How Salvation Looks

2 Kings 2: 9 NIV

When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?”  “Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied. 

Do You Have The Salvation of Jesus?

I have several times been stunned by what people of various ages and backgrounds don’t know.  What seems to me to be common knowledge is not always.  Perhaps you too have been surprised by someone’s lack of familiarity with what you thought everyone understood.   Maybe you spoke with someone who did not know why Christmas is celebrated or where the oil should be put in a car or what a trapezoid is or how many days there are in June.  None of us know everything and you don’t either but sometimes we can be caught by surprise when an intelligent and normal person has never considered what something was that you thought everyone understood.

Salvation is one of the most common terms used in Christian conversations and yet it is not really understood by many of us.  How does salvation look?  What is salvation for you now?  Can salvation be recognized when you see it?  Would someone who spent time with you be able to tell that you have salvation?  What characterizes salvation?

A good place to begin this discussion is by considering someone that Jesus Himself said had salvation.  Zacchaeus may be the most famous tax collector of all time.  He of course climbed a tree to be able to see Jesus over the crowd surrounding the Lord as He passed through Zacchaeus’s town.  Spotting the diminutive Zacchaeus, the Lord warmly called for Zacchaeus to come down from the tree and take him home for lunch.  Some would call Jesus audacious for making such a demand but Zacchaeus was thrilled.  Instantly Zacchaeus announced to Jesus and the crowd standing about that he was giving half his possessions to the poor and to all who claimed Zacchaeus cheated them by charging too much for taxes he promised to pay them back four times the amount he had taken.  Our familiarity with this account drains off much of the electricity it generated when first witnessed by the original onlookers.  Immediately after Zacchaeus made his proclamation of his new way of life, Jesus announced, “Today salvation has come to this house because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.”  (Luke 19: 9 NIV)

In Jesus’ declaration we have the assertion of God that at least in this instance, salvation had a decided look to it. We can see two distinct manifestations of salvation in Zacchaeus.  He threw himself upon God to bring him happiness and contentment.  He did not need all the wealth he had accumulated nor the perks it brought him.  Zacchaeus was happy just having Jesus in his life.  We have in scripture numerous examples of “anti-salvation” too.  Consider the reaction of the elder brother in Jesus’ parable of the Father who welcomed home his young profligate son.  The older brother became furious that his father received his brother back with such enthusiasm and extravagance.  His chief complaint was that for years he had been loyal to his father and never was thrown a party, never given precious gifts.  The father must have been devastated by his older son’s blatant lack of satisfaction with him. Clearly his dad picked up on this part of the son’s complaint when he pleaded with his son to welcome back his brother.  “”My son,” his father said, “you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.”  (Luke 15: 31)

Salvation, at least for Zacchaeus, made him happy just to be with Jesus.  He stopped caring so much for whatever else he had or didn’t have.  The older brother, on the other hand cared very much what he had or didn’t have and was not too interested in his father at all.  The father had to point out to the older son, “you have me”, as if the older son either did not know that or care.  Jesus did not have to point out to Zacchaeus that Zacchaeus had Him;  having Jesus was all that mattered to him.  Zacchaeus was well aware of his life with Christ and was thrilled to have Jesus regardless of anything else coming or going from his life.  Does your salvation look like that?

There is another aspect to the salvation of Zacchaeus that must be noted.  His salvation could be seen in his response to his past.  Illuminated before him in his mind was the wrong he had done and the ways he had cheated people by exacting unwarranted taxes from them. Zacchaeus; when he really saw Jesus and the salvation He offered knew he was a sinner through and through and had no mind to hide any of it from God or anyone else.  Zacchaeus started his new life with God by despising his sinning and choosing to live a good and honest life.  Does your salvation look like that?

If it were not for the great spiritual insight it offers, the account of Elijah and his effort to leave behind his apprentice Elisha so he wouldn’t be present when the Lord took him is almost comical.   When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, "Stay here; the Lord has sent me to Bethel."  But Elisha said, "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel…Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here, Elisha; the Lord has sent me to Jericho."   And he replied, "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So they went to Jericho… Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here; the Lord has sent me to the Jordan."  And he replied, "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So the two of them walked on.  (2 Kings 2:1-6 NIV)  When finally the two arrived at the Jordan River, Elijah took his cloak, struck the water of the Jordan with it and the Jordan River parted, allowing the two to cross on dry ground.  At that point, Elijah asked his apprentice what he could do for him.  When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?"  "Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit," Elisha replied.  "You have asked a difficult thing," Elijah said, "yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours — otherwise not." (2 Kings 2: 9-10 NIV)

What an interesting request!  Elisha wanted a double portion of Elijah’s spirit…whatever that was.  Essentially Elisha wanted lots of what Elijah was inside of himself.    He was asking for the nature and personality of Elijah to be his.  And he got it.  As soon as Elijah was taken by God up to the heavens in a fiery chariot, Elisha left and came to the Jordan River.  Elisha did the same thing he saw his master do before; he took off his cloak, struck the Jordan River with it and voila, the water parted once more and Eisha was able to walk across it on dry ground.  Elisha saw many more miracles take place, even more than we read for Elijah.  He really did receive a “double portion” of Elijah’s spirit!

The Bible tells us that like Elisha, we can have the spirit of another in us…the Spirit of God.  You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.  But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.  And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. (Romans 8: 9-11 NIV)  How was Elisha to know if he was going to possess the spirit of Elijah?  If he witnessed Elijah being taken away by God, then he could know Elijah’s spirit would be his.  How do you know if the Spirit of God is in you?  If you are not controlled by the sinful nature but rather by the Spirit, then He lives in you!  Does your salvation look like that, like the Spirit of God lives in you and controls the way you live?

There is one more report in Scripture that we must consider when it comes to our salvation.  At the end of Luke is recorded a fascinating account of Jesus, after He was crucified and died, returning to life in a new resurrection body.  He suddenly appeared as two of His friends were walking from Jerusalem to the small town of Emmaus.  The disciples didn’t recognize him the entire time they walked but along the way Jesus explained how the Bible in the Old Testament told about everything that happened to Him and why.  Once they got to their home though and Jesus sat down with them to eat, the disciples made an astonishing discovery.  When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.  Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.  They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?" (Luke 24:30-32 NIV)

Jesus did two things for the disciples.  He opened their eyes so that they could see Him…not as a stranger or just another teacher but as God.  He also opened the Scriptures for them so that they could see Him there too.  How can you tell that salvation has come to you?  First, you realize by experience that Jesus Christ is real and He is Lord of all.  This is no longer a curiosity for you or an intellectual exercise of debate but a surety within; a decided matter.  Secondly, the Scriptures become a driving force for you and a fascination that skeptics and critics cannot shake loose from you.  You read the Bible and have a powerful drive to read the Bible.  You see things in it you did not notice before you had salvation.  The Bible becomes personal for you, the source of strength and wisdom you need and want.

When salvation comes to you, Jesus Christ becomes a part of you and what matters to Him matters to you and the sort of character He has gets worked into you just like it did in the Apostle Paul and Peter and John and James and Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Jesus.   It cannot be missed, your resemblance to Jesus and how He thinks when salvation comes to you.  Salvation is not a place where you go but a person you become.  The new you becomes free of sin and full of Christ living through you.  Every time you obey God, more of Him comes out of you and the world as a result, is a better place.