The Hope of Salvation
Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look (1 Peter 1:10-12).
Salvation is the theme of the Bible. The story of the Bible begins with mankind falling into temptation and sin. The result was that they were cast out of Eden and the way to the Tree of Life was blocked. But God did not desert mankind. There was the promise of salvation even as the curse of sin and death was announced (Gen. 3.15). We know that God is sovereign and that He had already made a plan for salvation even before Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. The Bible records the unfolding of this plan of salvation. But it should be made clear that man’s sin did not catch God unprepared. And salvation is more than just a reaction to human needs. God’s plan is to glorify Himself, or make Himself known, through the salvation of fallen man. There are hints in Scripture that there had been another rebellion and fall previous to Adam’s sin in Eden. The Devil and his angels engaged in a cosmic rebellion and were cast out of heaven. There is much mystery surrounding these events, yet there is nothing in Scripture about a Divine plan or salvation for the Devil and his minions. But when man fell, God announced a plan of salvation. We cannot correctly understand the message of the Bible unless we see the unfolding of this plan to rescue sinful man.
The plan of salvation was carefully and purposefully developed by God. There had to be a time of preparation before this project could be launched. It would take many centuries of time for God to set the stage for the final act of the drama of salvation. We must understand that God works with His purpose in mind. He knows the end from the beginning and does not have the limitations of a man, including the limitation of time. God was first developing two things that were vital to His plan of salvation: 1. He had to teach the human race about the nature and consequences of sin. 2. He had to develop a unique group of people with whom and through whom He could work in the world. The reason for the first development should be clear: God had to show man his need for salvation. From what, exactly, is God saving mankind? A plan of salvation would be meaningless unless the danger is clearly defined. Even today there are many people who do not understand the Gospel of Salvation through Christ because they have not been taught about the nature of sin. The second part of the development of God’s plan was related to the first: God would work with a particular group of people to reveal Himself to them and teach them about the nature of sin and their need for salvation. This group of people would be the descendants of a single, chosen man, whose name was Abraham. The nation that came from him was the nation of Israel. God worked almost exclusively with them, preparing and teaching them about Himself and His plan of salvation.
When God spoke to the people of Israel the first time at Mount Sinai, He spoke the Ten Commandments directly to them. That was the first and last time He would do that. The people were afraid and begged that Moses speak to the people for God so they would not have to hear the voice of the Lord directly. Moses was the first of a long line of God’s spokesmen, also known as the Prophets. Through His prophets, God “leaked” certain things about the plan of salvation. Most of the prophets were sent to tell Israel about their sin and unfaithfulness to the Covenant God made with them at Mount Sinai. At Sinai the people had vowed to keep the words of the Covenant, which were the Ten Commandments. But they almost immediately turned away from God and His law, even making a golden calf to worship right there at the holy mountain of Sinai! This pattern of sin and covenant unfaithfulness continued throughout Israel’s history, which is why God raised up prophets to speak to the people and call them to repentance. But through these prophets God also spoke words of hope about His plan of salvation. For example, through the prophet Jeremiah God promised that He would one day make a New Covenant (See Jeremiah 31.31-34). Part of this New Covenant would be the complete removal of all of the people’s sins. Through the prophet Ezekiel, God promised that He would give the people new hearts so that they would no longer be unfaithful to Him as they had always been (Ezekiel 11.19-20; 36.26-27). And to the prophet Isaiah God revealed that His servant would one day come to suffer for the sins of the nation and make them righteous before God (See Isaiah 53). These words gave the people who believed the hope that God would not desert them or His plan of salvation.
The prophets themselves did not live to see the fulfillment of their words, yet they had hope in God. Most of the Prophets of God lived during difficult times when they saw the apostasy of the people and they had to announce the judgment of God. Yet their prophecies were also laced with hope. God would finish His work! While the people failed to keep the words of the Covenant, God had not forgotten the promises He had made to Abraham (See Genesis 12.1-3). Though they saw it dimly, the prophets wrote about a time of great victory, joy, and glory when God would fulfill all of His promises and bring the fullness of salvation. Joel saw a time when God would pour out His Spirit on the people, which would be the beginning of the Day of Salvation (Joel 2.28-33 and Acts 2.16-21). Amos saw a time when God would turn even to the Gentiles and they would be included in this plan (Amos 9.11-12; Acts 15.15-18). Isaiah even foresaw the time when God would create a New Heavens and a New Earth, free from sin and all of its effects (Isa. 65.17-25; Revelation 21.1). After Jesus had risen from the dead, the Apostles began to preach to the people of Israel that God was fulfilling everything He had promised them through the Prophets. Peter preached to the Jews in Jerusalem that
“what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed’” (Acts 3:18-25).
Hope is looking forward to the fulfillment of all God’s promises. Today believers are still waiting in hope for God to finish His great plan of salvation. We look forward in anticipation to the return of Jesus and to the New Heavens and the New Earth, wherein dwells righteousness (2 Pet. 3.13). We also look forward to the resurrection of the dead, our new, glorified bodies, and to eternal life in the presence of God (1 Cor 15.35-56; Revelation 22.1-5). This is why we were saved (2 Cor 5.1-5)! We are saved by hope that the work of salvation will be completed (Rom. 8.24-25). And so for this salvation we wait patiently, just as the Prophets who spoke of Christ waited in hope.
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