Know God  

"God's voice thunders in marvelous ways: 
He does great things beyond our understanding."
(Job 37:5)

SALVATION: WHAT IS IT?

Have you ever discovered that there were some words or terms that you have heard and used without really knowing what they meant?  You thought you knew, as a matter of fact, you knew you knew!  Only to find out later that you were totally off.  That can be very embarrassing, especially when you are supposed to be an authority in the area in which this term or word is used.  It’s even sadder when ignorance has caused you to live life in error.  What you don’t know will hurt you. 

Let’s examine a word that is bandied about in the church world and even in the secular world.  The word for today is “Salvation”.  Turn to three people and say “Salvation”.  Do it!  Now if you’re honest with yourself, you’ll admit that when you hear the word “Salvation” you think about being saved and/or that which is necessary to obtain heaven and avoid hell.  The so-called Gospel message is generally thought to be a message of deliverance from hell and entrance into heaven after life ends on earth.  While heaven and hell in the afterlife are a by-product of “Salvation” or the lack thereof, I believe that there is something more fundamental and glorious in the true meaning of “Salvation”.

The Hebrew translation of Salvation is: Deliverance, Safety, Favor, Grace, Prosperity, Health, Liberty , Rescue, Defend, Avenging, and Preserve. (Strong’s Concordance)  If Salvation has only a heavenly purpose and meaning, one has to wonder why would you need Deliverance, Safety, Avenging, and Grace in heaven?  Obviously there is no need for healing and no lack of safety in heaven.

Let’s examine the word of God in the book of Genesis and get a clearer understanding of the purpose and the power of Salvation.  In the beginning man was given absolute authority in the earth.  It is written: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." (Genesis 1:27-28)  God was man’s provider.  It is written: “Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” (Genesis 1:29)  

However, man’s pride and unbelief has separated him from his God given authority and God’s provision.  It is written: “To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you;  through painful toil you will eat of it  all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.  By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."(Genesis 3:17-19)

Now man must provide for himself and his eternal state has now become finite.  In this hostile environment there is a need for Safety, Deliverance, Rescue, and Preservation.  This corrupt and terminal condition was passed on to all mankind from the first Adam.  The penalty for sin is death, eternal separation from God and Godliness.  That law is irrefutable and certain.  Since we are the descendants of Adam we will inherit the sin and the penalty.  However, the Lord God Almighty is Holy, Perfect, and Excellent.  His mercy endures forever.  God does not have a plan ‘B’.  God’s will shall be done.  Enter Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God slain before the foundations of the world.  It is written: "I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.” 
(Malachi 3:6)    It is also written: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.” (Ephesians 1:3-6)

God loved mankind so much that He made provision for our Salvation.  We must realize, however, that this provision for Salvation was made so that man would rule and have dominion over the earth as God intended from the beginning. It is written: “Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.” 
(Romans 5:18-19)

Those who believe on the name of Jesus will become inheritors of Safety, Prosperity, Favor, Grace, Health, Liberty , Defense, and Preservation.  It is written:“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.” (John 1:12-13)

There is a difference in having Salvation and experiencing Salvation.  God is glorified when His children walk in Salvation.  It is written: “To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32)  It is also written: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

(Matthew 7:21) 

Walking and living in the Favor and Liberty of God is the most powerful witness of God to an unbelieving world.  I’m not just talking about a problem free life with plenty of plenty, but carrying yourself as the favored in an unfavorable position.  Having a lifestyle that is free from the dictates of this world system.  Free from the fear of death.  It is written:  “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” (Hebrews 2:14-15)  It is also written: “Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
   "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” 
(Revelation 12:10-11)

Salvation: Deliverance, Safety, Favor, Grace, Prosperity, Health, Liberty , Rescue, Defend, Avenging, Preservation.

No Salvation: No Deliverance, No Safety, No Favor, No Grace, No Prosperity, No Health, No Liberty , No Rescue, No Defense, No Avenging, No Preservation.

The choice is yours.  Man was created in God’s image of authority and dominion.  When man experiences Salvation, man will enter into God’s rest.  It is written: “For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: "And on the seventh day God rested from all his work…

There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.” (Hebrews 4:4, 9-11)

You don’t have to produce by the sweat of your brow anymore.  It is written:“Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” (John 6:29)  Believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ today, live according to his teachings, and give up the fight, because the battle is the Lord’s.   Selah(pause and think)

(Excerpt from "Selah:Think"  by Allen D. Edge) All Rights Reserved
Other options? Comments, questions, considerations, ideas? Hit reply or email the author at
LeviteToday@yahoo.com. 

 Allen D. Edge is an actor, comedian, professional speaker, performance coach, ordained minister, and author of The Levite Today, The Levite Today uncovers the power of the arts in biblical communications in the past and the present. Allen blogs regularly at his blog site, http://tepinc.blogspot.com/ 

 Copyright @2015: Feel free to share this post with whomever you believe will appreciate it. If you’d like to use any part of it (up to 200 words), please give full attribution and this blog site, http://tepinc.blogspot.com/