After these things I looked carefully, and a large multitude, which no one was able to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, was standing before the throne and before the Lamb, having dressed in white robes and having palm branches in their hands. And they cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation to our God, who is sitting on the throne, and to the Lamb." Rev. 7:9, 10.
Salvation is an issue Christians like to disagree about. While the subject should be our greatest delight, we find ways to argue about it. I recently wrote about the subject of forgiveness of sins in the Gospel of John. Someone called to tell me that I was wrong. Sins don't get forgiven--people do! She pointed to the text: "Your sins are forgiven unto you" (Mark 2:9). I pointed out that in another place (Matt. 26:28) Jesus did talk about the forgiveness of sins. I have no problem with her point except that the biblical witness is richer than that.
The word "salvation" in the Bible, for example, is not a precise term--it is a metaphor, an illustration. In fact, it is one of many biblical metaphors about getting right with God. Such metaphors usually describe a problem and a solution. For example, "salvation" is a metaphor from the world of rescue missions. Describing the sin problem in such terms as "lost" or "taken prisoner," it depicts the solution as being "rescued" or "saved." Anyone who has ever been lost in the forest can relate to this metaphor.
From the perspective of he medical world, if we speak of the human condition as being "sick" in sin, the solution is to find "healing" (Mark 5:34; Luke 7:50--in Greek the word for "healing" is the same as the verb for "salvation"!) And using imagery from the banking world, we portray sin as a "debt" that we owe. What we need, then, is "forgiveness." In sanctuary terms, the sin problem has to do with "defilement," being dirty. The solution, in that case, is "cleansing." To portray the sin problem as the result of unfulfilled hunger calls for feeding on the Bread of Life.
To state the problem in legal terms, sin is "condemnation"--a guilty verdict in court that requires "justification," a verdict of acquittal. And looking at sin as enmity with God call for "reconciliation." Spiritual "slavery" demands freedom.
What God was doing in the Bible was not describing the matter of salvation in precise, Western, scientific terms. Instead He was inspiring people to use language from everyday life to illustrate His plan of salvation. The beauty of all this is that the Bible has a metaphor for every situation. It would be a tragic thing if we required everyone to be satisfied with our pet metaphor. The broader the biblical net, the greater the number of people that can find their way to God!
Lord, thank You for the wide variety of metaphors with which You reach out to us. You express Your love in so many ways that I can't miss It! I am so grateful
Salvation is an issue Christians like to disagree about. While the subject should be our greatest delight, we find ways to argue about it. I recently wrote about the subject of forgiveness of sins in the Gospel of John. Someone called to tell me that I was wrong. Sins don't get forgiven--people do! She pointed to the text: "Your sins are forgiven unto you" (Mark 2:9). I pointed out that in another place (Matt. 26:28) Jesus did talk about the forgiveness of sins. I have no problem with her point except that the biblical witness is richer than that.
The word "salvation" in the Bible, for example, is not a precise term--it is a metaphor, an illustration. In fact, it is one of many biblical metaphors about getting right with God. Such metaphors usually describe a problem and a solution. For example, "salvation" is a metaphor from the world of rescue missions. Describing the sin problem in such terms as "lost" or "taken prisoner," it depicts the solution as being "rescued" or "saved." Anyone who has ever been lost in the forest can relate to this metaphor.
From the perspective of he medical world, if we speak of the human condition as being "sick" in sin, the solution is to find "healing" (Mark 5:34; Luke 7:50--in Greek the word for "healing" is the same as the verb for "salvation"!) And using imagery from the banking world, we portray sin as a "debt" that we owe. What we need, then, is "forgiveness." In sanctuary terms, the sin problem has to do with "defilement," being dirty. The solution, in that case, is "cleansing." To portray the sin problem as the result of unfulfilled hunger calls for feeding on the Bread of Life.
To state the problem in legal terms, sin is "condemnation"--a guilty verdict in court that requires "justification," a verdict of acquittal. And looking at sin as enmity with God call for "reconciliation." Spiritual "slavery" demands freedom.
What God was doing in the Bible was not describing the matter of salvation in precise, Western, scientific terms. Instead He was inspiring people to use language from everyday life to illustrate His plan of salvation. The beauty of all this is that the Bible has a metaphor for every situation. It would be a tragic thing if we required everyone to be satisfied with our pet metaphor. The broader the biblical net, the greater the number of people that can find their way to God!
Lord, thank You for the wide variety of metaphors with which You reach out to us. You express Your love in so many ways that I can't miss It! I am so grateful
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