He Sets Up Salvation

Isaiah 26:1-4 ESV

“In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

“We have a strong city;

    he sets up salvation

    as walls and bulwarks.

Open the gates,

    that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.

You keep him in perfect peace

    whose mind is stayed on you,

    because he trusts in you.

Trust in the Lord forever,

    for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.”

When I first began to really study the book of Isaiah, in full context, I was struck by how much of what it teaches are prophecies about Jesus Christ and the Messianic age. And I believe this is one of those, even though some of these prophecies had dual fulfillments. So I am not discounting that this might not have had another fulfillment. Yet, this describes the people of God under the New Covenant, and the church at the end of the age.

For, under the Old Covenant, the temple of God was a physical building, and inside of that building was the Holy of Holies which housed the Ark of the Covenant. That is where the high priest met with God once a year and made sacrifice for the sins of his own self, first, and then for the sins of the people. And Jerusalem, which used to be “the holy city” had physical walls around it, and God’s people were a physical nation of people.

But under the New Covenant, we enter into salvation via Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins on that cross, which then did away with the priestly sacrifices once a year, for he became the final and the only complete sacrifice for the sins of the people of the world. After that no more animal sacrifices were required, for Jesus had paid it all. And now we, the people of God, are that holy city, the city without walls. And our salvation is our protection and our defense.

Now we who believe in Jesus Christ with God-given and God-persuaded faith in Christ Jesus are the temple of God, and God, in the person of the Holy Spirit, lives within us. We are the house of God, not buildings built by human hands. The little ditty that we learned as children is not the correct depiction of the church. For the church is not a physical building with a steeple on top and the people are inside the building. We, the people, are the building!!

And the physical city of Jerusalem, once called “the Holy City,” is now of Hagar, the slave woman, and equal with other people of other nations who do not believe in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of their lives. For she is still in slavery with her children. And we who believe in Jesus Christ, whether Jew or Gentile by physical birth, are God’s chosen people and heirs of the promise of God that he gave to his people Israel.

[John 8:18-19,38-47; Romans 9:4-8; Romans 11:17-25; Galatians 3:16,26-29; Galatians 4:22-31; Ephesians 2:11-18; Ephesians 3:6; 1 John 2:22]

Therefore, this city being spoken of here, the city without physical walls, for which salvation is for her protection and defense, is the Jerusalem that is from above, which is a heavenly Jerusalem, a spiritual nation, the city on the hill which cannot be hidden (see Matthew 5:14-16). We who believe in Jesus Christ with genuine God-persuaded faith in Christ are the city of God and we are the house of God and the temple of God with salvation as our protection.

This city is also the kingdom of God which dwells within the hearts of those who are of genuine God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ (Luke 17:21), for Jesus Christ is that kingdom, and he did dwell among the people, and he dwells within those who are his followers. And the apostle Paul defined the kingdom of God as “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” which dwells within those of genuine faith in Christ (Romans 14:17).

Who can enter into this city? Who can receive salvation from sin and eternal life with God? It is not those who give lip service to the Lord while they continue in deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord without conscience. It is those who have been crucified and buried with Christ in death to sin, and who have been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin, but as slaves to God (Romans 6:1-23).

It is those who are walking according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh, who are making righteousness their practice, and sin is not their practice. They are those who are walking in obedience to the Lord and to his commands, in practice, though not necessarily in absolute sinless perfection (Romans 8:1-14). And this is not teaching works salvation. This is teaching what the Scriptures teach, if we read them in context, not out of context.

For to trust in the Lord Jesus is not to just make a mere profession or acknowledgment of him, but it involves surrender of our lives to him, and it involves submission to Christ as Lord (owner-master), and it involves us denying self and dying daily to sin and following our Lord in obedience to his commands, in practice, in conduct, as part of our lifestyle. For if sin is what we practice, we will not inherit eternal life with God (Luke 9:23-26).

Isaiah 26:13-14 ESV

“O Lord our God,

    other lords besides you have ruled over us,

    but your name alone we bring to remembrance.

They are dead, they will not live;

    they are shades, they will not arise;

to that end you have visited them with destruction

    and wiped out all remembrance of them.”

So, what is the object of our salvation from sin? It is that those things that once ruled over our lives might be put to death so that they no longer have power and control and dominion over our lives. And it is so that our lives will now be surrendered to Jesus Christ to do his will. It does not mean we will be perfect people, but that we will make righteousness our practice, and sin will no longer be what we practice, for Jesus died to set us free from sin.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

Refiner’s Fire  

By Brian Doerksen

Purify my heart,

let me be as gold and precious silver.

Purify my heart,

let me be as gold, pure gold.

Purify my heart,

cleanse me from within

and make me holy.

Purify my heart,

cleanse me from my sin, deep within.

Refiner's fire,

my heart's one desire

is to be holy;

set apart for You, Lord.

I choose to be holy;

set apart for You, my Master,

ready to do Your will.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSIazjrA0Ls