Hebrews 9:28 English Standard Version (ESV) so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

The third save is being saved from the presence of sin. It is important to see that He does not come to deal with sin again. He dealt with sin once and that cure for that curse was permanent.

This is our second redemption and in might be helpful to explain redemption here.

Because of original sin God lost man to the world. Man chose poorly and suffered the consequences. Our first redemption came from reinstating relationship with God by faith. He redeemed us from the world, at a personal cost to Himself, the death of His Son.

Redemption in the biblical sense is to rescue whether it be deemed by purchase or ransom. Both are applied in scriptures relevant to Christ redemptive work. I whoever like the image of the Green Stamp Redemption Center. Younger people will not be familiar with the practice.

Green Stamps had no value anywhere other than the redemption center. There you could trade your worthless green stamps for items of value. I like this imagery because my life before Christ had no value and I traded it for the life in Christ that is priceless. The same can be said of the second redemption where we trade our corruptible bodies for incorruptible bodies.

Our first redemption left us in a world where sin was still present in our lives and we have to deal with it. In the second redemption sin will no longer be present.

We have spoken about Justification and salvation as issues where their correct understanding is critical. I will continue on with more critical issues but I wonder; is our understanding of sin critical? I may have to address that at some point.

Romans 6:3 English Standard Version (ESV) Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

I recently saw another way of looking at our Lords secondary salvation and please forgive my approach here. It is a visual example of what I believe occurs because of this opening verse.

If I have a personalized serving of food and I take a bite out of it, it is now mine. I can place the remainder in a container and put it away in the refrigerator with my personal seal, identifying it as mine. It is mine, my refrigerator, my house, my land and no thieves are allowed access.

Accepting Christ’s Lordship is being saved for later in the same way.

Ephesians 2:4-7 English Standard Version (ESV)

⁴ But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Spiritually we are seated with Christ in heaven. There we are being saved for later, sealed, secure and no one can steal us away. I understand that is a rather different approach about being saved from the power of sin but that image gives me comfort that my salvation is saved from contamination.

Meanwhile here on earth we sojourn where every speck of dust wants to cling to our sandals. Our Lord has an answer for that.

John 13:12-14 English Standard Version (ESV)

¹² When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? ¹³ You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. ¹⁴ If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.