What is being saved in the Bible?

In connection with the above subject the question to consider in the first place is what is involved in salvation, or what it really consists in. What I understand by it is that the soul is delivered from that ruinous and destructive power under which it was held, and also from any evil to which it may be liable. The latter was exemplified in Noah and his house, and the former in the deliverance accorded to the children of Israel at the Red Sea. As to Noah and Israel, their salvation was temporal and did not necessarily involve new and eternal relationships with God as the salvation of our souls does, but to my mind the salvation that was accorded to them illustrates the two-fold character of the salvation which is ours in Christ Jesus. There may be other aspects of salvation, but they do not occur to me at this moment. I desire to look at the salvation under these two aspects.

The present salvation of God which reaches man through the gospel, is the power of God in operation to free man from every force which holds his soul in bondage, whether it be Satan (Col. 1:13), the world (Gal. 1:4), or sin (Rom 7:24); that being delivered and supplied with new divine power in the gift of the Holy Spirit, he may be able to serve God acceptably in the midst of a hostile world.

But let us inquire what is included in the salvation which the grace of God brings? The answer is, Everything. Salvation is a precious box containing all I want for time and eternity. It includes salvation from the future consequence of sin and from its present power. To be a divinely-saved person — a person saved by the grace of God, saved by the blood of Christ as every believer is — involves entire deliverance from wrath, from hell, from Satan, from everything that could possibly be against me. A man whom God has saved is surely safe from all. There is nothing doubtful about God's salvation; it is all settled. There is no delay; it is all finished. We have neither to wait for it nor to add to it, but to receive it now and enjoy it forever. The mighty tide of grace rolls down from the very throne of God and bears upon its bosom a full salvation for me. I receive it as a free gift; I bow my head and worship, and go on my way rejoicing.

There are many aspects of salvation. In Matthew 1:21 we read of Jesus coming to save His people from their sins; and in Luke 1:71 Zacharias spoke of Jesus coming “that we might be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us.” The death of Christ has saved us from the consequences of our guilt, from the power of sin, from the power of Satan, and from the fear of death. Soon, at the coming of the Lord, we shall be saved from the judgment that will overtake a world that knows not, and desires not, God and His Christ, a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (1 Peter 1:5).

But salvation is also viewed in Scripture as a present thing, for we are spoken of as being already saved. In 2 Timothy 1:9, we read of “God who has saved us, and called us with an holy calling,” and in Titus 3:5, “according to His mercy He saved us,” and in Ephesians 2:5, “By grace ye are saved.” There is therefore a present aspect of salvation contemplated in Scripture, and this I take to be the emancipation of the soul from the oppression and bondage of every adverse and ruinous power, whether it be death, Satan, sin, the flesh, or the world. We find deliverance from death, and the Devil as the one who has the power of death, by faith in that which answers to the dividing of the Red Sea; and from the working of sin in the flesh, by that which answers to the brazen serpent; and from the world, by that which answers to the passage of the Jordan.

In speaking of salvation in this way we must not limit it to salvation from going to hell. It is salvation from every form of power that the enemy can bring against us. Those who are saved are those who are the subjects of the sovereign call of God, and who are connected, according to His purpose, with Zion, that is, with Christ risen.

It has reference primarily to the judgement of God to which man is obnoxious by reason of sin. This is illustrated by the destruction of the firstborn (the strength) of Egypt when the destroying angel passed through the land. The Israelites were saved only through being sheltered by the blood of the passover lamb. Salvation is based on God's righteousness having been maintained and declared in the death of Christ, and hence is for the believer in Christ. Luke 1:77.

Intimately connected with the above is the question of salvation from enemies carnal or spiritual. With Israel it was the former, as the Egyptians and the Canaanites. With Christians it is the latter, as sin, death, the world and the power of Satan. Salvation in this sense is by the power of God. Luke 1:71.

Still, though there is this comprehensiveness of meaning about the word, we must not miss the fact that it always carries the thought of deliverance from peril; and inasmuch as sin lies at the root of every peril that threatens us, the New Testament very appropriately opens with salvation from sins. This salvation is not merely from the penalty of sins, but from the power of sins, and even from the love of them. The Gospel does not offer an exemption from sin's penalty while leaving us free to continue under the power of sin, or in the enjoyment of sin's temporary pleasures. Were it to do so, it would be no true salvation, for it would just encourage us to continue in sin: which God forbid!

She must be exposed in the presence of God. She must see that she is nothing but a poor corrupt sinner, and that only mercy can save her from the judgment to which her guilty life had made her liable. It is in the light that we get salvation; and in one sense salvation is by the light, for salvation lies in the knowledge of God. The word to Christ is: “I have set Thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that Thou shouldst be for salvation unto the ends of the earth” (Acts 13:47). Salvation, as known at this present time, is the emancipation of the soul from every evil thing that held it in bondage, so that the subjects of salvation may be at liberty to serve the living God. “Let My son go, that he may serve Me,” was the word of God that was sent by Moses to Pharaoh. This salvation was realized by the people at the Red Sea, when the proud host of Egypt was overwhelmed by the waters, and Israel was brought to God in the wilderness. But that salvation was temporal and governmental, and was a deliverance of flesh and blood from the domination of flesh and blood, whereas our salvation is the salvation of the soul, and is spiritual and eternal. The work of the cross is, I need scarcely say, the foundation of all God’s dealings with us in grace, but practical salvation lies in the knowledge of God; and therefore is Christ both light and salvation.

The great thought in salvation is that the soul is rescued from destruction and recovered for God. In Mark 16 it is put in contrast with judgment, and in 1 Corinthians with perishing, and with the latter it is usually contrasted in Scripture. In James 4:12 we have “One Lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy;” and in Luke 19:10 we have the Son of Man come to seek and to “save that which was lost;” and in 2 Corinthians 2:15 we have the apostles a sweet savour of Christ to God, “in them that are saved and in them that perish;” and in all these places the word in the original for “destroy,” “lost,” “perish” is the same. The thought therefore connected with salvation in Scripture is easily laid hold of. The idea being that the soul is rescued from destruction, and recovered to God in new relationships, life, power, and blessing. I have said it is complete in a moral and spiritual sense in quickening with Christ, and in association with Him beyond Jordan. When we have come to this in the apprehension of our souls we can put on the helmet of salvation, we are in the enjoyment of an accomplished salvation, and have it as armour for our heads in battle; and to this Peter would have the babes grow up.