By Tyson Thorne

May 23, 2018
 

Salvation2 large

Confidence in God and the salvation he offers to us has been a source of hope and conviction for believers since the earliest of times. At the beginning of Israel's monarchy King David longed to hear the words from God's own lips asking, "Assure me with these words: “I am your deliverer!” (Psalm 35.3) Toward the end of the monarchy, at the end of Jonah chapter two, the prophet proclaims, "Salvation belongs to the Lord!" What is most amazing about these statements is how many people misunderstand them. Most modern believer's think these are statements regarding eternal life, but they aren't.

The problem is easy to understand, we often place our New Testament understanding on top of Old Testament passages. This is especially easy to do when we encounter key words like "salvation" and "deliverance". We have become so attuned to the meaning of such words from our theology we forget that not every follower of God has had such depth of knowledge. In short, we forget that God's revelation of himself and his plan of salvation was revealed progressively through history, rather than all at once in ancient times.

Looking at the context of Psalm 35 we see that David's requested "deliverance" was a physical one, "Use your spear and lance against those who chase me! Assure me with these words: ‘I am your deliverer!’ ”. Likewise, Jonah chapter two is a psalm-like prayer Jonah composed when in the belly of a great fish. Jonah wasn't concerned about his eternal salvation at that moment, he was concerned about dying. While David and Jonah's statements will find its full definition in Jesus and spiritual salvation, this is beyond the meaning the king and the prophet intended.

This meaning of these passages is clear in the immediate context, with David on the run and Jonah trapped inside an enormous fish. These meanings are reinforced when we see it play out in the larger context. In Psalm 35 the context is short and easy to see, but in Johna's case we have a whole book to examine. For example, in chapter one we see that the Gentile sailors were saved from physical death by throwing Jonah overboard. Jonah was saved from the sea by a great fish, and saved from being digested when God commanded the creature to vomit the prophet up onto dry land. In chapter three, Nineveh is saved from physical destruction by turning away from their evil practices. This last event is important to understand. Notice that the people of Nineveh turned away from evil, but not toward Elohim. There is no indication of spiritual salvation anywhere in the text.

This reveals the theology of Jonah's day. God's salvation is understood in terms of personal life and a nation's existence. The Israelites understood that God made them a nation by calling them from Egypt. As such, God also had the right to exile them from the land he promised them — this being only too clear to them as they had only recently returned to Israel. The Hebrews also understood that their every breath was granted by their Lord.

Like many of the prophecies in the Bible, there are two fulfillments — one is a near immediate meaning, the other, greater fulfillment occurring in the future. Take Hosea 11.1 as an example: When Israel was a young man, I loved him like a son, and I summoned my son out of Egypt." While it is true that God brought forth the nation of Israel from Egypt, Matthew tells us that these words also apply to Jesus when, as a young boy, his parents took him to Egypt to escape Herod's infanticide. Later, God called his Son back to Israel. Two fulfillments. The same holds true here. The salvation God brought to Jonah and Nineveh may have been physical, but his statement that "salvation belongs to the Lord" is even more true on this side of cross. Understanding these two separate contexts and fulfillments is to understand God's progression of truth through history.

 
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