Since we must enter the kingdom as a child, it would seem it must be a simple thing. However, it seems that we get confused when we think of it. Sometimes it does sound very simple:
"For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal life; and I Myself will raise him up on the last day." --John 6:40
"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life." --John 3:14-15
So saving faith is faith in Jesus, of course. How simple is it? I had a pastor in my youth who I can remember emphasizing the above scripture from John 3. "How are we saved? Look and live." In the wilderness, the people needed healing or they would die. The only thing required of them was that they go and look at the serpent. This might have taken some faith to get up off their bed and experience the discomfort of going to look at this thing; how in the world could that heal them anyway? It couldn't heal them; God could. Looking demonstrated faith in God.
"Look and live" may be all that should be said, but I guess I'll go on and pick it apart anyway. What does it mean for us to behold the Son and believe in Him? We can't physically see Him right now. We know some things about Him; what is enough so that we are beholding Him?
What does it mean to "believe in His name," as John also puts it? I don't think it has to do with the pronunciation or I'd try to stick to Yeshua, but that is probably not exactly right either. I think that if I am believing in His name, I will believe what His name says. His name says "God (YHWH) saves." And Matthew 1:21 tells us HE (Jesus) will save His people from their sins. I think the really essential idea is that God saves us and "saves" has no meaning unless we know what He is saving us from. An angel cannot save us; one of our own can't save us. We cannot save ourselves and there is no Hero among Adam's fallen race; only God can save us.
That's pretty much how I've always thought about it. If someone in the Americas around 500 A.D. believed he was sick with sin, that ONLY God could save him, and that God would do whatever it took to save him, I tend to think that God did save Him. He might have to know a little more than that in his heart, but it might be rather vague in the head. He should know that he has guilt and God Himself must bear that guilt. I do think the idea of a substitute is shouted by God to all people. Just look how the idea of an innocent sacrifice (virgins, babies, docile herbivores) is so common in so many cultures. They may pervert it, but it is there.
So, I guess you see that I consider it treading on very dangerous ground to consider your savior to be anyone other than God and, of course, we must view Jesus as our savior. One final point, which I think the New Testament makes clear: if one hears about Jesus and rejects Him, it implies that the heart knowledge for salvation was not there.
--Ed
Return Home