Picture an exhausted man treading water in a torrent a mile upstream from sure death. Along comes a boat to rescue him. The rescue workers, despite their best efforts, have only six feet of rope. The problem is that he’s nine feet down from the side. Even with everyone’s outstretched arms there’s still several inches between his fingertips and the end of the rope. They can do nothing but urge him to reach out, and they’ve been urging him for some time now. The man summons his strength, plunges down into the waters, expels his air, thrusts upward out of the water with a yell, grabs the tip of the rope and is pulled to safety. Upstream the man and crew are being interviewed by a news crew. He says with complete thanks in his heart, “If it wasn’t for you guys, I would surely be dead.” He means it, and what he says is true. Here’s the kicker: the rescue worker who held the other end of the rope can say in equal honesty: “Sir, you make too much of me. Had you not grabbed the rope we could have done nothing.” Both parties would be true.
That’s not the Bible’s view of salvation. Our thoughts on it would then be too earthly. One old preacher said it well when he said, “Christ did not come to make bad men good, He came to make dead men live.” We must understand how God saves sinners or we’ll miss the miracle. We’ll only think of miracles then as a thing of the past.
Here’s the Biblical picture of how God saves:
A man has drowned. He’s floating on the water. A rescue worker is lowered down to him and scoops his lifeless body from the torrent. Aboard the boat he is given cardio pulmonary resuscitation and brought back to life. This time when interviewed, when he says, “If it wasn’t for you guys, I would be dead” the rescue workers would simply say, “You’re welcome. It was our pleasure.” Do you see the difference in these two stories?
Salvation in the heart of a person is a miracle! We should marvel at it. We will do so more and more as we behold it rightly defined in Scripture.
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