“Blessed Assurance,” written by Fanny J. Crosby in 1873, is one of the most popular songs we sing. It speaks of the confidence that we can have in Christ concerning the salvation of our souls. The opening words reminds us of our present relationship with Christ, which is the basis of our hope of heaven after a while. “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine.” Yes, having Jesus in our lives is a foretaste of what heaven will be like. Paul was so enthralled with Christ that he truly wanted to die just so that he could be with Him. Remember his words in Philippians 1:23.

Philippians 1:23 (ESV)
²³ I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.

Notice, going to be with Jesus was not just the better choice for Paul, it was far better. Nothing will be sweeter than being in the personal presence of Christ for the first time in heaven. And, why can we have such blessed assurance that we will be in His presence someday? We can be sure because, as the song reminds us, we are heirs of salvation, having been purchased of God, born of the Spirit, and washed in His blood. Do we have scriptural evidence of this? Yes! Regarding being heirs, Paul wrote,

Romans 8:16-17 (ESV)
¹⁶ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ…

Talk about having assurance! The Spirit Himself bears witness that we are children of God. What about being purchased of God? Can we be sure about it? Yes, if we have followed the instructions of the Spirit by repenting of our sins and being baptized (Acts 2:38), we can know for sure that we are God’s purchased possession.

Acts 20:28 (KJV)
²⁸ Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

When did all this take place? It happened when we were “born of the Spirit,” which occurred when we were baptized into Christ.

John 3:5 (ESV)
⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Being born of water is clearly a reference to being baptized, which is the same time that we were purchased by the shed blood of Jesus (1 Peter 1:18, 19; Revelation 1:5).

Yes, we can have “visions of rapture,” that is, we can look forward to the time when we are caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord forever (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). We can have blessed assurance because our assurance comes right from the Word of God, not from man. Certainly, we should be doing as Mrs. Crosby wrote and “praising our Savior all the day long.” We should be able to say with her, “This is my story, this is my song….”

As you wind down for the night, think on these things.