Why Are Christians Saved?
Why Are Christians Saved?
"Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations." (Isaiah 42:1)
Justice to the nations! Justice! God has commissioned the Servant of the Lord to bring "justice" to the nations?
I thought the whole idea of being saved is so we can go to Heaven and rest forever in Paradise. What is this about justice to the nations? What nations? Where? Nations on the earth?
The Servant of the Lord is Christ–Head and Body.
It is possible we are going to have to revise our concept about the purpose of the Christian salvation.
But, someone will protest, this passage in Isaiah is referring to Jewish people, to Israel.
It may be true that one of the greatest needs we believers have is to understand that the Old Testament is written to Christ and those who are part of Him, not to national Israel after the flesh.
Properly, the name "Israel" does not refer to the land and people of the Jews but to the one Seed of Abraham. That one Seed is Christ and those who are part of Him, whether Jews or Gentiles by physical birth.
The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ. (Galatians 3:16)
Can you see from the verse above that the promises of the Old Testament were made to Christ?
And now notice:
If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:29)
Jacob was descended from Abraham. But that did not make Jacob to be of Christ, of the Seed of Abraham. It was the prophecy that applied to Jacob that changed him from the "heel snatcher" to "Israel" (the one who struggles with God).
There above it stood the Lord, and he said (to Jacob): "I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring." (Genesis 28:13,14)
The above is the promise to Abraham. Thus Jacob became the Seed of Abraham by the promise of the Spirit. Every person who is of Christ has been called by the Lord. It is this calling, this prophetic utterance if you will, that defines the one Seed of Abraham.
The individual who is born of Jewish parents but who is not part of Christ is not a member of true, eternal Israel; of the Body of Messiah; of the Royal Priesthood; of the Israel spoken of by the Prophets.
To be a part of the Kingdom of God we must be born again. Natural, physical birth cannot make any person, Jew or Gentile, a member of God's Kingdom of priests.
The necessity for being born again was spoken first to the Jew, Nicodemus.
The reason I am stressing this point is that it is time for the Christian people who are Gentile by birth to realize they are being referred to whenever the Prophets referred to the Kingdom of God.
There are, however, parts of the writings of the Prophets that refer to national Israel, people who are Jews but not part of Messiah. Sometimes there are double meanings, such as in the second chapter of the Book of Joel. On the surface this chapter is speaking of a plague of locusts on physical Israel. There also is a prophetic meaning, in the second chapter of the Book of Joel, referring to the time when Christ and His saints go through the earth, after the Battle of Har Magedon , and cleanse the earth of evil in preparation for the thousand-year rule of Christ.
Our future as the one Seed of Abraham is written in the Prophets of Israel. Because we do not realize this, we have created all sorts of myths about mansions, golden slippers, harps, backyards filled with diamonds, a "rapture" to carry people up to Heaven to deliver them from Antichrist and the Great Tribulation, and so forth.
We have created a heaven that is sort of like a Disney World in outer space.
Isaiah has quite a bit to say about the future of true Israel, the one Seed of Abraham. It is not eternal residence in Heaven! We Christians can learn about our future by studying the Hebrew Prophets.
For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations. (Isaiah 61:11)
God's purpose in Christ, Head and Body, is to bring the justice of the Kingdom of God into the whole earth; to make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.
Isn't this what we pray for when we cry out: "Your Kingdom come; Your will be done in earth as in Heaven"?
Well, isn't it?
Such a blessing never can come to the earth through the physical land and people of Israel, only through the Israel of God, which is the Christian Church.
Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to the Israel of God. (Galatians 6:15,16)
When was the last time you heard a preacher say that the purpose of bringing the Christian Church, the Body of Christ, to maturity is that it might bring righteousness and praise to the nations? Well, that is what our salvation is all about. God has put His Spirit upon us that we might bring righteousness, God's will, to the nations of the earth.
Perhaps our greatest concern in America of today ought to be the killing of babies so the mother can practice her "right to choose." We must pray until this murderous practice ceases.
"If you ask anything in My name, I will do it." I believe that the prayer above, concerning abortion, is one Christ will be pleased to answer.
There is much injustice and pain in the world: some Muslim husbands beat their wives with a stick; the circumcision of girls; some children are starving to death while the people of the Western nations have heart attacks because of overeating; there are the excessively wealthy who will not share their wealth with the impoverished.
There are young children who have to work to eat who instead ought to have the opportunity to go to school; there is cruelty to animals; there is the killing of animals for sport or to cut off a part of their body to sell, while the pups wander about in confusion.
There are political leaders who occupy their office for their own wealth, power, and aggrandizement; there is a desire to keep girls without education so they can serve as brood mares or to satisfy the lusts of men.
All such injustices exist because people plan and live their own lives without looking to the Lord Jesus for guidance and strength.
The Christian Church does not exist so people can make Heaven their home. The Christian Church is to be the light of the world so justice will prevail among all peoples everywhere.
The only manner in which injustices can be corrected is by the prayers of people who through Jesus Christ have overcome the enticements of the antichrist world system; their own sinful nature; and the willingness to live their own life apart from Christ.
The two witnesses of Revelation Chapter Eleven are Christ and His victorious saints bearing witness of the soon coming of the will of God into the earth. When the Kingdom comes from Heaven, all forms of injustice shall be rectified. This witness is beginning today wherever Christian people are willing to live by the Life of Christ and pray for specific injustices.
There may be instances in which a Christian can, in addition to prayer, actually do something to correct injustice. However, we must steadfastly keep in mind that the injustices are coming from Satan and his workers and cannot be corrected by purely physical means. Christ must be with us. There must be two witnesses—Christ and the Christian.
A person might be moved to go and work among the poor children of the world and help make it possible for them to attend school during their growing years.
Or a person might be prompted to enter the political arena and sponsor legislation designed to correct injustices.
In addition, God may use us to bring people to Christ, as part of the work of bringing justice to the nations. For example, when the members of the Taliban are converted to Christ and filled with the Spirit of God, they then will permit their little girls to attend school.
In every instance, we must be hearing from Christ all along the way. It would be easy to forget Christ as we struggle against those who are being moved by Satan or by their own sinful nature.
The point is not to create churches or members of a denomination. It is to correct the injustices under which multitudes suffer during their lifetime on the earth. God will bless every person who seeks to obey Christ and prays, as Christ directs, that the injustices will be corrected.
Please keep in mind that those who are obeying Christ have within them the iron scepter of righteousness. Though the unrighteous mobs make great boasts, they will fall before the power of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Remember, Jesus said that if we ask anything in His name, He will do it.
Anything!
If we keep living in Christ, when we read about the current abominations, including those which have become law, such as the teaching of sexual preferences to elementary children, if we will ask Jesus, He will overturn these wicked laws. "If you shall ask anything in My name . . ." In this manner we are serving as part of the two witnesses of the coming Kingdom of God, as set forth in the eleventh chapter of the Book of Revelation.
We may find ourselves praying that God will destroy those who are destroying the earth. We must have the iron scepter of righteousness formed in us. This scepter is formed as we consistently embrace righteous behavior and firmly reject and renounce all wickedness. Only then will we have the strength to serve as the light of the world in accordance with what God desires.
Christ's scepter is that of righteous behavior. There is sufficient strength in Christ's scepter to overcome all the injustice in the world—every work of self-seeking man and demons.
When Christ appears, then we shall appear with Him. For what purpose? That we might be the light of the world, bringing God's will into every corner of human experience.
As far as holiness is concerned, every unclean thing in us shall be consumed by fire as we draw near to Him who is the consuming Fire of Israel.
As far as righteousness is concerned, the world shall be filled with faithfulness and truth by Him who is Faithful and True.
Then Peter began to speak: "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right." (Acts 10:34,35)
The iron scepter of righteousness is stronger than any work of unrighteousness. To effectively employ the iron scepter in prayer, we absolutely must bring our lives to the point of death as we keep pressing into Christ.
It is my point of view that there are Christians today who are trusting in the blood of the Lamb; who are bringing their behavior into conformity to God's Word; and who are loving not their own life to the point of death that they might live by the life of Jesus.
Because this is true of some Christians in our own day, Satan is being cast down into the earth. Do not be surprised to see demons interacting with humans. At that time, if we are trusting in the blood of the Lamb, conforming our lives to the Word of God, and loving not our life to the point of death, we shall be absolutely safe and be able to stand and help others to stand.
But if all we have is the ordinary complacent religious experience of the average American Christian, we will be conquered by the prevalence of evil instead of conquering the evil through Jesus Christ.
We cannot live half in the Law of Moses, and half in Christ, and be a victorious saint. The Law of Moses is not intended to bring us to the Law itself but to Christ Himself.
Some Christians are attempting to bring parts of the Law of Moses into their Christian experience. Doing this will detract from the strength they need to bear a powerful witness of the coming of the Kingdom of God and God's righteousness to the earth.
If you are attempting to observe the Jewish Sabbath, there will be periods in which your attention is removed from the Holy Spirit. You no longer are being led by the Spirit but by the Law.
As the Sabbath of Moses is central to the Law of Moses, so it is true that the rest of God of the fourth chapter of the Book of Hebrews, in which we always are finding Christ's perfect will and rejoicing in it, is central to the new covenant.
And as the Jews rejoice over and marry the Sabbath, so should we rejoice over and marry Christ Himself, who is the new covenant.
One of the most wicked practices of America today is that of abortion. God's Presence is being removed from our country because of abortion on demand without a sound medical reason.
The truth is, once a human sperm fertilizes an egg, a potential house for a soul, and the Spirit of God, is in the process of being formed. It must never be destroyed intentionally, except in a medical emergency or in the case of rape, without a murder having been committed.
Has the mother no maternal instinct that she is willing to have the helpless infant murdered?
When we think about the eleventh chapter of the Book of Revelation, we notice that the bodies of God's dead witnesses, who have been overcome by lust, the world, and pride (Sodom, Egypt, and Jerusalem), will remain on the earth for everyone to see and rejoice over. They represent Christian institutions remaining on the earth but now void of the Presence of the Spirit of God.
This is what will take place in the future as some of Christ's witnesses are overcome by Satan. This is why we of today must put aside all that hinders us from grasping fully that for which God has grasped us.
Can Antichrist overcome Christ? Never! But you may note, in Chapter Twenty-five of the Book of Matthew, that when one of Christ's brothers was sick or in prison, Christ was sick or in prison. Thus when one of the saints falls into sin, his or her witness and the witness of Christ is overcome.
The saints of the end-time witness are anointed with a double portion of God's Spirit, with the power of Elijah and Elisha, we might say. Thus they stand before the God of the whole earth. The double portion of God's Spirit continually is providing "oil" to the two Lampstands, who are Christ and the victorious saints in whom Christ is dwelling.
Then I asked the angel, "What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?" Again I asked him, "What are these two olive branches beside the two gold pipes that pour out golden oil?" He replied, "Do you not know what these are?" "No, my lord," I said. So he said, "These are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth." (Zechariah 4:11-14)
Perhaps it will encourage us if we call to mind that the earth is the Lord's and all the people who live thereon. Why should God's earth or His people be given over to Satan and his demons?
We must begin to pray today for that double portion of the Holy Spirit so we can bear a true witness of the soon coming of the Kingdom of God. We can do this by overcoming injustice through prayer proceeding from a godly life.
Why have we been saved? Why has God called us out of darkness into His marvelous Light?
Could it be so we can be instrumental in bringing His will to pass in the earth?
Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, "children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation." Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky (Philippians 2:14,15)