Who Will Save Us?

A MIRACLE ON THE HUDSON

The movie, Sully, is about the real life event of when Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger safely landed a commercial aircraft on the Hudson River after losing both engines from a bird strike shortly after takeoff. Throughout the movie the NTSB (the National Transportation Safety Board) had been investigating the water landing to determine if Sully had actually made a mistake by going for the Hudson when he could have—and, as they thought, should have—headed for a nearby airport. They run simulations, look at the black box data, and speak with scientists who are experts in birds.

At the end of the movie, it becomes obvious to everyone involved—including the NTSB—that the right decision was made, and it was only because of that decision that everyone on the aircraft was saved. In all of their research into what happened and how it could have been resolved—in other words, their focus on finding the how—they missed the most important detail—the who.

This is summed up beautifully in a statement made at the end of the movie. One of the NTSB officials says to Sully, “I can say with absolute confidence that after speaking with the rest of the flight crew, with bird experts, aviation engineers, after running through every scenario, after interviewing each player, there is still an ‘X’ in this result. And it’s you, Captain Sullenberger. Remove you from the equation and the math just fails.”

Sometimes the who is more important than the how.

THE SON OF MAN CAME TO SAVE

In Luke 19:1-10 we’re told that Jesus entered Jericho but had in mind to keep moving through. Zacchaeus, who was not just a tax collector, but a chief tax collector—a very rich man—wanted to see for himself who this Jesus was, but he had a problem. You probably know what his problem was if you know the song. He was wee little man and couldn’t see over the crowd. So, what did he do? He, of course, ran on ahead of Jesus and climbed a tree to get a better look.

When Jesus caught up to Zacchaeus he said, “Come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” Zacchaeus got right down from that tree and welcomed Jesus gladly. The crowd, however, didn’t respond in the same way, because they couldn’t help but see that Jesus was not going to have dinner at just anyone’s house. He was going to be the guest of a sinner.

Zacchaeus, maybe even thinking along the same line for a moment said to Jesus, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” He knew this was a serious thing for Jesus to have called him from the tree and to have invited himself to his house. To which Jesus responded, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.” Jesus wasn’t going to allow the crowd’s thinking (and perhaps Zacchaeus’s own thinking) to cloud what was happening before their very eyes.

Jesus continued—and this is where things get real for our discussion here—by saying, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Sometimes the who is more important than the how.

JESUS IS SALVATION

The main reason the aircraft made a safe water landing was not because all the right decisions were made. It wasn’t even because the aircraft was built in such a way to allow that sort of landing to be possible. It was because of the person who flew that aircraft. In a similar way, it’s not mainly because of the cross that anyone is saved today. Nor is it mainly because of what was accomplished by the one who was placed upon the cross. Forgive me as I just took a second to make sure my hair wasn’t starting to stand on end. If anyone at any point in time was or is going to be saved, it was and is because of the one doing the saving—Jesus.

Notice what he specifically said to Zacchaeus. “Today salvation has come to this house” (Luke 19:9, NIV). Jesus not only identified himself as the one who is going to be accomplishing the saving work: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10, NIV), he identified himself as salvation incarnate.

When anyone in Jesus’s day saw him walking around, it was as if they were watching salvation walk around. Everything that salvation was and is, was and is contained in Jesus. Said the other way, take Jesus out of salvation and salvation no longer exists. Remove him from the equation of salvation and the math doesn’t work.

Simeon, earlier in Luke’s Gospel, when he took the baby Jesus into his arms says it clearly: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” (Luke 2:29-32, NIV)

What Must I Do to Be Saved?

THE THEOLOGY OF ‘GHOST’

Podcasts are the best.

I especially like listening to The Rewatchables, which is a podcast where a group of 2-4 people discuss their favorite “rewatchable” movies.

During the last episode I listened to they were talking about Ghost. (A movie I haven’t seen before… I know, I know, I should make it a point to watch it.) Since the movie is about someone’s loved one being killed and then returning as a ghost it didn’t take long for the conversation to come to a discussion about the afterlife. Specifically, the discussion was on what type of people “go to heaven” and what type of people “go to hell.” The consensus between the hosts on that episode was that if you at least live a decent life—and don’t murder anyone—you’ll go to heaven.

If you know me at all, I can’t let that go.

GOOD PEOPLE GO TO HEAVEN, BAD PEOPLE GO TO HELL?

In all fairness to the hosts who (by their own admission) are not beholden to any sort of biblical theology, they badly misunderstand the way in which the New Testament authors speak to us about the reality of the afterlife, and the means by which those realities will be experienced. Again, in all fairness to them, they have done little more than grab on to what we might call the pop theology of our day, which runs something like this: Good people go to heaven because they’re good and bad people go to hell because they’re bad. What or who determines whether a person is good or bad is largely up for debate but, in the end, it’s our deeds here that determine our destiny there.

To come back to where that previous paragraph began… that sort of belief may be widely held today (even among many Christians) but it is in no way friends with the testimony of the New Testament texts—one in particular that will be our focus for this article.

AN EXERCISED WOMAN

Shortly (and I use that word in a relative sense) after the conversion of Paul, he, Luke, Silas, and some others were traveling around telling people about the good news of Jesus Christ—they were preaching about the kingdom of God. One day they ran into this woman who had a spirit which allowed her to predict the future. As you can imagine, she made bank because everyone wants to know their future. For some reason she followed Paul and his friends shouting, “These men are servants of the most high God, who are telling you the way to be saved!” She was relentless. Her shouting lasted for days. At some point Paul had enough of it and commanded that the spirit in her come out, which it did.

Good for the woman, right? Sort of.

WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?

She was no longer being tormented by this “future-telling spirit,” and she was no longer making money for the people who owned her—she was a slave—and they didn’t like that one bit. Her owners were so upset that they dragged Paul and Silas into the marketplace so something could be done with them. A crowd gathered and they joined in on the attack and the authorities decided that they were to be stripped, beaten with rods, and thrown into prison. So, to prison they went.

Paul and Silas, being who they were, were praying and singing hymns to God in prison and all the other prisoners were listening to them. All of a sudden, in the middle of their praying and signing, a violent earthquake shook the foundations of the prison, and all the doors flew open and everyone’s chains came loose. The jailer—who was the one put in charge of making sure none of the prisoners escaped—woke up, saw that the doors were open and that their chains were off, and thought it best to kill himself rather than face the fury of his Roman bosses. Before he could do so, Paul shouted to him, “Don’t harm yourself! We’re all here!” At this the jailer fell trembling at the feet of Paul and Silas and asked them, “What must I do to be saved?”

What would you have said to the jailer?

Well, if you want to be saved, you must live a good life, so you need to take stock of your life immediately. You need to find out whether or not you’ve lived a life worthy of heaven. If you haven’t you need to make a change immediately, because you know it’s only the good who get through heaven’s doors.

Of course, you wouldn’t say that… I hope you wouldn’t say that.

Live a good life and you’ll get to heaven is a recipe for disaster. Live a good life according to whom—according to what? Your standard? My standard? God’s standard? Do we each get to decide for ourselves what “good enough” is? What if I think I’ve lived a pretty good life, but you think I’ve messed up in big way in a few areas? Who decides between us?

Thank God for what Paul and Silas said.

BELIEVE IN THE LORD JESUS

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household” (Acts 16:31, NIV). There it is. How was the jailer going to be saved? By believing in the Lord Jesus. How were his household—his parents, wife, and children—going to be saved? By be believing in the Lord Jesus. And how are you and I going to be saved? Well, you see, we think we have a better understanding than Paul and Silas who lived in a much more primitive time. In order to be saved you need to be a good person. No! The answer remains the same: Believe in the Lord Jesus.

Believe.
Trust.
Give your allegiance not to an idea, not a pie in the sky hope, not a modern day invention of how we measure good and bad. Not even for a second.

If you want to be saved, place your faith in the only person who is able, and not only able, but the only person who made salvation possible. Place your faith in the only person who made salvation a reality. Place your faith in the only person who, after all the rejection he experienced by a world he came to save, held out his arms and said if you come to me, I will have you.

That’s the message Paul and Silas had for a 1st-Century jailer, and it’s the same message we have for a 21st-Century world. It doesn’t have to be more complicated than that. Sure, we can talk about how belief ought to come with a change in how we live our lives, but that is a different discussion. Not an unimportant discussion—just a different discussion.

We must have an answer for the one who asks what they need to do to be saved, and our answer does not have to be any more complicated than believe in the Lord Jesus.

‘The Gospel’ According to Romans 1:16

Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament, 28th Edition
Οὐ γὰρ ἐπαισχύνομαι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, δύναμις γὰρ θεοῦ ἐστιν εἰς σωτηρίαν παντὶ τῷ πιστεύοντι, Ἰουδαίῳ τε πρῶτον καὶ Ἕλληνι.

New International Version
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

New Living Translation
For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile.

English Standard Version
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

King James Bible
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

NASB 1995
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Christian Standard Bible
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.

NET Bible
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God's power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

New Revised Standard Version
For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Exegetical Meditations (45)

The exclusivity of Jesus is not something the early church “grew into” after they had time to work out the details.

As early as Acts 4 we find Peter and John arrested for preaching about Jesus rising bodily from the dead. Their arrest, however, didn’t deal with the problem because, as it says in verse 4: “…many of those who listened to the message believed…” The next step was obvious: a trail before the Sanhedrin court.

As part of the trial, Peter finds himself before a crowd and thus preaches the truths of God and the importance of Jesus. The same Jesus whom they crucified but whom God raised from the dead. Peter continues by not only testifying to the centrality of Jesus, but to the exclusivity of Jesus.

“And there is salvation in no one else,
for there is no other name under heaven
that is given among people
by which it is necessary to be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

Really?
No one else?
This is a bit intolerant, isn’t it?

Of course it is!

Why in the world would the early church be tolerant to any view that said someone other than Jesus was their salvation? There was no one else to go to, because no one else had said or done the things Jesus said and did. Further than that, no one else had been killed and yet rose bodily to life from the dead. Finally, no one else had offered this gift of deliverance to the world like Jesus.

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

And here in lies the wonderfully inclusive nature of the the strict exclusivity of Jesus. The church testified then and, when in her right mind today, continues to testify to the truth that there is salvation in no other than Jesus. All the while announcing this message of good news not to a special group of people or a particular part of the world, but to all people everywhere no matter who they are.

John saw the reality of this truth while exiled to Patmos. In his words: After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9).

There are many so-called lambs out there offering a so-called salvation. But there’s only one to whom the great multitude will stand before in the end.

What John Bunyan Says About the Heart of Jesus Toward Sinners

Commenting on John 6:37, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” John Bunyan wrote this as he described the heart of Jesus toward sinners.

But I am a great sinner, say you.
“I will never cast you out,” says Christ.

But I am an old sinner, say you.
“I will never cast you out,” says Christ.

But I am a hard-hearted sinner, say you.
“I will never cast you out,” says Christ.

But I am a backsliding sinner, say you.
“I will never cast you out,” says Christ.

But I have served satan all my days, say you.
“I will never cast you out,” says Christ.

But I have sinned against light, say you.
“I will never cast you out,” says Christ.

But I have sinned against mercy, say you.
“I will never cast you out,” says Christ.

But I have no good thing to bring with me, say you.
“I will never cast you out,” says Christ.

What objection do we have left?

Jesus is Salvation

Is there anything wrong with saying that Jesus offers the gift of salvation? What about saying that Jesus is the means by which we are saved? Or what about saying simply that Jesus saves?

No.

There’s nothing wrong with any of those previous statements; in fact, they’re all biblical. 

Paul says that salvation is a gift when he writes, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the giftof God” (Eph. 2:8). Jesus says that he is the means of salvation when he says, “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (Jn. 14:6).And at the beginning of his gospel Matthew writes, “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will savehis people from their sins” (Mt. 1:21).

And yet, even though all of those earlier statements are wonderful biblical truths, there’s still an aspect to the relationship of Jesus and salvation that isn’t mentioned in any of them—an aspect worth discovering and meditating on.

Luke, one of the four gospel writers, has an interesting and helpful emphasis—one that appears early in the story he tells. This Lukan emphasis is on the fact that Jesus is salvation.

Luke begins his gospel unlike any of the other four by explaining that many other people have gone about writing down the story of Jesus’ life (Lk. 1:1-2). He then begins his rendition of the story with two births: John the Baptist and Jesus. After Jesus is born he’s presented in the temple and Simeon, who was righteous and devout, was there. Luke says that as the Holy Spirit moved Simeon he went into the temple courts, took Jesus in his arms, praised God, and said, “My eyes have seen your salvation” (Lk. 2:30).

Simeon doesn’t say that he sees the salvation Jesus will bring. Instead, Simeon says that he has seen God’s salvation. Simeon is holding in his hands and looking at salvation. In Simeon’s mind, according to what Simeon says, Jesus is salvation.

Shortly thereafter we read of John the Baptist going into all the country around the Jordan and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Lk. 3:3). As part of his preaching John says, “The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all people will see God’s salvation” (Lk. 3:5-6). In context, Jesus is the one being talked about. And, again, it’s striking what isn’t said. John the Baptist doesn’t say something like, “And all people will see the salvation God will bring through Jesus.” He’s clear in saying that Jesus is salvation; salvation that will be seen be all people.

It’s important to Luke for him to establish the fact that Jesus is salvation right from the beginning of his gospel story. Luke does this by personalizing salvation, which is done not by pointing to the people who will be saved but by pointing to the one in whom they will be saved.

Jesus is not merely the bringer of salvation—as wonderful and as biblical as that truth is. Jesus is not merely the vehicle by which salvation is executed—as wonderful and as biblical as that truth is. Jesus is not merely the one who does the saving—as wonderful and as biblical as that truth is. 

Jesus is salvation.

———

How should we then live?
How does seeing Jesus as salvation change the way you view your relationship with him?