Afterwords -- wholeness
"He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him... 'And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,' declares the LORD." (Isaiah 59:16, 20 ESV)
February 3, 2024
Dear friends,
When I was reading Isaiah chapters 59 and 60, I saw that the universal sin of humankind, so fully described in chapter 59, gives way to the glory of a redeemed creation in chapter 60. At the juncture of these two scenes, we find the passage above. One Man, "God's own arm", the Redeemer, (described previously in Isaiah chapters 9, 11, 42, 49, 50, 53, et al) will himself bring that global transformation. He alone will bring salvation, both individual and cosmic. As Matthew Henry wrote, "Christ is not only the Savior but the salvation itself."
Salvation, a word we Christians commonly use, means more than just personal deliverance from eternal ruin. It is more than forgiveness from guilt. It means restoration to wholeness, to God's purpose in creation. Theologian and missionary Lesslie Newbigin described it this way:
Salvation means 'wholeness'. It means the healing of that which is wounded, the mending of that which is broken, the setting free of that which is bound.
Salvation is the fulfilling of God's original purpose in creation. When God created the world and mankind, it was His purpose that mankind should be one family bound to Him and to one another in love, and that the world should be a fit home for His children. It was His purpose that men should live in the knowledge and love of God, in obedience to Him, and in fellowship with one another...
Sin came in and marred that original plan, and God has acted to overcome sin, to deliver man from its bondage and to make him whole again.
That wholeness is salvation. It is spoken of in many ways in the Scriptures, by means of pictures and symbols. All nations and tribes and people shall be gathered together in one fellowship to worship God; all war and hatred shall cease; there shall be no more sorrow nor sighing; death itself shall be done away; even the wild creatures shall learn to live at peace -- the wolf with the lamb and the bear with the ox; all the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of God; God Himself shall dwell with them and be their God; all the glory and honor of the nations shall be gathered into God's holy city, and nothing unclean or impure shall ever enter. It is in such words that the Bible describes to us the fulfillment of God's saving purpose.
All mankind shall live together in one holy family, as children of one Father, in a new-created earth and heaven. That is salvation. Because we have received the earnest and first-fruits of it, we long for its completion. We know something of salvation now, because God has given us the earnest of it; we shall not know it fully until He has completed what He has begun.
-- Lesslie Newbigin, Sin and Salvation (Westminster, 1956), pp. 14-15.
It is not enough to have a mental vision of this, however exalted, we must act upon it, too. Do I long for "its completion", this wholeness from God, both for myself and for others? Am I willing to sit upon the Potter's wheel and to be remade into his design? Do I long to see God's name honored among the nations? Do I truly long for the lost to be saved? Do I incline my heart and all my efforts toward this end?
IN OTHER READING.
-- "Faith in Christ brings salvation, or there is none; without Christ there is no salvation for the lost world or for the heart that in itself is lost." (Abraham Kuyper, "Every One Which Seeth the Son" in To Be Near Unto God.)
-- "For this is part of the purpose of God's law: it gives us a working definition of true humanity. It shows us what we were made to be, and teaches us how to be truly human, and warns us against moral self-destruction." (J. I. Packer, in Knowing God)
-- "Keep on keeping on!" (Helen Roseveare to Alistair Begg) Here's a new children's book on the life of medical missionary Helen Roseveare.
-- On the irreversible damage of shoddy sciences.
-- "82.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot." (Steven Wright) Here are 24 more one-liners from comedian Steven Wright.
-- We're enjoying this song: "Reason I Sing" by Phil Wickham.
FINAL QUOTE.
"I have no rights to work out my own salvation in the way I choose." (Helen Roseveare)
That's it for this week!
Sandy
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.