Salvation

And there is salvation in no one else,

for there is no other name under heaven

given among men by which we must be saved.

                                      — Acts 4:12

I fear Christians today fail to hold the Old Testament scriptures in the same high esteem to which they hold the New. After all, we have the completed picture of salvation in the New Testament and have (it is reasoned) little need for the scriptures that only foretold of Jesus' coming. In truth, if you dismiss the first Covenant, you will have a self-inflicted, limited understanding of the last.

The name of Jesus is so commonplace in modern day culture — at least in this nation — that we tend to forget how radical He is. What I mean is, to the unsaved in society, Jesus becomes (in their understanding) one way of many to attain salvation. This is especially true in an age where truth is mistakenly seen to be relative.

Even as Christians, we can become so familiar with the message of salvation that we need to be reminded that there is an "unbridgeable gap" between man and heaven. As Oswald Chambers stated, "Salvation is God's thought." If the Father had not bridged the gap from His side by sending His Son, the entire human race was lost and destined to the fires of hell.

I was amazed recently to realize the complete gospel message was presented in the fiftieth chapter of the book of Isaiah. In the final verses, it contrasts God's provision for salvation with man's. Verse ten presents God's servant (Jesus) walking into the utter darkness that is death with no light, but trusting in God. Against that, verse eleven presents man's ideas of how to be redeemed. Fill in the blank here with any of innumerable hopes — good deeds, positive mental attitude, asceticism, all religions lead to God.

Verse eleven warns that if you reject God's means of salvation provided in the death of His Son, you will have to kindle a fire using your plan for lighting up the darkness. You will have to set a brand alight and walk by it's light into the darkness of death. There, you will find, the unbridgeable chasm. I get a mental image of a person holding a wooden match between his finger tips after it as burned down and curled into a blackened remnant, standing and overlooking that unbridgeable chasm where nothing can be seen below or ahead.

Our calling as ambassadors for Christ is not simply to point to the need for salvation; people are aware of their need. It is to help them to understand the utter futility of their means of redemption and realize the only provision God has made for man — the cross of His Son.

The last verse in Isaiah fifty stipulates a sobering warning. If you reject the means God provides for your redemption, "This shall you have from my hand: you shall lie down in torment (vs 12)."

• What is man that thou are mindful of him, or the son of man that thou carest for him? Thou didst make him for a little while lower than the angels, thou has crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet. — Hebrews 2:6-8a

• Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you become sons of light. — John 12:35-36