Salvation Is Deliverance from Sin
Probably nothing we say in this brief essay will be more important to the reader's understanding than the scriptural definition of salvation.
Salvation is deliverance from sin. To be saved is to be saved from sin. The Lamb of God came to take away the sin of the world, to destroy all the works of the devil.
Forgiveness is included in the new covenant, but the prominent feature of the new covenant is the writing of the eternal moral law of God in the mind and heart of the believer.
There is no scriptural basis whatever for the idea that to be saved is to go to Heaven. I am well aware of the weight of tradition supporting the idea that to be saved is to go to Heaven. The reader is invited to reread the entire Bible and mark verses stating the purpose of being saved is to go to Heaven when one dies.
Man was created on the earth. Paradise was on the earth. Man was not created in Heaven and Heaven is not his home. Find in your Bible where it states that Heaven is the eternal home of the saints.
It is absolutely true that our citizenship and our treasures are in Heaven. But this is because Christ and God are there. The only reason Heaven is our home at this time is because Christ our Lord is there.
But the Scriptures teach plainly that Christ will rule the earth from Jerusalem during the thousand-year Kingdom Age (Millennium). After the Kingdom Age the holy city, the new Jerusalem, which is the glorified Church, will descend from Heaven and be established on the new earth. The Throne of God and the Lamb will be in the new Jerusalem, meaning that the Throne no longer will be in Heaven but on the earth.
So our eternal home is, of course, the earth. The meek will inherit the earth.
It can be seen then that to be saved is to be with Christ and God wherever They are. To be saved is to have fellowship with God, and this is entirely apart from going to Heaven. We can have fellowship with God today. We are being saved today.
In order to have permanent fellowship with God, whether in Heaven or on the earth, we absolutely must walk in the light of His Presence and will. We must abide in Christ. We cannot have fellowship with God and at the same time walk in darkness.
To be saved is to be delivered from sin so we can have fellowship with Christ and the Father. We therefore are not saved in a moment. We must work out our salvation each day. Because of our sins we are saved with difficulty, as Peter says (I Peter 4:18).
And notice:
Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. (I Timothy 4:16—NIV)
Look at this verse very carefully. Get the whole meaning of it because it is contrary to our tradition. Paul said we save ourselves and our hearers by being careful how we behave and what we preach.
If salvation were a ticket to Heaven we are given when we take the "four steps of salvation" this verse from First Timothy would make no sense whatever. It is contrary to our beliefs that we are to save ourselves by our conduct.
But if we are willing to define salvation as deliverance from sinful behavior, which we accomplish by being careful how we behave and what we preach, abiding in Christ at all times, going before the Mercy Seat continually to gain help in our battle against sin, then the verse fits perfectly.
When we change our definition of salvation from going to Heaven when we die, to being delivered from sin so we can have fellowship with Christ and the Father and carry out the various roles prepared for the members of the Body of Christ, all we have to say further in this essay will make perfect sense. Also the Scriptures will be understandable and coherent.
But if we keep in our mind that to be saved is to hold our ticket to Heaven, then our further discussion as well as large portions of the Scriptures will not be understandable or coherent.