¹¹ Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. ¹² The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

We are accustomed to think of salvation as an event that took place in the past, as in, “I was saved in 1972.” Paul writes, “In hope we have been saved…” (Rom 8:4). However, salvation is a multilevel event and process. To be sure, our salvation is secure, as we have seen in Romans 8, and nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (8:39). But we are also being saved as an ongoing process. The same inspired author, Paul, also wrote of the Gospel, “by which you are [lit. being] saved” (present tense, indicating an ongoing activity). And there is a future, culminating aspect to our salvation: “Having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him” (Rom 5:9). Peter writes of our anticipation of Christ’s return, when we will obtain “as the outcome of [our] faith the salvation of [our] souls.”

Our salvation was secured when we were justified. That assurance is worked out in and through our life of faith. The fulfillment of that salvation will be made fully manifest in eternity, when we will enter into the full experience of it. While we see it from our human, time-sequential perspective, God sees all of eternity—past, present and future—as one singular reality. We connect and perceive this truth through faith, as we read earlier, “For in it [the Gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith …” (Rom 1:17).

In practical terms, that time of the fulfillment is coming soon. When I came to Christ there was much talk about the return of Christ at any moment. It has now been 45 years and He hasn’t returned yet. Skeptics are quick to point out that it has been almost 2,000 years since Paul wrote, “Knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken.” Peter even wrote, “In the last days mockers will come, saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? … all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation” (2 Peter 3:3-4). One thing we know for sure: “salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.” We are 45 years closer to His return than when I first believed.

We need to be spiritually awake and alert; He is coming back! The difference will be like day and night! So we should prepare ourselves to live all out for Christ, like a soldier who trains for all out war. We have no time to lose. Don’t wait for tomorrow. Today is the first day of the rest of our lives. Now.

Lord, I commit today to fight the good fight in anticipation of Your return.