WHAT CAN YOU KNOW? Devotion 9 of 32 Those who "believe in the name of the Son of God" are in the process of being prepared for glory, or oriented for the world to come. Essentially, salvation is an extrication from this world – a process whereby God takes out of the world a people for His name. In accounting for the salvation of the house of Cornelius, James said, "Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, TO TAKE OUT OF THEM A PEOPLE FOR HIS NAME" (Acts 15:14). – Tomorrow:
There is no such thing as a people headed for heaven that remain conformed to this world. That is why believers are admonished, "And BE NOT CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (Rom 12:2). This world is appropriated called "this present evil world," and Satan is its god (Gal 1:4; 2 Cor 4:4). It is also written, For this world in its present form IS PASSING AWAY" (1 Cor 7:31, NIV). And again, "The world and its desires PASS AWAY, but the man who does the will of God lives forever" (1 John 2:17, NIV).
It should not surprise us, therefore, that the salvation of God involves "deliverance from this present evil world" (Gal 1:4). An "eternal salvation" (Heb 5:9), "eternal life" (John 17:2), "eternal glory" (1 Pet 5:10), an "eternal inheritance" (Heb 9:15), and "eternal redemption" (Heb 9:12) cannot be fully realized in a passing world. The world is passing away, while the salvation Christ has effected has eternal ramifications. It should therefore be obvious that a very real separation must take place between the people of God and this passing world.
Ultimately, the separation will be final and complete, with the heavens passing away "with a great noise," the elements melting "with fervent heat," and the earth and the works in it being "burned up" (2 Pet 3:10-12). Anything that rivets us to the world, therefore, is our foe. Everything that aids us in separating from it is our friend. We must not allow anyone or anything to nail us to this world like Jael nailed Sisera's head to the ground (Judges 4:21).
The Word of God confirms that separation from the world involves a fundamental "change" in the child of God. That "change" is total, involving man's threefold constitution: "spirit, soul, and body" (1 Thess 5:23). The final stage of this "change" is the resurrection, when our bodies will be "changed." As it is written, "Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep [die], 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. (1 Cor 15:51-53).
Until this final "change," those in Christ are being progressively "changed" within. This is an orientation for the world to come, and a preparation to inhabit the resurrection body. Thoughts, preferences, likes, dislikes – they are all being matured in Christ Jesus, thereby removing all hostility between the individual and the God who saves. There will not be a single person in heaven who does not fit in. The present change of which I speak is what is readying us to fit in.
Our present experience is much like that of the stones that were prepared for the Temple that Solomon built. Scripture apprises us these stones were prepared off-site, in a quarry. When the time came for the Temple to be assembled, the stones were precise, fitting into place without any additional work on them being required. Thus it is written, "And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone Made READY BEFORE it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor ax nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building" (1 Kgs 6:7). Every stone had been so thoroughly shaped and changed that it fit precisely into the building. That is exactly what is happening now to the "living stones" (1 Pet 2:5) – believers who are being built into a spiritual house. They are being changed so no radical work will be required on them in the world to come.
The saints are being "conformed to the image" of God's Son (Rom 8:29) – that is the "change" that is presently taking place. The parts of them that cannot enter into glory are being chiseled away. From another point of view, they are being changed "FROM GLORY TO GLORY, even as by the Spirit of our God" (2 Cor 3:18). This is a progressive change, in which they are becoming more and more like the Lord Jesus. Other versions accent this progression: "are being transformed into His likeness with EVER-INCREASING GLORY" (NIV), "are being transformed into the same image from ONE DEGREE OF GLORY TO ANOTHER" (2 Cor 3:18). The Holy Spirit is declared to be the administrator of this marvelous change.
Jesus has finished His earthly work, but the work on the children of God has not yet been completed. He has been glorified, but they have not. He is in heaven, but they remain in the world. It ought to be apparent that there is no room for indifference in them. That is why great volumes of teaching are directed to the saints – those who believe on the name of the Son of God. There remains in the best of us remnants of unbelief that must be expelled. This all takes place in the process of change, which is being accomplished by the Holy Spirit.
How about you, dear reader? Are you being perceptibly changed? Do you see progress in the work of being conformed to the image of God's Son? If so, know that you are being readied for glory. You are being prepared to fit in where nothing defiling can possibly enter.
PRAYER POINT: Father, I praise You through Jesus Christ for a salvation removed by debt, nullifies my obligation to the flesh, and changes me into the likeness of Your Son.