Michael Walker

Retired Minister for the Seventh-day Adventist Church

Burnt Lane, Gorleston

 

 

During my lifetime I have been privileged to visit several interesting places in the world. It has been fascinating to see how various peoples of earth live and follow their own particular customs. That is an education by itself. Something that captivated my attention during these travels has been the different methods adapted to obtain eternal life in a state of peace and happiness; and yet, that inner longing for satisfaction is never achieved. The human quest remains unattained as long as man searches for it in the wrong direction!

 

The apostle Paul once wrote to young Timothy: “You have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to Salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” – 2 Timothy 3:15.

 

In contrast to the popular view that salvation was something to be earned or achieved, the apostle directed young Timothy to the correct purpose of the Scriptures. A knowledge of the Scriptures is not what saves us, but knowing the One Whom the Scriptures testify is where our salvation is found. Sacred writings do not save us but Jesus does. He is our Saviour. Salvation is received by faith and nothing else. This is why Paul declared that the Scriptures makes us wise about “salvation through faith in Christ Jesus”.

 

Jesus Himself had declared: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:1-6). Speaking before the Sanhedrin, Peter boldly announced that “Salvation is in no one else” but Jesus Christ (Act.4:12). This is the good news of salvation – news that brings hope and assurance to everyone who believes; and the purpose of the entire Scriptures is to bring this hope by directing us to the world’s only Saviour, Jesus Christ our Lord. “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope” (Rom.15:4). This is why we can join with those early Christian believers in expressing our confidence and joy in the soon return of Jesus at what will be the glorious climactic event in salvation’s history: “We wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).

 

For those who imagine some other way of being saved, no matter how sincerely they believe in it, they are going down a ‘dead end’ road! Many seek eternal life by other means, whether it is good works, faithful adherence, impressive service, pilgrimages, deprivation, bodily punishment and self-denial, or even martyrdom; yet salvation can be found in none other than Jesus Christ. “There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way of death” (Prov.14:12). This is the reason it is so clearly explained in the Bible. This is why we need to study it. As we do so, we need to see Jesus and receive Him as our Lord and Saviour, our only way of salvation.