In the gospel of Luke, “The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name’” (Luke 10:17). The Lord Jesus responds to them, and at the end of his response He says this: “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven” (Luke 10:17-20).
Remembering our salvation — and especially the “author of our salvation” (Hebrews 2:10), the Lord Jesus Christ — provides us with a never-ending motive for joy.
As fallen human beings, we are very inconsistent. Our “flesh is weak” (Mark 14:38). Our feelings change, but our salvation is unchangeable for “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29) and our Lord Jesus Christ “is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). Because our salvation rests solely on the Person of our Lord, and His completed work on the cross, once we are “in Him” we will never be lost.
In 1 Peter 1:3-5, the Apostle Peter rejoices in God and the immutability of the Lord’s salvation. He writes,
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
Have we lost the joy of our salvation? Let us cry out to God as David did in Psalm 51, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit” (Psalms 51:12). Psalm 51 has as its title: “A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.” It is a very low point in the life of a man after God’s own heart.
In verse 12 David calls salvation “Your salvation.” What good news: that salvation is from the Lord! Without the Lord, there would be no salvation. Were salvation to depend upon us, even just a little bit, not a single person would make it to heaven. Not a single one. But because salvation is from the Lord, it is sure.
All we who are in Christ are His people and the sheep of His pasture. He is our Good Shepherd and our Great High Priest — “One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
Let us rejoice, for the day is coming when:
“He will swallow up death for all time, And the Lord GOD will wipe tears away from all faces, And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the LORD has spoken. And it will be said in that day, ‘Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited; Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation‘” (Isaiah 25:8-9).
