Understanding Salvation
A Matter of Life or Death
This article, called “Understanding Salvation” is the second part of a trilogy.
The first part is called “God and Man”.
The third part is called “Finding Salvation”.
It is highly recommended that they be read in order.
The most important thing a person can do during their lifetime is to receive Salvation. But before one can acquire it, one must seek it. And before seeking anything, a person must desire it. But to desire something, one must first understand it.
For this and other reasons, Understanding Salvation, what it really is, why we need it, how to achieve it, and why Jesus Christ is at the center of it — is information crucial to every person’s survival. With Salvation, comes Eternal Life, in paradise, with God. Without it, comes total destruction.
Understanding Salvation is truly, a life or death matter. Read this article and Understand Salvation.
What is Salvation All About?
If at all possible, we recommend reading the article “God and Man”, prior to beginning this article. “God and Man” contains a great deal of background information that will be very helpful for “Understanding Salvation”.
Salvation. One simple word. Yet perhaps the most important word in the English language.
There’s an overused phrase, we often here, “It’s a matter of Life or Death”. But when it comes to Salvation, that phrase is dead on.
Whether or not we receive Salvation, is literally the difference between Eternal Life after our death on Earth, and total permanent destruction.
An atheist might say, “It’s all baloney”. But for every 1 atheist saying that, there are dozens of people that disagree, and fervently believe Salvation is very real.
Maybe the atheist is right. But the question is, “Do you want that risk”? The odds are not favorable.
To answer that question, and understand why billions of people on the Earth (that’s billions with a B), are spending their lives seeking Salvation, you need to know more about it. Most of us can deal with almost anything, when we truly understand it. So Understanding Salvation is crucial to our very existence.
There are many other questions that need to be answered in order to Understand Salvation. Questions like:
- What Really is Salvation
- Why Do We Need Salvation
- Why Do We Die
- How Do We Receive Salvation
- Why is There Only One Way to Get Salvation
- Why Does That Way Brings Us Salvation
- Why is Jesus Christ at the Center of Salvation
So let’s start with these.
What Really is Salvation
That’s an easy question.
The dictionary defines Salvation like this: “the state of being saved from destruction.”
The Scriptures describe Salvation this way: “Eternal Life — A New Life with God, in paradise, after our death on earth.”
Why Do We Need Salvation ?
This is a much deeper question, and has a 2 part answer.
The first part starts with another question, “Why can’t everyone go to Heaven?”.
Many people have pondered that question. It’s a nice thought, but everyone going to Heaven, simply wouldn’t make sense. Think about it this way. If everyone went to heaven, that would include murderers, thieves, rapists, and all the wicked evil people that ever lived. If that were the case: heaven wouldn’t be heaven; it would be earth, all over again. Heaven can only be the wonderful place God describes, if it’s filled with good, tolerant, caring, loving people. Not people that would hurt others.
Part 2, answers the question, “Why do we need Salvation, in the first place?”
Since the creation of the world, there was only one man and one woman that didn’t need Salvation: Adam and Eve. Why? Because God didn’t intend for them to die.
To better understand this, we need to go back to the beginning of the world. We first need to understand, Why We Die. And for that we need to learn more about God’s relationship with Man.
The following chapter is repeated from the article “God and Man”, in order to better Understand Salvation.
Adam and Eve
Genesis 1: 27 (God created Man, in His image. Now exactly what that means, God didn’t say. It could mean to some extent physically. It could mean mentally, emotionally, or any number of characteristics. But one thing we do know, is that God doesn’t Die. So if we were created in His image, why would God have created Man, only to die?)
27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
Genesis 2: 7 (Somewhere along the creation process, God gave Man Life.)
7 Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
Genesis 2: 9 (God created a garden with two very important trees in it.)
9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 2: 15-17 (Then God gave Man His first instruction. At this point, you can call it a rule, a law, or a command. Either way, God made it clear what He wanted, and even explained what the consequence would be for violating God’s Law. Death.)
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
Genesis 3: 6 (But Man disregarded God’s warning, disobeyed God, and broke the Law.)
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
Genesis 3: 19 (God found that Man was untrustworthy and unreliable. So God has no choice but to keep His word, and tell Man that he will Die.)
19 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: 22-23 (And so, God prevented Man from having Eternal Life)
22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.
So what happened? God created Man, and God created a perfect environment for Man to live in. God gave man everything he needed. Then God set down one simple rule or law for Man to follow. Man could eat from every tree in the garden except one, the Tree of Knowledge. And even after God warned Man, that the consequence for violating the rule would be Death, Man still was disobedient and broke the law.
Why Do We Die ?
Violating God’s law is called Sin. So Man brought Sin and evil into this world. Man also betrayed God’s trust.
Since God is Holy, He cannot or will not co-exist with sin. Therefore, God could not co-exist with sinful Man. So God could no longer allow a sinful, untrustworthy Man to live forever, and give him and that evil, access to eternity.
In our lives, when a Law dictates that the penalty for a certain violation is “Death”, it means death by execution.
But when God told Adam that the penalty for his disobedience would be “Death”, Adam wasn’t executed. Adam lived many, many more years, and finally died in his old age at 930. So God must have meant something else.
Clearly God didn’t mean death by execution, which God did do, to many other people, throughout the Scriptures.
By telling Adam that He would die, God meant that Adam would remain mortal, and would eventually die of old age, which he did. Adam was created mortal. But God would have given Adam Eternal Life, had Adam proved Faithful and Obedient.
When God created Adam, God put Adam in the Garden, with the Tree of Life. The book of Revelation, reveals that Eternal Life is delivered through the Tree of Life. And God told Adam that he could eat from the Tree of Life. So clearly God’s original intention was to allow Adam to have Eternal Life. But when Adam proved to be unfaithful and disobedient, God removed Adam from the Garden and blocked his access to the Tree of Life.
Genesis 3: 22-23 (And so, God prevented Man from having Eternal Life)
22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.
Because of Man’s sinful behavior, Man was destined to remain mortal. But the New Covenant with God, gives Man a path back to Eternal Life. The Scriptures indicate that Eternal Life will be given to those who fulfill their obligations under the New Covenant. And the book of Revelation reveals that Eternal Life will be delivered to those people, at the End of the Age, through the Tree of Life.
Therefore when God said that Adam would die, God wasn’t intending to execute Adam. God meant that Adam would lose his opportunity for Eternal Life.
So God never intended for Man to die. Man brought death upon himself, through sin.
Genesis 5: 5 (Adam did not die when he sinned. he lost his opportunity for eternal life.)
5 Altogether, Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died.
Romans 5: 12 (The Apostle Paul confirms that God didn’t intend for Man to die. Man dies because of sin.)
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned.
God is the Creator. He created Man. God gave Life to Man. He was not required to do that. He is certainly entitled to limit Man’s Life to whatever duration He wishes. When God found that Mankind was not suitable for Eternal Life, He took that option away. And God is privileged to offer Eternal Life to whomever He will.
Isaiah 45: 9-12 (God spoke these words, through the prophet Isaiah.)
9 “Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker, Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘The potter has no hands’? 10 Woe to the one who says to a father, ‘What have you begotten?’ or to a mother, ‘What have you brought to birth?’
11 “This is what the Lord says — the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker: do you question me about my children, or give me orders about the work of my hands? 12 It is I who made the earth and created mankind on it. My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshaled their starry hosts.
Summing up, Man dies because he has proven to be sinful, disobedient, and unfaithful to the one who created him, God. To put it in a single word, Man is not Righteous. He lacks Righteousness.
Man’s only hope for a Life after Death, is for God to allow it. Then to do whatever God requires, in order to receive it.
The granting of this Life after Death, this Eternal Life, saves us from Death. We call it Salvation, or being saved.
This is the reason we need Salvation.
How Do We Receive Salvation ?
For the answer to this question, there is only one place to go. The New Testament.
The complete answer is scattered throughout the New Testament, and is a study in itself. Please read the 3rd part of this trilogy, “Finding Salvation”.
For now, we’ll deal with the short answer, which the Apostle John reveals in his Gospel — Jesus.
John 3: 12-18 (Jesus, speaking to Nicodemus, a Pharisee (a religious leader and teacher), explains how to achieve Salvation.)
12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
John 5: 24 (Jesus, speaking to the Jews, affirms the path to Salvation)
24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.
John 6: 38-40 (Once again Jesus spoke to re-affirms the path to Salvation)
38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
John 8: 23-24 (Here Jesus speaks of the alternative to Salvation.)
23 But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”
John 14: 6 (Jesus, speaking to Thomas, explains that there is no other way to achieve Salvation.)
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
God makes it pretty clear, through His words, delivered by His Son Jesus. The only path to Salvation, is through Belief/Faith in Jesus Christ. And without it, there is no Salvation/Eternal Life.
Why is There Only One Way to Get Salvation ?
This is another simple question. The short answer is: Because God is in control, and He sets the terms. If God wanted to offer multiple paths to Salvation, He certainly could. But He didn’t.
Many people think that they can achieve Salvation in other ways. Ways like leading a good life, or doing good works. Some people even think that everyone will be saved and go to heaven, but we’ve already discussed the flaws in that logic.
So why then wouldn’t people who try to lead a good life and do good works, receive Salvation? That sounds unfair, doesn’t it? And yet we’re told that God is a Just God, who gives people what they deserve.
Jesus explained that the only way to achieve Salvation is through him. But why? Why did God set those terms? Which brings us to our next question, “Why does this Faith in Jesus, bring us Salvation?”.
Acts 4: 11-12 (Here the Apostle Peter, confirms that there is only one path to Salvation.)
11 Jesus is “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’
12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
Why Does That Way Brings Us Salvation ?
This sounds like a fairly simple question. But the answer is anything but simple! In fact, it’s the most complex, of all the answers in this study. And one that even many Christians don’t fully understand.
From the beginning, God told us why Man dies. Because of sin. And yet Jesus tells us that Faith in Him, is the path to Life. That doesn’t seem to add up. What does Faith, have to do with Sin?
To answer that question, once again, we need to learn from the past, in order to understand the present. A lot has happened between God and Man, since the Garden. God may have withheld Eternal Life from Man, but considering Man’s behavior throughout history, that’s a good thing.
Can you imagine Hitler, Stalin, Manson, and Attila the Hun, all with Eternal Life? That’s a scary thought. But even with people this evil, and millions more almost as bad, God has never given up on Man.
God wants to give Eternal Life to Man. God wants Man to Live. God wants to fellowship with Man and God has a plan.
Ezekiel 18: 30-32 (God wants Man to Live)
Why will you die, people of Israel? 32 For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!
God’s Plan
Looking back, we find that Salvation is part of God’s plan to help save Man from himself. The plan is called the New Covenant. It’s called that, because before it was created, there was an Old Covenant.
A covenant is an agreement, a contract if you will, whereby both parties agree to perform certain actions, within a certain time frame. In the case of the New Covenant, God agreed to grant Salvation, in return for Faith in Jesus Christ.
But why? And why do we need a covenant with God in the first place?
That’s a long story. For an in-depth answer, read the article “God and Man”, if you haven’t already done so.
The short answer starts this way. God created Man to love and fellowship with. In a similar way as we do with our children. But since the Garden of Eden, Man has been disobedient, uncooperative, and wicked. So God has never been able to have the warm loving relationship with Man that He wanted from the beginning.
As with many good fathers, who suffer this type of problem with their children, God used a “carrot and stick” approach, to get His children to come around. In our lives, we might use something like this, “If you get good grades this semester, we’ll spend a week at the beach next summer”. That’s a covenant.
So let’ take a deeper look into what God did to persuade Man to reject Sin and Love God. It started with the Old Covenant.
The Old Covenant
To see how God handled it, let’s first take a look at the Old Covenant, which God made with a man called Abram, way back in Genesis. Once God began to deal with Abram, God changed his name to Abraham.
At that time, the Earth was filled with evil, wicked people. But Abraham found favor with God, and God began a relationship with Abraham.
Genesis 17: 7 (Once Abraham had proved himself faithful and obedient to God, God said to Abraham:)
7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
Genesis 12: 2-3, Genesis 13: 2, 14-16, Genesis 15: 4-5, Genesis 17: 15-19 (All these things, God committed to do for Abraham and his descendants, under the Covenant.)
2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
2 Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold. 14 The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. 15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. 16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.
4 Then the word of the Lord came to Abram: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
15 God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. 16 I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
17 Abraham fell face down; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” 19 Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
Genesis 17: 1 (All God asked for in return, from Abraham and his descendants, under the Old Covenant, were Faithfulness and Obedience.)
1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. 2 Then I will make my covenant between me and you
Abraham was 99 years of age when the Covenant was made. After that, Abraham continued in the Will of God, and continued to exercise his faith throughout the rest of his life. Abraham followed God’s will until his death at 175.
So God honored His commitment to Abraham, and continued the Covenant with Abraham’s descendants, who were called the Israelites. For the next few generations, all was good. Abraham’s descendants were Faithful and Obedient.
Then the Israelites became less and less Faithful, and more and more wicked. As time went on, God offered to expand the Covenant and reward the Israelites with additional blessings, if they would repent and honor their part of the original Covenant with Faithfulness and Obedience.
God offered them protection from their enemies, healing, prosperity, land, abundant crops, and more. God even offered to come to Earth and live with the Israelites. Plus, God did the most amazing miracles for them, including the parting of the Red Sea. God offered them everything anyone could want here on earth. And all God wanted in return was their faithfulness and to reject evil.
Over and Over, the Israelites promised they would do what God asked. And over and over, they didn’t. God gave the Israelites endless opportunities to cooperate with Him, but they rejected God’s offers, and lost what could have been the most incredible relationship with God.
Ultimately God concluded that the Israelites as a group, were either unwilling or unable to meet their obligations of Faithfulness and Obedience, under the Old Covenant.
So God terminated the Old Covenant and gave the Israelites one last opportunity for a relationship with Him. Not as a group, but individually. And God offered them the New Covenant.
Hebrews 8: 7-13 (God offered the Israelites a New Covenant.)
7 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8 But God found fault with the people and said:
“The days are coming, declares the Lord,when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. 9 It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord.
13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.
Unfortunately, most of the Israelites rejected the New Covenant as well. So God turned away from them, and offered the New Covenant to all people.
John 1: 9-13 (When the Israelites rejected the New Covenant, God offered it to Everyone.)
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
So what went wrong with the Old Covenant? Why did the Israelites fail to receive all of those blessings that God offered to them. Simply put, the Israelites didn’t fulfill their obligations under the Old Covenant. They said they would. They promised that they would. But they didn’t. So the Old Covenant was abandoned, and the Israelites as a group, lost the relationship God offered to them.
God and Man – The Relationship
God still wants the same thing from us that He wanted from the Israelites, the same thing that He wanted from Adam, the same thing that He’s wanted since the creation of the world — a warm loving relationship with Man. That’s why God created Man, in His own image no less, in the first place.
But in order to achieve that relationship, Man has to cooperate. Man needs to bring to the relationship, the same qualities that it takes to make any relationship work: Loyalty and Love. What marriage can succeed without those ingredients?
That’s right, in order to make your relationship with God, what it should be, what it can be, you literally need to fall in love with God. And then treat that relationship the way you would, any vital relationship.
We all know that the first step to falling in love, is getting to know someone really well. Then adding respect, fellowship, and meeting the other person’s needs. Loving is about giving, not taking.
So what does God need from us? It hasn’t changed, Loyalty and Love, translated: Faith and Righteousness.
Sin and Justice
Since Adam, the primary stumbling block in the relationship between God and Man, has been Sin. We know that God is holy, and cannot coexist with Sin. We also know that God is Just, and therefore God cannot ignore Sin. There must be Justice. So how will God bring justice to sinful Man?
Let’s think about how we administer Justice. When someone is found to have broken the law, what do we do with that person? If it’s a minor offence, he must pay a fine. If it’s serious, he must go to prison. Why? Justice. He must pay a price for his crime, or there would be no Justice. His punishment also serves as an example to others, which will help deter others from breaking the law. Without Justice there would be Chaos. Lawlessness would reign.
As a child, what did your mother or father do when you broke one of her rules (laws). Maybe she confined you to your room. Or took away one of your toys or privileges for a while. That’s Justice on a smaller scale. Crime and Punishment.
What happens when we have paid our debt, served our punishment? Our offence is forgiven.
Where do you think we got this concept of Justice from? This approach when the law is broken? It came from God and the Old Covenant. God called it Atonement, the concept of paying a price for breaking the law, and then receiving forgiveness. Of course God didn’t have prisons back then, so He used the approach of administering a fine, when someone broke the law. And since they didn’t use cash back then, the fine was paid with some other valuable possession. Usually one of the person’s animals. Because the person had to sacrifice one of his animals to pay the fine, God called the fine a Sacrifice.
So Atonement for sin, was achieved through Sacrifice, and resulted in Forgiveness.
The Old Covenant vs. The New Covenant
How then does the New Covenant differ from the Old Covenant?
As with the Old Covenant, the New Covenant requires the same 3 prerequisites:
- Atonement for Sin – Justice
- Righteousness (the opposite of Sinful Behavior)
- Faithfulness
Let’s look at each one:
Atonement
An Atonement is a punishment, to satisfy a debt that was created by a wrong doing, crime, or sin. Frequently made in the form of a payment or sacrifice, the Atonement brings about forgiveness or redemption. The result is, Justice.
Under the Old Covenant, the sinner was required to make restitution, and then make a sacrifice in order to Atone for each and every sin.
Leviticus 6: 5-7 (God explains what sinners must do to Atone for their Sin.)
5 They must make restitution in full, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the owner on the day they present their guilt offering. 6 And as a penalty they must bring to the priest, that is, to the Lord, their guilt offering, a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value. 7 In this way the priest will make atonement for them before the Lord, and they will be forgiven for any of the things they did that made them guilty.”
But beyond that, the Israelites often sinned as a group, rebelling against God and being unfaithful to Him. Even so, God loved the Israelites, and helped them to Atone for their Sin.
Leviticus 16: 20-22 Leviticus 16:10 (God gives the Israelites instructions to Atone for their group Sin.)
20 “When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat. 21 He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task. 22 The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness.
10 the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used for making atonement by sending it into the wilderness as a scapegoat.
This scripture is very important, because it set the stage for one of God’s gifts to us, under the New Covenant. God allowed the Scapegoat to Atone for all the sins of all the Israelites. In other words, God was willing to accept the Sacrifice of one, for the sins of another. Or putting it this way, that God was willing to let another, atone for someone else’s sin.
Under the New Covenant, God in His mercy, knowing how hopeless we are, did something far more special for us. That’s right. Almighty God, the creator of the Universe, came to Earth in the form of Jesus Christ, and paid the price, made Atonement, Sacrificed Himself, for your sins and my sins, so that our sins are now forgiven.
Romans 3: 25-26 (The Apostle Paul confirms that Jesus made Atonement for our sins.)
25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5: 21 (The Apostle Paul further confirms the Atonement.)
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Hebrews 2: 16-17 (The Apostle Paul once again speaks of Jesus Atoning for our sins.)
16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. 17 For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, knowingly and voluntarily, allowed Himself to be ridiculed, beaten, tortured; and then suffer the agony of death on a cross, as the sacrifice to justify you and I, by Atoning for our sins, and the sins of all the world.
God Himself, made Atonement for our Sin.
Righteousness
Righteousness is a quality one possesses or achieves by following the Will of God, and refraining from sinful behavior.
Most people know what sinful behavior is. But a literal explanation of sinful behavior is breaking or disobeying the Law which God gave to us in Exodus Chapters 20 through 23.
As for the Will of God, many look at it, as a mystery that one needs a special revelation to understand. It’s not that cryptic. Jesus told us plainly what God’s will is, during His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel, Chapters 5 through 7, and then He elaborated on it, in His many parables.
During most of the period covered by the Old Covenant, sinful behavior was rampant. Plus with few exceptions, the people’s Faith in God was limited at best. They continued to vacillate between following God, and worshiping false idols. Remember, their 2 key obligations, under the Old Covenant, were Faithfulness and Righteousness. They failed to meet their obligations on both counts. Thereby missing out on all of the blessings God offered to them, and destroying their potential relationship with God.
2 Kings 17: 14-17 (The Israelites couldn’t have behaved worse.)
14 But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their ancestors, who did not trust in the Lord their God. 15 They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors and the statutes he had warned them to keep. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the Lord had ordered them, “Do not do as they do.”
16 They forsook all the commands of the Lord their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshiped Baal. 17 They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sought omens and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.
Ezekiel 18: 4-5, 9 (Even under the Old Covenant Righteousness was the difference between Life and Death. God tells us that a Righteous Man will Live.)
4 For everyone belongs to me, the parent as well as the child—both alike belong to me. The one who sins is the one who will die. 5 “Suppose there is a righteous man who does what is just and right. 9 He follows my decrees and faithfully keeps my laws. That man is righteous; he will surely live, declares the Sovereign Lord.
Therefore, God told us that Man dies because of Sin, and Man will live because of Righteousness.
The 2 things that haven’t changed between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant are Faithfulness and Righteousness. There is simply no way God can accept a relationship with Man, and give Man access to Heaven and Eternal Life, without these qualities. Can you imagine Heaven filled with the people described in the Scripture above, 2 Kings 17? Remember the requirements for any good relationship, Loyalty and Love.
Under the New Covenant, Jesus paid the price for us, and Atoned for our sins, but we still lack the Righteousness we need for Salvation.
Romans 3: 23 (The Apostle Paul confirms that we all have sinned.)
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
Romans 3: 20 (The Law cannot make us Righteous.)
20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
Romans 3: 10 (No one is Righteous.)
10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one;
Going back to the Old Covenant for a moment, which God created with Abraham. Abraham was not perfect. Although he tried very hard not to, Abraham committed sins, and therefore he was not Righteous. But Abraham made a great effort to follow God’s Will. When God told Abraham to do something, Abraham faithfully followed God’s instructions.
In fact, even though Abraham was not Righteous, Abraham had exceptional Faith. So much so, that God did something very special for Abraham. God in His mercy, allowed Abraham’s Faith to be counted as Righteousness.
Genesis 15: 5-6 (Before God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, God shows mercy to Abraham.)
5 God took Abram outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Remember how unfaithful the Israelites were, no matter how much God did for them. God poured out His Love for Man, over and over and over again. And Man has almost always managed to disappoint God, with his sin and lack of faith. So a Man of Faith, like Abraham, is so precious to God, that God was willing to credit that Faith as Righteousness. Listen to how the Apostle Paul explains it.
Romans 4: 3 (The Apostle Paul reiterates God’s credit to Abraham.)
3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
The New Covenant
When God offered the New Covenant to us, He knew how weak and susceptible we are to temptation, and therefore to Sin. So God did the most extraordinary thing. God offered to us, the same mercy that He offered to Abraham, the man with whom God created the Old Covenant.
As part of the New Covenant, God is willing to credit our Faith to us as Righteousness.
Romans 3: 21-22 (The Apostle Paul explains that Righteousness comes through Faith in Jesus.)
21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile
Romans 4: 18-25 (The Apostle Paul elaborates on Abraham’s Faith.)
18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed, and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22 This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” 23 The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
Philippians 3: 9 (The Apostle Paul, explained it to the Philippians this way.)
that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.
Romans 5: 12, 17 (The Apostle Paul, sums it up this way.)
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man (Adam), and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—
17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!
Faith in Jesus Christ Will be Credited to Us as Righteousness
Psalm 68: 19-20 (The Psalmist David puts it this way.)
19 Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. 20 Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death.
Conclusion
God virtually handed us Salvation. He did it all for us. He sacrificed His only Son to be the scapegoat, to pay the price, and atone for our sins. Jesus gave his life, and died for us. Then even though we are not Righteous, God is willing to accept us as Righteous, for nothing more than our Faith in Him, through Jesus. Considering how Man has treated God throughout the ages, God asks for very little from us.
So when someone asks “How could a fair and just God, convict a Man, just because he doesn’t accept Jesus?”. The answer is simple. After all that God and Jesus did to save Man from destruction, and all the pain and grief that Man put God through; the final insult to the Creator of the Universe, would be to reject the agony and sacrifice that Jesus made, to atone for our sins, and offer us Salvation.
We began this study with questions. Here is a brief summation:
What is Salvation?
Jesus made it clear, that after this life on this earth, there are only 2 choices; eternal life with God, or destruction. The New Covenant is the gift of God with the promise of Eternal Life for all those who accept it.
Why do we need Salvation?
When Adam proved disobedient and unfaithful to God, God saw that man could not be trusted. So God had to limit the damage that a sinful man could do, and prevent man from corrupting heaven. The only way God could prevent man from doing eternal damage, and still allow man to have a free will, was to limit man to a temporary life on earth, so that the damage his sin does is also temporary, and confined to earth. We need salvation, in order to extend our temporary life on earth, into an eternal life with God.
Why do we die?
We die because in the beginning, Man’s behavior was unfit for Eternal Life. So God made the decision to limit Man’s lifespan. That’s the simple answer. But there is much more to it than that. If possible, re-read this chapter for a complete understanding.
How do we receive Salvation?
God is forgiving, and willing to give each of us a chance to prove that we are trustworthy and faithful to Him, and to prove that we can live in peace and harmony with others. Through faith, by accepting Jesus Christ as our lord, and doing our best to live our lives according to His teachings, God will credit that Faith to us as Righteousness, forgive our sins, and grant us salvation.
Why is There Only One Way to Get Salvation?
The answer to this question becomes pretty apparent, when you understand the answers to the next two questions. Without those, how else could we be reconciled to God.
Why does Faith in Jesus, bring us Salvation?
The scriptures teach us that the 2 things we need for salvation are Righteousness, and Atonement for our sins. God Himself, by sacrificing His only son, Jesus Christ, paid the price, and gave us freely the Atonement we need. As for Righteousness, God made a New Covenant, a new agreement, with Man. If a man by Faith, accepts Jesus as his Lord, and does his best to follow the way Jesus taught us to live and behave, God will credit that to him as Righteousness. That man will have both, the Righteousness and the Atonement, he needs for Salvation.
Why is Jesus Christ at the center of Salvation?
God is Holy and Just. Since we are all sinners, God cannot coexist with our sin, and God cannot allow all that sin to go without Justice. There is simply no other way for us to acquire the Atonement we need to bring about Justice for that Sin. Other than through the Sacrifice that God made for us, coming to Earth in the form of Jesus Christ, and making Atonement for us, through the Sacrifice of His death on the cross.
Where to go from Here?
That depends. If most of this is new to you, and you want to learn more, here’s a start. It’s pretty clear, that the most important thing we need for Salvation, and to build a relationship with God, is Faith. But what really is Faith, and how do we get it? How do we make it grow? The bible says Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Romans 10:17
17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.
Since the bible, is the word of God; reading it, or hearing it read, is the way to develop faith. It’s not easy. The bible is a complicated book, for many reasons. But there are millions of people, churches, websites, radio and TV broadcasts, and other books, who’s main goal is to help you understand the scriptures.
There is also another way. As you have seen in these scriptures, God has chosen to speak directly to certain people. Just as you do, God chooses to speak to whomever He will. There is certainly no guarantee, but one of those people could be you. Why would God choose to speak with you? Who knows. God has spoken with the very righteous, like Noah; and the not so righteous, like Saul who in Acts 9: 1 “was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples”.
Maybe you have a personal need to speak with God. You need help or direction. Maybe you’re in trouble. Maybe it’s urgent. Answers for most of our problems, can be found in the scriptures. But for a thorough understanding, you have to read the whole bible, and maybe you don’t have time, right now. Consider these scriptures. There are many other scriptures, where God makes a similar offer to us.
Deuteronomy 4: 29
29 But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.
Jeremiah 29: 13-14
13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord
Psalm 119: 9-16 (Consider using this scripture, as your own prayer to God.)
9 How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. 10 I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. 11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. 12 Praise be to you, Lord; teach me your decrees. 13 With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth. 14 I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. 15 I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. 16 I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.
Psalm 119: 33-40 (Also, consider this scripture, as your personal prayer to God)
33 Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees, that I may follow it to the end. 34 Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law and obey it with all my heart. 35 Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. 36 Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. 37 Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word. 38 Fulfill your promise to your servant, so that you may be feared. 39 Take away the disgrace I dread, for your laws are good. 40 How I long for your precepts! In your righteousness preserve my life.
Proverbs 4: 4-8, 20-23 (Here is what God said to one man who asked for help.)
4 Then he taught me, and he said to me, “Take hold of my words with all your heart; keep my commands, and you will live. 5 Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn away from them. 6 Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you. 7 The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. 8 Cherish her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you.
20 My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words. 21 Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; 22 for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body. 23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
Romans 8: 38-39 (For those that have accepted God’s offer of Salvation, the Apostle Paul has these words.)
31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Don’t stop here!
Please read “Finding Salvation” to learn the critical details of securing your position in the Kingdom of God.
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