Because Christ Lives God supplies all of our spiritual needs through His infinite resources. The Holy Spirit indwells us with His power; therefore, as we walk in the Spirit, we shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. As we are occupied with Christ, we are kept from sin and thus “saved by His life” (Rom. 5:10). “He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25). This permanent priesthood of Jesus gives Him the capacity to carry His saving work to completion. He can see them through every trial and difficulty right to the end of the road “because He always lives to intercede for them.” In saying this, the author reverted again to a truth he had already enunciated (4:14-16) where he had invited the readers to avail themselves boldly of the mercy and grace accessible to them through Jesus’ priesthood. Therefore, the living Christ is in the presence of the Father interceding on our behalf and the Holy Spirit is in our hearts bringing us to repentance, confession of sin and reconciliation with God. We are saved by His resurrection life as we walk in the Spirit. He saves completely, forever, all who put their faith in Him. Because He is our High Priest forever, He can save forever. “Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us” (Rom. 8:34). One day we will stand before God complete in Christ and forever saved from the presence of sin. We will be in God’s presence and will never again be tempted by sin. In the fullest possible sense we shall be “saved by His life” forever. God has taken us out of the category as “enemies of God” and has placed us in His family as sons and daughters. Because we are no longer enemies of God and are now members of His family, Paul reasons that He is certainly going to save us from the final outpouring of His wrath on the Day of Judgment. If He has saved us while we were enemies, He will certainly keep on saving us now that we are His children. Because we are now His friends God is not going to change His mind and cast us aside. He forever remains the same. Yes, there is a “wrath to come,” but no true believer will experience it (1 Thess. 1:9–10; 5:8–10). We rejoice in the “hope of glory of God” because our living Savior guarantees our glorification. There is much more in store for the believer. Moreover, the greatest demonstration of the power of God was displayed at the cross of Calvary when Satan and his hosts were defeated. In our blessed union with Christ, we stand with Him on the resurrection side of death. The work of Christ for us leads to His work in us to deliver us from the power of sin. We are in this sense saved by His resurrection life. We now live in union with the risen Redeemer who died for us and rose again. Life, peace and righteousness are ours in this new life in Christ. The very life which is in Christ in glory is also ours. It is the living Christ, through His Spirit within us, who leads us, prompts our inner being, inspires us to holy purpose and molds our character to be conformed to His image. The more we make ourselves available to Him the deeper becomes our awareness of that intimate relationship with Him. The life we live, we live by faith in the risen Christ. Because He lives, we are eternally saved (Heb. 7:23–25).
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 10:09:45 +0000
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