The Wednesday Word ~ 08 March, 2023 A.D.

 

Saved to the Uttermost.
 

D.G. Miles McKee
 

‘Wherefore, He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever lives to make intercession for them."—Hebrews 7:25.
 
One of the biggest words in our language is the word “Uttermost.” No one has ever seen the uttermost nor travelled there. We have mapped the earth, pinpointed the stars and measured the distances between the planets, but in spite of all our knowledge no one has located the uttermost!
 
The uttermost is like the horizon; it’s always further on. Our understanding of God’s love is like that. Just when we think we have got a handle on it, it is then that we see that He loves us to a deeper extent than we have yet understood or imagined.  He loves us to the uttermost!
 
We read in John 13:1, “Having loved his own he loved them to the end (lit. the uttermost). The fullness of His love is beyond the next horizon; it is to the uttermost. His love is always greater than we can fathom. Its fullest extent, the uttermost, is always farther on.

When we look at Christ’s incarnation and life of obedience on our behalf, our understanding, helped by the Spirit, glimpses a measure of His love for us, but we are so spiritually dull that it remains only a glimpse.  When we look at the cross, we continue to get a sight of His love, but again we can’t grasp its fullest extent because the complete appreciation of His love is always further on.
 
We are loved to the uttermost, but we have not yet arrived there in our understanding. Much as we grasp the wonderful things of the gospel, we are faced with a love that is greater than our comprehension, a love that is always further on.
 
Notice also, in our verse, that we have a Saviour who not only loves us to the uttermost but who is able to save us to the uttermost. He saved us at the cross and now, as our ever-living High Priest, He richly applies that salvation.
 
When we look at the cross we see that
He is able to save us because He did not save himself.
He is able to save us because he took our guilt and condemnation.
He is able to save us because He satisfied divine justice.
He is able to save us because when He died, we legally died.
He is able to save us because He, has loved us and paid for us to the uttermost.
 
But He did not leave things there. Our saviour-priest is able to save: us not only because He died, but also because He ever lives to make intercession for us. That same priest who died on the cross is alive never to die again. That same Jesus who was buried in the tomb is now alive and lives to make sure that His purchase is saved to the uttermost. And He is well able to save.  Many a doctor has wanted to save a patient but was not able. Many a parent has been willing to transfer the suffering of their child to themselves, but they could not. The will was there, but not the ability. The wonderful thing about Jesus, however, is that He is not merely willing to save; he doesn’t just try to save or do His best to save, but He is ABLE to save to the uttermost all those who come to God by Him.
 
Christ Jesus succeeds where everyone else fails! He saves to the uttermost. He saves with an all-sufficient omnipotence. He takes us at our worst and saves us to the fullest extent of His power and love. He died for us and ever lives to ensure that everything He purchased for us is applied! What an amazing gospel. Christ died, Christ was buried, Christ is risen, Christ has ascended to cosmic authority and now ever lives to make intercession for us.
 
He is alive and as such, He guarantees that His blood is applied to the believer. He ever-lives to pledge that we will be saved.
 
“Five bleeding wounds He bears, received on Calvary;
They pour effectual prayers; they strongly plead for me:
“Forgive him, oh, forgive,” they cry,
“Nor let that ransomed sinner die!”
 
Christ saves all who come to Him. He saves completely with an exhaustive, all-encompassing salvation. The Christ of the cross is now the High Priest of heaven interceding for us as the perfect mediator. Christ Jesus died on the cross, but unlike the priests of the Old Covenant, his death did not signal a cessation of His ministry. Jesus rose from the dead and as our Great High priest entered glory and presented us before the Father. And now, right now, He is guaranteeing the entire purchased blessing that He obtained with His precious blood.
 
And that’s the Gospel Truth!