Jesus’s name was Yeshua in original Hebrewwhich means salvation.Jesus came down to deliver the gospel. The words “salvation” and “gospel” are two words we Christians use all the time, but sometimes I ask myself, “Do I really understand what these means?”

If the gospel means that if you believe in Jesus who died for you, you shall receive the eternal life and go to heaven, what was the gospel (the good news) Jesus was referring at the beginning of his public life well before the death on the cross?

After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.

“The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

Mark 1:14-15

When I ponder this word by Jesus, who was born Jewish, studied the scripture at the temple and synagogue since his youth, taught as a young rabi at synagogues every Sabbath, preached that he came not to abolish but to fulfill the Law, came as the Messiah of Israel and took 12 Jewish disciples, I started thinking that the gospel may have a much more bigger and deeper meaning than just a ticket to heaven. Recently I came across with this message by Aaron Eby.

What Is Salvation?　　　

Aaron Eby is also involved in First Fruit of Zion which specializes in the study and teaching of Scripture from its historical, linguistic, and cultural context.Here are some interesting articles by him.

Eby suggests three points for us to examine in order to explore the meaning of salvation, selecting Psalms 80, Isaiah 45 and Joel 2 for reading.

  1. Is salvation only about after-life, or about this life too?
  2. Is salvation current event or future event?
  3. Is salvation a personal thing or a corrective, national, corporate thing?

“The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near,” so the gospel is not only about after-life but this life also. Salvation is current if you repent and believe now, but also it is about the delivery from the wrath of God on the Day (of judgement) in the future. While we can enter a personal relationship with God, the word salvation is rarely used in a purely personal sense in the Old Testament and indicated at a collective and national level as the people of Israel.

The question is that this idea applies only to Israel or also to Gentile Christians. As I read the scripture, I personally think that there is a consistent and unified God’s intention and plan breathing alive from the beginning to the end of the Bible. The third point above regarding personal salvation vs corporate salvation stands out to me today and seems deserving a deeper consideration. Given Jesus’s word that loving God and loving your brothers are the two most important essences of the Law, does not God desire for us attaining the kingdom of God all together, hand in hand, forgiving and being forgiven, as a corporate body of Christ? Don’t we make salvation too personal?

Having gone through a series of divisions in church, I sometimes wonder how God is weeping about it. When it comes to salvation, is it not God’s desire that we humble ourselves thereby elevating God, love brothers by thinking they are superior to oneself, and build each other so that we can reach the final salvation together as a whole body of Christ on the day of judgement? Isn’t that the whole point of God giving us a church, a body of people called for as His sons?

Paul, widely known as the Apostle of Gentiles, was a devout Jew, Hebrew born of Hebrews, and an enthusiastic Pharisee, and left this verse for his fellow Jewish people who were most probably persecuting him.

For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, the people of Israel.

Romans 9:3-4a

Can I pray the same prayer for my brothers and sisters in church? “Lord, I pray I can lose your blessing and be cursed, if you bless my brother/sister (whom I am having a trouble to get along)?” Not a chance for me. But if we could do this in the name of Jesus, that would be so powerful, I am sure.

Restore us, Lord God Almighty;

make your face shine on us,

that we may be saved.

Psalms 80:19