“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
Ephesians 2:8-9 NKJV
There are many awe-inspiring things about our God. Perhaps top of the list is that before He created the world, He thought about you; He fashioned a perfect salvation plan even before we realised our need for salvation.
Apostle Paul tells us this by revelation in his letter to the Ephesian church:
“Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.” – Ephesians 1:4-5 NKJV
We must understand that in salvation, we weren’t the ones looking for God, God sought after us. He typified His salvation plan for us through the Israelite nation when He led them out of Egyptian captivity.
The book of Exodus is not just a historic book but a prophetic one because it was a symbol of how God delivered us from darkness to light. From the exit (Exodus) of the Israelites from Egypt, we discover the three structures of salvation.
The first structure is God’s divine initiation of the salvation plan. God sought out Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, not the other way around (Exodus 3:1-6). In the same vein, God preempted the salvation plan and made a provision for us to be saved.
We also see God’s sovereign intervention in the Red Sea experience because it gives us a picture of baptism. The children of Israel were baptised unto Moses.
Let’s look at 1 Corinthians 10:1-2 below:
“Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.”
Similarly, when we believed in Jesus, we were baptised into the faith and gospel of Christ (Matthew 28:19-20, Galatians 3:27).
Lastly, we see a structure of discipleship. After salvation, God expected the Israelites to reciprocate with loyalty to Him because He wanted them to be named His people, and set them apart from their surrounding nations (Exodus 19:6, Leviticus 20:26).
Similarly, in our new life in Christ, we are also urged to “present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable to God because it is our reasonable service” (Romans 12:1). What a perfect plan! No man could have contrived this. Salvation is a free and perfect gift of God to man. Knowing this, how do you respond? You rejoice! Glory to God!
DO THIS: Meditate on God’s master plan for your salvation and let it stir up gratitude in you.
Bible Reading Plan:
Luke 4:38-44, Philippians 1:1-11, Psalms 119:105-112, 2 Kings 1-3