Facets of Salvation #1—Forgiveness

The biblical concept of salvation is a beautiful jewel, brilliant and complex. God’s saving work involves more than just providing a to forgive our sin. God’s goal for us is the ability to know and enjoy the fullness of his glory. Forgiveness, as crucial a component of salvation as it is, just gets us in the door, as it were; it’s just a beginning. God’s salvation includes overcoming obstacles to our joy and “dealing bountifully” with us forever. Considering the following facets of salvation will help us fine tune our faith for those times when we need to explain to someone else what we mean when we talk about “being saved,” and when we need to remember that there still a “salvation ready to be revealed.”

All the prophets testify that everyone who is trusting in Jesus receives forgiveness of sins through his name. Acts 10:43

Among all of the benefits we receive when Jesus saves us, forgiveness is both preeminent and prominent. It is the exhilaration we feel as we run away from the edge of the cliff while the wall collapses behind us. It is the joyful shock we feel as our parachute catches the air and ceases to be a burden. Forgiveness lifts the weight of our responsibility for our sin off our shoulders. It allows us to walk on streets of gold with God rather than forcing us to wallow in the mud with our misery. However, like relief from debt, being forgiven doesn’t put us into positive territory, it only gets us out of the red. Forgiveness opens the door to the joy of grace, to the unfathomable riches of the glory that makes God happy. Jesus is the key. His reputation with the Father as the sinless son and the selfless surrogate secures release from our unbearable burden. The prominence of our forgiveness relates directly to the preeminence of Jesus as a savior. He took on the guilt we incurred for living as God’s enemies and he experienced God’s wrath for us. Therefore we can live gloriously, free from fear that we will experience that wrath ourselves. The prophets looked forward to this, but we can see it occur now as we entrust our future joy to him day by day. And even when our faith falters occasionally, he intercedes with the Father on our behalf. No wonder the angels sang when he was born!

Gracious Savior, resting in your faultless name, grateful for the freedom you make mine each day, I walk by faith into the future with you.