In the OT, yešûʿâ means “salvation, deliverance, Savior” and is easily seen as the Hebrew version of Jesus. He brought deliverance to His people from bondage in Egypt after which Moses stated, “The Lord had become my salvation.” This noun is used many times of the God who brings salvation, often from physical danger but also from spiritual peril:
Isaiah 12:2. “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.”
Isaiah 52:7. “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns.’ ”
Another noun speaks of physical deliverance also, yet is similarly used for spiritual victory in verses like Isaiah 45:17: “But Israel is saved by the Lord with everlasting salvation; you shall not be put to shame or confounded to all eternity.”
In the NT, both the noun sōtēria and the verb sōzō cover the saving power of God. It is not a salvation that anyone can earn by doing good for “all fall short of the glory of God.” However it is a salvation that changes lives. This is demonstrated in the story of Zacchaeus. When he professed his faith in Jesus and offers to change his entire manner of living, Jesus said, “Today salvation has come to this house.”
Salvation is an event, but far more than a one-time experience. When someone hears the truth and is saved, God brings them into His family, forgives their sin and gives them new life in Christ:
Ephesians 1:13; 2:5; 2:8–10. “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit . . . . even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved . . . . For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Even though salvation is a past experience, God works salvation in the present. He tells me to live my new life with fear and trembling as Philippians 2:13 says, “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” As my salvation, He changed me and He is changing me!
As for the future, Paul indicates “our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed” meaning that there is more to come of God’s salvation power until that day when I see Jesus face to face and become totally like Him.
1 John 3:2–3. “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”
GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. Salvation came with that first experience of seeing Jesus for who He is. Every day as I read about Him and study who He is, salvation power is at work in me. One day that salvation work of God will be complete. As Revelation 19:1 says, after this I will hear what seems to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God.” And I will sing praises to the God of my salvation for all eternity. Amen.
2 comments:
Thank you. Crystal Clear Message.
Praise the Lord that His Spirit is such a great communicator! Blessings!
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