Having Full Assurance

In this day of uncertainty in the world that we live in, it is wonderful to have the ‘full assurance’ of salvation, and it is God’s will for every genuine believer the enjoy this assurance. Toward the close of his life the Apostle John wrote by divine inspiration to the believers of Israel concerning truth for all genuine believers since the Cross-work of Christ has been completed.

“These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; [so] that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on [put your continual trust in] the name of the Son of God.” 1 John 5:13 (KJV)

The name “Jesus” means “Savior.” It is the same name as “Joshua” in the Old Testament. And it is given to our Lord Jesus before His cross because He shall save His people [Israel] from their sins," (Matthew 1:21). Of course, we know from the word that He died to pay for the sins of the whole world of mankind.

Thus, the name “Jesus” is a very encouraging name to all who are weighted-down with the guilt of sin or the cares of this world.

He, who is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, might lawfully have taken some more high-sounding title. But He does not do so. The rulers of this world have often called themselves great, conquerors, bold, magnificent, and the like. The Son of God is content to call Himself Savior.

There are these three means by which believers in Christ may enjoy the full assurance of His salvation:

  • First, God urges every true believer: “Let us draw near, with a sincere heart, in full assurance of faith…” (Heb. 10:22). This is the full assurance that results from simply believing God; much as a child implicitly believes what his father has said and is absolutely sure that it is true.

God says: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life” (John 3:36). We may simply — and with good reason — believe His Word and enjoy the “full assurance of faith.”

  • Second, we may enjoy what Heb. 6:11 calls the full assurance of hope.” The hope of the Bible, however, must not be confused with wishing. Rather, it is the Greek ‘elpis,’ having the meaning the confident expectation.” This Christian “hope” is “an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast” (Ver. 19). It comes from believing God’s word, the “promises” (v12) of His word. Thus, the “full assurance of hope” is the confidence that results from having believed, trusted in, relying upon, God’s Word.
  • But third, and best of all, is what Col. 2:2 calls “riches of the full assurance of understanding.” This full assurance is God’s reward to Christians who study His Word and His purposes, beginning with His plan of salvation as revealed in “the gospel of the grace of God.” When one not only believes God’s Word, but begins to understand it he cannot but be gripped by its sublime reasonableness, its powerful logic, and its provision for his deepest needs, and thus he comes to enjoy “all [the] riches of the full assurance of understanding.”

We can thank God that we have and trust in His word in our hands and can have it in our mind.