A Few Thoughts On Salvation
By George W. Thomas, Pastor Of Akeman Street, Tring, Herts.
“From Him cometh my salvation”—Ps 62:1
From whom? From Him whose commandments I have so willfully broken, and whose authority I have rebelled against? From Him whose countless benefits I have received without noticing the hand that bestowed them? From the thrice Holy One, at whose reproof the heavens tremble and are astonished? Perdition may have overtaken myriads of souls who went not so far in the contempt of God as I did, yet salvation cometh to me from Him. He would have been just to pass me by. When we review our sins, they seem to require the outpouring of His fiercest wrath upon us. Yes; from Him cometh our salvation. Then He must have had thoughts of love towards us from eternity.
From Him it cometh.
Cometh: here we have a precious present-tense word. Every day, every hour, it cometh to me by one agency or another; now in this manner, now in that. It comes to us as we read the precious Word; it comes in answer to prayer, in the example shown by the demeanor of the children of His sovereign choice; in reverses in Providence; in the various humiliations we are called to pass through, and that help us to see the exceeding sinfulness of sin. It comes to us in the love visits of the Holy Spirit, which give us precious views of the all-worthiness of Christ. And what has not yet reached us is on the way to us. By faith we rejoice in what is before us—the complete deliverance from all sin and corruption and the sweet rest of heaven.
My salvation.
The thought melts the soul. “Why me, Lord?” I know more evil of myself than I can positively know of another. When I take some of the pictures of my past life, and thrust them into the purity of heaven, I groan at the great contrast. Wonder of wonders! Shall this heart, that has been the seat of affections so dishonourable be interpenetrated with the very love of God; love to all that are the fitting objects of love—love to God, love to Jesus, love to the chosen people.
Salvation.
The Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour, came to earth to make an atonement, proclaim His Gospel, establish His Church, pour out His Spirit. This was the Alpha of our salvation; and we look for Him now from heaven in all His glory, to perfect in us His wondrous work, and present us faultless before His Father’s throne. This will be the Omega of our salvation. May we, like Jacob, be able to say “I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord!”
George Thomas (1851-1936) was a Strict and Particular Baptist preacher. He had somewhat of an unsettled ministry, serving the pastoral office for eight congregations. (1) Borough Green, 1883-1886; (2) Tring, 1886-1891; (3) Tabernacle, Watford, 1893-1908; (4) Dunstable, 1909; (5) Beulah, Watford, 1910-1918; (6) Staines, 1918-1920; (7) Bexleyheath, 1920-1921; (8) Pulham, 1922-1933.
Further Study
