salvation

Not finished

The nation of Israel was unique in that God took a special interest in the descendants of Abraham, and in particular, the 12 sons of Jacob and caused them to settle in a land that had been promised to them hundreds of years earlier. As God developed the nation of Israel and caused it to grow, his people became known throughout the surrounding nations because of the way God blessed them.

After the northern kingdom of Israel was  destroyed by the Assyrians and the people of Judah were told they would be taken into captivity in Babylon, there was doubt about the future. God assured his people that he wasn’t finished with them. Through Isaiah he said, “But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name: thou art mine” (Isaiah 43:1).

Looking forward to the day when God’s eternal kingdom would be established, God declared, “Bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him, yea, I have made him” (Isaiah 43:6-7). During an unspecified period of time, God’s people would be scattered throughout the world, but their identity as God’s children would be preserved and eventually, they would return to their land.

The primary focus of God’s future work was a re-creation of what was once the nation of Israel. As God had established his presence in the Promised Land, so he would make himself known throughout the earth by the redemption of his people. In order to distinguish himself from all other deities, God intended to show the world his glory by dying for the sins of all people (Isaiah 43:10-11).

A new thing

The captivity of god’s people provided a short intermission to the playing out of a 2000 year effort to restore fellowship between God and man. While they were in Babylon, God demonstrated his faithfulness to his people by continuing to protect them and by making a way for them to return to the Promised Land (Isaiah 41:3). Ultimately, the goal was for Jerusalem to be rebuilt through a supernatural empowering of those called to be a part of the second stage of God’s  plan of redemption.

Isaiah proclaimed God’s faithfulness and gave his people hope by stating, “Fear  thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness” (Isaiah 41:10). Following the destruction of God’s temple and decimation of the city of Jerusalem, the nations that rose up against God’s people would be destroyed (Isaiah 41:15-16) making it possible for the Israelites to return to the land they had been driven out of.

God used the destruction of Israel and its resurrection as an example of his power and ability to recreate the nation that belonged to him. Isaiah testified to this when he said, “That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it” (Isaiah 41:20). The remnant of God’s people that returned to Jerusalem would go back of their own free will, knowing they would be used by God in a different way than they had before.

Isaiah explained God’s plan in the context of spiritual blindness. He said, “I the LORD have called thee in righteousness and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; to open blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of  the prison house” (Isaiah 42:6’7). Because everyone else in the world had been cut off from their creator for hundreds of years, the Israelites would be used by God to demonstrate the problem of sin and humanity’s need for a savior.

Unlike the rest of the world, God’s people had not been left in the dark. God’s law had been clearly presented to his people and they were fully aware of the consequences of their sin. As they were being transitioned into a new way of relating to their LORD, the Israelites were told not to expect anymore special treatment. Isaiah declared, “Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them” (Isaiah 42:9).

A new world order

Looking past the captivity of Judah, Isaiah saw a time when God’s people would be transformed into heroes of faith. God was going to take the nation of Israel in a new direction, one that would require his people to re-grasp the situation and exert an effort to do the opposite of what came natural to them. In order to demonstrate the eternal nature of his kingdom, God intended to let Jerusalem be destroyed and rebuilt in a whole new fashion.

Isaiah introduced a new world order that would be based on repentance. He began his message by stating, “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God” (Isaiah 40:1). The Hebrew word translated comfort, nâcham (naw – kham´) means to sigh or to be sorry (5162). Nacham is translated as both comfort and repent with regards to a turning point in a person’s life. The first mention of this word is in Genesis 5:29 where Noah is listed as the son of Lamech. It says, “And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD has cursed.”

It could be said that comfort or repentance is the sign of a new beginning, a fresh start in life. Isaiah linked this new beginning to the point in time when God’s punishment of Jerusalem was finished. Isaiah stated, “Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she hath received of the LORD’s hand double for all her sins” (Isaiah 40:2). Immediately following this statement, Isaiah established Jerusalem’s new beginning as the launch of the Messiah’s ministry on earth (Isaiah 40:3).

John the Baptist quoted Isaiah 40:3 when he declared Jesus to be the Messiah. It says in Matthew 3:1-3:

In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom  of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

John’s reference to repentance was intended to convey the idea that individual action was necessary to become a member of God’s kingdom. God’s work was no longer about saving the nation of Israel as a whole, but about the individual people of God turning to him in order to receive salvation.

The new world order that Jesus came to establish was based on a personal relationship with God. Prior to Jesus’ arrival on earth, no one had seen God face to face. Isaiah revealed that the LORD would come to his people and be seen not only by then, but by everyone (Isaiah 40:5). The evidence that God was present would be a supernatural power that would enable those with faith to exercise divine strength to undergo trials and persecutions on behalf of God’s divine kingdom. Isaiah said about believers, “But they that wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).

A sure foundation

One of the reasons God sent the nation of Israel into captivity was to get rid of all the people that didn’t believe in him. Captivity was a type of refining process that enabled God to work with only those who wanted to be a part of his kingdom. Particularly in the northern kingdom of Israel, there were many people that wanted nothing to do with God. Event the priests and prophets were willing to lie in order to lead the people away from God rather than to him.

Focusing on the time period when the Messiah’s kingdom would be established, Isaiah stated, “In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty unto the residue of his people” (Isaiah 28:5). We know this time period has not yet taken place because Jesus was rejected and killed by the people of Israel and his followers were scattered throughout the world after his death. The reason being, the Jews didn’t understand God’s plan of salvation included everyone.

God had revealed his plan, but his people misunderstood and rejected his messages. Isaiah explained the situation as though his people perceived God’s word to be childish nonsense. “But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little, that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken” (Isaiah 28:13).

A clue that Christ’s arrival on earth would not immediately clarify God’s intentions and initiate his reign was the declaration that a foundation must first be laid before God’s kingdom could be erected. Isaiah declared, “Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make haste” (Isaiah 28:16).

The sure foundation Isaiah referred to was the process of salvation, which is now known as being born again. Whereas God’s people were originally determined by birth, according to the Lord, the Messiah’s kingdom would be determined by a deliverance from death. “And your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand” (Isaiah 28:18).

In his effort to cleanse the world of sin, God planned to show everyone it was possible to change the course of one’s life. The key to change was believing. Unfortunately, the majority of the Israelites didn’t believe and missed their opportunity to be saved. “Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord God of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth (Isaiah 28:22).

The power of the grave

In the book of Hosea, God used the analogy of a marriage to depict his relationship with the nation of Israel so that his people would understand he wanted a personal relationship with them. The prophet Hosea was chosen to model that relationship and was told to marry an adultress because Israel had been unfaithful to God and did not deserve his mercy. The only way Hosea could model God’s love effectively was to forgive his wife and redeem her from a life of prostitution.

The story of Hosea’s wife was meant to portray God’s redemption of his people, but it also showed his people that God’s love was not dependent on their behavior. In spite of their wickedness, God intended to fulfill his promise to king David that he would establish David’s throne for ever (1 Chronicles 17:12). In order to do that, God had to not only forgive his people, but provide a way for them to live eternally. Through Hosea, the LORD declared, “I will ransom them from the power of the grave: I will redeem them from death” (Hosea 13:14).

As when Hosea bought his wife Gomer for fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a half of barley (Hosea 3:3), God planned to ransom his people. The Hebrew word translated ransom, padah indicates that some intervening or substitutionary action effects a release from an undesirable condition…When God is the subject of padah, the word emphasizes His complete, sovereign freedom to liberate human beings” (6299). Rather than taking away his children’s freedom to choose sin, God intended to take away Satan’s ability to punish them for it.

The power of the grave was the power of Satan to separate someone from the love of God. Sin was the key that enabled Satan to lock a person in the prison called hell, or the grave. Satan was given the key to hell when Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3:5-6), but God told them he would one day take that power away (Genesis 3:15). The message God communicated through Hosea was that the day of their redemption was about to arrive.

Although Christ’s birth, death, and resurrection was still hundreds of years away when Hosea spoke to Israel, the events were relatively close compared to the thousands of years that had transpired since Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden. As if Hosea had a clear picture of the process of salvation, he stated, “O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously” (Hosea 14:1-2).

The problem of sin

Israel’s first act of idolatry occurred shortly after they had been brought out of Egypt. While Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving God’s commandments, his brother Aaron made a golden calf for the people to worship. As they were about to enter the Promised Land, Moses reminded the Israelites of their mistake and said, “You have been rebellious against the LORD from the day I knew you” (Deuteronomy 9:24). Then Moses defined God’s great requirement of his people, “And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul” (Deuteronomy 10:12).

The Hebrew word translated rebellious in Deuteronomy 9:24 is marah, which means to be bitter. “Marah signifies an opposition to someone motivated by pride” (4784). In the context of a relationship with God, marah primarily means to disobey. Therefore, the Israelites were guilty of sin even before they entered the Promised Land. In fact, Micah knew there had never been a period of time in their history when Israel had fully obeyed God’s commands. In an attempt to make the people realize they had a problem that would never go away, like Moses, Micah articulated the requirement for a relationship with God.

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micah 6:8).

Something Micah tried to make clear was that the only way God’s people could meet his requirement was through an act of salvation. Micah stated, “The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among man…Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me” (Micah 7:2,7). Micah eluded to a day of judgment in which those who had been held captive by sin, would be declared innocent. Speaking on behalf of the people of God’s kingdom, Micah said, “I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me” (Micah 7:9).

The key to God’s plan of salvation was an undertaking of the responsibilities for sins of others by substitution. Micah declared, “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He will turn again, he will have compassion on us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depth of the sea” (Micah 7:18-19. Like Isaiah (Isaiah 1:18), Micah identified a way for God’s people to be completely free from the effects of sin. Sacrifices would no longer be necessary and God’s people would be able to overcome their problem with sin.

Self-control

When we are born again, our spirits become alive. Like our bodies, our spirits grow and mature, and must be nourished in order to develop properly. We know our spirits are healthy if they are producing fruit (Galatians 5:22-23). One of the fruits of the spirit is referred to as temperance, which is the exercising of self-control (1468).

Solomon was talking about self-control in Proverbs 25:28 when he said, “He that hath no rule over his spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls.” In other words, a lack of spiritual maturity leaves a person open  to attack. This is an interesting point because in Solomon’s time, people were not born again, the entire population of Israel was dead spiritually. That is why it was inevitable that the Israelites would end up in exile. They were spiritually defenseless.

Being born again doesn’t guarantee spiritual success. After I became a Christian, I read my Bible, attended church, and talked to God on a regular basis, but I still failed miserably with regards to spiritual growth. What I was lacking was spiritual exercise. The apostle Paul used the phrase “walk in the spirit” (Galatians 5:16) to describe spiritual exercise. What Paul meant was for us to allow the Holy Spirit to control our behavior. Really, self-control is not about us being in control, but the Holy Spirit overruling our sinful desires. We have to give him permission to do that.

It is natural to do what we want to. God made man with a free will, therefore, he respects our right to choose for ourselves what we do with our time on earth. When we choose to follow Christ, we are in essence saying that God knows better than we do what choices to make, and yet, most of the time we still do what we want to. It wasn’t until I became “like a city that is broken down, and without walls” (Proverbs 25:28) that I decided to exercise self-control and actually do what God told me to.

A perfect heart

David prayed, “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers…give unto Solomon my son a perfect heart” (1 Chronicles 29:18-19). David’s prayer for his son Solomon was a request for God to change Solomon’s heart so that he could rule over Israel effectively. The word translated perfect, shâlêm (shaw – lame´) means complete (8003) and is derived from a Hebrew word that “denotes perfection in the sense that a condition or action is complete” (7999).

What David was referring to was obedience and his intent was that Solomon would fulfill the law of God, that he would “keep thy commandments, thy testimonies, and thy statutes” (1 Chronicles 29:19) perfectly. In other words, David hoped that God would enable Solomon to live a perfect life.

God designed the human heart so that man could experience freedom. Our motives, feelings, affections, and desires drive us to act and we are able to learn from the outer world. The only way we can enter into a relationship with God and obey his commands is by choosing to do so. Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42). Jesus had the freedom to choose to go to the cross or not. His prayer indicates that he did not want to, it was not Jesus’ desire to die for the sins of the world.

Although David thought it was possible for his son Solomon to live a perfect life, it was not Solomon, but Jesus that God gave a perfect heart to. In his sermon on the mount, Jesus declared, “Think not that I come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I come not to destroy, but to fulfil” (Matthew 5:17). The Greek word translated fulfil means to finish or complete (4137).

While Jesus was hanging on the cross, he spoke several important last words, one of which was, “It is finished” (John 19:30). Jesus spoke to several people while he was on the cross, but it is unclear to whom this particular message was directed. It could be that it was a universal message to all that were listening. We know that is was not directed to his Father because Jesus had already stated that God had forsaken him.

I think Jesus’ statement regarding completion was directed to all the believers he was dying for. As he hung on the cross, Jesus was aware of what it felt like to be rejected by God. For a brief period of time, Jesus was a sinner as well as a Savior. Jesus understood what David was longing for when he prayed that his son Solomon would have a perfect heart and Jesus answered David’s prayer with the words, “It is finished.”

 

He will answer

A personal testimony is a unique attestation to the truth of a particular scripture based on individual experience. When we share our testimony, we are validating God’s word. I can personally attest to the verse, “They called upon the LORD, and he answered them” (Psalm 99:6) because I have experienced it.

On the night I overdosed on sleeping pills, I called upon the LORD and he answered me. I said, “God, all I want to do is come and be with you in heaven and take care of the little babies there.” Immediately, I heard a voice, not my own, say, “Some day you will come and be with me, but until that time, I have much work for you to do where you are.”

My own experience validated the words found in Psalm 99:6, therefore, I believe they are true. This truth is what I would describe as a foundational truth. Much of the Bible is based on the fact that we are able to communicate with God. When we speak to God, he can hear us. He listens and he responds in an understandable way.

The purpose of a personal testimony is explained in Psalm 98:2. “The LORD hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.” When the LORD saves a person, he expects him to talk about it, but often times a person that has been saved doesn’t have to talk about it because people can see what God had done, “for he hath done marvelous things” (Psalm 98:1).

The word translated marvelous, pala’ means to “be beyond one’s power to do” (6381). On the night I overdosed on sleeping pills, I took two handfuls of pills and laid down to go to sleep. I listened to music for about half an hour. Just as I was about to fall asleep, knowing I would never wake up again, that I was about to die, I spoke to God for the first time in my life. I didn’t expect him to answer. The fact that he did answer could be a miracle, I don’t know if the same thing has ever happened to anyone else but, what I am certain of is that I am alive today because God kept me from dying. If he had not responded, I would have fallen asleep and never woke up.

It says in Acts 2:21, “and it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” I believe this verse is true, but I can’t personally attest to its validity. The word whosoever means everyone (3588, 3739, 3956). I can only say that I am one of the everyone and it is true for me.

Famous last words

Recorded in 2 Samuel chapter 23 are what are described as the last words of David (2 Samuel 23:1). I think it is interesting that we find in David’s discourse that it is not his own words, but those of the LORD that David is speaking. David said, “The Spirit of the LORD spake by me” (2 Samuel 23:2). The Spirit of the LORD that David refers to is probably the Holy Spirit and his message a prophetic utterance meant to encourage David before he died.

It is possible that the message David received was a response to his psalm of praise that is recorded in 2 Samuel chapter 22. David opened his psalm with the statement, “The LORD is my rock and my fortress, and my deliverer: the God of my rock; in him will I trust” (2 Samuel 22:2-3). The message David spoke through the Spirit of the LORD stated, “The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God” (2 Samuel 23:3). In his psalm of praise, David referred to the LORD as his rock with a lower case “r.” In his prophetic utterance, David refers to “The Rock” of Israel using a capital “R” indicating it was a reference to the Rock as God.

The apostle Paul clarifies God’s purpose in taking the Israelites to the Promised Land via the desert. He wanted to show the Israelites that spiritual sustenance was necessary for their faith to grow. Paul stated:

Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. (1 Corinthians 10:1-4)

The statement, “He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God” (2 Samuel 23:3) indicated that David did not measure up to the standard that God required for his king. The ruler that God was referring to was the Messiah, one that would not be made just, but would be just by nature. He was described as follows:

And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. (2 Samuel 23:4)

What the LORD was telling David through his prophetic utterance was that his salvation, from a spiritual standpoint, was not yet complete. During his lifetime, God had been David’s deliverer, a rock that could protect him from harm. After he died, David would go to sheol or hell, the resting place of all who died, until Christ came and paid the penalty for his sin. Then, David would be justified and able to rule and reign with Christ for ever according to God’s covenant with him (2 Samuel 23:5).