The final words of Jeremiah’s prophecy can seem like an afterthought. After narrating the devastating destruction of Jerusalem for most of Jeremiah 52, the final few verses jump roughly 25 years ahead to describe the treatment of Jehoiachin, the exiled King of Judah. Personally, his own fortunes were somewhat restored, as these verses relate, but Jehoiachin was not just any individual. He was a son of David. And his release from prison and relative exaltation among the other exiled kings pointed to a small beginning of the fulfillment of God’s promises to his whole people that he would not make a full end of them and that he would in his own good timing bring them back to the promised land. Because Jehoiachin was the king, his release represented the truth that God’s word would eventually triumph.
However, we must always keep in mind the fact that this signal of the triumph of God’s word is still a small, nearly imperceptible start to things. Many centuries would elapse before the fulfillment of God’s promises would get a jump start in the incarnation of the son of God, the son of David, the Lord Jesus. And even then, Jesus’ fulfillment of the messianic promises of God would start small and follow an unexpected route. But inexorably, what was started at the birth of Christ will be brought to completion at Christ’s second coming. Though the fulfillment of the promises of God might start small, God will ultimately fulfill all his promises on the last day.
If we take this general principle and apply it individually, we get a helpful way to think about how God deals with each of his children. Even before any evidence of saving faith can be seen in the life and profession of a believer, God has begun his work, imperceptibly, in the depths of the heart. But even before that, God decreed before the foundation of the world who would be his. And then, from this imperceptible beginning, the fruit of the application of Christ’s redemption to the souls of God’s chosen people works inexorably, though often times unevenly, toward the fulfillment of God’s purpose for his people, the perfection of his image bearers at the end of this age. This movement from God’s secret counsel to the eternal glory of his people is captured by Paul in Romans 8 when he writes, “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Rom 8:29-30 ESV).
Now, this golden chain of salvation will be the topic for our next sermon series. Each week, we will consider a link in the chain through one or a series of texts. We will actually begin with the topic of union in Christ because it is so fundamental to understanding how and why we can ever receive any sort of blessing of redemption. Then we will turn to election, calling, regeneration, justification, adoption, sanctification, perseverance, and glorification. Now, this order of salvation is first and foremost a logical order. That is to say, it is a description of the logical steps, apart from the timing of these steps, that describe how God deals with his people. Again, we will begin with union in Christ to emphasize that these steps are organically connected and rooted in the spiritual union with Christ that the Holy Spirit establishes with his people. We miss the point if we think of this as a mechanical process, especially if we think we can remove one of these mechanical parts from the whole!
But at the same time, we have to acknowledge that our experience of the golden chain of salvation necessarily unfolds through time. While it is true that we are glorified now, in a sense, as Paul says in Romans 8, the passage of time must also occur before that is a complete existential reality for us. So, also, while perseverance is logically connected with our sanctification and glorification in an unbreakable chain, it is also experienced over the course of our whole lives as we inhabit successive moments.
In the end, our hope is that this brief topical sermon series will expose some of you to concepts you haven’t encountered before, clarify for others what we mean when we use certain theological words, and compel all of us to give all the glory to the God of our salvation.
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