Salvation in Christ refers to the divine act of being cleansed from sin and granted eternal life through faith in Jesus. It is often depicted through vivid images such as tasting sweetness to signify personal experience, being made spotless to represent cleansing, and visible transformation to show the gospel's power. This mystery surpasses human understanding yet assures believers of God's saving grace (Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 3:5).
A proper foundation is necessary before building a strong and lasting structure.
An architect is a master builder. He conceives of a building in its totality. However, he realizes that his first consideration must be the ground on which it is to stand; it must have a solid foundation. Of course, no one can live in a house that consists only of its foundation. A superstructure is needed. But without a proper foundation the superstructure will not stand.
Christ is the only door to salvation, just as the ark had only one door.
Charles H. Spurgeon made a penetrating observation when he said there were many rooms in the ark but only one door. Similarly, there is only one door in the ark of our salvation, and that is Christ. The Only Victor A general may defeat all his enemies on the battlefield yet be unable to defeat his critics at home. He may be able to control the men under him and yet be unable to control himself. He may be victor in the eyes of men, yet defeated in the estimation of God. And he may congratulate himself that no one has been able to stand up against him, yet he will go down at last before man's final enemy, death. Thus, all men's victories are partial in this life. Even the victory over sin and evil that the regenerated believer has in Christ is at best incomplete. Only one Man has ever conquered sin and death completely and defeated all His enemies.
Christ as the Horn of Salvation symbolizes His power, dominion, and glory as Savior.
Salvation is the fruition of redemption. Redemption purchases salvation, salvation realizes redemption and brings it into our actual experience. Zechariah speaks not so much of salvation as of the "horn of salvation." This bold figure, perhaps, originated in primitive times when mighty hunters, like Nimrod, returning from the chase, loved to grace their tents with the splendid horns of the animals that they had slain: the antlers of the deer, the tusks of the elephant, and the horn, perhaps, of the mighty rhinoceros. And so the word "horn" came to be the figure of beauty, power, and dominion. It has passed into the imagery of inspired prophecy and song, so that we find the earthly powers described by Daniel and John as horns upon the head of the beast. And so we find the psalmist speaking of God as his Horn of Salvation and his High Tower. In speaking, therefore, of Christ as a Horn of Salvation, Zechariah meant to emphasize the glory and beauty of the Savior, His supreme and universal dominion and His infinite and divine power. It is coronation, singing, "Bring forth the royal diadem, and crown Him Lord of all."
No one can enter heaven without faith in Christ, regardless of earthly status.
A person may go to heaven- without wealth without beauty without learning without fame without culture without friends But no one can go to heaven without Christ.
Jesus seeks and finds faith and transformation in unlikely people from all backgrounds.
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. The Lord finds faith in a Roman soldier. He finds faith in heathen women. He finds lost womanhood in the Samaritan woman at the well. He seeks and finds generosity in that tight person called Zacchaeus. He seeks and finds courage in Peter, that coward who wouldn't reveal even to a little maid who he was while Jesus was being tried. The Lord seeks and finds an apostle in a persecutor like Saul of Tarsus and makes him Paul.
God's message of mercy can reach a person even in the most unlikely and remote places.
Off the Florida coast, Mike, a professional diver, was engaged in salvaging parts of a ship which had sunk some months previously. He had just descended one morning and was making his way slowly toward the sunken hull when he noticed something white in the mouth of an oyster or shellfish of some sort. Stooping, Mike picked up the small piece of white paper and turned his marine light on it. A gospel tract! He read its message slowly and carefully, and conviction struck home to his heart. If God's message of mercy in Christ had pursued him to the bottom of the sea, he could not hold out any longer. Standing where he was that morning, Mike accepted Christ as his Savior. When he returned to the surface, he took with him the little tract which had followed him to the bottom of the ocean.
Christ longs to enter your life and bring peace if you open your heart to Him.
One day the great artist, Michelangelo, stood outside a window. Inside he saw a canvas with a few brushes and paints next to it. All that was missing was the hand of the artist. "Oh," cried Michelangelo, "if I could only be inside, what a picture I could paint!" That's exactly what Christ wishes when He stands outside your life. "Oh, what I could accomplish, if only I could get in!" Allow Him to get in. Open the door of your heart. Believe on Him. Then He will bring peace to your troubled soul.
God’s final invitation offers salvation freely to all who will come and receive it.
It was Dwight L. Moody who said, "Many men fold their arms and say, 'If I am one of the elect-in other words, one of those God willed to be saved-I shall be saved; and if I am not, I shall not. No use bothering about it.' I have an idea," he said, "that the Lord Jesus saw how men were going to stumble over this doctrine of election, so after He had been thirty or forty years in heaven, He came down and spoke to John. On the Lord's Day in Patmos He said to him: 'Write these things to the churches.' John kept on writing. His pen flew very fast. Then the Lord, when it was nearly finished, said: 'John, before you close the book, put in one more invitation: "The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." ' "
Only Jesus, not Mary, can accomplish salvation in the human heart.
Jane, a deeply religious woman, presumed that the Virgin Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus, could do the work of her Son just as effectively as He. And of course, being a woman, she identified more with a female. She was discussing her religious beliefs with a friend who, on the other hand, believed that no one could be what Jesus Christ was and is, and that no one else could effect the work of salvation in the human heart. But nothing could persuade Jane. The friend who believed in the exclusiveness of Jesus Christ to save was employed as a maid in a doctor's home. One day Jane became seriously ill and called for the doctor, her friend's employer. The friend answered the phone and said, "I am sorry, but the doctor is not in." Then this Christian woman, who had put all her trust in Jesus Christ, thought of all the theological discussions that she had had with her friend and added, "But, Jane, you know the doctor's mother is in. Maybe she can help you." "Is she a doctor?" "No, but she is the doctor's mother. She will do, won't she?" Immediately Jane could see what her friend was driving at. She wanted to show her in this vivid way that Mary, although highly respected and honored, cannot do the work of her Son.
Even the best cannot save themselves; only Christ can save.
It is said when one of the most noted English physicians was succumbing to a fatal disease, he went from one authority to another until he had reached the highest on the continent. Telling this man his trouble, he received the reply, "The only man who can save you is an English physician, Dr. Darwin of Derby." Sad was the reply, "I am Dr. Darwin of Derby." He was the best, but he could not save himself. Even the best of us cannot save ourselves. The Father's Child Dwight L. Moody gives us a fine illustration of the fact that the commandment of Christ to follow Him is given to His children and not to strangers "I was standing with a friend at his garden gate one evening when two little children came by. As they approached us, he said to me, 'Watch the difference in these two boys.' Taking one of them in his arms he stood him on the gatepost and, stepping back a few feet, he folded his arms and called to the little fellow to jump. In an instant the boy sprang toward him and was caught in his arms. Then turning to the second boy he tried the same experiment. But in the second case it was different. The child trembled and refused to move. My friend held out his arms and tried to induce the child to trust to his strength but nothing could move him. At last my friend had to lift him down from the post and let him go. 'What makes the difference in the two?' I asked. My friend smiled and said, 'The first is my own boy and knows me; but the other is a stranger's child whom I have never seen before.' And there was all the difference. My friend was equally able to prevent both from falling. The difference was in the boys themselves. The first had assurance in his father's ability and acted upon it, while the second boy, although he might have believed in the ability to save him from harm, would not put his belief into action." So it is with many today who give credit to the gospel story but are unwilling to cast themselves into the arms of the Savior.
Changed lives visibly demonstrate the power of the gospel even to those who haven't heard it.
A missionary approached a native whom he had not seen before and asked, "Have you ever heard the gospel?" "No," he replied, "but I have seen it. I know a man who used to be the terror of the neighborhood. He was a bad opium smoker and as dangerous as a wild beast. But he became completely changed. He is now gentle and good and has left off opium."
The gospel produces miraculous life changes that science cannot explain, proving its power.
A psychiatrist who visited a rescue mission listened intently to the testimonies of many converts. The superintendent asked him if he would like to say a word. This is what he said: "Tonight I have been given an opportunity to observe something I did not know existed anywhere. It has been my privilege to listen to the testimony of men who were glad to witness to what Christ had done for them. I know nothing about that, but I confess I cannot otherwise explain what has taken place in their lives. A few of these men I recognize. As drunkards, even as dope addicts, some of them have come under my observation at the hospital. But here they are, alive, well-dressed, delivered, and in their right minds. I do not know how the miracle has been wrought, but of one thing I am confident-nothing in science can account for this change in them. That kind of gospel is worth preaching to anyone, anywhere." The End of a Quest Justin Martyr, one of the early Church Fathers, started out in his youth on a search for the highest wisdom. He tried a stoic, who told him that his search was vain. He turned to a second philosopher, whose greed for money quenched any hope of assistance from him. He appealed to a third, who required a preliminary knowledge of music, astronomy, and geometry. Just think of a soul thirsting after God and pardon and peace, being told, "You can't have any of this until you've got a college degree." How many would be shut out from God's presence! In his helplessness, Justin Martyr applied to a follower of Plato, under whose guidance he began to have some hope that he was on the right track. But one day, when earnestly groping after the truth, he was met by a nameless old man who talked to him about Jesus Christ. Immediately he felt he was at the end of his quest. "Straightway," says Justin, "a flame was kindled in my soul," and if not in the actual words, yet in the spirit he sang, "Thou, O Christ, art all I want; More than all in Thee I find."
Christ is the ladder of salvation providing a way to safety from life's storms.
To the north of Scotland lies an island called Bressay. It is one of the Shetland Islands, and its shores are very rocky. On the south coast of Bressay is a slate-quarry. The workmen had to descend the cliff to it by means of a ladder. One evening, a violent and sudden storm drove the quarrymen from their work. The ladder was left fastened to the cliff. The night was very dark and stormy. A ship which was struggling with the waves was driven close to the island. Her crew beheld with terror the white foam of the breakers as they dashed against the rocks. They knew, that, if their ship were stranded, they must be wrecked. Still the howling winds drove her forward. The waves dashed over her, filled the cabin with water, and drowned the wife of the captain. The sailors now climbed into the rigging. They were at the mercy of the furious wind, and of the raging sea. They gave themselves up for lost. Many prayers and cries for deliverance were uttered. On came the ship, and struck against the shore. The poor seamen felt that death was almost certain. On the summit of the cliff was safety; but how could they reach it, who were helplessly dashed at its foot? But, just as the ship struck near the rock, their terror was changed to joy. Close beside them, on the steep face of the cliff, was a ladder. It seemed as if placed there on purpose for them. In haste they sprang from the rigging, mounted the ladder, and reached the top of the cliff in safety. The vessel went to pieces so quickly, that, by the next morning, hardly a trace of her was left. Bible Treasury.
Even nature and idols obey the power of the infant Christ during the flight to Egypt.
Sosomenes relates, that when the holy family reached the term of their journey, and approached the city of Heliopolis, in their flight into Egypt, a tree which grew before the gates of the city, and was regarded with great veneration as the seat of a God, bowed down its branches at the approach of the infant Christ. Likewise it is related (not in legends merely, but by grave, religious authorities), that all the idols of the Egyptians fell with their faces to the earth. I have seen pictures of the flight into Egypt, in which broken idols lay by the wayside.
— Mrs. Jameson
Salvation comes from union with Christ, not merely seeking salvation itself.
Having Christ, we have salvation also; while, without receiving Christ himself, we cannot have the salvation. Having the fountain, we have its issuing streams. Cut off from the fountain, the streams will not flow to us. Christ offers himself to be the Bridegroom of the soul. He offers to endow his bride with all the riches of his own inheritance in the heirship of his Father. Taking him as our Bridegroom, and giving ourselves to him as the bride espouses her husband, with him we have all he has as well as all he is; while without him we can have neither. The mistake is that of seeking the salvation instead of seeking the Saviour; just the same mistake that the affirmed would make if she should seek to have the possessions of him to whom she was engaged made over to her from him without their union in wedlock, instead of accepting his offer of himself, and having the hymnical bond completed, by which he and all he has would become hers. W. E. Boardman.
Christ is the sure support and plank that sustains believers through life's shipwrecks.
A Cornish minister was preaching, one day, to a congregation in which were several sailors who had just escaped shipwreck. He spoke of the sinner's danger, and introduced the figure of the drowning sailor, grasping eagerly at any fragments of the wreck: then presented Christ as the sure plank, exclaiming, "This plank bears!" Fourteen years after, that minister was called to the bedside of a dying stranger who was converted by, and now with his latest breath testified to, the glorious truth, "This plank bears!"
Adam's disobedience is inherited, but Christ's obedience brings spiritual new birth.
As the natural disobedience of Adam conveyed itself by natural propagation, from him to all his offspring forever, even so the obedience of Christ pertains to those who are spiritually begotten of him by a lively faith. Canedray.
Christ as Kinsman Redeemer restores believers' inheritance and betroths them by the Spirit.
a type of. Through His incarnation Christ became kin to us as a human being, that we through the Spirit, might become betrothed to Him. By sin, we had forfeited our inheritance. Christ, the only one who can take up the documents and restore us to position
Christ, our true Joshua, secures and will give believers their eternal inheritance.
The true Joshua, Christ, has opened up for us the gates of heaven, purchasing eternal inheritance for all believers. Like Joshua He will in due time have the honor of putting them in possession of their inheritances
Christ’s sacrifice is like a friend dying in our place, showing love and substitution.
During the Civil War a farmer was drafted. He was much grieved on account of his motherless family, who would have no bread-winner in his absence. The day before he had to start, a young man, a neighbor, came, saying, “I will go instead of yon.” It seemed too good to be true; but the young fellow went, feeling that he was doing a noble thing, and all the village came out to bid him good-bye. In the first battle he was shot and killed. When the farmer saw the name of Charles Durham in the list of “missing,” he at once went to the battlefield, found the body of his friend, brought it to his village and placed it in the little graveyard, covering the grave with sod from his garden. He cut out a plain marble tablet, on which he carved an inscription with his own hand. Then he put the tablet on the grave, and when the villagers stooped to see the little monument they wept. It did not say much, but it deeply touched them; it said—”C. D. He died for me.”
The Good Shepherd tenderly leads and carries His flock through fear and danger.
A friend who lost all his children told me about being in an eastern country some time ago, and he saw a shepherd going down to a stream, and he wanted to get his flock across. He went into the water and called them by name, but they came to the bank and bleated, and were too afraid to follow. At last he went back, tightened his girdle about his loins, took up two little lambs, and put one inside his frock, and another inside his bosom. Then he started into the water, and the old sheep looked up to the shepherd instead of down into the water. They wanted to see their little ones. So he got them over the water, and led them into the green pastures on the other side.
How many times the Good Shepherd has come down here and taken a little lamb to the hilltops of glory, and then the father and mother begin to look up and follow.
Christ's death is the timeless good news offering salvation to all people.
It is said that Tennyson once asked an old Christian woman if there was any news.
“Why, Mr. Tennyson,” she replied, “there’s only one piece of news that I know, and that is — Christ died for all men.”
“That is old news, and good news, and new news,” Tennyson responded.
All theology centers on Jesus Christ coming to save sinners.
The late venerable and godly Dr. Archibald Alexander, of Princeton, United States, had been a preacher of Christ for sixty years, and a professor of divinity for forty. He died on the 22nd October, 1851. On his death-bed, he was heard to say to a friend, "All my theology is reduced to this narrow compass— Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners."
Jesus Christ is the sole and only hope of mankind.
ON a huge cross by the side of an Italian highway hung a hideous caricature of the Beloved of our souls, who poured out his life for our redemption. Out of reverence to the living Christ we turned aside, disgusted from the revolting image, but not until we had espied the words Spes unica , in capitals over its head. Here was truth emblazoned on an idol. Yes, indeed, Jesus, our now exalted, but once crucified Lord is the sole and only hope of man. Assuredly, O Lord Jesus, thou art spes unica to our soul.
Preaching without Christ as the sin-bearer ruins the gospel message.
A famous picture has been lately produced, which represents our Lord before Pilate. It has deservedly won great attraction. A certain excellent newspaper, which brings out for a very cheap price a large number of engravings has given an engraving of this picture; but, inasmuch as the painting was too large for the paper to give the whole, they have copied a portion of it. It is interesting to note that they have given us Pilate here, and Caiaphas there, but since there was no room for Jesus upon the sheet, they have left out that part of the design. When I saw the picture, I thought that it was wonderfully characteristic of a great deal of modern preaching. See Pilate here, Caiaphas there, and the Jews yonder—but the Victim, bound and scourged for human sin, is omitted. Possibly, in the case of the publication, the figure of the Christ will appear in the next number; but even if He should appear in the next sermon of our preachers of the new theology, it will be as a moral example, and not as the Substitute for the guilty, the Sin bearer by whose death we are redeemed. When we hear a sermon with no Christ in it, we hope that He will come out next Sunday; at the same time, the preaching is, so far, spoilt, and the presentation of the gospel is entirely ruined so long as the principal figure is left out. Oh, it is a sad thing to have to stand in any house of prayer and listen to the preaching, and then have to cry, "They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him!" Rest assured that they have laid Him in a tomb. You may be quite certain of that. They have put Him away as a dead thing, and to them He is as good as dead. True believer, you may comfort your heart with this recollection, that He will rise again. He cannot be holden by the bonds of death in any sense; and though His own church should bury Him, and lay the huge lid of the most enormous sarcophagus of heresy upon Him, the Redeemer will rise again, and His truth with Him, and He and His Word will live and reign together for ever and ever.
Christ is the only door to salvation; all other ways are false shortcuts.
* * * * *
Outside one of the beautiful gateways of the magnificent mosque of St. Sophia, in Constantinople, there is a picture of an open Bible with this inscription: “The Lord said, I am the door; by me if any man enter in he shall be saved.” The Mohammedans left this inscription when they took the beautiful temple from the Christians; because they could see no reference in it to Jesus Christ. Everything else that suggested Christianity or the cross was obliterated. There is a twentieth-century spirit that would obliterate Jesus Christ and the necessity of His saving work. But meanwhile He, the strong Son of God, calmly waits for the world’s recognition. He has presented His proofs, and the responsibility is ours. There is no other gospel, no other road, no other Christ. For his own convenience man has invented a number of “short cuts.” But it remains as true to-day as when Jesus Himself spoke the words, that he who climbs up some other way is “a thief and a robber.”
— JOEL B. SLOCUM
Opponents of Christ are ultimately overcome though they resist His cutting truths.
In a sawmill in Canada, while the head sawyer was eating his dinner, a big bear came and sat on the log ready for sawing, and began to eat the sawyer’s dinner. As the log moved up the saw gave him a slight rub; he growled and went on eating. Presently the saw gave him another dig and he turned round and hugged it, and there was a bear sawed in two.
This reminds us of the enemies of Christ trying to stop the work He came to do. He uttered truths which cut them, but they continued in their opposition. They have gone to their own place, but the gracious work of Christ continues. (Text.)
Christ values even the most broken lives, offering redemption and hope to all.
A class of medical students were being taken through the wards of a hospital. Their professor was showing them some strange case--a man who was a mere wreck, lying upon his bed hopeless and helpless, a broken fragment of humanity, a man who had spoiled his chances, sold his soul and body. The professor said in Latin, _Fiat experimentum in corpore vili_, “Let the experiment be made upon a worthless body.” But the man was an old university man, and before the days of his crash, he, too, knew Latin. He arose in his bed and answered back, _Pro hoc corpore vili Jesus Christus mortuus est_, “For this worthless body Jesus Christ has died.” And from every broken bit of the wreckage of humanity, and from every bit of your own soul’s life that is wrecked and broken, comes the same response to-day. God knows that for this worthless body Jesus Christ is on His cross still waiting to see of the travail of His soul.
— JOHN KELMAN
Christ is the door protecting His sheep from danger by His own sacrifice.
This poem by Mary M. Redding, is based on an actual incident of one of Dr. George Adam Smith’s Syrian journeys:
A traveler once, when skies were rose and gold With Syrian sunset, paused beside the fold Where an Arabian shepherd housed his flock; Only a circling wall of rough gray rock-- No door, no gate, but just an opening wide Enough for snowy, huddling sheep to come inside. “So,” questioned he, “then no wild beasts you dread?” “Ah, yes, the wolf is near,” the shepherd said.
“But”--strange and sweet the voice divine of yore Fell on his startled ear--“I am the door! When skies are sown with stars, and I may trace The velvet shadows, in this narrow space I lay me down. No silly sheep may go Without the fold but I, the shepherd, know. Nor need my cherished flock, close-sheltered, warm, Fear ravening wolf, save o’er my prostrate form.”
O word of Christ--illumined evermore For us His timid sheep--“I am the door!”
(Text.)--_Sunday-school Times._
The lamb symbolizes Christ's innocent sacrifice that saves and protects believers.
The figure of a lamb slain dominates the whole aspect of the religion of redemption. Nature and grace seem to blend in harmonious echoes of this ideal presentation.
High up on the old German church of Werden is carved the image of a lamb, concerning which the villagers tell this story. Many years ago, a mason was at work on the portion of wall where now this figure stands, when the cord by which his plank seat was suspended snapt, and he was hurled down to what seemed instant death, for masses of rough stone lay thick on the ground below, the building being under repair. He arose unhurt, for there among the stone-heaps a little lamb had been nibbling at scanty tufts of herbage, and on this animal he had fallen safe and softly, while the lamb lay crusht to death. The man so strangely saved had the monument erected in grateful, lasting memory of his deliverance from a cruel death, and of the innocent creature to whom he owed it. (Text.)
Meditating on Christ’s blood and sufferings is the strongest motive to mortify sin.
"Five persons," says Mr. Brooks, "were studying what were the best means to mortify sin; one said, to meditate on death; the second, to meditate on judgment; the third, to meditate on the joys of heaven; the fourth, to meditate on the torments of hell; the fifth, to meditate on the blood and sufferings of Jesus Christ; and certainly the last is the choicest and strongest motive of all. If ever we would cast off our despairing thoughts, we must dwell and must much upon, and apply this precious heard of a servant who had attended a Wesleyan chapel. This offended her master and mistress, who told her that she must discontinue the practice, or leave their service. She received the information with modesty, said she was sorry, but so it must be; she could not sacrifice the convictions of her conscience to keep her place. So they gave her warning; and she was now determined, if possible to be more circumspect and exemplary than ever; determined that, if she suffered for her religion, her religion should not suffer for her. Some time after this, the master said to the mistress, "Why, this is rather a hard measure with regard to our servant; has she not a right to worship God where she pleases as well as ourselves?"
"Oh, yes," said the mistress; "and we never had so good a servant; one who rose so early, and got her work done so well, was so clean, and was so economical, never answering again."
And so they intimated that she might remain. Some time after this the wife said to her husband, "I think Mary's religion does her a great deal more good than our religion seems to do us; I should like to hear her minister." And so she went, and was impressed; and prevailed upon her husband to go, and he was impressed; and now they are all followers of God, and have the worship of God in their house.
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blood to our own souls; so shall sorrow and mourning flee away."
Remembering Jesus Christ brings peace and assurance at death.
When dying, Bishop Beveridge failed to recognize his wife and children. Then some one asked: “Do you remember Jesus Christ?” That name seemed to recall the spirit, hovering for a moment, ere it took wing to Heaven. Touched as by an electric influence, and, with a smile in which the soul took its flight to glory, he replied, “Remember Jesus Christ! dear Jesus Christ! He is all my salvation and all my desire.”
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