Eternal Surety

Philippians 1:⁶ “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (NIV, emphasis added)

Our sins—past, present, and future—are taken care of by the precious and eternal Blood of Jesus. 1 John 2:² “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” (KJV, emphasis added). Beautiful scripture! What does propitiation mean? The New Living Translation puts it this way, “He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.” (emphasis added). The truth is that the English language struggles to convey the meaning of these words. The Yoruba Bible puts it this way, “On si ni ètutu fun ẹ̀ṣẹ wa…” (emphasis added). Jesus is the ètutu for our sins.

To unpack ètutu by itself would require a series of teachings. However, ètutu includes sacrifice but it goes beyond sacrifice to the Blood of that sacrifice now becoming the seal for our redemption. Jesus is the seal of our redemption. However, He is not just a seal; He shed His Blood and then used His Blood to seal our redemption. You can use a stamp as a seal. And though it is a seal, it is not ètutu because there was no shedding of blood. And that seal was not done with the blood of sacrifice. Let’s pause here and just worship Jesus with this hymn. You can choose to sing it in Yoruba or in English, or just say the lyrics aloud to God. But whatever you do, worship.

O fun mi l’edidi, (He gave to me a seal)

Gbese nla ti mo je (Of the great debt I owe)

B’o ti fun mi, O si rerin (And as He gave, He smiled and said,)

Pe; Mase gbagbe Mi. (Always, remember Me)

Mo wo mo si rerin (I looked at it and smiled,)

Mo tun wo mo sokun (Again, I looked and wept)

Eri ife Re si mi ni (The earnest of His love for me)

Uno toju re titi. (I’ll ever treasure it) 

Ki tun s’edidi mo, (It is more than a seal)

Sugbon iranti ni (It is in remembrance)

Pe gbogbo igbese mi ni (That all the debt of sin was paid)

Imanueli san. (By Lord, Emmanuel)

How can anybody play with this? How can this possibly be a license for sin? That is why Paul urges us to be confident because God who began the good work in us will carry it on to completion. God guarantees to keep you saved until the end. No fear! No condemnation!

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for Your perfect sacrifice that guarantees my salvation until heaven, in Jesus Mighty Name. Amen!