Believe and Be Rescued! But From What?

Rescue Me!
 
I'm probably exposing myself as a lousy listener, but it was either used in one of the worship songs or it was somewhere in Todd's message (the day's preacher) or both (I think it was used in one the scripture passages he referenced)... the word "Rescue" struck me Sunday. I've studied the word before and I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't have the place it should in Christianity.

 

We prefer the word "saved" (and salvation). Now, that's a perfectly good translation of the thought, but it has somehow lost some of its original depth along with some of its practical reality. The theological use of the word (which is perfectly appropriate) has, IMHO, subdued the concept.

 

As with any word used in scripture, context is of the utmost importance. When we limit our thinking concerning the word "saved" (or salvation) without regard to its full meaning and its contextual use, we can sometimes be confused (and some may be led astray). This is not an exhaustive study on either of those words or all that goes into salvation, but I do want to look more closely at the biblical concept of "salvation."

 

Let's just look at a few popular verses using of the word "saved" (salvation).

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” (Acts 16:31)

For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. (Rom 10:10)

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God... (Eph 2:8)

So I have nothing against the translated verses or the word "saved."

 

 

OK, so what's my point?

 

We see two words used here (sozo and soterio) which have similar connotations. Strong describes "sozo" (in part) "to rescue from danger or destruction" and soterio "deliverance, preservation, safety". He goes on to add to each a sort of theological understanding of the word. For "soterio" A. W. Pink's thoughts are added: "Fourfold salvation: saved from the penalty, power, presence and most importantly the pleasure of sin."

 

Other words used in describing or translating these words: deliverance, restore, make well, rescue, preserve from danger or destruction, restore to health. The consistent thought is a rescuing from a current condition and a determined end. You might say, "well, we knew that didn't we?" And I would answer, "Kinda."

 

For I know that this will turn out for my (soterio) deliverance (KJV: salvation) through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

 

Some have tried to use this verse from Paul in Philippians 1 to preach that prayers for others can lead to their spiritual "salvation", but the idea here, in context, is clearly Paul's release from a temporal prison. We can apply this thinking to spiritual "salvation" (or deliverance, rescue). When we see "salvation" as a rescue, we won't get bogged down in theological traps, the context will do our interpreting for us.

 

Many would agree with the lofty words of Pink as quoted above in regard to what "salvation" entails, but I think that description is secondary (an not always applicable). What we have been delivered and rescued from is death. Death is our enemy and destruction is our end (the result of sin). The Lord Jesus was victorious over death. Death was introduced by Adam and it shall be finally defeated by the last Adam (Christ).

 

The last enemy to be destroyed is death. (1 Cor 15)

 

Christ has rescued us from death and the grave. Paul's great chapter on the victory of Christ over death (1 Cor 15) ends this way:

 

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then [AND ONLY THEN] the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death [Hades - the abode of the dead, the grave], is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

 

This is the great victory found in our resurrection.

  

So we have been "rescued" from the grave. We have been "rescued" from death. We have been "rescued" from our decay in this flesh. We have been "rescued" from the wages of sin, which is death. All these things can be noted in the past tense even though we will not see the victory until "then" (then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”). Our rescue is spoken of in the past because it is a sure thing in the future.

 

Our rescue is a present possession that shall be experienced in the future. Until then, we wallow around in these bodies of death, groaning for our redemption (our rescue) and our new house (our new resurrection body).

  

Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked.

O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.