Is “Saved by Grace” a Limited Time Offer?

Background:  As Christians, we believe that man is a created being. Our belief system disallows the idea that life, with its magnificent complexities, sprung from even an infinite number of chance opportunities. We believe that God is Holy and perfect, that He is eternal, all knowing and omnipresent. We believe that He created man in his image, and that initially, man also had the (God like) characteristic of holiness (purity, or flawlessness). We believe that as an unblemished being, man could initially communicate directly with his Creator. The opening chapters of Genesis speak briefly to that period in our history. Christians, however, also believe that God created man with free will, and that God knew that we would exercise that free will to violate his rules. That disobedience resulted in our being separated from God (the seed plot of the entire Bible). Another word for that disobedience is simply, “sin.” So, man separated himself from God, and then what? The Bible says, “God showed His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  This verse describes to God’s plan for individual forgiveness, and for our return to communications with him.

What do we bring to our salvation? Only our sin. The total cost of God’s plan is simply to believe (and that is why we call this whole thing “faith”).

Getting Back to My Question:  It may come as a surprise to some, but God’s well documented plans extend far beyond His Plan for our salvation and beyond this present moment in history. That is where the entirety and continuity of the Bible comes in. The Bible describes creation, God’s selection of the Jewish people to function as human forbearers for His Son Jesus. It describes the details of Jesus’ earthly life and His ministry. As an aside, can you think of anyone else who changed all of human history, while working in His appointed field for only three years? The Bible does not end with the life of Jesus, His crucifixion, and His resurrection, it goes on. After His resurrection, we read about the establishment of His church, that is, the body of believers that we see in the millions of Christian churches that exist today. The Biblical account of Christianity also includes a picture of current and future world history, a picture that accurately reflects on our current times. The Bible tells us that morality will decline, wars will happen; churches will no longer see the Bible (God’s Word), as objective truth, Christians will compromise Biblical rules and the church will accommodate what the people desire to hear, rather than God’ dictates. But I digress.

At this moment, we are still living in what is known as the “Church Age.” During the Church Age, God’s plan for man’s salvation is to be spread to the entire world. During this age, salvation available to everyone. It is a period when love remains the predominant aspect of God’s relationship with man. This circumstance will continue until, at some unknowable moment, God snatches up His church (His believers), in an event referred to as the rapture. When the rapture occurs, God’s offer of salvation will abruptly end. At the rapture, the Church Age will end and the “tribulation period” will begin. At the end of the tribulation, the well known “second coming of Jesus Christ” will occur. With His second appearance, Jesus will banish His enemies and set up His kingdom on this earth. He will restore Israel, and He will rule from Jerusalem for one thousand years (to be fair, I need to tell you that I am describing a pre-millennial view of the future).

The Hard Facts: At the end of His thousand-year reign, Jesus will conduct a great judgement. Every person who ever lived will be bodily resurrected and judged for how he or she lived his or her earthly life. For folks who lived in our era, God will remember when we ignored, or made fun of His Word and his messenger; God will remember each time that you found more important things to do on Sunday, than gathering to worship with His church. Most importantly, God will remember what we did with His plan, His Son, who bled and died so that our sins could be forgiven. He will know if you have ever given that act of love your thoughtful consideration. That, my friends, is how and when, a “loving God” will finally get angry, and how those who delay too long will stand in front of Him in a terrible Judgement.

Once God’s offer of salvation has ended, nothing can change the outcome. The only difference that Holy judgement is going to make is this, you will have stood in front of the Almighty, and God Himself will have reviewed your life choices. You will fully understand your own condemnation. There will be no further opportunity for “buy in.” 

Let me review; saved by grace means, saved from an eternity of separation from God. It means saved from a one-on-one judgement in front of an angry God, and it means saved from eternal punishment. Here is an excerpt from the Biblical book of The Revelation. It describes both God’s final judgement and the potential for “forever” separation that I’m writing about.

The Revelation, Chapter 20:

“And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.“

Allow me to leave you with this; there are two ways to live this life:

The first, is to ignore God and do things your own way. One of the biggest mistakes in this approach is to think that we can somehow be good enough to get to heaven, or that we can establish our own criteria for salvation. And there are some who believe that you are just orders of magnitude smarter than the foolish folk who fall for Christianity.

The second way to live this life is to believe that God is authentic, to recognize our sinfulness for what it is (separating), and to believe in God’s Son’s life-giving rescue mission that provides forgiveness of sin, oneness with God, and Salvation. After that, you might even find it exciting to seek Him and to follow Him.

One last thought, knowing that salvation exists is different from acting on it. In Romans 10:13, the Bible says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Calling on the name of the Lord is an action. You can find a complete description of the action required here.