THE THREE SALVATIONS

Do you know what they are?

1. The Three Salvations
2. The Salvation of the Spirit
3. Born of Water
4. The Washing of Water by the Word
5. The Salvation of the Soul
6. The Wilderness
7. Waters of Rest
8. Knowing God’s Ways
9. The Sword of the Spirit
10. “Today” if You Hear God’s Voice
11. Let the Dead Bury the Dead
12. The Defiled Man
13. Salted With Fire
14. The Consuming Fire
15. Till We Have Faces
16. The Salvation of My Face
17. The Third Salvation

It has now been almost nine years since I darkened the doors of a church made with men’s hands to partake of their “worship service.”  Most people who learn this are shocked.  “Don’t you remember what Hebrews 10:25 says?  You must not forsake the gathering together of the saints!”  But, Hebrews 10:25 has nothing to do with this.  It speaks of something else altogether.  Let’s look at the passage that contains this verse.

Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,  By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;  And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:19-31 KJV)

All of the Book of Hebrews, including this passage, remains seriously misunderstood by God’s people.  The book deals almost entirely with the salvation of the soul, not the spirit.  It contains five profound warnings that concern missing one’s soul salvation; yet most people interpret the book to mean that a Christian can lose his ultimate salvation or, on the other hand, that the people warned were not really Christians at all.  Both are wrong.  The first puts people in perpetual unwarranted fear of an “eternal hell.”   The second gives people a false sense of sercurity because it teaches them to think that the warnings are not for them.

Verse 22 of this passage begins, “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience” concerns the effect of faith in Jesus upon us.  Once we know that Jesus indeed died for our sins and thus reconciled us to God, we receive a good conscience toward him.   Our heart is our innermost being, our spirit.  Our spirits have been “sprinkled” by the blood of Jesus and given new life.  This is our new birth, but we only become aware of it by faith.  What is commonly called “salvation” comes when a person realizes (believes, has faith) that he sins, that his sins separate him from God, and that Jesus shed his blood and died for those sins so that he could be reconciled to God.  At this point of time, the moment which men call coming to “saving faith,” a person’s conscience no longer condemns him before God.  He knows that his heart (spirit) has been sprinkled with the blood of Christ and that his ability to stand before God has been restored.  This is his spiritual new birth.

Verse 22 ends, Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having … our bodies washed with pure water.  This part deals with our ongoing responsibility to God once our relationship is restored.  The writer here conveys the same thing Peter did when he said, “For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit: By whom also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Who formerly were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, by which a few, that is, eight souls were saved through water. The like figure unto which even baptism does also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ….” (1 Peter 3:18-21 KJ2000)

What is the “like figure?”  Is it Jesus preaching to the souls in prison?  In other words, is it coming to initial faith in who Jesus is?   No, baptism which “does also now save us” is like Noah’s family being saved through water from the destruction that kills all other flesh.  This baptism is the “answer of a good conscience toward God.”  First, we hear God speak, telling us that Jesus has reconciled us to him.  This is when we make our confession of faith, what most people call “salvation.”  But, then, we are to answer, we are to respond to God by washing in his Word.  We read, learn, and apply God’s Word to our lives in an ongoing way, just as we wash ourselves daily to keep clean. 

Hebrews 10:22, therefore, speaks of both our spiritual and soulical salvation.  The emphasis here deals with our soul (our mind, will, and emotions) for the writer tells us the responsibilities we (our mind, will, and emotions) have once we come to faith in Jesus.  Next we will see how this applies to “assembling ourselves together.”  Part 2.

We find a very misunderstood Scripture in 1 Peter 3:21.  Here is the passage:

For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit: By whom also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Who formerly were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, by which a few, that is, eight souls were saved through water. The like figure unto which even baptism does also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. (1 Peter 3:18-22 KJ2000) 

Consider how many people must have been in this prison of death where Jesus preached!  Everyone alive in the world at the time Noah’s deluge began were there, except the eight from Noah’s family.  These were all of those who heard Noah preach about righteousness, yet failed to repent.  These were rebels and evil men and women.  How many of these people do you think failed to respond when Jesus proclaimed the gospel to them?  Again, how many people do you think remained in prison after Jesus preached the truth to them? 

What did Jesus preach to them?  The Word!  What is the Word?  Jesus!  What did Jesus preach to them?  The Truth.  Jesus is the way, the truth, the life.  The sum of his words is truth.  What represents the Word in Scripture?  Water.  One of the clearest passages by which to understand this concept is Ephes. 5:26 which says that Jesus “might sanctify her [the Bride, the true church], having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word….”

Here we learn that the Bride of Christ is cleansed by the washing of water and that that washing of water is with the word.  This means that the Bride is cleansed by the washing of the word.  Remember, the Old Testament sacrifices were always washed with water before they were burnt upon the altar.  All of these sacrifices typified the life of a believer.  Faithful Christians cleanse themselves with God’s Word.  This is how they prepare themselves for sacrificial lives of fruit-bearing.  Of course all things are by grace through faith, but the faithful work out their salvation in fear and trembling.

The passage above from 1 Peter speaks of this washing, this baptism.  It has nothing to do with the initial baptism of faith in Jesus and initial repentance of sins.  That is why Peter says that this baptism is not for the removal of dirt from the body.  The first baptism was for that.   The first baptism removed our dirt of sin and gave us a clear conscience before God.

This baptism Peter speaks of is an ongoing baptism, just as Noah’s was.  Noah’s lasted for a whole year.  Ours lasts for a whole lifetime, for we must always cleanse ourselves by the washing of water with the word and by confessing our sins.   This is the ANSWER of a clear conscience toward God, as Peter says. 

So, Peter’s baptism is not the initial baptism of faith and repentence which brings our initial salvation experience (the salvation of the spirit – this is why Jesus went and preached “to the spirits”).  Peter’s baptism speaks of the salvation of the soul (our mind, will, and emotions), the salvation that comes by our work with fear and trembling, as we apply the Word of God to our lives in obedience, as we practice righteousness by confessing our sins and the sins of our brothers.

The laying on of hands speaks of identification with Christ. The doctrine of washings, or baptisms, speaks of assimilating the character of Christ into ourselves. This is the meaning of 1 Peter 3:21 which says that, “baptism now saves you.”

The idea of baptism represented by Peter is not at all what some churches teach, i. e., that getting immersed in or sprinkled with water while you proclaim faith in Jesus actually saves you from eternal hell. No, the doctrine of baptism primarily means that the constant, daily assimilation of, or washing by, the word of God will indeed save your soul. Baptism concerns working out your salvation with fear and trembling, not a once for all act that magically saves you from the fruit of your sins. Jesus’s death on the cross is that. Jesus’s death on the cross reconciles men to God. Reconciliation is not the work of baptism whether by sprinkling or by being immersed in a pool of water.

1 Peter 3:21 makes this clear for, it says, baptism is the answer of a clear conscience to God’s call. Before we can understand baptism we need to understand from where this clear conscience comes. Our clear conscience comes from faith in God and the reconciliation with mankind that was accomplished by his sacrifice and blood. Baptism then follows an individual’s faith in that work. This is what people call “saving faith” although a person is really saved before he actually becomes aware of his salvation. A person’s knowledge of salvation comes by faith and this by the Word of God when that Word, Jesus, chooses to reveal it to a man. Baptism itself is a good work that one does in answer to this new faith, that is, in answer to the clear conscience he now has because of his faith.

For example, by faith Noah and his sons built the ark. By faith they preached the gospel while they were building the ark. By faith they entered the ark and shut the doors. By faith they persevered in the ark through the floods of water. All of these actions were responses to the faith they already possessed. Then, after all this preparation, for day after day for over a year these eight souls were baptized in the waters of the flood. That flood was their baptism and was a sign, a type, of the water of the word of God that baptizes and saves our souls today. But this salvation represented by baptism is of a different order than the salvation they knew prior to the flood. Remember, God had already found Noah righteous before He commissioned him to this great work. Noah and his family already walked in a clear conscience before God. They were already “saved” in a spiritual sense. This salvation that accomplished their (and our) clear conscience occurred once for all at the cross of Christ and affects all men. But, the salvation represented by Noah’s baptism is a lifelong work. It speaks of the salvation of our souls (not our spirits). It is the salvation referred to by Paul when he says, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” (Philippians 2:12)

Jesus came by water and blood and that water and blood eventually saves all men. First the blood accomplished spiritual salvation for the entire human race. Second, each man in his own appointed time begins to wash himself in the water of Christ’s word. First a man will lay hold of, lay hands on Christ, when he comes to believe in him. Having believed he will then begin to draw water, that is life, from Christ to himself. The first thing that he will do upon believing in Jesus is to repent of his sins. The sincere man will then begin to make repentance his way of life. In doing that he begins to assimilate Christ’s life and character. This is the essence of the washing of the water of the word spoken of in Ephesians 5:26. Paul says in Ephesians 5:32 that this mystery is profound. Indeed it is, which explains why so few people understand the doctrine of baptisms. This also helps explain why the gospel itself still remains a mystery to most and why almost no one has gone beyond Hebrews 6:1-2 into the “teaching about righteousness.” But, that time has now come.

The Israelites of old identified with their sacrificial animals by laying hands upon those animals. The animals in turn represented Jesus who willingly gave up his flesh in order to serve and save men. Likewise, those animals typify men who willingly give up their lives for the sake of others. Today men lay hands upon people in order to bestow spiritual blessings, to pray for another, or to simply identify with another’s position. Men also lay their hands “to the plow” in order to do the living works that God has called them to do. Our hands represent us and what we do. The doctrine of the laying on of hands speaks of a life given to the doing of the Gospel, to doing the word of God.

This leads us to the fourth elementary teaching of the Gospel, the doctrine of baptisms. Like most basic doctrines of Christianity, this too has been misunderstood. In order to understand it we once again must turn to the Old Testament. In Leviticus chapter 1 we see the baptism, or washing, of the burnt offering sacrifice. Here we see that the priest offering the sacrifice must wash the entrails and the legs of the sacrifice with water. We have moved now from the laying on of hands by the man who offers the sacrifice to the washing, or baptism, of the sacrifice by the officiating priest of the sacrifice.

This explains why Jesus had to be baptized by John the Baptist. John himself was a priest from the line of Aaron. John’s father, Zechariah, was serving in the temple of God when an angel of the Lord appeared to him and announced that he and his wife Elizabeth would bear a son named John. The angel prophesied that John would be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb and that he would turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. The angel said that he would go before the Lord himself in the spirit and power of Elijah in order to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, and that he would make ready for the Lord a people prepared. See Luke 1:5-17.

John the Baptist appeared in Israel months before Jesus showed himself. John came preaching a baptism of repentance from sins and of preparation for the kingdom of God. He was recognized by the people as a true prophet and as a true priest of the Most High. Finally Jesus himself came to be baptized by John, but when he did, John told him that he should be baptized by Jesus instead. But, Jesus wanted John to baptize him and said, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matthew 3:15) What does this mean?

Jesus was fulfilling the Levitical law of the burnt offering sacrifice. John was the officiating priest and Jesus himself was the sacrifice to be offered. As the priest John had the responsibility to wash, or baptize, the sacrifice. Jesus knew that he would become a burnt offering and, therefore, in order to fulfill the righteousness of God’s law, he knew he must be washed by the priest. Not only did Jesus identify with the sacrifice; he was the sacrifice. Next we will discuss how the teaching of baptism allows us to assimilate all that Jesus is into ourselves.