In the summer of 1991, I was courting my future wife and came to the decision that we should become a family. We wanted to be married in an Orthodox church. Somewhere deep in my soul, I understood that I needed to live on good terms with God and that God’s blessing would not hurt us as we started a family. I went to a church and registered for the wedding ceremony. We were required to know the Lord’s Prayer and the Nicene Creed by heart and to bring images of the Savior and the Mother of God. The shop at the church did not have these items, so I went to another church. On the way, I kept repeating the word “Savior” to myself, trying not to forget it, while wondering Who He was, what He saved people from, and why He had such a strange name. I was also curious about what He looked like. The other shop had the images, and I bought them, looking with interest at who was depicted on them. One showed a woman with a Child and a strange circle around her head, while the other showed a man with long hair and the same kind of circle. I realized that they depicted Mary and Jesus, but I still did not understand why Christ was called the Savior. That was how I first learned that there was a Savior Who saved people from something, but I was very far from understanding Who He was and what He had done for me. I was an ordinary Orthodox atheist.
In 1993, I began to know God, and the Holy Spirit worked upon my mind, drawing me to Jesus. Through God’s providence, the book The Great Controversy came into my hands. From it, I learned in great detail about the history of Christianity, the existence of an invisible world, and the forces that surround us and contend with one another for our souls. I also understood what would happen at the end and what a glorious future awaited everyone who believed in God. I believed in the One Who died for my sins, and on July 10, 1993, I repented and, in a prayer of repentance, asked Jesus to forgive my sins and receive me as a lost son. I believed that my prayer had been heard, and from that moment a new and very interesting life began for me. A month later, I realized that I needed to receive water baptism, and I underwent this rite in a charismatic church. But I could not remain in that movement for long because I saw a clear discrepancy between its teachings and the biblical account, so I decided to study on my own at home. In the autumn of that same year, my wife and I moved permanently to Germany, and I studied the Word of God and the spiritual literature available to me every day. Two years later, I was baptized again, but in another church. I knew that Christ was my Savior, but I did not understand what He was saving me from and never thought about it; I simply believed that it was so. Yet the truth about salvation is fundamental, and it must be understood correctly. It is upon this foundation that one can build a spiritual house of happiness and growth.
Approximately seventeen years after I became a believer, I told my coworkers during a conversation that Jesus wanted to save them, and they asked me what He was saving them from. I could not answer them, but the question made me think deeply. I realized that I did not understand this simple truth and therefore could not explain it to people who knew nothing about it. So I began studying the question, trying to grasp its essence.
As I studied this truth deeply, I began to understand that my salvation had begun in the distant past, when only two people lived on Earth; then it was accomplished on the cross, when I did not yet exist, and gained its power through the shed Blood of Christ. In the present, salvation is being accomplished as I become directly involved in this process and God’s grace works in my heart, cleansing it from sin. A wonderful future awaits us, in which our salvation will be completed. Then sin, its originator, all the followers of evil, and the slaves of sin will be judged and completely destroyed.
The experience of my salvation includes the following stages: repentance, confession, forgiveness, justification, and sanctification. Every believer passes through them. Not one of these steps can be omitted. This is a process that God accomplishes in me.
I also understood that only Christ could be my Savior. For He alone took all my sins upon Himself, bore the punishment for my transgressions, was killed for my iniquities, and thereby freed me from the power of sin and death, which were rightfully mine.
The power of sin is enormous. It holds its victims in an iron embrace, torments them, and kills them at the level of the soul.
People who reject their salvation do not even understand the terrible lifelong slavery into which they surrender themselves or what sin leads to. But through faith in Him, Christ saves the soul from this influence and gives it freedom. This freedom from sin implies my choice of righteousness, love, and the knowledge of the Holy God, as well as life and spiritual growth in all these qualities.
Jesus also saves me from myself. My heart has a quality that the Bible calls the carnal nature, the flesh, or the carnal man. All of this is my inborn selfishness, which dictates how I should act in any given situation. The carnal mind is in constant opposition to God, His love, and His law. Christ saves me from this influence by giving me agape love, which becomes my chief motivating force in everything I do.
Death for sins has power over those who commit sin and are under the power of sin. Without any mercy, it holds its subjects firmly, giving them no chance of justification through good works. No religion can save me from the death sentence for the lawlessness I have committed. No amount of money and no good deed can redeem me from the power of eternal death. For the wages of sin is death. Only Christ saves me from this power. He paid the price. And the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.
If I think that I can commit sin and remain free, somehow escaping the punishment of the second death, then I am simply naïve and ignorant in my understanding of God’s holiness. The Bible teaches that the soul that sins will die—and die forever, never to be raised to life again.
Jesus was the Firstborn from the dead. He was the first to die in my place for my sins, suffering the torments of the second death, and thereby satisfied the demands of the law. Christ was the first and the last to rise after such a death. This is the great mystery of Salvation, but this is precisely how it was accomplished.
Jesus also saves me from God’s righteous judgment and wrath, which will soon be poured out upon this corrupt world. I do not even have to appear at that judgment, because my personal Savior is there, justifying me and interceding for me. And when my name is spoken in the Heavenly judgment, Christ will show His pierced hands and His Blood, and by this mercy I will be justified. I am very grateful to Jesus for such a sacrifice, for He endured these torments in my place so that I might live forever.
My Lord also saves me from the corrupting influence of this world and from spiritual wickedness in high places. No one can force me to sin, but sin can be offered to me, and I can be persuaded to commit it. Yet the Lord protects me from this influence, giving me His love instead as power in the battle against temptation.
Love is the crown of my salvation in Jesus.
Questions for Reflection
Please read Acts 4:10–12; Isaiah 45:22; 53; Jeremiah 31:31–34; Ezekiel 33:11; 36:25–27; Psalm 44:3, 11; John 3:3–8, 16; 4:42; 16:8; Romans 3:21–26; 8:1–4, 14–17; 5:6–10; 2 Corinthians 5:17–21; Galatians 1:4; 3:13–14, 26; 4:4–7; Ephesians 2:4–10; Colossians 1:13–14; Titus 3:3–7; 1 Peter 1:23; 2:21–22 in the light of this chapter. What did you understand from this chapter? What else does Christ save us from? Why is there no other Savior in the world besides Jesus? Why do Christians sometimes die senseless deaths? Why does God not save them from a foolish death? What does Christ not save us from? Do you have assurance of your salvation? What is the proper answer to the question, “Are you saved?” May I call myself saved?