salvation

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.

A taste of eternity

“O sing unto the LORD a new song…shew forth his salvation from day to day” (Psalm 96:1). Salvation is only mentioned a few times in the Bible before David became king of Israel. Many personal names contain a form of the word that is translated salvation or yeshuw’ah (yesh – oo´ – aw), such as Joshua, Isaiah, and Jesus which is a Greek form of yeshu’ah (3444). When David speaks of salvation, I believe he is referring to the Messiah. Before David, there was not a focus on God’s eternal plan of salvation, the main focus of the Israelites was getting settled in the Promised Land.

In Psalm 89, it says “I have sworn unto David my servant, thy seed will I stablish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations, Selah” (Psalm 89:3-4). The words for ever signifies eternity. The literal translation of the Hebrew, ad olam, is “into the indefinite future” (5769). The concept of eternity was new in David’s time. People did not talk about life beyond death, their attention was on things that were temporal.

The psalmist goes on to say in Psalm 89:

Then thou spakest in vision to thy Holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people…With whom my hand shall be established; mine arm also shall strengthen him…Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep for him evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven. (Psalm 89:19, 21, 27-29)

It’s not easy to focus on eternity when you are wrapped up in the day to day activities of life. David had the ability to focus on both at the same time, he saw his accomplishments from an eternal perspective and was able to worship the LORD as if he was already in heaven.

The Hebrew word olam is properly translated as concealed. It represents the vanishing point when we are no longer aware of time. Even though we are currently bound by time, God has given man the ability to live “above time” (i.e. to remember yesterday, plan for tomorrow, and consider abstract principles)” (5769). It takes a conscious effort, but when we show forth God’s salvation from day to day, live in the moment and focus our attention on what is happening now, the awareness of time disappears and we get a taste of eternity.

A two step process

When Samuel addresses the people of Israel, he refers to King Saul as the LORD’s anointed. The word translated anointed in 1 Samuel 12:3 & 5 is mâshîyach (maw – shee´ – akh). “The New Testament title of Christ is derived from the Greek Christos which is exactly equivalent to the Hebrew mashiyach” (4899). What King Saul and Jesus have in common is they were both anointed for a special role as God’s chosen one. The difference between the two is that King Saul was only able to save the Israelites from physical death at the hands of their enemies, Jesus delivers God’s people from a second death which is a spiritual death that results from sin.

I believe the reason why God gave the Israelites a savior to deliver them from their enemies in the Promised Land is because they needed to realize that being saved from physical death was not enough. The problem of sin was still there and had to be dealt with also. When God saved me from overdosing on sleeping pills, all my problems did not go away. My problem with sin still had to be dealt with in order for me to have eternal life and to be able to go to heaven when I die. The important thing about God saving me from the overdose is that it gave me a chance to hear the gospel and to give my life to Christ. Otherwise, I would have died in my sins and gone to hell for eternity.

I think salvation is a two step process. The first step usually goes unnoticed because in essence, nothing happens. We don’t die before we get to step two which is accepting Jesus as atonement for our sins. God keeps his children alive until they are secure in Christ. If King Saul had not been put in his position, it is possible the Israelites would have been wiped out by the Ammonites. After defeating them, Saul said, “to day the LORD hath wrought salvation in Israel” (I Samuel 11:13). Just before Jesus died, he said “it is finished” (John 19:30).

Behold, I do a new thing

The natural response to death is grief, but in some cases, the result of death is repentance. The word repent or nâcham (naw – kham´) in Hebrew can mean comfort as well as comforter. “Comfort is derived from ‘com’ (with) and ‘fort’ (strength). Hence, when one repents, he exerts strength to change, to re-grasp the situation, and exert effort for the situation to take a different course of purpose and action” (5162).

There are several instances in the Bible where it says that God repented. In Exodus 32:14 it says “And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.” Repentance is necessary for change to occur. There has to be an intentional effort to change and therefore, motivation is a key ingredient in the process. Death is an effective motivator because it stirs up our emotions and causes us to see that things don’t always work out as we expect them to.

The primary message that preceded Jesus’ ministry was delivered by John the Baptist who said, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). Many people repented and were baptized by John in the Jordan river, but the real change, the transformation of the world didn’t begin until after Jesus’ death. The death of Jesus brought deep grief to his disciples and most of his followers went into hiding for fear that they might be killed too, until Jesus’ resurrection. When Mary and the others went to the tomb and saw that it was empty, they were comforted, they gained strength and were willing to come out in the open again.

The only instance recorded of God’s people repenting in the Old Testament of the Bible is in Judges 21:13 where it says “And the people repented them for Benjamin, because that the LORD had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.” When Jesus died, there was a breach in the family line of the Messiah. Jesus had no descendants and therefore, had no way to pass on his inheritance. The inheritance of the Israelites was intended to be perpetual, so to cut off a tribe or a family line was the equivalent to destroying the title deed to a property, there was no way to transfer or pass along ownership to anyone else.

In order to preserve the tribe of Benjamin, the Israelites took virgins and gave them to 600 men that had fled into the wilderness during a battle that wiped out every other person in the tribe of Benjamin. This act made it possible for the small band of survivors to start over and rebuild their cities. “And they said, There must be an inheritance for them that be escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel” (Judges 21:17).

The key to repentance is that some visible action is taken for the purpose of turning from a less desirable course to a more positive course. Many people think of repentance as merely turning away from sin or being sorry for something that you have done. After Jesus’ death, his disciples no doubt felt a tremendous amount of grief and were probably very sorry that they had abandoned him in the Garden of Gethsemane, but there was no actual repentance until they came out of hiding and began to preach the gospel.

The disciples felt that Jesus had abandoned them, that they would never see him again. At the end of the last supper, Jesus said to his disciples, “Verily I say unto you, I will not drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God” (Mark 14:25). The disciples knew they would be reunited with Jesus in Heaven, but what they didn’t understand was that the kingdom of God would be established on Earth after Jesus’ resurrection.

Jesus did not have to appear to his disciples to show them evidence of his resurrection. The work of the Holy Spirit was to convict and convince Believers that Jesus was alive. Saul of Tarsus had an encounter with the LORD after he had risen into Heaven. The only reason Jesus could have had for spending 40 days on Earth after his resurrection was to comfort his disciples. Jesus repented by taking action to bring the disciples out of hiding and restore their confidence in him.

If Jesus had died, been resurrected, and gone straight to Heaven, I don’t think God’s kingdom would have been established as God wanted it to. The disciples and others may have made it to Heaven, but It was Jesus’ act of repentance that made it possible for the disciples to continue his work and transform the world. Jesus had to change the course of events for God’s kingdom to be established on Earth as it already was in Heaven.

Repentance does not lead to our salvation, it leads to the salvation of others. God’s kingdom is made up of people that have experienced transformational change in their lives. Many times people claim to be saved and yet there is no evidence of repentance, nothing is different in their lives. Even the disciples went back to their old lives, they were fishing when Jesus appeared to them after his resurrection.

It says in Romans 2:4 that it is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance and in Romans 2:6 that God will render to every man according to his deeds. I believe the deeds spoken of here are deeds of repentance, the comfort we give to others that results in a change to the course of their lives.

In essence, repentance means to turn things around by doing the opposite of what is expected. Instead of taking a life, you save it, instead of keeping something for yourself, you give it away, instead of punishing someone that has hurt you, you reward him with kindness. Repentance is essential for salvation and must precede it because the turning of events is what makes it possible for there to be a different outcome.

Rather than turning in any direction, repentance focuses on the turning from a less desirable course to a more positive one. It is intended to correct or improve things not to make them worse. Sometimes repentance involves going against the tide in order to reach a destination that would not be arrived at unless an intentional effort was put forth to get there.

I think it is a mistake to assume that we are only responsible for correcting our own mistakes. Jesus died or the sins of others. I believe repentance is meant to correct the mistakes of others. I see Jesus’ death on the cross as an act of repentance to save the world from destruction. His resurrection and return to Earth to fellowship with his disciples was an act of repentance on the part of his Father who would otherwise have welcomed him home immediately after his death on the cross. God’s last act of repentance will be when he welcomes each of us into his kingdom that has sinned against him and his son Jesus.

In the parable of the vinedresser, Jesus tells the story of men who are given the responsibility of caring for another man’s vineyard. When the owner sends his servants to collect the fruit of his vineyard, the men beat the servants and refuse to give the owner the fruit that belongs to him. Finally, the owner sends his son thinking the men will respect him. “But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the heir: come let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours” (Luke 20:14). At the end of the story, Jesus asks the question, “What therefore shall the lord of the vineyard do unto them?” (Luke 20:15).

Satan’s intent in putting Jesus to death was to take away his inheritance, but like the Israelites when the children of Benjamin were killed in battle, God made a way for Jesus’ inheritance to be restored to the rightful owners. The kingdom of God is among us. We who have been chosen and adopted into the family of Jesus Christ are joint heirs with him, the evidence of which is that we have the Holy Spirit living inside us.

Jesus told his disciples that his Father would give them another Comforter, “that he may abide with you for ever” (John 14:16). The Holy Spirit gives us divine strength and enables us to transform not only our lives, but the lives of others. Repentance is the method through which that change comes and the first step in the process is to give God what he already rightfully owns, our lives.

Living in the Promised Land

I think it is possible for a Christian, someone that has accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, to live their entire life outside the will of God. God always gives us the choice to go his way or not. He does not force his will upon his children. If you think of the Promised Land as the will of God, then being inside the borders of the Promised Land means that you are in the will of God, you are living your life according to God’s plan for you, and being outside the borders of the Promised Land means that you are outside of God’s will, you are going your own way and doing as you please.

Two and a half of the tribes of Israel chose to live outside the boundaries of the Promised Land. The children of Rueben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh lived on the other side of the Jordan from the rest of Jacob’s descendants. The Jordan River formed a natural barrier between the two territories and made it difficult to discern whether the Ruebenites, Gadites, and half tribe of Manasseh were a part of the family that had inherited the Promised Land because they were not actually living in it.

Even though the Ruebenites, Gadites, and half tribe of Manasseh chose to live outside the Promised Land, they did not want to give up their right to their inheritance all together. In order to ensure they would continue to be identified with the Israelites, they built a replica of the altar that was used to make sacrifices to God. The altar was intended to be a will of sorts, a legal testament to their right of ownership to a portion of the Promised Land.

Every Christian has the guarantee that when they die they will go to heaven. For some Christians, that is enough, that is all they hope to gain from their relationship with the Lord. But I think they are missing the point of why Jesus died on the cross to purchase their salvation. I believe God wants his children to experience a different kind of life on earth that what they would have if they were not Christians. he wants them to be resurrected before they get to heaven.

A question that I think is worth asking is why did Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead? Everything that Jesus did was used to teach his followers a lesson. When Jesus arrived at the home of Martha after her brother had died, she said to him, “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died” (John 11:21). If it was me that had a chance to confront the Lord, I might have said, Lord, if you had been with me that night, I wouldn’t have been raped. What follows in their conversation is not only an important lesson about the resurrection of believers, but a lesson about the kind of life God wants his children to live while they are on Earth.

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believeth thou this? (John 11:25-26)

What I think Jesus is saying to Martha here is that if you are alive spiritually and are exercising your faith on a continual basis, you are never separated from God. You will not be thinking, if you had been here this wouldn’t have happened because you will know that the Lord is always with you. He is constantly by your side.

I confess

I’m not sure exactly what it is about confessing something I’ve done wrong that makes me feel better, but I know that inside of each person there is some sort of mechanism, a switch if you will, that seems to get flipped when we confess our sin to God. It might be one of the great mysteries of life or maybe I’m just stupid, but I don’t understand why forgiveness has the power to change a person, why in many ways forgiveness is the key to true life.

The Hebrew word that is translated as confession in Joshua 7:19, tôwdâh (to – dah´) means an extension of the hand as in adoration, like a choir of worshippers (8426). If you’ve ever been in in  church where the people raise their hands during worship, then you have an accurate picture of what confession looks like.

In a sense, confession means to become a worshipper of God. When Joshua says to Achan, “My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession unto him” (Joshua 7:19), he is basically saying, you need to get right with God and become a true follower or worshipper of him. Achan’s response “Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel” (Joshua 7:20) indicates that he knows he is subject to God’s commandments and must be punished for his wrong doing.

The Greek word that is translated as confession in Romans 10:10 sheds a little more light on the act of confession. Homologeo (hom – ol – og – eh´ – o) means “to speak the same thing” or to agree with something (3670). The idea here is an acknowledgement of the truth, to say yes, I believe that is true. Paul puts it this way, “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:10).

One of the ways salvation is described is “the present experience of God’s power to deliver from the bondage of sin” (4991). So when I confess, I actually experience God’s power, it is like a momentary jolt that makes me aware that God’s working in my life.