Let us consider two Scriptures on the subject of salvation:

Some may apply this text and think of the Divine Program as being merely an endeavor to rescue mankind from sin and death to righteousness and eternal life in the present time.

Some may apply this text and think that God never intended the salvation of the world, but merely the salvation of the church. It seems incomprehensible that God would make no provision for billions of Adam’s race, but arrange for them to be born in sin, shapen in iniquity, and to go down to the grave without a clear knowledge of God and his purposes and will respecting them.

The Scriptures set forth two salvations, entirely separate and distinct. They are different as respects time, in that the one “salvation began to be spoken by our Lord” at his First Advent and began to be applicable to his Church at Pentecost and will wholly cease in the end of this Age when his Church is complete. After the Church’s salvation, the other salvation will apply to the rest of mankind and is specially designed for the blessing of the world and its uplift out of sin and death conditions. These two salvations are distinctly different.

The salvation of the Church during this present Age, since Pentecost, means not only a deliverance from sin and death conditions to eternal life, but provides that the eternal life will be on the heavenly, or spiritual, plane and not on the earthly, or human, plane of existence. Thus the Apostle declares that our “inheritance is incorruptible and

undefiled and fadeth not away and is reserved in heaven for us, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation” (1 Peter 1:4, 5). Our Lord also said that in the resurrection, we shall be like unto the angels. The Apostle also declares that ultimately we shall be partakers of the divine nature, like our Lord and Redeemer.

The world’s salvation, which will follow, will be wholly different from the heavenly salvation. It will not include a change of nature from earthly to spirit nature. It will mean a rescue from sin and death to the earthly perfection of the original man, Adam, in the image and likeness of his Creator, and surrounded by every necessary blessing for his comfort on the restored earth. Human perfection and the Eden home were lost through disobedience to God. The Divine arrangement is that the merit of our Lord’s obedience unto death, when ultimately applied for mankind, shall fully cancel the death sentence upon him.

The blessings of that New Covenant arrangement will then immediately begin. Our Redeemer will then be the Mediator of that New Covenant. The Mediator will consist of Jesus, the head, and the Church, His body members. The whole world of mankind will be fully under their supervision and government for their blessing, their correction in righteousness, their uplifting out of sin and death conditions -- back, back, back to all that was lost in Eden.

Two Salvations -- One Savior

Both of these salvations, according to the Bible, result from the death of Jesus our Redeemer, who died in obedience to the Divine will, “the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). The Scriptures clearly show not only the two salvations, but also two parts of the Redeemer’s work, distinctly separating his work for the church from his work for the world.

In his death there was a Divine general provision for the sins of the whole world and a special provision for the sins of the Church. The two thoughts are frequently brought out in the Scriptures. One text distinctly declares, “He is the propitiation [satisfaction] for our sins [the Church’s sins], and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” His death constituted the satisfaction price. The Redeemer applied that merit for the Church’s sins, “for us,” long ago (Hebrews 9:24). Only when we became believers and entered into a covenant of sacrifice did we obtain our share in the merit of that great sacrifice. The world has not yet received its share of that promised blessing, but the operation of the Divine Plan is sure and will bring it to them “in due time” (1 Timothy 2:6).

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Last modified: 09/19/09