SALVATION is a word of large meaning. Sometimes it refers to the Saviour’s past and finished work, sometimes to His present priestly work, and sometimes to His future and glorious work, when our body will be changed and fashioned like unto His glorious body. Then the salvation of God will be complete.
The death of Christ has saved us from the penalty of sin. The present ministry of Christ is saving us from the power of sin, and when we are caught up to be with Him in glory we shall be saved from the presence of sin.
Moses brought Israel out of the house of bondage, Aaron accompanied them through the wilderness, Joshua led them into Canaan.
Christ Jesus unites all these in His own person. The youngest and feeblest believer is entitled to say, “I am saved, saved now, saved eternally. If he thinks of his sins and judgment to come, he can sing as confidently as the children of Israel when they saw Pharaoh engulfed in the Red Sea: “The Lord hath triumphed gloriously, ... He is become my salvation” (Ex. 15:1, 2).
Turn to 1 Corinthians 15:3, 4. What are the three grand facts brought before us there? These: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; was buried, and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. Hold these facts fast, keep them in memory. This was the Gospel Paul preached unto the Corinthians, which also they received, and wherein they stood; by which also they were saved.
Salvation then is yours, if with simple unquestioning faith you cling to the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, as the sole and only ground of your confidence.
We have this assurance of possessed salvation in many passages of Holy Scripture. Look at these three: —
Ye ARE saved (1 Cor. 15:2).
We ARE saved (1 Cor. 1:18).
Who HATH saved us (2 Tim. 1:9).
Doubt, then, no longer. The work of Christ is a solid foundation on which our salvation is, firmly built. Be assured of its eternal security. The rock of ages can never be shaken. Christ is a tried stone, a safe hiding-place, a shelter from the wrath to come.
Looking back to the cross we can say that we are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ; looking onward to the future we know that we shall be saved “from the wrath to come” (1 Thess. 1:10). “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1).
“In our place condemned He stood.”
Hence there is no condemnation for us.
This aspect of salvation never changes. We are as completely wrested from Satan’s hand as Israel from Pharaoh’s when they were on the other side of the Red Sea. The blood on the door-post has sheltered us from judgment, the enemy of our souls is a vanquished foe, his power is annulled in Christ’s death.
We can say, then, with great emphasis that salvation is now ours through the sorrows and sufferings of Calvary, whereby God’s holy claims have been met, our sins atoned for, and Satan has been overcome.
Salvation—in this aspect―is as fully ours now as it will be in the glorious eternity which awaits us.
2.
It is not difficult to see that Israel’s “salvation” was not complete at the Red Sea. Faith might travel to Canaan, but their feet were on the wilderness sands they were “redeemed” but not “gathered,” they were pilgrims to “a city of habitation,” they needed support, counsel, guidance, salvation at every step.
Look at the description of their experience in Psalms 107. At death’s door one day, tossed like a frail barque on a tempestuous sea; another, hungry and thirsty, sick and sorrowful, weak and helpless, what would have become of them without a present Saviour? Had they one? They cried unto the Lord in their trouble and He “saved” them out of all their distresses.
They found a day-by-day salvation. Scarcely had their journey begun before another adversary appeared. Amalek, like a roaring lion, bars their way. For us it is Satan acting on “the flesh”; for though defeated he is not dead, though vanquished he is still active, and in some form or other he ever opposes God’s people.
Joshua leads Israel to the actual battle-field. Moses, supported by Aaron―the priest—on one side, and Hur―purity—on the other, intercedes on the mountain-top.
Sight would say all depended on Joshua; faith, piercing the unseen, sees that all depends on intercession above. During the whole day of conflict the priest was for the people with God. So with us. We are saved to the uttermost—to the very end—not only because Christ died, but because He “ever liveth to make intercession for us” (Heb. 7:25). Moses’ hands were steady until the going down of the sun; as a result, Israel gained the victory.
We are to act like Joshua. On our side we are to “work out our own salvation,” always remembering it is God who works in us as well as for us. We are to take heed to ourselves, like Timothy; we are to continue in the doctrine, and thus “save ourselves.” But we are to do this in the abiding consciousness that apart from Christ we can do nothing, and therefore we must ever look to Him for priestly succor for every passing hour.
We need, “salvation” from all the pernicious influences surrounding us, from all the subtility and malice of Satan, from the flesh within, and the world without. The language of our lips and heart should ever be, “Lord, save me!” Let us daily not with temptation, nor seek to overcome it in our own strength, but turn at once to a present Saviour, if we would be saved from the power as truly as from the penalty of sin.
Sin shall not have dominion over you; reckon yourself dead to it, avoid it, refuse it, resist it, like Joshua did Amalek; but never forget that “salvation belongeth unto the Lord.” Our strength to overcome must be drawn from Him. Be “strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.”
The next time temptation assails you, and you feel, like Peter, that you are sinking, look at once away to Jesus, turn to Him for present salvation, say, “Lord, save me!”
3.
Salvation also includes the body of the believer. Christ is the “Saviour of the body.” This part of salvation is “nearer” day by day.
Man is a tripartite being. He is composed of spirit, soul, and body. Salvation applies to every part. Soul salvation is already ours; we have received the end of our faith, the salvation of our souls (1 Peter 1:9). The spirit of the believer is referred to in a remarkable passage which speaks of a Christian being delivered unto Satan for “the destruction of the flesh” (1 Cor. 5:5). This is a solemn warning to us all not to trifle with sin, lest we find ourselves outside the Christian circle, back in the world, out of which Christ died to save us, and eventually removed by death as unfit to remain any longer here. It is in this connection we read of the spirit being “saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” Under the government of God the man might die, through the grace of God his spirit will be saved. It is the grace of God which brings salvation to all men, but that same grace teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present evil world.
The salvation of our body will be the last link completing the golden chain of the salvation of God. This part is connected with power, the present with patience, and the past with suffering. All is found in Christ; the salvation we have is an eternal salvation, but is never separated from the One in whom we have it, “the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory” (2 Tim. 2:10).
We may therefore conclude, on the authority of God’s word, that we are saved, we are being saved, and we shall be finally saved.
We are saved with an everlasting salvation, we shall be saved from wrath to come, our souls are to rejoice in a known, consciously enjoyed salvation.
We are being saved by the activities of Christ’s life now, from the dangers which beset us on our journey. Let us ever look to Him every step of our pathway!
We shall be saved, and in glorified bodies celebrate the perfection of the work of Christ. Meanwhile we wait with longing hearts to see the Saviour who is about to appear the second time, apart from sin, to display us with Himself in salvation’s full and glorious results.
H. N.