THE BELIEVERS BEING THE GIFTS
GIVEN BY GOD TO THE LORD JESUS
Seventh, there is another reason why we will not lose our salvation. In the Bible we see that a relationship exists between the Lord Jesus and God, and a relationship exists between the Lord and us. Many Christians have not clearly seen the relationship between God, the Lord Jesus, and us sinners. Therefore, they misunderstand and think that they can lose their salvation. There is a wonderful word in the Bible that says we Christians, the saved sinners, are the gifts given by God to the Lord Jesus (John 17:6). The Father is here, and the Son is also here. The Father gave the saved ones as gifts to the Lord Jesus. If God has given us as gifts to the Lord Jesus, is there the possibility for us to lose our salvation? We have to consider the matter from two angles.
First, God gave us to the Lord Jesus as a gift. If we were to perish and lose our salvation, if our salvation were not eternal, God’s giving us to the Lord Jesus would become a joke on the Lord. This is like a mother giving soap bubbles to her son. Have you ever played with soap bubbles? One dips a tube into soapy water, blows on the tube, and out come the bubbles. We know that those bubbles will disappear in a few minutes. But when the son sees it, he will be thrilled; he will think that the ball is great fun. He does not know that it will break after a little while.
If God were not omniscient, it might be possible for us to perish because God would not know whether our salvation would be temporary or permanent. But God is omniscient; He knows whether we will be saved eternally or temporarily. If God were not omniscient, it could be possible that He would give us as a soap bubble to the Lord Jesus. But if God is omniscient, He would know that after three or five years, that bubble would break. If He were to do that, He would simply be giving air to the Lord Jesus; He would not be giving a gift to Him. God is an eternal God; whatever He does is eternal. If God gives us as a gift to the Lord Jesus, He cannot regard that as a token favor only.
Second, for God to do this would cause a problem to the Lord Jesus also. Suppose God gave us to the Lord Jesus, but three or five years later we perished and lost our salvation. To us, we would have lost it. But whose fault would it be that we lost it? You could blame the gift given by God for being corruptible. But you could also blame the Lord Jesus for not being able to take care of it. Many times people have sent me some very good gifts. When I was away from home, I lost one of them, or damaged them. Either I can blame the gift for being poor, or I can blame myself for being careless in keeping it. God told the Lord Jesus that He gave those people to Him. What would happen if one day those people were to become lost? We cannot blame only God for giving the Lord Jesus a token favor, but we have to also blame the Lord Jesus for not being able to keep those whom God had given Him.
(Gospel of God, The (2 volume set), Chapter 16, by Watchman Nee)
