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Christians are Richly Blessed by the Simple Fact of Living in this Age of Grace

All of us living today have been given an amazing gift; the opportunity to become a part of God’s eternal family by faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. This is truly the gift that keeps on giving as the blessings offered to those who receive Christ as Savior have eternal benefits that are glorious beyond description.

While Christians are the beneficiaries of God’s amazing grace, there is a complication; we must live out our physical lives on a spiritual battlefield in complete dependence on the blessings we have received. I have written more on this in “To the Soldiers in the Spiritual War.”

One Objective

All of us are challenged by the obstacles we face in seeing ourselves and our life on earth from a Biblical perspective. We live out our lives on a spiritual battlefield, surrounded by a Satanic world system which demands our attention and seeks to convince us the physical here and now is all we’ll ever have and once it’s gone it’s all over. From the beginning mankind has been fatally tempted by the world, the flesh, and the devil and nothing about that has changed since the Garden of Eden.

To me, it is ironic the only visible part of each of us is the part of us that was not redeemed at the point of salvation. Our spiritual selves, the part of us made in the image of God, has been restored by the new birth; our bodies, of this earth, our tents, which still fall under the Adamic curse, are dying, can have no part in our heavenly future and must be totally replaced.

The Real Story of You

It is only in the Bible we find the truth about who we are and what is going on, a still small voice whispering in our minds in the midst of the thunder and roar of contemporary society; our convictions about reality can only come by faith!

It is easy to overlook Paul’s admonition concerning life; “⁷ For we live by believing and not by seeing. 2 Corinthians 5:7 Does that perspective characterize your life too?

The last five essays on the reality of you have had only one underlying objective and that is to focus your attention on the real story of you! You were created in the image of God and are primarily a spirit being confined, for the moment, to a physical body of the earth. There is only one way for you to leave your mortal body and that is by the death of that body, or, in the case of the terminal generation, the transformation of that body by the power of God at the time of the Rapture.

God, the Holy Spirit was joined with your spirit, at the time you were born again into your divine, eternal family, to serve as a down payment on your future inheritance and will never, ever leave you. The Bible tells us it was not intended that we should exist as spirits without bodies and that a heavenly body will be prepared for us that will be suitable for our heavenly, eternal existence.

Christians are Special to God

By God’s undeserved and unearned grace, Christians have been granted special privileges in God’s eternity. Salvation has always been through the work of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the Old Testament, saints were saved as they looked ahead to the promise of the Messiah; by faith their spirits were restored to life as witnessed by the eloquent testimony of Job in Job 19:25-27 where it is written:

“²⁵ “But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
    and he will stand upon the earth at last.
²⁶ And after my body has decayed,
    yet in my body I will see God!
²⁷ I will see him for myself.
    Yes, I will see him with my own eyes.
    I am overwhelmed at the thought!”

If that thought doesn’t overwhelm you too then you’re not letting its full significance penetrate to the depths of your being! Christians are saved as they look back to the finished work of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, at his First Advent just as Job was saved by looking ahead to it even though he had fewer details.

The Christian Advantage

There are additional elements, enjoyed by Christians when they are born again, that were missing from the salvation Old Testament saints received, the Old Testament saints were not indwelt by the Holy Spirit nor were they baptized into the body of Christ. While the Old Testament saints could be blessed with the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives, the Holy Spirit could be removed from them for disobedience.

Christians, on the other hand, are eternally indwelt by the Holy Spirit and joined, by the baptism of the Holy Spirit, into the body of Christ. This is a great gift, unique to those who are made a part of Christ’s true church, and will stop when the church is completed and removed from the earth at the Rapture.

A Magnificent Blessing that will Never End

As Christians, living in this age of grace, we are blessed beyond our ability to even imagine. The opportunity given to mankind during this age has implications and repercussions that will last eternally; this door of opportunity is open to all who will receive the free gift of salvation in Jesus Christ.

As this time of remembrance approaches let us joyfully proclaim the wondrous grace of the Lord Jesus Christ who has made all this possible.