THE MEANING OF SALVATION
Exodus 15:2
Ted Schroder, January 26, 2013
What does the Bible mean when it talks about salvation? What do preachers
mean when they urge people to be saved? What do people mean when they
ask whether we are saved? We know what it means in a physical sense when we are rescued
from danger. When someone is drowning and they are rescued we say that they were saved from
death. It is a word for deliverance from threats to safety. Moses and the Israelites used it to
describe their deliverance from the Egyptian armies of Pharoah who were pursuing them into the
Red Sea. “The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.” (Exodus 15:2)
In the Bible God is seen as the Savior, the one who rescues his people. “Surely it is God
who saves me; I will trust in him and not be afraid. For the Lord is my stronghold and my sure
defense, and he will be my Savior.” (Isaiah 12:2) The Bible portrays a God who intervenes in
history to save his people. God is known as Savior. God and Savior are synonymous. “You shall
acknowledge no God but me, no Savior except me.” (Hosea 13:4)
God comes to the rescue of his people time and time again. But especially is this seen in
the Exodus from Egypt. The Israelites could not help themselves. They were slaves in Egypt,
powerless to save themselves. God sent Moses and delivered them from their oppressors.
This saving activity of God is prayed for and celebrated throughout the Old Testament.
The psalmists prayed for God to save them from death and the fear of death (Ps.6:4,5;
107:13,14). God saved them from the lion’s mouth and from the battlefield (Ps.22:21;
Deut.20:4). They ask to be saved from wicked men (Ps.59:2), and from sickness and suffering
and trouble (Ps.69:1,2). They prayed for salvation from their enemies. They praised God for
saving them (Ps.106:8-11).
There is a purpose for salvation. “Men and nations are saved by God, not in order that
they may sit back and be comfortable, but that they may bring glory to God by their worship and
praise, by the witness they bear to him, and by the lives of dedication in which they show their
allegiance.” (Michael Green The Meaning of Salvation, p.22f.) They were saved to be a blessing
to others. “I will also make you a light for the nations, that you may bring my salvation to the
ends of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6)
We cannot save ourselves. We cannot boast of our abilities to rescue ourselves from
trouble. It is only when we are at the end of our tether and realize our own weakness, that God
can save us. God saves the poor, the humble and the weak, the heartbroken and the penitent.
These are the people he can save because they are not too full of themselves to receive the
salvation he offers them. We have to admit our need, and our inability to save ourselves before
we can be saved. Moses says to the people of Israel pursued by the Egyptians with their back to
the waters of the Red Sea, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the salvation the Lord
will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight
for you, you need only be still.” (Exodus 14:13)
The basic prerequisites for our salvation is a humble recognition of our total inadequacy
to save ourselves, a firm trust in God and prayer to him in an attitude of willingness to obey his
will. The essential components of salvation are victory over enemies, vindication of God’s
promises, peace from the spiritual foes which assault the human heart, and wholeness of body
and mind.
If this is so, then what is the personal application of God’s salvation to us today? Who are
the Egyptians pursuing you from whom you need to be saved? How does God save you out of
their hands?
Who are the enemies who pursue you and strike fear into your heart? They are the
spiritual foes which threaten our existence, our wholeness of body and mind, our sense of
purpose and value. When we stand on the edge of the Red Sea in our lives with nowhere to go,
we face dissolution, drowning and death. We fear that our lives have no significance, that we are
abandoned to fate. We feel useless. We face decay and diminishment through strokes, dementia,
cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. We fear what may happen to us in the future. If there
is no God then all our fears will be realized. We will cease to exist. We will be forgotten.
Nothing that we have done will survive for long in the scheme of things in the universe.
But what if there is a God who is Savior. What if he has promised to save us - to rescue
us from our fears, our guilt, our destruction? What if the Red Sea is the Cross on which Christ
died for our sins to save us? What if there is a path through the Red Sea of our troubles? What if
that path leads to the Promised Land? What if the Wind of the Spirit of God blows aside all that
threatens us? What if God our Savior, Jesus, leads us beside the quiet waters, restores our soul,
guides us in the paths of righteousness and we walk through the valley of the shadow of death?
We can fear no evil for God our Savior is with us. He prepares a table before us in the presence
of our enemies. He anoints our heads with the oil of healing. Our cup overflows. Surely
goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives, and we will dwell in the house of the
Lord forever.
What is required of us to be saved? “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the
salvation the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians to see today you will never see again. The
Lord will fight for you, you need only be still.” (Exodus 14:13)
We see the salvation the Lord brings us in Jesus. The Savior is victorious over all the
enemies of God, over all that would threaten us in the kingdom of God. He “disarmed the
powers and authorities, made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”
(Colossians 2:15)
“Your right hand, O Lord, was majestic in power. Your right hand, O Lord, shattered the enemy.
In the greatness of your majesty you threw down those who were opposed you…..In your
unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them
to your holy dwelling.” (Exodus 15:6,7,13)
God is your Savior. You are called not to be afraid of your enemies. The Lord has fought
for you and triumphed. You need only to be still, to trust in his victory in Christ, and to follow
him as he leads you through the troubles of this life to the other side.
Who are the enemies who are pursuing you and threatening you? Illness, loneliness, fear
of the future, discouragement, anxiety, regret, resentment? Let the Wind of the Spirit show you a
path through the sea of your troubles. Follow the Savior as he leads you. Claim his victory over
the power of fear and despair. Trust in his promises. Look forward to the Promised Land and
wholeness of body and mind in the resurrection.
John of Damascus in the 8th century saw the resurrection in terms of the victory of the Exodus.
Come ye faithful, raise the strain of triumphant gladness!
God hath brought his Israel into joy from sadness:
Loosed from Pharoah’s bitter yoke Jacob’s sons and daughters,
Led them with unmoistened foot through the Red Sea waters.