Novus Theos, no. 5
Introduction
The salvation message given to us in the bible, front to back, is a matter close to my heart, as it should be to all of us.
As I made my way through the protestant church over the last 30 years. The “Are you saved?”, or the “Do you speak in tongues?” narrative was thrown about like it was a merit badge given out to belong to their church!
There seemed to be as many definitions of “being saved,” yet I wasn’t satisfied that the real message of salvation was being communicated. And yet you would think the Catholics and Protestants would have been able to come to an agreement on the matter, after all, it is the core of Yeshuas's message to the world, a clear understanding and definition that they could all agree to. After all, this is the reason for the prophet's and apostle's letters and, better yet, for Yeshua's arrival on this planet.
I felt it was time to travel down the Salvation rabbit hole for myself and discover what the bible was telling us about this subject, and along the way, learn the valid message God was sending us about being saved and being delivered from the wages of sin and death. Clearly, Merton understood what God said about our ontology!
The Salvation Paradox
I found a great quote in one of John Eldredge’s books where he quoted St. Irenaeus saying, “ The glory of God is man fully alive.” Irenaeus was born in the year 106 AD and lived in the south of France. He was a student of Polycarp who is said to have heard the preaching of John the Baptist, by the way.
Irenaeus had a clear understanding of what the bible was written for and what the message of salvation was clearly about. I understand that the salvation message has a long history beginning with the prophets and ending with the book of Revelation, with John writing from a cell in prison. Irenaeus was speaking to what biblical writers had put to paper for us before Jesus walked the face of the earth. Isaiah wrote about a Messiah that would arrive to save the world, starting with the prophets and ending with John of Patmos and the Book of Revelation.
There is much writing from over 700 years before Yeshua shows up about salvation, deliverance, and eternal life. If that isn’t enough, we have Yeshua himself recorded as saying he would send the Holy Spirit (HS) to dwell with us as soon as he returns to Heaven with the Father, Jehova. And the HS would take up residence in our very flesh to comfort and instruct us of the things of holy living and the fruit of the HS of God. Irenaeus spoke of this in 120 AD or so when he said of God being in His glory when humans finally got to where they lived abundant lives. Who wouldn’t want that?
We see the prophet Isaiah telling us about Yeshua’s arrival to be the atonement for our sins, as Ezekiel said of God's promise to save those lost. Ezekiel also wrote about God's promise to put a new spirit within us and to regenerate our hardened hearts. Then there is the apostle John’s writing in his gospel, in chapter three, verse sixteen, where he said, “God so loved us, that He sent his only begotten son, that whoever believed in him would be saved and be granted everlasting life.”
Our Messiah, Yeshua,,whose name in Hebrew means to restore, clearly stated in the Temple at the beginning of his ministry that his mission was to save and restore as many of us as he could and preach salvation. His salvation message clearly stated that he would heal and restore us to health, bring us to an abundant life, and restore our relationship with God.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free and that the time of the LORD's favor has come.” He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down.
~ Luke 4:18-21
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.
~Isaiah 61:1
So, what does salvation look like as presented throughout the bible record? It has a three-pronged application to humanity. If what we are told is accurate, we can expect a physical, spiritual, and emotional impact of God's invitation to be a fully alive human being. The message isn’t just about being handed the keys to the heavenly gates. If I am to live fully in the kingdom of heaven, I am to live fully during my lifetime on this planet on some level. And what we can’t seem to accomplish with the Holy Spirit’s help will undoubtedly be completed in eternity. That is the offering being made.
Emotional
We are being offered to be a fully functioning, joyful, peaceful, loving human being. We can operate with a complete emotional and neurological awareness of the world around us, which also means intellectual function. This means having critical thinking skills added to the fruit of the spirit offering. The truth that Yeshua speaks of is the information to help us understand what is happening around us in whatever culture seems prominent at the time. We need to know much about the current postmodern culture and who drives the culture creation. The world wants to keep us in an emotional state created much by the depravity of those around us and our family, which often leaves us emotionally broken and lost. This results in the unconscious driving our behavior; we generally have no idea this is our state. Much of what Yeshua came to tell us is the battle waging on this planet for the hearts and minds of all of us led by the Principalities, Powers, and Rulers. And his message was to help us find our way through this foe and be made whole. The emotional component of being restored is valuable to all of us. Look, and pay attention to those in your life and yourself. If it is true that 40% of the population falls into the narcissist spectrum, we need to be saved and restored to a place of emotional health.
Physical
A physical component to being restored appears to show up not just in healing, say from cancer or demon possession. Still, it has been shown that many ailments experienced are connected to emotional challenges and mental diagnoses. Childhood trauma memories that seem to get stored up in the right hemisphere directly relate to conditions such as metabolic disorders and various anxiety issues. Over time, the fight or flight response to these traumas impacts organ systems due to the elevated cortisol and adrenalin released in the bloodstream over long periods. Undoubtedly, a person fully alive includes the individual's overall health. The restoration message of Yeshua had a physical function.
Spiritual
Finally, the spiritual aspect of the salvation message brings us to the place where we can see and understand our conflicts with the fallen angels that have descended to our planet due to their rebellion with Jehova and the Elohim of the council. The demonic in our world are here to cause as much trouble as possible before they are taken out forever, whenever that day arrives. But in the interim, they are a big problem to humanity, creating many social and spiritual issues for us. And these spiritual problems are showing up on our planet in several ways, including the messages preached in our churches and schools, our divorce rates, and child abuse. We recently were introduced to the horrible child sex trafficking on this planet, clearly indicating that much of humanity will be lost to their ontology of depravity and deviancy, forever.
Jesus had a mission to bring truth and abundant life to all of us. Take a look for yourself at Yeshua’s words and promises. He is the Son of God, part of the Trinity. He participated in the creation of the universe, and he desires the best for you. He desires that we be fully alive! God glories in you being “Fully Alive.”
Conclusion
Humanity fell a long way as we were leaving the Garden on our way to our descent, and when I say we fell a long way, I refer back to what Merton explains about our ontology rooted in sin, rebellion, greed, and selfishness. To clarify Merton, he clearly states that we are, in fact, sin, what we are ontologically. We are creatures of sin and rebellion. We were convinced in the garden that we could be like God, and we’ve been driven by that promise ever since.
That said, we greatly need to be saved if we so desire. If we have been paying attention to what we read in the bible, there is a solution to our fallen state. We can live a fulfilled life, as St. Irenaeus tells us.
The salvation message to humanity was written about as early as 700 years before Yeshua arrived on our planet first by Isaiah, and the message is protected today as read in the bible. And I suggest a broad definition of the salvation and deliverance narrative. Salvation is offered for our physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual selves. God has gone out of his way to help us make our way back from our fallen state, orchestrated in the Garden by the serpent to live a fulfilled life of grace and mercy with the Fruit of love, joy, and peace metaphorically oozing out of the pores of our lives.
As a closing comment on my part, I knew the salvation message of our Messiah was not being preached or taught in the Christian congregations I participated in. I mentioned this in a previous post about the Toronto Blessing. The religious were developing a business model that generally treated truth as mythology. And if we look at Yeshua's message in the temple about his ministry, we see he had a purpose, designed by the Father to restore us to our former glory and all that it entails. The process of restoration and saving is accomplished by the HS executing his transforming work in our hearts, minds, and bodies, if you want it!
