P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; } There are several ways of explaining what we are being saved from and now, so let's try one of those different explanations.
As already mentioned, men are made in the image of God. That is, they are able to chose to do right. Right in what context? Right in the sense of being able to exercise judgment and acting accordingly, being governed by justice, mercy and love.
As opposed to animals, who are governed by strength, the strongest member having first dibs on food, reproductive partners and property (territory).
No lesser members ever feel deserving of justice, mercy or love: think about it, will stronger members think of fairness in food distribution? Not a chance.
This animal model is demonstrated in situations where slavery occurs. Interestingly, modern work places have been compared to slavery. Where labour laws are weak, pay, promotion and perks can be administered exploitatively. In proprietary concersn, you can even be fired or passed over because the boss doesn't like your face: he owns the company.
So we are first of all saved from denial of justice, mercy and love. Your boss can be:
- unfair, deny you your rights.
- unmerciful, insist on penalising your shortcomings.
- unloving, refusing to share of the fruits of the group's effort to alleviate the greater needs of some.
Israel was saved from Egypt. Jerusalem expected Messiah to deliver from Roman occupation.
But Israel's deliverance required her to exercise faith, leave the security of Egypt, security that had a high price attached, and journey to a Land where no oppression existed. Jerusalem had to embark on a task in order to make it that land.
Which brings us to the second aspect of salvation. We are saved from ourselves.
Here we are ourselves the purveyors of justice, mercy and love.
Our survival instincts compel us to compete for food and resources, nothing is ever enough. But
- our sense of justice tell us it is wrong to steal food belonging to those that produced it through hard work just because we are stronger.
- our sense of mercy teaches us to turn a blind eye to stealing of our harvest by those who were unable to produce.
- our sense of love to sacrifice food to those who are not skilled enough to even steal.
IOW, we are saved from not loving our neighbor.
But Israel was not found guilty of lack of love. Or was she?
Remember, Israel was special, was chosen to be a blessing to the world.
When God withheld water form her, Israel lost faith, murmured. She failed.
What does that have to do with not loving her neighbor? The tests were meant to be signs to the world, demonstrations that turning to God would save. That's how Rehab was saved, when Israel passed her first test, stepping out of Egypt, prompting her masters to pursue her, and in turn causing their defeat. The event caused Rehab to turn to God. That's loving your neighbor, risking your life, laying it down so that God had a framework to act in, to save, in turn showing His desire to save the world.
This situation repeats, in the food shortages, in the confrontation with the Canaanites, even in the occupation of the Promised Land where Israel had to live a sacrificial life, do good works, let her light shine before men, so that the surrounding nations would see God prosper her, and they would in turn glorify God. The journey through the desert was the drinking from the Rock that was Christ, a training period, and the residing in the Promised Land was the opportunity to use that training. The results, as we know, was a mixed one, with more failure than success and ending with the condemnation to Exile for failure. As predicted by Moses.
The parallel in the life of a believer today is training in the church and serving in the mission field. This can be expanded into a very detailed study. We'll stick to this bare framework for the sake of brevity, yes?
