A View of Salvation From Below

In 1 Peter 4:17, Peter speaks of the suffering of believers and says that judgement is to begin with the house of God. This is a troubling statement because the context is suffering for association with Jesus, and he refers to the experience as part of God's wrath on this world. I infer from that reference that my suffering for my belief is part of my Masters' judgement on this world. I thought that, as a believer I got to skip that part.

If I simply inferred that from Chambers interpretation I could rest easy, but this I infer from Scripture and so I am not resting easy. As sure as I am that this world is under judgement from my Master, I should also be sure that I will share in that wrath, even though I do so for my faith. It seems odd to me to be under my Master's wrath for being faithful, but I must also consider the reason. I am not under His wrath as punishment, but as part of my human experience. So, as part of being a "son of Adam" I will suffer, whether I am also an adoptive son of my Master or not. In a very important sense my suffering acts as proof of the judgement on this world. It is part of the testimony that we are all under this wrath as we are in this world. The plea is "why make it permanent?"

This is where Chambers hangs his point. Preaching on salvation must include judgement so people have a context in which to understand the tug of God. In some sense it is similar to "getting people lost before you can save 'em." But the difference is that this perspective allows the Master to save, I just prepare the ground. I let people know of the judgement on the world, which now is limited to this world, to this life, but soon will be eternal if they do not respond to my Master's offer of salvation. From there my Master takes over, and through His Spirit, leads those who respond to Himself.  The effects are eternal, and are the only solution which truly mitigates the suffering of this world.


So how do I make this clear to the people my Master has placed me among? Can there be a better method than to suffer as He has? I wish there were. Well, I might as well get in there and take my stripes. Lives depend on it.

Oswald Chambers' "My Utmost For His Highest": May 5th.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8