What Kind of People Can Obtain God’s Salvation?

By Xiaofen

Believers in God all want to receive God’s salvation. However, man has notions and imaginations about God and His work, so in the face of God’s work in the time of Jesus, people did not seek or investigate, resulting in many “pious believers” not obtaining God’s salvation. Then what should we do to attain God’s salvation?

We all know that when the Lord Jesus performed His redemptive work among the Jews, He brought people the way of repentance, and taught people to be humble and patient, to love their neighbors as themselves, to forgive others seventy times seven, to pray for their enemies, and so on. He also brought people rich and abundant grace, and brought them out from the rules of the law, so they would no longer be condemned and executed by the law, but live freely before God. At that time, after hearing the way preached by the Lord Jesus, as long as people accepted and obeyed His work, and truly repented and confessed their sins to Him, they would obtain His salvation and no longer be convicted by the law. At that time, those who sought and longed for the truth went out from the law and followed the Lord after hearing His calling, so they were able to cast off the strictures and bondage of the law, had a new way to practice and enter, and received the Lord Jesus’ salvation.

Take Peter and his brother Andrew, and James and his brother John, for example. When they, who fished by the Sea of Galilee to make a living, heard the calling of the Lord, they abandoned their fishing boats and followed the Lord Jesus without any hesitation. There were also the other disciples who followed the Lord Jesus, such as Matthew, Philip, Nathanael, and so on. When they heard the calling of the Lord Jesus they left everything behind and followed the Lord, thereby gaining His salvation. In addition, we can also see from the Bible that at that time, many people, after hearing the things that the Lord Jesus had done, came to listen to His preaching. Because they truly believed in God, sought and thirsted for the truth, and were able to put aside their notions and listen to the Lord’s words, they recognized from His words and work that He was the Messiah as well as the appearance of God, and finally all turned to Him and attained the Lord’s salvation.

As for those Jewish chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees, who hated the truth and had no heart of fearing God, and had no heart of seeking and longing for the truth at all, they stubbornly clung to their notions and determined that the Lord would definitely be called Messiah when He returned. Even when they saw that the words and work of the Lord Jesus were full of authority and power, causing a sensation throughout the entire Jewish state, they did not seek or investigate. On the contrary, being afraid of losing their place in people’s heart and for the sake of protecting their positions and livelihoods, they wildly condemned and opposed the Lord Jesus, and even made up all sorts of rumors to incite the Jewish people to slander and condemn the Lord Jesus’ work. And they looked for all kinds of excuses to find faults with Jesus, and blocked believers from coming before Him to receive His salvation, firmly controlling the people in their hands. In the end, they nailed the Lord Jesus to the cross along with the Roman government. And moreover, in face of the facts that the Lord Jesus was resurrected, and that when His disciples preached and worked in His name, power and signs and wonders accompanied them, all of which proved that the work of the Lord Jesus was the work of God Himself, they did not reflect on themselves but still stubbornly stuck their necks out in rebellion against God. As a result, not only did they not obtain God’s salvation, but instead, they were cursed by God for resisting God and offending His disposition.

From the facts above, we can see that only people who truly believe in God, love the truth, and long for and seek the truth, and who are able to put aside their notions to accept and obey God’s work when they hear His voice, can receive God’s salvation. Just as the Lord Jesus said, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you: For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8). Whereas, those who have no fear of God, and who do not seek the truth, but rely on their conceptions and imaginations to condemn and judge God’s work, cannot obtain God’s salvation. This shows us God’s righteous and holy essence.

We all know that it is prophesied in the Bible that the Lord will come again and we will receive from God the salvation of the last days, just as the Lord Jesus said, “Behold, I come quickly” (Revelation 3:11), and the Bible which says, “Who are kept by the power of God through faith to salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:5). Now is the last days and is the key moment when the Lord comes. In order to gain God’s salvation in the last days, what kind of person should we be? Have you thought it over?