Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

““Ephraim, what shall I do to you?
    Judah, what shall I do to you?
    For your love is like a morning cloud,
    and like the dew that disappears early.
Therefore I have cut them to pieces with the prophets;
    I killed them with the words of my mouth.
    Your judgments are like a flash of lightning.
For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice;
    and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
But they, like Adam, have broken the covenant.
    They were unfaithful to me there.
Gilead is a city of those who work iniquity;
    it is stained with blood.
As gangs of robbers wait to ambush a man,
    so the company of priests murder on the path toward Shechem,
    committing shameful crimes.
In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing.
    There is prostitution in Ephraim.
    Israel is defiled.
“Also, Judah, there is a harvest appointed for you,
    when I restore the fortunes of my people.”
(Hosea 6:4-11)

“For Moses writes about the righteousness of the law, “The one who does them will live by them.” But the righteousness which is of faith says this, “Don’t say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down); or, ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.)” But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart;” that is, the word of faith which we preach: that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes resulting in righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in him will not be disappointed.””
(Romans 10:5-11)

God’s love was given freely to His chosen people, but they turned away from Him and went to idols. They broke covenant with Him and strayed from under His blessing. They didn’t stay with Him. They turned away. They lost trust in Him. Abandoned Him. But He didn’t abandon them. He warned them of the consequences that were coming. He warned them of the trouble and hardship. He was clear with them about what they were choosing. But He also promised them restoration. That not all would fall forever. That some would return. That some would choose to be restored. That there would be a harvest of His favour on them again. That Messiah’s death and restoration would open the Way for them to come back home to Him (Hosea 6:1-2; Mark 9:30-31).

Jesus was the goal of the Law. The Law shows that righteousness is grounded in trusting God. God predicted the future restoration of not only Israel, but the whole world in Messiah. That it would be a restoration grounded in trusting in Him. It is trusting God that saves us, not our deeds. A religious adherence to rules and trusting in that adherence to justify us is not the Way. Our zeal for the Lord will be a good thing when that zeal is founded on our trust for Him, not our performance. Trust is the foundation of salvation. God did it, we believe Him, we put our trust in His faithfulness at His promise, and we gain life through our restoration in Jesus through what HE has done. We believe, we declare our belief, and we trust in Him enough to do it. That is salvation. That is restoration. And it is freely given to all who would believe, Jew and Gentile. His promises are faithful.

Summary

This is not the END of salvation. It is the BEGINNING. We don’t confess and then do what we want. We confess and then walk with Him. We let His Light in to every corner of our lives, piece by piece, and we are restored in Him. We are renewed in Him. Glory to glory until we are all complete and standing face to face before His Throne worshipping Him. It isn’t an easy life. But it is a simple one: love God and trust in Him. And we share this news, this message, to everyone so that everyone has the chance to make the same decision. To believe what God says, declare that they believe, and trust God as they live with Him. This is salvation. This is the Good News. This is the restoration God promised from the very beginning of the beginning. This is the Word of our Trust: Jesus saves.