THE salvation of God is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is deliverance from the power of Satan and sin; and no man can deliver himself. It brings a soul to God in a state of satisfaction and rest. “Christ suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” The saved soul is delivered from the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son (Col. 1:1313Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: (Colossians 1:13)).
This is strikingly illustrated in the case of the poor man whom the Lord met in the country of the Gadarenes. See Mark 5:1-201And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. 2And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: 4Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. 5And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. 6But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, 7And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not. 8For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. 9And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many. 10And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country. 11Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. 12And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. 13And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea. 14And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done. 15And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. 16And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine. 17And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts. 18And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him. 19Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee. 20And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel. (Mark 5:1‑20). The actual condition in which the Lord met him illustrates the state of every unsaved person. He had no home, but was dwelling in the mountains and in the tombs; that is, a place of desolation and death. Such is this world, a place where man wanders about without rest or an abiding home. It is indeed a place of desolation and death. This man was possessed by an unclean spirit; he was controlled by this evil power, a legion of demons. If he spoke, it was the demon in him which spoke, his actions were governed by this unclean spirit. His mind was perverted; he was insane and seeking to destroy himself; he was totally uncontrollable; no one could subdue him, for he broke all the fetters that men put upon him. Such is the spiritual state of every unsaved person.
This poor man was utterly helpless to deliver himself; and men’s efforts to deliver him were equally unavailing. There is a great deal of human effort put forth today in the endeavor to subdue men, such as legal restrictions, religious observances, or certain human rules of morality (teetotalism, and the like). But in his unsubdued passions man breaks through them all, and is left as he was, the helpless slave of Satan and of sin.
There is, however, another unseen controlling power on earth, a power which can deliver. It is the power of the Lord, exercised by the Spirit of God. That power is actively working in grace today, for the salvation of men. It might have been exercised in judgment for the destruction of God’s enemies; but this is a day of grace, a day of salvation. Man’s weakness has become the opportunity for the display of God’s saving power. Man’s sinful condition has become the occasion for the display of God’s saving grace. In the Lord Jesus, God has raised up One who is able to save men from the power of Satan and sin. He has already entered into the domain of Satan, that is, into death; and by so doing has vanquished Satan’s power, annulled death, and gained a great victory. This He has proved in His resurrection from among the dead.
“By weakness and by death
He won the mead and crown,
Trod all our foes beneath His feet
By being trodden down.”
He has thus proved Himself to be great enough to deliver men from Satan’s power. He is God’s salvation to the ends of the earth for everyone. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” But there is no salvation in any other.
Now let us consider the state of the saved one (Mark 5:1515And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. (Mark 5:15)). He is found with Jesus, “sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind”. It is the picture of man brought to God, in a state of satisfaction and rest. How blessed to be at rest in the presence of God, and the heart satisfied in the enjoyment of His love. But for this we must be clothed, and brought into a right state of mind; that is, we must have right thoughts of God. We have all this in Christ Jesus; He is God, and has personally declared the truth as to God. He has manifested God. In all His life here amongst men, in all His manners, words, and works, He has declared the true character of God. In Jesus, as He is depicted in the gospels, we see God in a man, God manifest in flesh. He is the Truth. “Grace and truth subsist by Jesus Christ.” The only way in which we can come to know God is by believing in the One in Whom He has been revealed. “God was in Christ.” Jesus means Jehovah a Saviour; God in a Man. In receiving the truth as set forth in Him, we come to know God, and thus we are delivered from Satan’s lies and deceptive influence. We come to trust God, and to love Him.
Then to be happily with God, we must be clothed in that which suits the presence of God. We could not be with God in our nakedness. If men appear before God naked, or in a garment which He has not provided, they will be cast out, cast into outer darkness forever. But we need not be naked, God has provided a covering for us; and if He has provided one, it must of necessity be a garment that suits Him. This, too, we find in Christ Jesus. “Christ is the end of the law, for righteousness to everyone that believeth.” That righteousness is for all; but it is only upon all that believe. Yet though God has provided righteousness for all, in Christ, there will be found in the day of judgment those who will stand naked before the throne. They have despised that which God has provided for them, and they will be cast into the lake of fire.
Now when clothed in divine righteousness, and having got right thoughts about God, we clearly see that all the grace which has come to us in Jesus is the fruit of His love; and in the enjoyment of the love of God we find satisfaction and rest, and get the comfort of sitting in the presence of God.
What a contrast to the state of the unsaved! Those found in this happy condition are, like that man, ready to be sent forth as witnesses for Christ in the place where He has been rejected; witnesses to the grace and power they have found in Him, and which saves them; and the same grace will preserve and support them in their testimony.
And now, my dear reader, will you not embrace this ‘great salvation’, presented to you in this blessed Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ? Today is your opportunity, tomorrow may be too late. F.H.B.