Grammar Lesson

Listen to Isaiah 44.22:

I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud
And your sins like a heavy mist.
Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.

Did you get the order of events in that verse? Read it again:

I have wiped out (past tense) your transgressions like a thick cloud
And your sins like a heavy mist.
Return (present tense) to Me, for (or because) I have redeemed (again, in the past) you.

The grammar in this verse (and every Bible verse) is crucial. How were we saved? God redeemed us in the past. He wiped out our sins in the past. And because of that ("for") we should return to Him in the present. God doesn't redeem us because we return to Him. We turn to Him because, in the past, through his electing love and his atoning work on the cross, we were already bought with a price. Theologians call this idea "Particular Atonement." I call it really good news. My salvation really is based on Jesus' perfromance, not my own!

So...a good reason to break out those old gramnmar text-books, huh?