Scripture: Isaiah 12:1-3; Acts 4:9-13; Romans 1:16-17;
The Nature of God that we consider today is very
possibly the one that focuses all of the others, and the one that benefits us
the most, and that is God’s Salvation! In Isaiah 49:5-7,
we discover that the LORD’s reason for reclaiming Israel from captivity, and
restoring them, both as a nation and as a beloved people, was that they would
be the means for all of the people of earth to know His salvation.
This was certainly more than Israel could accomplish
on their own, but the LORD had plans to care for all that was needed to help
Israel to carry out this marvelous and blessed assignment. And when Jesus came into this world - the
birth that we celebrate as Christmas - every aspect of God’s plan was set in
motion. The birth of Jesus and all that
would come from it had been proclaimed by the prophets of old, and the words
that they had prophesied had begun to be shown as God’s truth.
Remember the hymn “Love Came Down at Christmas”? One phrase
in the first verse brings out a clarification of what this means – it says “Love
was born at Christmas”. The thought
here is that our salvation was assured because of God’s love – the love that
was “born” when Jesus arrived in this broken and miserable world. The human love that the world knew before that time
is the same love that many confuse with divine love today, while the truth is
that they aren’t even close to being like each other!
So today, we will consider the love that abides in
the salvation that the LORD offers to all.
Read Isaiah 12:1-3
These early chapters in the
prophet Isaiah contain many references to the coming of Messiah, which we won’t
go into until Christmas Eve. But for
now, we see that these verses are a praise and thanksgiving for God’s deliverance
from a time of trial. The prophet even
sees God as the comfort that renews the nation after a time when the LORD
Jehovah was angry over the way the people were living.
This passage is reminiscent
of Exodus 15:1-2, a passage that is known as the Song of Moses. In it we read “The LORD
is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise Him, my
Father’s God, and I will exalt Him.”
(v.2) Moses was rejoicing that his
Jehovah God had rescued the people from the army of Egypt by leading them to safety
through the Red Sea. In Isaiah, he prophesizes
the exile of both the Northern and Southern kingdoms, as well as their eventual
freedom from the many nations that had, and will continue to, oppress and
dominate them.
And in that regard, the prophet
praises and gives thanks to the great Jehovah for all that He is doing on their
behalf. But more than that, in verses 2
& 3 he says that trust and peace will be shown to their God by the nation,
and confesses that God and God alone is the source of their salvation.
Even in Isaiah’s time, some
500 years before Christ’s birth, the prophets knew that salvation rested only
in the hands of God, and not even a little bit in their own.
Read Acts 4:9-13
This passage is the
conclusion to an event in which Peter and John were arrested for healing a
crippled beggar in the name of Jesus, and then preaching Jesus to the crowd
that gathered to see the miracle. As
this passage opens, they were being questioned by the Sanhedrin, as well as by Annas
the high priest and members of his family.
The disciples had been asked “By what power or by what name did you
do this?” (Acts 4:7) And
Peter offered the reply that we just read.
Peter had always struggled
with who Jesus actually was for him. At Caesarea
Philippi, when Jesus asked His followers who they thought He was, Peter replied
in confidence “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God”. (Matthew16:13-20) But then, after Jesus’
arrest, we remember Peter’s words at the home of Caiaphas where the LORD was
being questioned, when he told others that he didn’t even know the captive Jesus.
Peter spent a lot of time being unsure of
what his relationship with God was all about.
But now there has no uncertainty whatsoever!
This is the Peter of
Pentecost. This is the Peter who now
knows for certain that Jesus is the long-awaited
Messiah. This is the Peter who loves his
God more than ever before, and loves the salvation that He has brought to earth
for the likes of him and the world. This
Peter boldly proclaims” 12 Salvation is found in no one
else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must
be saved.” What was there that had
such a great impact on Peter’s life? It
was the teaching, the death, the resurrection, and the ascension of his
precious LORD. He had come
to understand why God had come into his life – that it all is based on a love
that he could only claim but never fully understand, and the salvation
that it brought to all who would simply
believe.
To truly appreciate and
accept God’s salvation, and the power that it brings to all who believe in
Jesus, we also need to recognize the love and compassion that God has for each
and every sinner on the face of the earth.
Did it change Peter? It certainly
did. Will it change all who come to
Jesus in faith? It absolutely will, and
that is the LORD’s promise to you and me.
Read Romans 1:16-17
Paul
was another whose life was dramatically changed when he met Jesus on that road
to Damascus. He was blinded on that
road, but was healed through the love of God, revealed to him by the man Ananias.
(Acts 9:1-19) Paul was changed from the chief persecutor of the church
to a great evangelist for the gospel.
There
had been a day when Saul not only didn’t believe in the gospel of Christ, but
he hated all that it stood for and all who believed in it. But now he loved and lived the gospel, and he shared the salvation of God with everyone he met - this had become his life.
He
never had much good to say about the gentiles, but now he shared the truth of
Jesus Christ with them. He had learned
that faith in the way of the LORD was the truth and power behind
the salvation that he now knew. It was
the good news of Jesus Christ that led him to a new way of life, to the desire
to proclaim his LORD throughout the known world,
and to do it with joy, and confidence, and without any apprehension whatsoever.
The
point is that God’s salvation isn’t just a reward for believing in His Son. Faith in the Savior is salvation, it brings
the freedom to receive all of the goodness of God without any condition
attached.
Jesus
is known as Savior for a reason – salvation is only in Him! Praise the LORD!
