We've thought of our salvation mostly as having our sins forgiven and our going to heaven when we die. According to The Strong's Concordance, the word "salvation" or "saved" means so much more than this. It's true that we're forgiven and made new in Christ. It's also true that we can be and are united with our Father through Jesus. But, being saved, as in Romans 10:9 and our salvation, as in Romans 1:16 takes on a whole new light as we study it out.
Romans 1:16 (Amplified) says, "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel (Good News) of Christ, for it is God's power working unto salvation (for deliverance from eternal death) to everyone who believes with a personal trust and a confident surrender and firm reliance, to the Jew first and also the Greek."
As we go into the next verse of Romans 1:17 (Amplified), it reveals that once we believe in the Lord Jesus, this "salvation" entails a deeper and more immediate work as our faith grows in Him. We've only scratched the surface of what God has done for us as far as His salvation is concerned.
One of the most used verses in the New Testament for leading someone to the Father is Romans 10:9 (Amplified) which says, "Because if you acknowledge and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe (adhere to, trust in, and rely on the truth) that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."
The word "saved" in the Greek, takes on a whole new light as we understand it more. Strong's Concordance #4982 says that the word "saved" means "Deliver, protect, heal, preserve, be safe, be whole, make whole."
The word "salvation" as read from Romans 1:16 means in the Greek to "Save, saving, defender, defense, deliver, protect, heal, preserve, save." From #4983 it means "the body (as a sound whole) bodily, body, slave." From #4991 it means to "rescue, or safety, (mor. or phys.) deliver, health, salvation, save, saving."
All of these things are implied in the words saved or salvation. This isn't just something God will do when we died, but something God has already done because now, we live.
Once the Church understand what the full power of our salvation through Jesus means, we will learn to rest in His power when the trials of the enemy come. We've mostly just tried holding on until the end of the trials. Jesus was more than just a knot in the end of our rope to hand onto. He is the whole deliverance of our Father. We weren't saved in order to simply put up with things until we get to heaven. We were saved and delivered in order to reveal the glory and power of our Father here on this earth. Remember this prayer, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
We haven't even rested in the full assurance that we will get to heaven. We've been told so many things about the Gospel, that we're unsure of the power of our Lamb. Some in the Body of Christ aren't even sure of our right standing with the Father. 2Corinthians 5:21 (Amplified) says that, "For our sake, He (God) made Christ (virtually) to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become (endued with, viewed as being in, and examples of) the righteousness of God (what we ought to be, approved and acceptable and in right relationship with Him, by His goodness)."
It's been difficult for God's family to actually take their place in His house because we don't know the truth of the Gospel. We've been left with the sense of our guilt more than the understanding of our deliverance. We're still dealing more with who we were rather than understanding who we are now.
When Jesus entered into the very presence of the heavens, He placed His Own Blood on the altar and He became our mercy seat and the Supreme Sacrifice for all men and for eternity. There will never be another sacrifice for sin and death ever again. When God sees us, He sees us through the sinless Blood of His Son and that we're now in Him. We can never be separated from Him, ever again!
We've heard so many storied about our Heavenly Father, that we don't know who to believe. We must believe the Word of God. God isn't our problem, but our answer to every problem in life. It's been hard to rest in our salvation because we never understood it. We've believed in man's testimony rather than the Word.
We read in Isaiah 53:1 (Amplified) that, "Who has believed (trusted in, relied upon, and clung to) our message (of that which was revealed to us) and to whom has the arm of the Lord been disclosed?"
Whose report will we believe? Who has dared to believe the fullness of what Jesus has done for us through the Father. We have trouble "resting in our salvation" because we really don't trust Him. "O, but Brother Him, I trust Him with all my life." Well, your life is already in Him, so I reckon that's okay.
Do we really trust Him? I sometimes stop and check myself by His Word. I don't check with someone's testimony, but by His Word. His Word says that, "He bore my sickness and my disease" in Isaiah 53:3-5 and Matthew 8:17.
I hear testimonies from God's people of how God gave them (or allowed the devil) to give them a sickness in order to teach them or humble them. Then I read God's Word about how Jesus took away my sin and sickness. Whose report am I to believe? If I can't believe the testimony, then I can't believe the Word. If I believe the Word, then I cannot believe the testimony. Now, where do I stand?
If I believe the testimony over the Word, then I can never again "rest" in the fact that Jesus, God is my Healer. If I believe that God allowed the devil to torment me, then I can never "rest" in the fact that the Name of Jesus can cast out a devil because "A house divided cannot stand."
The "rest" referred to in the Word, is trusting in the fact that our Father isn't a dead beat dad. He will never allow His children to go without. He takes care of the birds, the lilies of the field and everything else and He will take care of His children who He paid such an awesome price for. We've heard so many conflicting things about Him, that we don't even know who we can trust. Stay with the Word because it never changes.
Once we actually know Him instead of knowing about Him, we can no longer be deceived. All of us who've made Jesus our Lord, have the same privileges that He has, but not everyone knows what these privileges are. That's why I love Romans 1:17 (Amplified) which says, "For in the Gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed. Both springing from faith and leading to faith (disclosed through the way of faith, that arouses to more faith) as it is written, the man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith)."
We have the Word of His promises to lead us deeper (by faith) into the mystery that was hidden, but now is revealed to us through the Holy Spirit. These things are still mysteries to the natural mind and the unrenewed mind, but through the Holy Spirit, the mind of Christ has revealed them to those who will seek them out.
Every time the Holy Spirit reveals something new to me in the Word, I get the same excitement I had when I first met Jesus. I suppose that's why David said, "I love Your Word." Religion has made God seem boring by its observing the same things all the time as though that all our Father knows. God's Word is so exciting to those who will seek and listen and every day is a whole new beginning in it.
How can we possibly be in fellowship with a Father Who can speak and entire universe into existence and ever be bored? Rest in what He has done and keep excited about what He is still doing. All He has left for us to do in the new covenant of His Love, is to believe that Love has already done everything and has provided everything for His children from before the foundations of the earth. God planned and created everything and saw that "It was very good." He has now made a nursery for His expected family to enjoy.
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