Lesson 4: Assurance Forever

There is a very remarkable statement found in the book of Isaiah 32:17: "The effect of righteousness will be peace; and the result of righteousness quietness and assurance forever."

Assurance forever! Is it not a wonderfully-pleasing expression? Assurance not for a few days, or weeks, or months - nor yet for a few years, or even a lifetime - but forever! It is this blessed assurance that God delights to give to all who come to Him as needy sinners seeking the way of life.

Two words are used in this verse that are closely related - peace and assurance. Yet how many deeply-religious people there are in the world who scarcely know the meaning of either. They are honestly seeking after God. They are exact about their religious duties, such as reading the Scriptures, saying their prayers, attending church, partaking of the sacrament, and supporting the cause of Christ. They are thoroughly honest and upright in all their dealings with their fellowmen, trying hard to fulfil every civic and national responsibility, and to obey the golden rule. Yet they have no lasting peace, nor any definite assurance of salvation. I am certain that in almost every such instance the reason for their unquiet and unsettled state is due to a lack of understanding of God's way of salvation.

Though living seven hundred years before Calvary, it was given to Isaiah to set forth in a very blessed manner the righteousness of God as later revealed in the gospel. This is not to be wondered at for he spoke as he was moved by the Holy Spirit.

The key word of his great book, often called the fifth gospel, is the same as in the letter to the Romans - the word, "righteousness." And I would urge you to meditate on this word for a little and see how it is used in the Bible.


A lawyer lay dying. He had attended church all his life but was not saved. He was known to be a man of complete integrity. Yet as he lay there facing eternity, he was troubled and distressed. He knew that honest as he had been before men, he was a sinner before God. His awakened conscience brought to his memory sins that had never seemed so bad as then, when he knew that shortly he must meet his Maker.

A friend put the direct question, "Are you saved?" He replied in the negative, shaking his head sadly. The other asked, "Would you not like to be saved?" "I would indeed," was his reply, "if it is not already too late. But," he added almost fiercely, "I do not want God to do anything wrong in saving me!"

His remark showed how deeply he had learned to value the importance of righteousness. The visitor turned to his Bible and there read how God had Himself planned a righteous way to save unrighteous sinners. The fact is that He has no other possible way of saving anybody. If sin must be covered over, in order that the sinner may be saved, he will be forever lost. God refuses to compromise His own character for the sake of anyone, much as He longs to have all men to be saved.

 Thought Question:
 Why are we confident that we are saved?
What is the most important part of coming into a saving relationship with Jesus?