DO you understand the meaning of that word? Look yonder, there has fallen into the river a weak woman. She cannot swim, bravely she battles for life, but it is an unequal contest, and at last she throws up her hands despairingly.
But an eye has watched the struggles from the bank, and with the quick energy of a man who knows what he is about, coat and boots are cast aside, and, bracing his body for a plunge, he swings through the air, and almost before you can think the thought, the woman is on the bank—SAVED!
Or again, the black night is made lurid as the fire licks with a myriad tongues you dwelling-house, and wraps devouring jaws about rafter and beam.
Presently there appears at an upper window a face blanched white with terror, the bulging eyes mutely calling for help into that doomed building there dashes the fireman, and before it totters to earth in the embrace of its conqueror, that girl is placed beyond the reach of harm—SAVED!
Such instances as these you can understand, but when the great God speaks of salvation, what does He mean? Is it salvation from the water, or salvation from the fire? I answer, both.
“How will you do in the swelling of Jordan?” is a question asked of old, and it is just as pertinent today, for men still die, and many, alas, are overwhelmed by the chill waters of the river of death. But God’s salvation is equal to this, and those who possess it are not submerged by the waters; they pass through dry-shod; death has no victory over them.
But beyond the river, at the other side of death, what is there for those who are without a Saviour? Our eyes cannot pierce the veil, but God has revealed even this unto us. After death “the judgment,” and “whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” Ah I that is our just desert without exception, and from this doom God’s salvation alone can save us. It saves alike from the water and the fire—the just penalty of our sins.
You have a past with its sins, a present with its need, a future with its judgment; and because of your past, present, and future, you need salvation. Thank God you have not far to go in search of it, for it is in Jesus the Lord, and He comes nigh to you. Seek Him today and thou shalt be saved.
J. T. M.