By John Thiel, mp3

1 Peter 1:9 Receiving the end of your faith, [even] the salvation of [your] souls. 10 Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace [that should come] unto you: 11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.

We are called upon to worship the Lord not being able to see him. The apostles experienced the visual, the touch and the living sense of Christ and their testimony was very precious.

2 Peter 1:16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.  17 For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 18 And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.

This was all wonderful but then he says;

1 Peter 1:19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:

The salvational value of prophecy is something more sure than the seeing with the eyes the Lord Jesus. Our salvation is actually connected with our reception of prophecy but I hasten to qualify that our salvation hinges alone upon our reception of Jesus. I wish to confirm that it is dependent upon Jesus that our salvation is gained.

1 John 5:11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life; [and] he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

For you and me to have eternal life, to be saved eternally, we must have Jesus. We know well the scripture where the angel speaks to Joseph. “His name shall be called Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins”. The story of the gaoler was where he comes running in after the earthquake and he was about to kill himself and he said what must I do to be saved? Apostle Paul says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. For this reason God sent his Son into the world that whosoever believes on him will be saved. But in believing in Jesus there is a proviso included. That proviso is addressed by Apostle Paul:

Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Apostle Paul doesn’t stop there, he goes on.

Romans 10:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? 17 So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Here is the proviso of belief to be saved. I must hear the word of God. I must apply myself to the word of God for me to be saved by Jesus Christ.

The word of God should stand as the highest educating book in our world and should be treated with reverential awe. It should be placed in the hands of the children and youth as the great lesson book, that they may know Him whom to know aright is life eternal. {CT 427.2}

To know aright is life eternal. You must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ to have eternal life. You must have Jesus in your heart to have eternal life and to have him you must know the scriptures so you can know him a right. It is so important.

Seek most earnestly to know Him whom to know aright is life eternal. {FE 484.1}

To believe in Jesus you must know him a right.

You need wisdom from heaven to read the Scriptures aright. {GW92 386.3}

I must be saved by believing in Jesus but I may believe in Jesus in a way that is not right. It is that serious. How many people will come up before Jesus and say Lord, Lord, have we not? He will say depart from me I know you not. But Lord, you are our Lord, we have heard you preach in our streets, we have crowded around you. The casual touch merely. To know Jesus aright is life eternal and to read the scriptures aright is needed to have eternal life. What is required to do that a right? What is required of you and me to be saved by knowing Jesus a right? To read the scriptures aright, what is required?

2 Peter 1:10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: 11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

How will we be assured of a place in the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ? If we are diligent. What is required to read the Bible aright and to come to know Jesus a right? It is to be diligent. The casual contact differs from the touch of faith.

He could distinguish the touch of faith from the casual touch of the careless throng. Someone had touched Him with a deep purpose and had received answer. {MH 60.5}

How diligent was the woman who had the issue of blood? She was so determined she pressed on as she was diligent. In the midst of the confusion of all the different teachings of the scripture today with the casual touches upon Jesus there is a need of diligence to touch Jesus aright. We saw in our last study how the crucial understanding of prophecy was related to our salvation and our scripture reading spells it out. We once again enlarge the scripture for our salvation. As the hymn says – ‘These eyes have never seen, I hear and see thee not yet art thou oft with me.’

1 Peter 1:8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see [him] not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: 9 Receiving the end of your faith, [even] the salvation of [your] souls. 10 Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace [that should come] unto you: 11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. 12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. 13 Wherefore (because of this) gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

Jesus must be revealed to us by the preachers of the gospel who gain the ministry via the prophets. The book of Revelation says it is the revelation of Jesus Christ. If I am going to be saved I must have Jesus Christ revealed to me although I do not see him with my eyes. We have a more sure word of prophecy. Your eyes can deceive you. People today see and hear things and they are deceived. When Satan comes as an angel of light they will be deceived and will see him and will think it is Jesus but we have a more sure word of prophecy.

The disciples and Pharisees of Christ’s time saw him but they had wrong concepts and it took the disciples painful experiences to see the real Jesus. It was prophecy. You and I today are called upon to gird up the loins of our mind to be sober, look to the prophets and study the Bible aright. The prophets searched what manner of time the spirit of Christ which was in them did signify when it testified before hand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. Beforehand the sufferings of Christ were testified of by the prophets. To know him aright is salvation and it was the prophets before he came that manifested that salvation that saves you. Explore with me the prophecies by which we may come to know Jesus aright so we might be saved from our sins. This is the purpose of our divine service, prophetic salvation of Jesus Christ. According to scripture Apostle Paul cites some prophecy from the Old Testament regarding our condition in sin. Here is the condition we are in which the Old Testament delineates.

Romans 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 13 Their throat [is] an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps [is] under their lips: 14 Whose mouth [is] full of cursing and bitterness: 15 Their feet [are] swift to shed blood: 16 Destruction and misery [are] in their ways: 17 And the way of peace have they not known: 18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.  19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

Here is Old Testament scriptures cited in the New Testament. Apostle Paul brings it altogether and reveals what scripture says about you and me and in case you think the following doesn’t apply to us (Romans 3:15 Their feet [are] swift to shed blood), be assured it does, I used to think that didn’t apply to me. But if you hate someone you will think and say things that are not good and it will kill that person as many kill themselves because they are affected by awful words. To save us from this kind of condition affectively prophecy displays the empowering grace. The condition that has been cited is that the whole world has become guilty. We are all and none missing under this revelation of prophecy that displays not only our condition but it displays the effective, efficacious salvation from such a condition.

The Prophecy of Coming Down To Save Us

Isaiah 48:8 Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that time [that] thine ear was not opened: for I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb.

We are all born with the propensity of disobedience. Not propensity to disobedience but of. There is a difference between the words to and of. If we are born with the propensity of disobedience that means I have something in my heart that hates to obey I don’t want to obey. You are a transgressor from the womb.

Isaiah 48:9 For my name’s sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off.

In this condition God will not cut us off.

Isaiah 48:10 Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. 11 For mine own sake, [even] for mine own sake, will I do [it]: for how should [my name] be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another. 12 Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I [am] he; I [am] the first, I also [am] the last.

Here is the creator speaking.

Isaiah 48:15 I, [even] I, have spoken; yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous. 16 Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there [am] I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me.  17 Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I [am] the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way [that] thou shouldest go. 18 O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:

If you would have done so but you haven’t.

Isaiah 48:16 and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me.

I the one that has created that knows your condition. The Lord God and his Spirit has sent me. Here is a prophecy that these sinful people are going to be dealt with by the one who is the I AM coming down being sent as their redeemer.

Psalms 40:6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. 7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book [it is] written of me, 8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law [is] within my heart.

Did this person have the propensity of disobedience? No.

Psalms 40:9 I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest. 10 I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.

He has done what he has come to do and here is a prophecy that he would do so before it ever happened as a present tense. Where else is that suggested? “Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.” That was prophecy because Jesus referred to his body as a temple that he would pull it down and raise in three days.

Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 15 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good. 16 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.

Behold I come a body have they prepared. Born of a virgin and as this body and birth of the Lord Jesus Christ identified being born in Bethlehem, there is something about him you want to get to know “Butter and honey shall he eat so that he may know how to choose the good”. Here was the one who knew good becoming a human being born of a virgin. For him to know to refuse evil he would have to eat certain things. The health reform, bland food, butter and honey, nothing stimulating.

Before the child shall know to choose good and refuse evil, when this child was born there was a period of time when He would not know to refuse evil and choose good. He would have to learn that. That is a revelation. You are getting to know God and Jesus Christ through prophecy. That child that was born in the manner alluded to by Apostle Paul.

Hebrews 10:7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. 

Hebrews 10:5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:

Here is a simple prophetic description that a child born of a virgin received a body prepared for him and in his heart there was no propensity of evil or disobedience but a body was prepared and in that body that child grew up learning slowly to discern between evil and good. Does that sound familiar? Is that what you had to learn? If people had read this prophecy they would have come to know the real Jesus.

Isaiah 53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? 2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, [there is] no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were [our] faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

He has born our grief’s. He became a child and he experienced a body that was made for him. Let them make me a sanctuary. In that body that was made for him, he was able to endure and bear our grief’s and carry our sorrows.

Hebrews 5:7 Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; 8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;

Here is what prophecy foreshadowed. A child that would have to learn and suffer the incongruences of human flesh which brought him to dwell among us.

Hebrews 10:5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:

His preparation to redeem us was so that he was touched with the feelings of our infirmities. His sense of great need was prophesied of. Here is a prophesy to get to know Jesus. Here is how he became the author of our salvation.

Isaiah 50:4 The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to [him that is] weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. 5 The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.

Sacrifice thou didn’t desire but my ear thou hast opened. In his body suffering He said “help me, guide me I need to know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary”. He needed to learn that. Do you need to learn how to speak to people? So did Jesus and he learnt by the things which he suffered and he learnt morning by morning. What is the tendency of a sinner the moment that God tells them to do this? They do the opposite. Jesus did not have the propensities of disobedience and he wanted to teach us how we can come to that. He tells us what he did that you might get to know him through prophecy.

Isaiah 50:6 I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. 7 For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.

He was able to tell the disciples I know where I’m heading. Where did he learn it from? From prophecy and in prophecy it goes into detail so that he knew. He placed himself under the one that would wake him morning by morning.

John 5:19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. 30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

It was possible for him to have his own will. This is an eye opener, this is a revelation through prophecy that Jesus is an example to us to go contrary to my own will and to do the will of my Father who hath wakened me and prepared me for this. Read Isaiah 53. He was afflicted and suffering and some people read that only upon the cross but it wasn’t only on the cross, it was all the way along that he was suffering. Even as a child he was suffering and the people did not regard him as anything special. He came as a root out of a dry ground, a child born out of wedlock.

Isaiah 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were [our] faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

He suffered it and what did he suffer?

Hebrews 10:5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:

Hebrews 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 16 For verily he took not on [him the nature of] angels; but he took on [him] the seed of Abraham. 17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto [his] brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things [pertaining] to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

Prophecy helps us to understand correctly that when he was suffering. When a body was prepared for him, it was a body which was the same as ours so that it could die and so he could be tempted via the body and understand what it means.

Hebrews 2:18 For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.

How realistic this plan of salvation is when you study the prophecies. This is to come to know God and Jesus aright. As he travelled towards the cross, watch him in prophecy, watch his experience in the flesh.

Isaiah 53:5 But he [was] wounded for our transgressions, [he was] bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace [was] upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

This is the reaffirmation that we are all lost. Prophecy can be misinterpreted unless you let other prophetic pictures reveal. This is the prophecy that all our sins were laid on him.

Lamentations 1:12 [Is it] nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted [me] in the day of his fierce anger. 13 From above hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them: he hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back: he hath made me desolate [and] faint all the day. 14 The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are wreathed, [and] come up upon my neck: he hath made my strength to fall, the Lord hath delivered me into [their] hands, [from whom] I am not able to rise up.

He laid upon him the sins of us all. The yoke that he experienced was what? Placed upon him by his hand. What is meant there? They are wreathed and come up upon my neck. This is a prophetical picture which coincides in Isaiah 53 that the Lord has laid the sins of us all on him. Lamentations says they were wreathed and we get a simple New Testament statement to qualify those two prophecies. Many read the statement in a shallow level that our sins  were laid upon him forensically. They were wreathed and Apostle Peter understood it very well.

1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

It says ‘to the tree’ in the Bible margin reading. He was travelling towards the tree/cross and as he was the Lord laid upon him the sins of us all. They were wreathed so that the sins laid upon him were where? They were in his own body. When they were in his own body how did he regard those sins? Prophecy tells you.

Psalms 40:11 Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me. 12 For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me. 13 Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me.

What was he crying about? All the sins of the world were wreathed in his body of which he expressed as ‘mine iniquities’ according to prophecy. We have sins in our bodies but people keep reasoning around this point time and time again saying the flesh cannot have sin in it. Yes it can, it is written so. Our sins were in his body, in his flesh. They were wreathed as that is the way prophecy revealed it. Why is this important? To save you and me. That is why it is important. If I do not know this and I can’t believe this, can I be saved? I need to believe in Jesus to be saved. This is the Jesus to know aright. This makes the difference. In Psalms 22 there is more prophecy in detail again.

Psalms 22:1 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? [why art thou so] far from helping me, [and from] the words of my roaring? 2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent. 3 But thou [art] holy, [O thou] that inhabitest the praises of Israel. 4 Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. 5 They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded. 6 But I [am] a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.

It is detail much more than the New Testament.

The Thoughts of Jesus in Psalms

Psalms 22:16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I may tell all my bones: they look [and] stare upon me. 18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.

This is prophecy, the detail and the prophets ministered it unto us for our salvation.

The Literal Experience of Jesus

The literal experience of Jesus in all reality as he was hanging there upon the tree with our sins in his body.

Psalm 69:1 Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto [my] soul. 2 I sink in deep mire, where [there is] no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. 3 I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God. 5 O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee. 6 Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel. 7 Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face.

Psalms 40:7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book [it is] written of me,

The detail of that is reiterated in Psalm 69 for the sake of himself as he wanted to save us and glorify his love toward us.

Psalm 69:14 Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.

He was sinking in the mire of sin.

Psalms 69:20 Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked [for some] to take pity, but [there was] none; and for comforters, but I found none. 21 They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

The same person is speaking all the way through. This is a prophecy of Jesus and some people will pick out certain statements and ignore others out of the same prophecy and say this was Jesus and this wasn’t. I was studying this with someone and they say that part was David and that wasn’t. I said how dare you tear the scriptures apart? Who dares to say what was Jesus and what wasn’t? The prophecy tells you what it is.. Oh to let the scriptures do their talking. As he came to the cross with all our sins upon him he died and now there was a prophecy.

Psalm 49:15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me.

When Jesus died the prophecy identified that he would not only die but with our sin and corruption not only upon him in law but according to the flesh it was in his body.

Isaiah 26:19 Thy dead [men] shall live, [together with] my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew [is as] the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.

It was in the Old Testament that he would rise again and the disciples were broken hearted that he was dead. What did the prophecy say? What a glorious future to look forward to. All this is to save us to affect our minds so we can be saved as 1 Peter 2:21-23 says he was our example that we should follow that when we come to discoveries of our evils the way they were brought to attention in his body. What hope is there that I might effectively be saved?

2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him [to be] sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

That’s why he did it. It needed to be done according to prophecy and it was done. God gave his son like the prophecy displayed.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Can you believe such a story? Lots of people don’t. They regard it as false doctrine that Jesus had sin in his flesh. But the prophecy tells us that he did. Although he had sin in his body he had no propensity of disobedience as it wasn’t in his heart. This is important to get clear in our salvation because if I have any propensity in my heart, I am not in a safe position. I must come to the cross and as I see Jesus dying with my sins battling through that time, it will wipe away all desire to disobey and will burn it out of my heart and then I can live as Jesus lived with no propensity of disobedience but a flesh that Jesus suffered under and learning from him. He has called us to follow his example.

1 Peter 2:23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed [himself] to him that judgeth righteously:

He didn’t but we would. He wants to bring us to the cross to see what it really was to know it aright. We must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. Do we know him a right? The real Jesus because only as I can know him aright can I behold him to be changed.

2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, [even] as by the Spirit of the Lord.

The prophets gave us to know the glory of the cross and as we behold that glory, the glory that my sins in reality and effectively destroyed in him, as I behold his death, his resurrection and his life, I am saved by his life. I am reconciled by his death. Psalms 40 is prophecy that by beholding we might be changed and saved. In Psalms 22 and 69 he was suffering.

Psalms 40:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. 2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, [and] established my goings. 3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, [even] praise unto our God: many shall see [it], and fear, and shall trust in the LORD. 4 Blessed [is] that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

If you believe in Jesus you will be saved. What does it mean? Just as it says. We are living today under doctrines that are lies. The real salvation in today’s society has been robbed off the people.

So in spiritual things does the casual contact differ from the touch of faith. To believe in Christ merely as the Saviour of the world can never bring healing to the soul. The faith that is unto salvation is not a mere assent to the truth of the gospel. True faith is that which receives Christ as a personal Saviour. God gave His only-begotten Son, that I, by believing in Him, “should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. When I come to Christ, according to His word, I am to believe that I receive His saving grace. The life that I now live, I am to “live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20. {MH 62.1}

Jesus was my personal sin bearer. He had my sin in his flesh. I who was going astray, he experienced it. He made it his own and as I by faith take that as my personal saviour by believing in him should not perish but have everlasting life. What a precious salvation is found in prophecy. If I don’t understand prophecy aright, can I be saved? I will not understand my saviour aright if I don’t understand prophecy aright. May God help us to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ that we might be saved.

Amen.