HAVE YOU noticed lately what is happening in our church? A growing number of our Orthodox people are beginning to talk in a strange, religious lingo. They have been Orthodox all their lives and yet suddenly they are heard claiming that they've had a "born-again" experience and that they "are saved."
Such spiritually changed people in the church are witnessing to others how it all happened. They are giving "personal testimonies" how Jesus Christ became their personal Savior in a new and dramatic way and how He drastically transformed their lives.
What about all this thing about "being saved," witnessing and personal testimonies? Most of us have always associated that kind of jargon with Protestantism, and God save us from Protestantism, a lot of Orthodox people would say.
Ironically, however, much of Protestantism is not talking about salvation and the Gospel anymore. A tide of liberalism has swept over the mainline churches. Basic doctrines of the Bible are now being denied. The Gospel is no longer being preached from the pulpits. Social, moral and international issues are discussed by preachers. The Roman Catholic church has also felt this influence of theological liberalism.
Such a falling away from the apostolic faith within Christianity is one of the apocalyptic "signs of the times." But God is doing something about this apostasy that is evident in the Christian world. The fresh, world-wide outpouring of the Holy Spirit, known as the Charismatic Renewal, is God's way of counteracting this Satanic influence and meeting the need of restoring the apostolic preaching of salvation and apostolic power.
Every man and woman who is baptized in the Holy Spirit is entering into a new awareness of the Gospel and of the need for an actual experience of personal salvation through the blood of Calvary's cross. The Father sent the Spirit to glorify Jesus and to bring to remembrance all things which He has said and done, and that includes His atoning death.
To talk about "being saved" and about naving a "born-again" experience is definitely not a distinguishing characteristic of Protestantism. It is rather an expression of the restoration of authentic Orthodoxy. It is the rediscovery of the simple Gospel message which lies at the heart of Orthodoxy.
Those Orthodox who have entered into this deeper experience of the Holy Spirit have gained a fresh awareness of salvation in Jesus Christ. Personal salvation becomes to them more than a dogma of the church. It becomes an actual experience in the life of the believer. It is part of the Christ-experience that results from the baptism in the Holy Spirit. In all honesty we must admit that few, if any, Orthodox even think it is necessary to have such a spiritual experience.
Those baptized in the Spirit find that their new experience transforms their whole life. It deepens their personal relationship with God. More than that—it releases a new joy and inner power that cannot compare to anything they felt in the past.
How can anyone expect such a believer to deny his own experience of joy and victory in Jesus Christ?
How can anyone refuse to join the choir of angels in rejoicing over one and more than one who are repenting upon earth and rediscovering Jesus as personal Savior?
Only Satan and his cohorts are disturbed and feel threatened over such glad tidings. His usual way of coping with growing renewal is to discredit the personal testimonies and to prove they are theologically worthless or that they are a sign of spiritual pride. He throws a religious smokescreen on what spiritually awakened persons attest to in order that the important fact can be lost sight of—the joy of knowing Jesus in a personal relationship.
In a certain parish a Spirit-filled man got up at a religious forum and witnessed how he was saved. Whereupon his priest replied, "No one can know if he is saved. I don't even know if I am saved." Sad news reached us that five members of that parish left the Orthodox Church as a result of continuously being chided thereafter over their salvation experience.
Isn't it a pity that we keep losing such consecrated Christians to our church? We are simply dooming our church to spiritual paralysis when we dishearten those people whose lives are touched by God.
Let us look at the question: Can I say I am saved here and now? Do I have any right to feel certain about my personal salvation, or does God expect me to pass through life with a constant sense of uncertainty or, at the least, with just a hope that I will make it to Heaven?
There is ample evidence in God's word which demonstrates that salvation, in a true sense, is undoubtedly a present reality. The certainty of salvation is part of the experience of knowing Jesus Christ as Savior. It is God's fond desire for those whom He has adopted as His children.
The Right To Be Certain About Salvation
True, the completeness of salvation comes after death when the soul unites with the resurrection body. The body in the meantime awaits its redemption at the return of Jesus. Nevertheless, what is of crucial importance is the fact that salvation begins in this life. Yes. We not only have the right to claim we are saved, but an obligation in being true to our actual experience and to confess it verbally.
To deny the certainty that salvation is ours in this present life flies in the face of the explicit teaching of Scripture:
"In Him we have redemption through His blood the forgiveness of our sins according to the riches of His grace" (Ephesians 1:7).
Notice the present tense of the verb "have." God's word does not say "shall have." It says "we have redemption." We have salvation right now.
St. Paul clearly speaks of salvation as a present reality when he says:
"God has raised us up with Him and made us to sit with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus"(Ephesians 2:6).
"For by grace you have been saved through faith" (Ephesians 2:8).
"You are fellow-citizens with the saints and members of the household of God" (Ephesians 2:19).
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come" (2 Corinthians 5:17).
"He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins" (Colossians 1:13).
"And this is the testimony that God gave us eternal life" (1 John 5:11).
"I write this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life" (1 John 5:13).
Scripture gives us overwhelming evidence that already we have redemption, indeed we already have eternal life. The above texts are only a few of the countless testimonies from the Bible that proclaim that salvation begins from now, as the rightful and immediate possession of those who have become children of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are to be pitied above all men if we claim to be Christians and yet lack the certainty from now that we will be received by Jesus into His heavenly kingdom when we pass on.
To deny that a believer can be certain of Heaven for himself is to deny the very promises of Jesus Christ.
The Lord set down certain conditions that are to be met for salvation. They are explicit and unambiguous. The moment we meet those conditions we have the assurance of salvation. As a matter of fact, the "newness of life" in the Holy Spirit is a foretaste of heaven. The Spirit witnesses to our own spirit that we are saved.
To accept the Gospel is to accept that the promises of Christ are unfailing. When He says in His word we are saved by meeting His conditions, then we are saved and there is no room for doubt on the matter. God's word is final. To question the promises of Jesus is to commit the sin of unbelief and disobedience.
The evangelist says: "He who believes in Him is not condemned" (John 3:18). Now if we are not condemned, obviously we are set free from Satan's bondage, and if we are free in Christ, naturally we possess salvation. We have more than simply the assurance of going to Heaven when we die. We already experience salvation here and now. If we are no longer "under condemnation," then we are children of God and already members of God's household.
How is it logically possible to be fellow-citizens with the saints and members of the household of God without the assurance of salvation? If you are presently a member of God's family, your salvation has already started. If you are presently a member of the Body of Christ, the Church, naturally you will be a member of the Body in the Church Triumphant, assuming you remain in a state of grace until your last breath.
No one can expect to be in Heaven after he dies without the present assurance of salvation and the present experience of Heaven—"righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17).
Jesus distinctly said: "The kingdom of heaven is within you!"
Did you hear that, brother? It's Jesus talking. The believer who is waiting to get to Heaven before experiencing "righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" here and now is no Christian at all!
Heaven is already on the inside of you, child of God. That means you are saved. Saved from what? Saved from the condemnation and curse of Adam. You are redeemed, providing you keep walking in the Spirit to the very end of your earthly existence.
Not only are we certain of Heaven according to St. Symeon the New Theologian, an eleventh-century Church Father, but we actually have the experience of Heaven from now. "I cannot even begin to enumerate," he teaches, "the things that Christ will become to those who believe in Him, not only in the age to come, but first in the present life. Although in this life these blessings are dimmer, while then they will be more perfect, nevertheless, all the future blessings believers receive from now and experience clearly already as the first fruits. They neither enjoy all the promises here nor do they simply hope for everything then, remaining in the meantime destitute of and inexperienced in the future blessings." (Theological and Moral Discourses 10, 700)
Satan Robs Us of That Certainty
It's nothing but a trick of the devil to say that everything good comes beyond the grave. That there is nothing on this side but gloom and misery. And to think that you don't even know with certainty that all the misery will end with death.
The devil is a thief, brother, and his job is to rob God's children of their joy and hope. He tells you that you have to feel gloomy in this world. You have no right to Heaven's blessings of joy and peace here. You have no assurance of Heaven. Just sit there in misery and hope everything will turn out all right in the hereafter. Don't you dare say, "I know I'm saved." That's pride. That's being presumptuous. You have to be humble and silent, as you sit there guessing whether you'll be in Heaven or in hell when you pass on.
To think that God would keep us guessing as to whether He will receive us into heaven or consign us to the place of eternal torment! What a mockery of the Gospel! What a travesty of God's will for man! What madness! What blasphemy!
My Lord tells me: "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavily laden and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28)
When Jesus tells me He will give me rest, He's not talking about the "rest in peace" inscribed on tombstones. He means rest and peace that is part of the kingdom of Heaven in the here and now. It is the present experience of salvation.
The "hope which is in us" is an expectation of Heaven and not merely a possibility of winning Heaven. It is a desire with expectation of obtaining what God has already promised to His children.
Too many people in the church today permit Satan to rob them of the joy that such an expectation produces in their life. They believe it is not right for them to claim certainty about heaven. They think they are being humble this way and more spiritual.
The result of Satan's influence is that too many in the church live with anxieties. They mistake anxiety for hope and submission to God's will. The fear that comes with uncertainty and anxiety saps their life of strength, joy and complete victory.
God's word tells us that we "await our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13). When we wait for the coming of Christ to complete our redemption, God cannot let us down. Because "hope does not disappoint us, for God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" (Romans 5:5).
If I cannot be sure I will go to Heaven, how can I possibly beckon Jesus with a feeling of joy to return quickly: "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!" The return of Jesus would be frightful to me.
We read in the book of Revelation: "The Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him who hears say, Come"
(Revelation 22:17). Obviously, you have to be certain of your salvation in order to invite Jesus joyously to return soon so you can be with Him in glory.
To deny that we are able to be certain about our salvation is the same thing as denying that we can say that we have received the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is not that Spirit on the inside of us that is our pledge and assurance! "He has put His seal upon us and given us His Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee" (2 Corinthians 1:22).
How do I know I am saved? By the Holy Spirit who now indwells within me. I was "sealed with the promised Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of His glory."
If we are to be kept guessing whether we will be saved or not, then what purpose and meaning is there to receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ at the Communion?
If we have no right to claim certainty about heaven, then what is the good of receiving forgiveness at Communion!
Is not the Holy Communion received for the forgiveness of our sins, the purification of our soul and body and to the resurrection of our bodies in that last day?
Is not the Body and Blood of Christ our precious provision "for the inheritance of Thy kingdom," as we say in the Communion Prayers!
If we become "flesh of His flesh" in that ineffable identification with Jesus and still have to remain anxious and uncertain about being saved, then we are most miserable among men. We are to be pitied. We have made God to be a sadistic overlord who delights in seeing His children live in a state of agony and anxiety.
To keep wondering whether we are now saved is not God's will. It is not a sign of our humility. It is simply a tragic defeat for us and a victory for the Devil.
Salvation is a gift. We cannot earn it with our good works. It does not come with agonizing. Christ became sin and curse for us so that we might be found righteous before God. Unfortunately, to read some of the desert, Nyptic Fathers is to get the impression that you are saved by toiling all your life and you never really know if you are saved. Sometimes, their spirituality becomes so morbid you feel you want to commit suicide after reading them.
Thank God for St. Symeon the New Theologian and his wholesome teaching. This illustrious Spirit-filled Church Father teaches us as follows, regarding salvation:
"He who believes from the heart and is informed that Christ came not to judge but to save him, and not by works nor by toil nor by perspiration, but only by faith in Him. Those who are perfected in holiness and virtue were saved freely and not by the works of righteousness. Since salvation is effected in the believers "not by the works of the law that no one might boast" (Galatians 2:16) according to the divine apostle, works are not necessary. I mean fastings and vigils or rigors and hunger and thirst. Indeed, I am emboldened to say neither fastening the body with irons nor afflicting it with hairy skins is necessary.
"Such things are nothing at all, since even many criminals and those who are poverty-stricken suffer these rigors but still remain the same people and do not free themselves from evil nor do they ever improve." (Ibid. 8, 165f)
We do not please our Father by telling Him:
"Well, I don't know, Lord, if you will receive me into Heaven when I die. I'm so unworthy. I'll keep trying and, if it pleases you, receive me. But, I'll keep struggling and guessing in the meantime."
A believer who lives a victorious life is one who not only knows with assurance he is saved, but confesses his victory and salvation by saying:
"Through the blood of Jesus I am redeemed out of the hand of the Devil!"
"The shed blood has saved me! God has made Jesus to be my righteousness. I am a child of God and co-heir with Christ of the kingdom of God."
It pleases God when His children know their privileges and confess their inheritance. He is glorified and honored when we acknowledge what we have received from God through Calvary's cross. How can you possibly be thankful to God for something you are not certain you already possess from Him? How can you delight in God so long as you feel only anxiety and fear concerning your salvation?
To be sure, salvation is not something to be taken lightly and for granted. On the contrary, you can be saved today and be ready for Heaven, and, yet, tomorrow be damned and be ready for Hell. "Let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall" (1 Corinthians 10:12).
But the point is that we should know at every moment of our life whether we are saved or whether we are damned. It is the Spirit within us that is the guarantee of either Heaven or of Hell. This is why we need to approach salvation in the fear of God. We can lose our salvation by backsliding and slipping into disobedience.
It is, however, one thing to "work out holiness with the fear of God" once you are saved and another thing to live with fear and anxiety because you don't know if you are saved. The fear refers to the need of retaining your salvation once you have received it and to the thought of being able to lose it.
The Reassurance of Jesus
Jesus Himself reassures us about our reward in heaven. I have every right to say: "I rejoice and am glad, for my reward is great in Heaven!"
Jesus commands us to rejoice and be glad—not when we die, but right now. Why? Because we have that certainty that our reward is great in Heaven.
The blessedness of Heaven begins in this life. In the sermon of the mount Jesus said that blessed are God's children here and now "for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." But how can you possibly be blessed and happy, unless you know at the present time that you are saved?
Remember, brother, that Jesus cautioned His followers against living with anxieties. "Which of you by being anxious," He said, "can add one cubit to his span of life? ... Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself" (Matthew 6:27,34).
It would have been unthinkable for Jesus to expect us to trust in Him for our physical needs and to rest in His hands with a sense of assurance and peace, and, on the other, have us uncertain and guessing about our eternal fate beyond the grave.
Now I am not trying to say that there is no spiritual growth once you are saved. The very opposite holds true. Your whole life is one long process of growth in the Holy Spirit. The Christian life is increasing in holiness "without which no one will see God" (Hebrews 12:14).
Salvation is the born-again state of the believer. Rebirth, like the first, natural birth, is instantaneous. The moment the baby is delivered and its first cry is sourfded you know the birth of the baby is completed. It is an accomplished fact.
While salvation is instantaneous, growth, sanctification and holiness are always progressive, continuing throughout the believer's lifetime. Salvation comes with receiving Jesus as personal Savior, repenting of our sins, confessing our sins and receiving the baptism in water and in the Spirit and finally the Holy Communion.
The thief on the cross was in paradise with Jesus by meeting the conditions of faith and repentance. There was no time for baptism or Communion even though these are prerequisites for salvation set down by the Lord. There have been notorious sinners who have received the assurance of Heaven in a final moment of repentance on their death bed.
Then we have the instance of the three-thousand souls on the day of Pentecost that received salvation upon responding to Peter's preaching of the Gospel. They "were added that day" to the church. They were saved within the time period of one day.
Although "fear came upon every soul," because "many wonders and signs were done through the apostles," they "partook of food with glad and generous hearts, praising God."
When you're saved from the curse of Adam through the blood of Jesus, you are just a spiritual infant. Those three-thousand souls on Pentecost day were brand, new Christians, neophytes, babes in Christ, just crawling in the Spirit. To be saved doesn't necessarily mean you are already perfect. It means that God has set you free from Satan's bondage so you can begin growing into the "image and likeness of God." But the important thing is that you are saved, liberated, no longer a child of wrath. You have made that transfer out of the "dominion of darkness" into the "kingdom of God's beloved Son."
Did you hear what God's word says in connection with Pentecost day? The verb "saved" in the original Greek text is in the present tense:
"And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved (sozomenous)" (Acts 2:47).
Consequently, once you are "born again of water and the Spirit" you have to grow and attain the "measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." No one is born instantly into a state of perfection no more than Adam was when he was created by God. When you are born again, you are sinless, like Adam at the moment of his creation, but, like Adam again, you are imperfect and merely raw material that God fashions into the finished work.
Now if death cuts your growth short, you are still certain of Heaven, because of the earnest of the Spirit that God has placed into your heart. Imperfection in itself is not necessarily sinful, though wilful imperfection can be sinful and culpable.
Sanctification is a life-long process. It is part of our walk in the sanctifying Holy Spirit. It is not an achievement of one, single moment. It is a constant growth. There is no terminal point to sanctification and spiritual development.
Substance of Things Hoped For
Meanwhile, we need to enjoy and rejoice over our salvation, knowing that already we have "the first fruits of the Spirit," although "we groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies" (Romans 8:23). Our salvation will reach its completeness when we meet Christ in the air. We will then have resurrection bodies.
The Bible tells us: "For in this hope we were saved." (Romans 8:24a)
Did you hear that? "Were saved"—not "will be saved." Evidence again that salvation is a present experience.
"Now hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, why doeth he yet hope for? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience" (Romans 8:24b,25).
This Scripture brings out the tension between the present and the future of salvation. It is here, right now, yet it is awaited. It is awaited not because it is not already here, but rather because then we will receive the completeness of salvation, namely the redemption of the body. We already live the new age; yet, at the same time we look to the time of the consummation of the present age.
It is faith that makes real and substantial that which is expected, since faith is the "substance of things hoped for, evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1).
A further point must be made. The casting out of demons and the healing of the sick in the ministry and witness of the believer is a more tangible sign of the here and now of salvation. Heaven is a present reality because of these signs and wonders worked in the power of the Holy Spirit. Listen to what Jesus said about this:"If it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you" (Matthew 12:38).
The Kingdom of heaven is not simply "at hand." Because of Pentecost it "has already come upon us." The Spirit that now indwells our bodies and puts the kingdom of Heaven within us ministers to the liberation of God's people from the captivity of Satan.
The Orthodox Church, as a tender Mother, has always given the assurance of salvation to her children. The rubrics indicate that the officiating priest sprinkles the baptized person eight days following his baptism with clean water, saying:
"You have been justified and illuminated."
Then he sponges his face, head and chest, saying:
"You were baptized; you were illuminated; you were chrismated; you were sanctified; you were washed in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit."
Child of God, the moment you come out of that baptismal font in faith and repentance and receive the Bread of life that comes down from Heaven, you are ready for Heaven. So long as you walk humbly before God and in obedience don't let anyone cheat you of your joy and rights. Confess your standing in Christ aloud. Affirm your position in Christ so Satan can hear you and flee from you.
False humility that keeps you guessing about your
salvation is of the Devil. This is what makes so many in our churches today feel gloomy. They live miserable lives and think they are pleasing their heavenly Father. They think the more depressed they feel the more Orthodox and more spiritual they are.
God's word tells us: "Whosoever is baptized in Christ has been clothed in Christ." (Galatians 3:27) If you have put on Christ like a garment, if Christ envelopes your body, soul and spirit, like clothing over your whole being, you are saved. There's no possibility of being a child of Hell and a heir of damnation when you are clothed in Christ. You are saved. Confess your gift and hold on to it.
Now if you were baptized when you were a baby, you need to make a conscious decision for Christ. It's the only way that baptism is going to do you any good. Otherwise, you can be baptized and still go to Hell. You can take Communion and still go to Hell.
Brother, you need to make a commitment to Jesus Christ by confessing Him aloud as your personal Savior and by inviting Him to come into your heart and into your life. You need to have an experience with Jesus Christ. You must have an experience of the Holy Spirit. You need the inward assurance that you are saved here and now, and that, if your heart were to stop beating, you know you would be with Jesus in Heaven. That assurance does not come only with your baptismal certificate. That piece of paper won't keep you out of Hell.
St. Symeon the New Theologian warns those "who say they have the Spirit of God with no experience and believe they possess the Spirit within them from the holy baptism and contend they have the treasure, knowing in reality that they are utterly devoid of the Spirit."
This eminent Father of the church cautions those who have been clothed with Christ through the sacrament of baptism but feel nothing. The dead who are dressed with garments feel nothing, he says, and it seems that those who say such things are similarly dead and spiritually naked.
"Those who say they have the Holy Spirit without an experience will not have an experience of eternal life. They will forever remain dead and blind and without an experience ... As they are now, they will be then, without the experience of the Holy Spirit" (Ibid. 5,230).
This means, friend, if you have no taste of Heaven in this life, don't expect to sit down at that heavenly banquet in the hereafter.
If you are not certain about Heaven right now, don't expect to find Heaven beyond the grave.
Don't let anybody fool you. Get that experience of salvation now so you can find it after you die, intact and complete.
Simply kneel down and with a humble spirit earnestly invite Jesus aloud this very moment to come into your heart and life as your personal Savior. Confess that you accept His finished work on Calvary's Cross for your own salvation. Stay on your knees for a few minutes longer and just experience His love and peace flooding your whole being.
Experiencing Heaven From Now
If it were true that we do not share the future blessings from here and now, then neither do we elect ones already receive grace. Then Christ is a mere prophet and not God. Moreover then everything He says in the gospel are prophecies of things to come and riot the actual gift of grace. Similarly the apostles then dealt with prophecy, but not with the fulfillment of what was prophesied, and they did not receive anything; neither did they give anything to anyone.
0! What ignorance and darkness of those who are of such a mind! Then our faith is just a lot of words and destitute of deeds. If the "... grace of God which bringeth salvation has appeared to all men" (Titus 2:11) only in words but not in actuality, and in such a way we regard the mystery of our faith, who can be more miserable than we ourselves? If Christ is the light of the world and is God, yet we believe He is not unceasingly seen by any man, who can be more an unbeliever?
I cannot even begin to enumerate the things that Christ will become to those who believe in Him, not only in the age to come, but first in the present life, then later in the future life. Although in this life these blessings are dimmer, while then they will be more perfect, nevertheless all the future blessings believers receive from now and experience distinctly (tranos) already as the first-fruits (aparchas). They neither enjoy all the promises here, nor do they simply hope for everything then, remaining in the meantime destitute of and inexperienced in the future blessings.
To those who are under the control of unbelief and passions grace is totally inaccessible and invisible. But to those who show repentance and work the commandments with faith in fear and trembling grace is revealed and it is seen. It unquestionably produces within them the judgment which is to come. Indeed it becomes a day of divine judgment in which he who is clean and shining in the truth beholds himself in detail as he really is, as well as his deeds, those committed consciously and those worked inwardly. Indeed, he is judged and examined by divine fire. His whole body becomes drenched from the wetness of tears and he is totally baptized in the Spirit and in divine fire and he becomes wholly purified, totally undefiled, a child of light and of the day.
Consequently, such a person is not judged by trial in the future judgment, because he has already been judged. Neither is he convicted by that light, because he has already been illuminated. Neither is he tried nor burned by entering into that fire, because he has already been tested. Neither does he regard that day of the Lord as appearing sometime in the future, because it has already become a radiant and shining day from living and associating together with God. Neither shall he be in the world then nor with the world, but rather totally outside the world. For, He said, I have chosen you out of the world, (John 15:19) and the apostle says: For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. (1 Corinthians 11:32) And, again: Walk as children of light (Ephesians 5:8), he says.
The day of the Lord never comes upon those who are children of light and children of the future day and who are able to walk honestly as in the day. They abide always and continually in the day of the Lord. It will be revealed as a terrible day and expected as unquenchable fire to those who live in the darkness of passions and desire the things of the world. The divine fire will not appear wholly spiritually, but rather, as it were, incorporeally in a body, as Christ Who arose from the dead was seen by his disciples, as the evangelist says. When He was taken up into heaven, the angels spoke these words to them: "This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." (Acts 1:11)
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