“I Believe – Salvation”

Scripture: Isaiah 52:7-10; Acts 4:7-12; Romans 1:16-17

"For us and for our salvation, he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became truly human."

As much as people may say and surmise about Jesus’ coming to earth, his sole and divine purpose was to prepare the way for your and my salvation. There were, of course, many aspects to that preparation – his teaching about the truth of God’s way, his teaching of what scripture had really been telling us about life, to bring healing for our physical ailments and even raising some from death, offering his example of what a Godly life was all about, accepting suffering, lies and humiliation without seeking retribution, and taking our sin into his sinless life and destroying it at Calvary. And when he was laid to rest in a tomb, even that would became part of our preparation for eternity – that the ways and lies of this world don’t have to be the final word on our life, just as death could never be the last word for him - all because trust and faith in God will overcome everything of earth.

Sin has broken our relationship with God, and yet, by the grace of Jesus Christ, he has not only repaired our brokenness, but has reunited humanity with our Almighty God. The prophets had proclaimed the truth of this way, and had encouraged Israel to prepare their lives to receive Messiah. But for them, Messiah was supposed be powerful, royal, authoritative, revered, a warrior king, a savior for the people, and they would be sorely disappointed with Jesus.

They were waiting for Messiah’s day with false expectations!

Read Isaiah 52:7-10

Messiah would restore holiness and glory to the nation, and their enemies would not only bow down to them, but they would get a taste of their own oppressive nature. And the promise of that redemption, the good news of the Lord, will be shouted from the mountaintops, and will be heard throughout all the nations.

And this good news? How good is it? It is a promise of peace for the nation, a heavenly greeting to the people, and a declaration of salvation for all who will be faithful to the God of Zion. And in Isaiah 40:1-2, we discover two more attributes of the Savior – that his gifts will include comfort and tenderness – neither of which seem to fit the “warrior motif” of Israel’s expectation of Messiah. But as that passage continues, the people are told that they need to prepare for the Lord’s coming, that their current existence is inadequate as a welcome for God. (Isaiah 40:3-5) But ready or not, the presence of the Lord will arrive, and those who haven’t taken the prophet’s words seriously, will know the fullness of sorrow and despair. (Matthew 25:1-13)

So when the messenger proclaims “Prepare”, we need to listen, for the significance of the call is that great joy is on its way, that redemption will become a reality, that there will be no one who will miss this incredible event, but that only those who prepare will be able to truly rejoice.

Read Acts 4:7-12

In the previous chapter, Peter and John are sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with a crowd at the temple, and while they are doing that, they encounter a crippled beggar. The man was seeking alms, but instead, the disciples offered something that was even better – healing in the name of Jesus. (Acts 3:1-10) And this, along with their sharing of the good news of Jesus, brought about their arrest and subsequent questioning before the high priest.

And the first question that is directed toward the two is, essentially, “By what authority do you have the right to be feeding folks this ‘dribble’?” The Jewish court, the Sanhedrin, was made up of the elite of Israel’s society – priests, elders, and the most highly educated men of the nation – all of whom should have known Isaiah’s call to faithfulness, but they neither knew, nor had prepared to know, Messiah! And the proof is that they also didn’t know the authority who had been the power behind the crippled man’s healing!

And Peter and John hold nothing back in responding to the accusation – the power and authority that was working in and through them is none other than the power of God, none other than the authority of Jesus Christ. And they make the connection between the physical healing that had occurred, and the salvation that even Isaiah spoke of, and these are both received through faith in the Son of God.

Peter and John, two common fishermen who had been called by Jesus to learn the ways of faith, were standing before the intellectual elite of Israel, who, by the way, had the power to charge them with blasphemy. But secular authority has never had anywhere near the wisdom, or vision, or ability of God, but for some reason, they never give up trying to convince us that they do.

And the disciples cut right to the core of the issue – “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” The Holy Spirit was working in mighty ways through Peter, when he tells the learned men that even though they tried to end the message that Jesus was bringing to the world, God raised him out of earth’s tomb and into heaven’s glorious life. And by the power of the Spirit, Peter never hesitated to share the full truth of Christ with those who had yet to know him for who he is.

Isaiah’s message regarding Messiah was ignored by most of Israel. The witness of Peter and John was as foreign and strange to the Sanhedrin as the prophets’ had been to the people. And yet, all of the naysayers, and all of the doubters, and all of the deniers of God’s promise have never been able to bring an end to the message of Christ-given life.

Read Romans 1:16-17

Isaiah believed in the prophecy that he shared with the people of earth, and he never hesitated to proclaim it loudly.
Peter and John believed in the testimony that they lived out so powerfully, and there was nothing that could get in the way of their ministry.
And Paul – who had been one of the most dedicated persecutors of the church – had come to know the grace and truth of Christ, too.

And as each of these Godly men accepted the Lord’s call, as each one allowed divine truth to work through their lives, as each let the Spirit of God teach them and change them from who they had once been, into the men who the Lord wanted them to be, and as God led them to places that they would never have chosen on their own, they became powerful believers who were totally committed to the truth of the Anointed One of God.

And they would never be reluctant to follow the Lord, and would never be ashamed of the message they had been called to share with the people of earth. The routine lives that they once had lived were now lives that stood in stark contrast to the world’s standards. And why weren’t they worried about how secular authority might react to the message that each of them was bringing to light?

Because they were walking in the light of their Almighty God, and that meant that righteous power and divine authority rested on them. The good news of Jesus Christ is eternal, and whether it was being spoken through Isaiah’s voice in the 7th century BC, or the voices of Peter, John or Paul in the 1st century AD, or the voices of the church of today – the truth of God is still the truth for each and every person on the face of the earth. And whoever will leave the world behind, and follow the Way of the Lord, will have the power and authority of God at their disposal, and will know the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Each of us is being called to share the good news of Jesus Christ with those who are still mired in the darkness of this place, and we have been given the opportunity to introduce them to the hope and life and salvation that comes simply through faith in our Savior.

Now that is something to not only believe in, but to grasp with our entire life!