living, both receiving their everlasting glorious bodies at that time.
Thayer’s Greek Lexicon recommends Paul’s thoughts regarding the phrase “will preserve me unto” as “to save and transport into.” Thus, Paul was emphasizing his firm belief that “the Lord shall deliver me from every evil [wicked] work, and will save and transport me into His heavenly kingdom” following his death.
Ever since the cross and our Lord’s resurrection, to be saved and transported unto God’s heavenly kingdom has been and will continue to be the experience of every believer in Jesus Christ upon their death. The death of the Lord’s Saints is something that God has always looked very fondly and highly upon, even before the cross.
“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” – Psalm 116:15
The concept of God preserving His Saints is prominent in the Psalms.
“Ye that love the Lord, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.” – Psalm 97:10
This promise of God’s preservation of “the souls of His Saints” who “hate evil” has been the temporal earthly testimony of many – yet obviously not all (more on this below) – yet the Lord’s ultimate deliverance of His Saints from “the hand of the wicked” awaits their physical deaths and future destinies with their Redeemer and Savior.
Even so, there will be a generation of believers on Earth that will personally experience a very real deliverance “out of the hand of the wicked,” apart from physical death, when Christ snatches them out of this evil world in the rapture!
“For the Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever…” – Psalm 37:28
David’s personal faith in the Lord who “loveth judgment” also recognized that this same Lord would never, could never, and will never “forsaketh His Saints” and will ultimately “preserve them forever” by His mighty salvation and deliverance.
“The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.” – Psalm 121:7-8
The Hebrew for both renderings of “shall preserve” in this passage are יִשְׁמֹר “yišmōr” and יִשְׁמָר “yišmār,” respectively, and “shall preserve thee” is יִשְׁמָרְךָ “yišmārḵā,” all from 8104 שָׁמַר “šāmar,” which means to hedge about (as with thorns), i.e. guard; generally, to protect, attend to, etc.:—beward, be circumspect, take heed (to self), keep(-er, self), mark, look narrowly, observe, preserve, regard, reserve, save (self), sure, (that lay) wait (for), watch(-man).
While we can certainly see physical preservation in many of the Psalms, we also need to be honest in our assessment that not all Saints are physically protected in this fallen world “from all evil” and/or from the evil one. Our own experiences attest to this truth, as well as the persecutions and deaths of countless followers of the God of Israel and our Lord Jesus Christ.
We discussed this unfortunate reality in QFTBOC: Psalm 91, Protection, & God’s Will.
“Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.” – Psalm 32:7
Psalm 32 is a Maschil (emotionally contemplative song) of David.
The Hebrew for “thou shalt preserve me” is תִּצְּרֵנִי “tiṣṣᵊrēnî” from 5341 נָצַר “nāṣar” and means to guard, in a good sense (to protect, maintain, obey, etc.) or a bad one (to conceal, etc.) — besieged, hidden thing, keep(-er, -ing), monument, observe, preserve(-r), subtil, watcher(-man).
When considering David’s proclamation of faith that God is his personal “hiding place” and that the Lord “shalt preserve [him] from trouble,” we can see a future application to what God in Messiah will do for the bride of Christ at the rapture when He takes those alive on Earth to heaven before God pours out His wrath. At that time, Jesus will be our “hiding place” and “shall preserve us from trouble” that will come upon the Earth following the resurrection/rapture of the church.
We even cited this verse, among many others, in Allusions to the Rapture in the Tanakh.
“I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.
“Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.” – Psalm 40:10-11
This portion of Messianic Psalm 40, written by David, is best understood as the prayer of Christ to His Father at His crucifixion. In fact, the verses following – verses 12-15 – speak to the sufferings of Messiah on the cross for our iniquities that were placed upon Him and of His spiritual and physical anguish at the hands of His evil tormentors – both human and supernatural.
Christ certainly did reveal the Father’s lovingkindness and truth to the great congregation of Israel and through His Word to His church and knew that the Father would never withhold His tender mercies and that His lovingkindness and truth would preserve Him through the death of the cross and His soon resurrection.
However, as with the other Messianic Psalms and the whole of Scripture, there is something for born-again believers to apply to themselves: We should, as our Lord did, also declare God’s faithfulness and Christ’s salvation, always proclaiming His loving kindness and His truth to His great congregation. God will also not withhold His tender mercies from us, and His lovingkindness and truth will continually preserve us in this life and on into the next!
God Will Reserve the Unjust for the Day of Judgment
Conversely, according to the Apostle Peter, those who are unjust and reject Yeshua’s free-gift offer of salvation are “reserved… unto the day of judgment to be punished.”
“The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished…” – 2 Peter 2:9
The Greek for “to reserve” is τηρεῖν “tērein” from 5083 “tēreō” and can mean, depending on context, to attend to carefully, take care of, to guard, to keep – one in the state in which he is, to observe, to reserve: to undergo something.
Contextually, we are looking at “to reserve: to undergo something,” that is, to reserve until the judgment of the unsaved.
As we studied in 2 Peter 3 – Peter’s ‘Revelation’:
“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.” – 2 Peter 3:7
It is this same Word of God that created and sustains creation that has “kept in store” these same heavens and earth and “reserved“ them “unto fire against the day of judgment of perdition of ungodly men” (2 Peter 3:7).
The Greek word for “against” is 1519 εἰς “eis” and means to, for, unto, or into (indicating the point reached or entered, of place, time, purpose, result), toward.
Therefore, the fire that will purge the old earth and heavens will have reached its appointment in time when “the day of judgment of perdition of ungodly men” takes place. When will this be?
We know from the book of Revelation that “the day of judgment and perdition (destruction from the presence of God, ruin, loss) of ungodly men” will occur at the Great White Throne Judgment when the ungodly will be judged and thrown into The Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:12-15).
Peter also uses this Greek word in describing the same fate of judgment for the fallen angels that sinned in Genesis 6, just a few verses earlier.
“… God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment…” – 2 Peter 2:4
Jesus, in His true account of The Rich Man and Lazarus, told of how both the saved and unsaved dead had been reserved before the cross in a place the Tanakh refers to as Sheol. There were two compartments, one for the saved and one for the unsaved, that had an impossible chasm between them that could not be breached (Luke 16:19-31). Once Messiah was resurrected, He took Paradise (also known as Abraham’s Bosom) and those saved souls within Paradise to heaven with Him.
All People Will Be Preserved and Reserved
In the end, at death, all people will be Preserved and Reserved. Remember, Preserved and Reserved are not universally applicable in nature, just that 2 Timothy 4:18 and 2 Peter 2:9, along with 2 Peter 2:4, seem to have a nuanced distinction in their respective passages.
“… the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered.” – Proverbs 11:21
Believers will be Preserved and Reserved in heaven awaiting their eternal, glorified bodies at their resurrections in their proper order (1 Corinthians 15:20-23).
The Lord keeps the paths of justice in His sights during His Saints’ pilgrimage on Earth and preserves their way on into eternity.
“He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.” – Proverbs 2:8
Paul’s self-encouraging words in 2 Timothy 4:18 were no doubt inspired by Psalm 121, a song of degrees or song of ascents, and he applied those Words to himself:
“The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.” – Psalm 121:7
God is faithful and merciful to those who love Him and keep His commandments, which are not grievous:
“Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments…” – Deuteronomy 7:9
“Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.
“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” – 1 John 5:1-3
For the believer after the cross, we have this blessed assurance:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” – 1 Peter 1:3-5
When all is said and done, we shall “shine as the brightness of the firmament” and “as the stars forever and ever,” “shin[ing] forth as the sun in the kingdom of [our] Father” in the Eternal Kingdom.
“Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” – Matthew 13:43
“And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.” – Daniel 12:3
The unsaved will also be Preserved and Reserved after death in Sheol as they await their resurrection and judgment at the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15). The Lord will destroy them from His and our presence to their face.
“… And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face.” – Deuteronomy 7:10
Here is “the portion of their cup”:
“Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.” – Psalm 11:6
“The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” – Matthew 13:41-42
“The wicked [are] reserved to the day of destruction”:
“Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens, That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.” – Job 21:29-30
The saved and unsaved are assured of their resurrections, all in their proper order:
“And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” – Daniel 12:2
God will “bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up” the bodies of all men and women in their proper sequence:
“The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.” – 1 Samuel 2:6
All our bodies, as creatures created by our Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ, will “hear the voice of the Son of God… and live,” being united with their spirit/soul complexes – some “unto the resurrection of life” and others “unto the resurrection of damnation”:
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
“For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
“Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” – John 5:25-29
There is one group, however, that will not need to be Preserved and Reserved as those who have gone before and died physically, and that would be those believers who will be alive on Earth when our Bridegroom comes to fetch His bride at the resurrection/rapture of the church!
“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which 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 ever be with the Lord.
“Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” – 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18
Regardless of which group a believer attains to – that of “the dead in Christ” or those “which are alive and remain” on Earth in the blessed hope of the rapture – our future is glorious with our Creator, Redeemer, Savior, Lord, and King! To Him be the glory, now and forever more!
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May we all keep Answering the Call of The Great Commission, and giving an answer to every man and woman who so desperately needs Jesus and asks us, “Why Am I Here and What Is It All About?”
Love, grace, mercy, and shalom in Messiah Yeshua, and Maranatha!
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