Saved from Hell?

Are you saved? If so, what are saved from?

Back in my missionary days I was witnessing to a young man. After

giving him my spiel on Jesus and all, I asked him if he wanted to get
saved. "Saved from what?" he asked. At that point, I wasn't exactly
sure what to say. I was thinking, "saved from hell of course, you
ignorant unbeliever!" But I didn't exactly say that. Saved from what?
Now that's an excellent question. Salvation does indeed mean to be
rescued from some sort of peril. What does the Bible say we are saved
from?

The words salvation, save, saved, and related words occur hundreds
of times in the scriptures. Here are some verses which give us clues as
to what salvation is:

But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth
and to save your lives by a great deliverance. (Gen. 45:7)

Salvation means saving your life.

But Moses said to the people, "Do not fear! Stand by and see the
salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the
Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again
forever. (Ex. 14:13)

Salvation is of the Lord.

That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and
Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. (Ex. 14:30)

Salvation is from bondage.

The LORD is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation;

This is my God, and I will praise Him; My father's God, and I will extol
Him. (Ex. 15:2)

The Lord is our salvation.

My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, My shield and the horn of my
salvation, my stronghold and my refuge; My savior, You save me from
violence. (2 Sam. 22:3)

Salvation is from violence.

Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation;

Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness. (Ps. 51:14)

Salvation is from guilt and sin.

He says, "It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise
up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will
also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to
the end of the earth." (Is 49:6)

Salvation will reach the ends of the earth.

The LORD has bared His holy arm In the sight of all the nations, That
all the ends of the earth may see The salvation of our God. (Is. 52:10)

Salvation is for all.

I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior. (Is.

43:11)

The Lord is the only savior.

In the New Testament, the definition of salvation doesn't change, but

it is fully revealed through Jesus Christ.

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins. (Matt. 1:21)

Salvation is from sin.

...and were calling on him that they might only touch the fringe of his
garment, and as many as did touch were saved. (Matt 14:36 - Young's
Literal Translation)
Salvation means physical healing.

The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going
to drown!" (Matt. 8:25)

Salvation is from danger.

As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do
not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. (Jn
12:47)

Salvation is for the whole world.

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ

Jesus came into the world to save sinners - of whom I am the worst.
(1 Tim. 1:14)

Salvation is for sinners.

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not
believe will be condemned. (Mk. 16:16)

Salvation is for those who believe.

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under

heaven given to men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)

Salvation is found only in Jesus

They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved - you
and your household." (Acts 16:31)

Salvation is when you believe in Jesus.

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall
we be saved from God's wrath through him! (Rom. 5:9)

Salvation is from God's wrath.

And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The deliverer will come
from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. (Rom 11:26)

Salvation is for all Israel.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not
from yourselves, it is the gift of God. (Eph 2:8)

Salvation is by grace, through faith.

This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be
saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim. 2:3-4)

Salvation is for all.

salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us -
Luke 1:71

Salvation is from our enemies.

And all mankind will see God's salvation. (Luke 3:6)

Salvation is for all.

...who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age,
according to the will of our God and Father (Gal. 1:4)

Salvation is from the present evil age.

so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people;
and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring
salvation to those who are waiting for him. (Heb. 9:28)

Salvation will be fully realized when Christ returns.

There are many more. With a good concordance you can see for
yourself how the Bible defines salvation. I use studylight.org, a free
online search tool and concordance.

Did you notice something missing? Where does the Bible say that
salvation means being saved from eternal hell? NOWHERE! Where
does the Bible say that salvation means going to heaven - when you
die? NOWHERE!

If salvation is from hell, wouldn't be the most important part of it?

Who cares about having cancer, struggling with sin, or being enslaved
by the Egyptians? None of that would matter if your eternal fate hangs
in the balance. Think about it - why is the focus of salvation on
temporal things? Personally, if I believed my future home was likely
hell, I would crawl on my hands and knees on broken glass to avoid it.
No pain, suffering, or trial would be too great if it meant avoiding hell.
I would beg Jesus to tell us how to avoid hell - but he does not offer
that as part of the salvation package.

Maybe you are reasoning to yourself that the Bible doesn't say
salvation is from hell because it was so obvious and everybody in
Jesus' time knew they were on their way to hell and were looking for a
way out. That's simply not true. The mainstream Jews and even
Greeks of Jesus' day did not have any established doctrine of eternal
hell. This may come as a shock to you, but the doctrine of eternal
torment in hell simply does not exist in the Old Testament (it doesn't
exist in the New Testament either, but at least it's understandable why
many people see it there). Scholars have searched for centuries,
desperately trying to find hell in the Old Testament. They have come
up empty. But forget about the pointy headed experts - no honest
casual reader of the Old Testament has found eternal torment there
either. If you doubt that, open up your Bible to page one and start
reading. Read from Genesis to Malachi. You may find the word hell (if
you reading the KJV), but it's never described as a place of
punishment (see my article "If Sheol is Hell...").

One of the dumbest arguments in favor of hell, in my opinion, is that if

there is no hell, then Jesus died for nothing. What nonsense! Jesus
died to reconcile us with God, to save us from sin, to heal our broken
hearts, and to set us free. Again, where does the Bible say that Jesus
died to save us from hell?

Why did Jesus come? Here's Jesus' mission statement in his own
words:
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to
preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom
for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the
oppressed (Luke 4:18)
Why did Jesus die on the cross? To reconcile all unto himself:
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through
him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or
things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the
cross. (Col. 1:19-20)

Knowing who saves you and what He saves your from will give you a
reason to rejoice in your salvation!