The Full Journey of Salvation: Past, Present, and Future

Now, when we think of salvation, we tend to think of it as something that happened in the past when we first trusted in Christ. That’s when we were saved. But this passage and others teach that salvation is much bigger. In one sense, we were saved before the foundation of the world when the Father chose us. In another sense, we were saved 2,000 years ago when Jesus took the penalty for our sin through his death on the cross. We were saved earlier in our lives when God called us to believe the gospel. We are being saved now by the Holy Spirit’s sanctifying work in us. And in a final sense, we will be saved when we obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Glorification is the culmination of salvation. It’s the last step in the process. When the old hymn says, “We’ll be saved to sin no more,” it’s talking about this final stage of salvation.