Such a Great Salvation

How does man get to God? Is there more than one path to the Lord? Are people of all religions, so long as they are sincere, OK? Or is there a particular way to be made right with God that is exclusive?

Scripture is plain to us that we have a great salvation given to us by the Lord. But Scripture is also clear that there is only one salvation available.

Hebrews 2:1-4 – 1 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. 2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, 4 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

Let the question of verse 3 ring out to you: How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? God has given us a salvation, one salvation. He has sent to us a Savior, one Savior. And the Lord has inspired his authors of Scripture to point out to us that, if we neglect that way, if we ignore what God has given, we do not have another option. We are not free to tell the Lord how he must respond to us or to the rest of the world.

Consider what the Father did. God sent to us his Son. Jesus willingly laid down his life to bear the wrath of God that had to be taken away for us to be saved. Jesus suffered in a way that no human being has or ever will suffer. Jesus took upon himself more hell, more pain, more spiritual sorrow than any other person ever will face.

Knowing what the Father did and knowing what the Son did, we have a very legitimate question to ask. How can we hope to escape the wrath of God if we reject such a great salvation? How can we expect that God is going to welcome us to himself if we look at what his Son did, decide that is not for us, and then try to make ourselves spiritually sound through our own efforts? The Bible is clear that this will not work.

God has the right to set up his parameters for how he will receive people to grace. Either he has spelled them out in Scripture, or all the Bible is a lie. What cannot be true is the idea that the Bible is true and other world religions are true too. This is not me trying to be mean or arrogant, it is simply logic. The bible declares Jesus the only way to God. That cannot be true if there are other ways to God. So my heart’s desire is that none of us, none of you, neglect so great a salvation. God the Father sent God the Son to pay for our sins and grant us life. Believe in Jesus and turn to him as Lord. This is our hope.