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The Knowledge of Salvation

 In a solemn statement God said to Israel through the prophet Hosea:

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.”  Hosea 4:6

In a time of wide spread apostasy God declared to the Israelites that they would be destroyed because of their lack of knowledge. What knowledge did they fail to possess? The Bible explains:

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. Proverbs 9:10

The people of Israel had lost their knowledge of God and as a result they had lost their knowledge of salvation. Hundreds of years later Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, would prophesy concerning his son John:

And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God;… Luke 1:76-78

John was to give the Jewish people a knowledge of salvation. It would be this knowledge that would bring life. But that knowledge only comes through knowing the holy One of Israel. In order for you and I to be saved we must know Jesus. Jesus Himself declares:

And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. John 17:3

Salvation and eternal life then come from knowing Jesus. And so how do we know Jesus? How do we understand who He is and what He wants for our lives? Jesus answers this saying:

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. John 5:39

The Bible itself testifies of Jesus and salvation. It is through a knowledge of God’s word that we can come to truly know Jesus. But the word of God must be rightly understood. The apostle Paul declares:

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15

How then can we rightly divide the word of God? Paul himself would say:

For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 1 Corinthians 2:2 

We are to understand the word of God and Jesus through the cross. But the Bible tells us that the cross itself is placed in a system of truth. Jesus said:

…I am the WAY, the truth, and the life…John 14:6

And we read of that way:

Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary:… Psalm 77:13

The knowledge of salvation comes from understanding Jesus through the cross within the process of the sanctuary. Are you willing to mine the depths of knowledge in God’s word so that you may be preserved? God is calling to you through His word. Will you search for Him with all your heart?


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