CHAPTER THREE
THE PLACE OF SALVATION
What is “salvation”? if we ask an average Christian this question, the reply would not be far from something like “salvation is when one accepts the Lordship of Jesus Christ over his life” or “salvation is when one gives his life to Christ denouncing the devil and his works to receive the forgiveness of God”. As true as that sounds, salvation is actually beyond that. By such definitions salvation is limited to some experience or a state of being that our spirits come into upon receiving the Lord Jesus into our hearts. With such limited understanding, Christians have built their lives far from what the fullness of salvation really is.
We have written songs, formed doctrines and teachings from a limited understanding of what salvation is, thus, most believers are yet to fully enjoy the benefits of the death of Jesus Christ and most have died without knowing this. Salvation goes beyond just confessing the Lord Jesus as our personal Lord and savior; it is a place in Christ. It is a place of rest, a place of comfort, a place of freedom, a place of victory. In this place, the image and status that we lost in Eden is completely restored and even beyond.
If we believe that in salvation, Christ has redeemed us or saved us as the case maybe and yet we go on living defeated lives, then what exactly has He saved us from? There has to be a difference between us and the people of the world. A spirit of grace and excellence must trail whatever we do; this makes the difference for us. If people in the world find it hard to accomplish something, we must have that grace that accomplishes it because we are not of the world. Whatever plagues the world cannot and should not plague us for we are of a different race. Again Moses’ rescue story tells us more of this place...
When Jacob first came to Egypt, Pharaoh then, gave him a place in the land called Goshen. It is in this place that generations were born unto Israel, it was while they were here that a King arose in Egypt who knew not Joseph and therefore began to enslave Israel. While they were in slavery in this same place, God sent Moses to deliver them and Moses came with signs and wonders, ten plagues with which Egypt was plagued. The scriptures record however that of all the plagues that came upon Egypt, not even an animal was affected by any of the plagues in Goshen. Geographically, Israel was still in Egypt but they could not be touched by any of these plagues because they were in a different “place” altogether! It is a place in Christ.
Paul said God “… hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear son” COL 1:13. The salvation that Jesus brought is the kingdom of God; He preached nothing else but the kingdom… “…repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” all the miraculous things He did were to point us to what the life of the kingdom is all about, a life of no limitations, a life of grace and excellence. The kingdom of heaven that Jesus preached and that we also preach is not a place we go to when we die. So many Christians have that mind-set; they think that it is when we die that we enter the kingdom that Christ preached NO! When He said the kingdom of heaven is at hand; it means we can be in that kingdom here and now. It is a place in the spirit and we come into it by accepting the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
“Why must we confess Jesus first before we can enter this kingdom?” Someone may ask. You see, Jesus is the king of this kingdom as stated clearly by Paul in col 1:13 so when we confess Jesus as Lord we bring His Lordship over our lives and thus make ourselves citizens of His kingdom. This kingdom is not a natural kingdom with a geographical location therefore cannot be limited by geographical standards that is why anywhere and at anytime any man can confess Jesus and translate himself into this glorious kingdom.
Jesus said “… therefore take no thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewithal shall we be clothed for after all these things do the gentiles seek for your heavenly knoweth that ye have need of all these things but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you” MATT 6:31-33. Jesus was spelling out the needs of the world, these are the things that dominate the thoughts of the people of the world therefore they spend their time and energy trying to acquire them for their survival. Unfortunately, by so doing they are not really living! Their efforts and thoughts are always geared toward tomorrow and so they never live in the present moment, these are burdens they bare alone. This lifestyle completely negates what the kingdom preaches, what the kingdom offers. It is these wants that peter referred to as “lust” in 2PET 1:4 that bring about a degenerating corruption or “weakness” in the world. Peter said that in Christ, we have escaped this weakness.
Unfortunately, a great number of Christians are so caught up in the rat race of this “weakness” in the world that they are blind to the freedom that the kingdom offers. People don’t even take the time to know what salvation has offered them; they prioritize their pursuit of wealth, freedom, security, health, fame and so on at the expense of God’s word which has offered all these things free of charge and free of all human efforts. Notice Jesus did not say “… seek ye first the kingdom of God… and then seek these things” He said “… seek ye first the kingdom of God… and all these things shall be added unto you” Jesus is saying that these things come with the kingdom; they are a default program of the kingdom! Hallelujah. The kingdom eliminates any and every effort we might want to employ in seeking the necessary things we need to live this life.
People with a difference
Jesus’ statement “… for after all these things do the gentiles seek” clearly suggests the fact that there has to be a difference between us and the people of the world.
Throughout Bible history, God has always made this difference clear between his people and the people of other nations or the people of the world. From when God brought His people out of the land of Egypt, He consecrated them for a “higher” life and would always warn them to abstain from the practices of other kingdoms else they would become weak and ordinary like them. If they practiced the lifestyle of other kingdoms like false gods and doctrines or a general way of life, calamities begin to happen to them, the weaknesses that befall other nations begin to befall them until they make it back into the consecration of God.
When the final plague was to come upon Egypt, Moses told Pharaoh “… that ye may know how that the LORD doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel” EX 11:7. That night, all the first born children in Egypt both of man and beasts died but not even a dog died in the camp of Israel. Pharaoh was broken and was forced to let Israel go an action shortly after which he was hardened again to pursue Israel and this time, to destroy them in the wilderness.
During this process God followed them as a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night and where ever they made camp, the pillar was light unto Israel but was darkness unto the Egyptians. Eventually, Israel came to the red sea and seemed to be trapped between the sea and the Egyptians.
The Egyptians must have thought “now we got them where we want them!” O but they were so wrong! They walked with their natural senses but Moses was operating from a different realm altogether, he had mastery over the sea. Most of the times when we read this account of the red sea encounter, the reader thinks that it was God who divided the sea. But look at it very closely… “and the LORD said unto Moses wherefore criest thou to me… but thou lift up thy rod and stretch out thine hand over the sea and divide it…” EX 14:15-16 the LORD’s answer to Moses suggests something very profound He said “why do you cry to me Moses?” telling Moses that he was in a position to do whatever he wanted. Notice God did not say “…stretch out thine hand over the sea and I will divide” He said “…stretch out thine hand over the sea and divide” he (Moses) should divide the sea. It is clear here what this means, God was telling Moses that he (Moses) was unlimited! The sea could not be a barrier unto him. This is the life that the kingdom of Christ offers, a life that sets us apart, a life that consecrates us to be different from the people of the world.
When eventually the red sea was divided
, the people of God crossed over on dry land between two walls of standing waters to the other side of the sea. When the Egyptians saw this, they attempted to do the same but the walls of the waters collapsed over them. God makes a difference between those that are His’ and those that are not. This is the kingdom life, Such that we succeed where others would not.
The man of the kingdom is not limited by any natural circumstances, the ease with which he succeeds makes the difference, the grace that accompanies his life makes the difference, and the wisdom with which he speaks makes the difference. He can sow crops in the times of famine and reap a hundred fold, he can withhold rain for a time being, he can stop the sun in the middle of the day at his command, he can stop the raging seas and say “peace be still” and the seas will obey to the intend that other people will say “what manner of man is this that even the winds obey him?”. The divinity in us gives us a higher life from the weakness that cripples the world. This is the difference between us and the people of the world, they live by the world but we live beyond the world.