Salvation unto New Jerusalem (2B)
New Jerusalem is God’s goal for us. For this, in the first stage of God’s salvation He justified us, forgave our sins, and regenerated us with His eternal life. In the second stage God is gradually working to free us from the indwelling law of sin and death by the operation of His Spirit in us. God is also sanctifying us by His Spirit within. Furthermore:
In this stage God is…transforming us by renewing the inward parts of our soul by the life-giving Spirit (2 Cor. 3:6, 17-18; Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23) through the working of all things (Rom. 8:28); building us together into a spiritual house for His dwelling (1 Pet. 2:5; Eph. 2:22); and maturing us in His life (Rev. 14:15 and notes) for the completion of His full salvation. In this way we are being delivered from the power of sin, the world, the flesh, self, the soul (the natural life), and individualism into maturity in the divine life for the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose.*
For the Spirit within to accomplish this stage of salvation requires our cooperation. The New Testament has many terms for this, including turning our heart to the Lord (2 Cor. 3:16), pursuing and stretching forward (Phil. 3:12-14), holding the Head (Col. 2:19), coming forward to receive and find (Heb. 4:16), and putting away every encumbrance and looking away unto Jesus (Heb. 12:1-2).
Through our cooperation the Spirit will supply us richly (Phil. 1:19) and bring about the aspects of salvation mentioned in the quote above. This prepares our inward condition to match the purity of New Jerusalem.
* This continues from post 2A’s quote from footnote 5 on 1 Peter 1:5 in the The Holy Bible, Recovery Version, published and © by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim CA, 2003. A New Testament of this Bible, with outlines for each book, 9000 footnotes, 13,000 cross references, and other study aids, is available in multiple languages for free from Bibles for America, Bibles for Canada, Bibles for Europe, Bibles for Australia, Bibles for New Zealand.
Photo courtesy of pexels.com.
Tagged cooperate with God, God's great salvation, holding the Head, I pursue, life and building, look away unto Jesus, maturity, renewing of the Spirit, salvation in life, sin and death, Spirit gives life, transformation
Posted by Don on August 25, 2025
https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2025/08/25/salvation-unto-new-jerusalem-2b/
