2-2-06
It is easy to miss the fact that Jesus explained salvation slightly
differently to just about everyone. I think that is true because
salvation is absolutely a personal event between an individual person
and an individual savior. Everyone gets saved by the same process,
believe and repent, and those elements were integral every time
Jesus talked about it to anyone. But it didn't look the same twice in
the Bible and it doesn't today. People are truly unique individuals,
which makes generalizations very dangerous considering how freely
we tend to throw them around. Jesus would never do that because
He understands perfectly that quality of men that is their individuality.
People do not really consist of various combinations of traits. People
are who they are and they are not like anyone else. I am belaboring
this point because I want us to grasp the significance of Jesus' death
for each one of us. Jesus did not die for humanity in some general
sense and offer a blanket invitation to whom it might concern. He
paid for each individual's sins individually. He offers personal
invitations to individual persons. He forgives, saves, and will
ultimately raise each person.
Jesus and the Father offer tremendous blessings to those who
demonstrate their love by keeping their commands (believe on the
one who was sent). Jesus promised to manifest Himself to those
AND that He and the Father would make their dwelling with them! So,
they do not only (or even primarily, both are indispensable) manifest
themselves to the church, but to each one of us.
Jesus has a name for each one of us that He will reveal to us
someday. That name will be known only to Him and the recipient.
That is the nature of this relationship between Jesus and each one
who responds to His gospel with belief and repentance when He
offers a very personal and personalized invitation. None of this
lessens the importance of the church or other important groupings of
people, but God did not create the races, rather He created billions of
individuals who have only barely significant similarities. They are
really each one perfectly and wonderfully unique.
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