Salvation, a message for us all!

In ancient times, the "Law" was God’s way of demonstrating to man, that...man was flawed!!! There could absolutely be no human-being who adhered to the "Law" completely, continuously, throughout one's lifetime. For the sake of argument then, lets suppose that every believer must've come to the conclusion sooner or later that he or she was at Gods mercy because of his/her flawed nature. The bar was set so high, it couldn't be reached! We can be certain that there were those who were in complete denial about everything in life and could've cared less about any of this. I am sure that those amongst us today had their counterparts way back then! For the sake of discussion though, lets talk about "devout believers." Lets also concentrate on the Ten Commandments in view of the fact that there are many examples before the time of Moses where God demonstrated to man the flaws of his ways.

Could this then have been God’s way of enticing humans into submission? Of deciding for themselves voluntarily and with logical reasoning that without God they were helpless and that in fact they were at His mercy. They were all too weak, unable to conform to the standard that God himself had set for them. They sinned involuntarily, in full knowledge after the fact that they had sinned again and again. Despite all their efforts, they would need Gods mercy. They came to this conclusion voluntarily, of their own "free will." Why?

In the Old Testament we see strife, we see killings out of vengeance, and as punishment for failure to conform to the ways of God. "Conform to the way of the ‘Law’ or be prepared to surrender your life if necessary, if you step out of line." Yet, although they were all flawed and knew it, they had to create different levels of sin otherwise there would be nobody left to ...commit any sins! A petty thief was slapped on the hands but, if someone's wife committed adultery, she was stoned to death. If a High Priest happened to "covet" his neighbor's wife, well, that was between him and God, or was this even a sin since he didn't commit adultery, or did he in God’s eyes? He wasn't telling anybody about that. But.... that High Priest knew deep down inside, that he had sinned every single time that he had laid his eyes on that woman. He understood that God also knew! So what?

What's the big deal? If we cannot possibly conform, why not just carry on with our lives and do the best that we can? Well, that's what they did, because they just had to move on. They had to come to grips with the realization that the rest had to be left into the hands of God. A small matter that we shall call, "Life after Life"! This was the carrot! Paradise! The notion that they had a soul that needed to be saved was the sole motivating factor that brought believers back to the realization time and time again, that they had to try at all costs, to conform!! Man was not perfect and man knew it, still there had to be "hope"! How else would they enter Paradise if they could not shed their indiscretions?

It was the promise of the Messiah that gave them "hope"! God would send His Son to bear the sins of man. The sins of all those who lived before Him, and those who were to come. Messianic prophecies were scattered throughout the Old Testament. People living in those days, were comforted by the thought that they would do their best at "godly living", and if they fell short, at His coming, the Messiah would forgive the sins that they had committed despite their best efforts. Then suddenly, He was in their midst.

The great irony of it all was the fact that even though they had been waiting for Him for centuries, He had come and most of them didn't know it. They were looking for a "Knight in shining armor," and what they got was a pure and humble man with strong uncompromising convictions. He spoke of love for the first time, compassion, humility, forgiveness...words foreign to the Pharisees and High Priests! Unbeknownst to the establishment, Jesus Christ would become the standard that believers would have to emulate. The standard that they would have to live by if they were to have a chance to save their souls. For the first time, we were now to love one another, to turn the other cheek, to humble ourselves, to give to the needy.

Qualities becoming a believer were now to be gentle, hospitable, self controlled, temperate, respectable, sober, sincere, truthful, faithful, disciplined, peaceful, and certainly not materialistic! Are these qualities any less attainable? Is the bar not set as high? Yet, if we believe that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, and are aware of the Truth of his coming, then we too can be part of the “Blessed Hope.” At what price?

All we need is the"courage". Courage to stand up for what is right in the eyes of God, never mind the consequences! Courage to live by your moral convictions, fully aware that you may be criticized by the pundits of a secular society. Courage to tell the world that Jesus is coming again, not as the Lamb, but as the King of Kings, wielding a mighty sword, and taking no prisoners! Courage to love thy enemy as you love yourself. Finally, the courage to understand that no matter how bad things may get, the worse that anyone can do to you is to take your life, but never your faith!

The salvation of our souls is possible through persistence in faith. All we have to do is to continue to reach for the standard that Jesus Christ himself set for us. We are indeed imperfect. It's human nature. Our indiscretions will be judged not by man, but by the ultimate redeemer, who happens to be very forgiving. Let our actions during our lifetimes speak louder than words. We must continue to beg for forgiveness for our sins, and we will be making a great start on that account. The door to Paradise is open to us all. What we do in our lifetime, will determine whether it is slammed in our face when it's our turn to ..walk in!