|
Save: To preserve from injury, destruction or evil of any kind; to rescue from danger; as, to save a house from the flames; to save a man from drowning; to save a family from ruin; to save a state from war.
Greek: sozo [sode’-zo] = Heal, Healing, Recover, Save, Saving, Whole, Wholly, Wholesome. It is translated save [93], make whole [9], heal [3], be whole [2]; to save, i.e. deliver or protect (literal or figurative): - heal, preserve, save (self), do well, be (make) whole. Strong's Greek & Hebrew Dictionary. "To save," is sometimes used of "healing" or "restoration to health," the latter in John 11:12, RV, "he will recover, “Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old Testament and New Testament Words.
Perhaps one of the great perplexities of the Christian thought is the total understanding of the fullness of this word and as to whether it has such great fullness, or is it centralized only in the idea of sin and its forgiveness.
Growing up in a fundamental church I had never heard of this word before. There was little reference to the idea of healing, deliverance, blessing and prosperity and its availability to the believer. Prayers often went up but were not done in a true faith perspective. It was kind of one of those, ‘Lord we pray for healing for brother so and so but none the less, thy will be done.” This seemed to be a good prayer and of course, wouldn’t it make sense that God’s will be done. “But you know brother/sister that it may be time for God to call this person home, He misses them.”
The problem with this type of prayer is there is no absolute and thus a person begins to see Jesus as this type of person and is it sacrilegious; to think you could demand or expect God to answer your prayers? You do know that God is Sovereign and He does whatever He pleases and must answer for nothing or no one.
This my friend is wrong thinking, and it is the way that so much of the Bible has been discriminated against in the organized churches and how we end up with so many denominations, all spewing out the idea that they are correct and everyone else is missing the mark.
However, one day I became extremely confused by all this rhetoric and I went to God and explained to Him my great disillusion. It was the very first miracle that I had ever experienced, [I didn’t even know there was such a thing]. In my basement standing in the dark, a light shined from somewhere and it lit on the Bible as I laid it on the desk. The Bible fell open to 1 John 2:27 and it gave me the answer I had been searching. It did not come in a way that I expected, but none the less the great question in my life had a solution and a finality. He spoke to me that He was sovereign but has given to us a manual that explains everything that we will ever need in this life and that I could count on and trust in His Word to be revelation to all that matters for me and all believers. This is where John 1:1 began to make sense and then John 10:10. You see, we had God’s sovereignty in our hands all the time, we just did not recognize it as such.
If one will just get into the study, meditating, focusing and committing to the Word of God it will provide you all the answers that one will ever need, both in this life and the next one. This is childlike and simple, and this is freedom to know we have an answer at our fingertips for all that will ever confront or challenge us in this life. This is sozo and you can “take it to the bank”!!
| 
