WHY IS SALVATION A GIFT?

INTRODUCTION
This article explains in deep true salvation. This book is not only based on spiritual understanding for Christian faith but also for educational purpose for those. From time to time I may quote some of holy bible verses for more understanding. This article will cover also sin to help the reader understand what people are saved from for salvation is the product of being saved.
WHAT IS SALVATION?
Salvation is believing in Jesus Christ. We can also say salvation is (ROMANS 10:9 KJV, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”) Salivation is a gift from God. (EPHESIANS 2:8 KJV, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and not of yourselves: it is the gift of God”) When we differentiate these two words, salvation and saved, we find that salvation is a gift and believing in Christ while saved is being rescued from something bad. Jesus saves us who believe in Him from sin. That is why salvation means being saved from sin by Christ. At least now we understand what salvation is. Let us now sink deep into the origin of Christian salvation. And what we are we being saved from?
WHAT IS SIN?
As I said earlier that salvation is being saved from sin by Christ, most of us need to understand the origin of salvation. But for us to understand this, we need to know the origin of sin first. Sin is being against God or sin is being against God’s word and sin is also not having faith in Jesus. We can confirm this from the book of (GENESIS 2:7 KJV, “But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shall surely die.”) This was the first commandment that God gave Adam. Adam became against God when he broke this commandment. This command was the word of God being given to. Adam (JOHN 1:1 KJV, “In the beginning Was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.”) Before Adam became against God, there was someone else who made him to and that was Eve. In Genesis 3:3, Eve is breaks the first commandment of God when she misquotes the word of God. (GENESIS 3:3, “But of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”) This was the answer Eve gave to the serpent after the serpent wanted to know if truly Eve knew the word of God. But there are differences in God’s verse and Eve’s. In Genesis 2:7, these words SURELY DIE, TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL are mentioned. While in Genesis 3:7 mentions these, TREE WHICH IS THE MIDST, TOUCH IT. Eve Added her words to the word of God when she said “touch it, tree which is in the midst”. This was the origin of sin. Before Eve ate the fruit and took it to her husband she had already sinned. This is how she sinned; (REVELATION 22:18-19 RSV, “I warn everyone who hears the word of prophecy of this book: if any one adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if any one takes away from the words of the book of prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are descried in this book.”) This is the true origin of sin. She sinned spiritually. Jesus confirmed that people sin spiritually before manifestation in the book of, (MATHEW 5:28 KJV, “But I say onto you whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery.”) Because Eve did not have the true word of God, she misquoted it. It meant she did not know God well as Adam did. Because of that, she could not believe 100 percent in a God as required. She. She did not have 100% God in her for the word is God. After The serpent who is Satan realizing that the woman did not have 100% the word of God, Satan lured the woman into believing his own word that once she ate the fruit, she would be like God and the woman ate the fruit. After believing not in God, and becoming against the word of God, the woman committed the second sin which was the manifestation of the first. This woman was the cause of Adam’s sin.
WHY DO YOU THINK ADAM SINNED?
Even after Adam knowing God all this time, he still sinned. Why do you think he sinned? Why did he not rebuke Eve when he found out that eve had eaten the fruit? Why did he not leave Eve to face her own consequences? This is where I introduce the concept of faith. Because people with faith say that they believe in God. God said in Genesis 2:7, “for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Now when Adam looked with his human eyes and saw Eve who had eaten the fruit still alive, he said in his heart why did God lie to me when he said thou shalt surely die the day you shall eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil yet my wife is not dead? From that particular moment, he sinned by not believing again in the word of God. He took the fruit and ate now committing the second sin manifesting now disobeying God. One sin led to a thousand and more sins.
Now you should know that God is always true as His word is. (PSALMS 117:2 KJV, “For his merciful kindness is great towards us: and the truth of God endureth forever. Praise ye the lord.”) The meaning of the word die is being separated from. When you die, your spirit(soul) is separated from your body. (1 KINGS 17:22 KJV, “And the lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again”) In the bible we can group die in two categories. Die spiritually and die physically. When your spirit is separated with your body, we say you have died physically and when you leave the presence of God, we say you have died spiritually. Before I give an answer, do you think Adam and Eve died both spiritually and physically the same day they ate the fruit? Here is my answer. (GENESIS 3:23 KJV, “Therefore the lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken.”) Eden means in the presence of God. We now know that that same day they ate the fruit, same day they died spiritually.
Did they as well die physically that same day? Most of us just like Adam thought he could not die the same day; thinks how could he die the same day he ate the fruit yet Adam lived 930 years and had sons and daughters? (GENESIS 5:5, “And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.”). The 930 Years that Adam lived to God did not even reach one day. Let us not be ignorant by thinking with our mind like Adam thought. Let us think like God by believing his word. God meant this when he said one day. (2ND PETER 3:8 KJV, “But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”) We now have seen that Adam died the same day he ate the fruit physically. Ever since no man has been able to live a thousand years which is one day to God. We now have established the origin of sin and we now know what really Jesus saved us from.
I will not go into much discussing in this article some of other questions like, maybe why God allowed man to sin at the first place? or why is it that God did not forgive man at once the same day and waited the times of Jesus? Also, maybe why God forgives man of his sins while he refuses to forgive Satan of his sins regarding that both of them were against God? Remember that Satan was an angel while Adam was just but a man. You may find more about this in one of my other article called sin which exclusively talks about sin, law and Grace. Having understood the origin of sin, let us now see the origin of salvation.

THE ORIGIN OF SALVATION.
When did God decide to redeem man? Why did God decide to forgive man? (GENESIS 3:21 KJV, “Unto Adam also to his wife did the lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.”) This is the time God decided to forgive man. Even though man had sinned against God, but also did God cloth them with animal skins. God had compassion for man. For those who understands more about this verse it explains the future coming of Jesus. The lamb was a representation of Jesus. The death of the lamb represents the death of Jesus. The skin of the lamb that was used to make coats represents the body of Christ that was replaced with our bodies when he died on the cross. (JOHN 3:16 KJV, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in should not perish bur have everlasting life.”) This is why God decided to forgive man. He loved the world. He had compassion for the world. Imagine if man was not existing right now on earth, what would be the situation at hand right now? The world is all about man. The world belongs to man (GENESIS 1:28 KJV, “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over every living fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”)
HOW DID SALVATION COME TO EXISTENCE?
Salvation came to occur after four hundred and fifty years of God not manifesting to the people of this world. This is the period between Old Testament and New Testament. I am speaking about the birth, works, death and resurrection of Christ. Salvation is based mainly on the death and resurrection of Christ. You can read the whole of Hebrews 10;9-17 but I am basing my point mainly on (HEBREWS 10:12 KJV, “But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God.”) Now briefly for you to understand this concept, I will explain how sin was forgiven in Old Testament before Christ came. (ROMANS 6:23 KJV, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our lord.”) Death includes shading of blood. God through the law of Moses explains clearly how sin should be cleansed. One was supposed to offer animal sacrifice every year to God for sins he and his family had committed. If it was a lamb one was supposed to present the lamb before the high priest and he would touch the head of lamb and confess every sin he had committed. The sins would be transferred to the lamb and the lamb would be slaughtered and offered as sacrifice instead of man himself leaving the man cleansed. God reasoned and knew that this kind of cleansing was not good. Most people would forget from time to time carrying out sin offering as sacrifice while others did not afford the animal sacrifice. What about those who died before the year came to an end? because sacrifices were made at end of each year. That is why God offered one sacrifice Him being the high priest that would be once and for all. (HEBREWS 10:12 KJV, “But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God.”) Jesus took our sins and he was crucified with our sins shedding of blood instead of us while he left us free from sin. How was and how is sin transferred from man to Jesus? Sin is transferred spiritually and the concept of faith appears once again. (ROMANS 10:9 KJV, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”, EPHESIANS 2:8 KJV, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and not of yourselves: it is the gift of God”) Jesus died for our sins.
The difference between cleansing of the Old Testament and cleansing of New Testament is that, in Old Testament it was practical and it was done more than once while in New Testament its spiritual and it was done only once. We believe that Jesus’ death is like us dying and that is why we are free from sin. (ROMANS 6:7 KJV, “For he that is dead is freed from sin.”) Remember in Genesis the man is given the word of God to believe in it. The only advantage is that he already is in the presence of God and does not need to seek forgiveness. At Jesus time man is still given the same word only this time he has to seek the presence of God himself. He has also to seek for forgiveness. Salvation is all about having faith in God. If you believe that God has forgiven you in deed God has forgiven you.
SALVATION=FAITH IN JESUS.
If I started in the beginning stating that salvation is as same as having faith in Jesus, not everyone would have understood what I meant. We are going back to genesis and I would us to think deeply about true faith in God. Why do you think life in Eden was like paradise? It is because man did not believe in himself, he believed in God. Because man did not have any distraction he continued to believe in God. In genesis chapter 3 we find Satan coming to man (Eve) as distraction. He gives him a different word and then man (Eve) believes in Satan. In Genesis chapter 3 we also see man (Adam) as distraction to himself when he believes in himself and not in God. He eats the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil because he thinks Eve is not dead. Consider these words carefully; FRUIT OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL. The moment man ate this he fully told God that he did not need him anymore for now he knew what was good and evil. In short man believed in himself. By doing that he became against God. From the beginning it was not the intention of man becoming against God (not having faith in God). What would man gain by becoming against God? Nothing, Satan was the one against God hence he came up with an idea of tricking man to go against God. It was then that man went against God without knowing. Because we still think we know good and evil we still even go against God nowadays.
For example, according to human understanding and judgement, was is it good for Joseph’s brothers to sell him into slavery in Egypt? For me I would say no because how could just one decide to sell his own brother to slavery? But God’s understanding and judgement was totally different from humans from the beginning. When he allowed joseph to be sold to by his brothers to slavery, he was actually sending Joseph to his victory.
(HEBREWS 11:1 KJV, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”) Before all this man had faith. (2ND CORINTHIANS 5:7 KJV,” For we walk by faith, not by sight.”) Man started walking by sight when he discovered he was naked. (GENESIS 3:7 KJV, “And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.”) Even nowadays we still walk by sight. People try to cover the evil they have committed. God needs us to be blind like in the beginning and close our physical eyes. He wants us to be above nature, against Satan, and against ourselves. That is true faith which is salvation. Now in times of Jesus which we are living now there is the grace of God which acts as the presence of God. It enables us to walk by faith for us who believe in Jesus. There are difficult situations in our lives that we cannot handle by ourselves. That is why we are told to ask any thing in Jesus’ name and it shall be given unto us. You can only ask for help from a person you believe in, trust in or have hope in which is the definition of faith. There is much that I can still talk about salvation but I wish to stop at this point.
CONCLUSION.
God reveals his word to people in different ways. Sometimes the way I understand the scriptures is not the way other person may understand. Seek always the revelation of God after going through an article like this and if you believe really in Jesus, he will reveal the truth to you and the truth will set you free. Just remember salvation is A gift. (EPHESIANS 2:8 KJV, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and not of yourselves: it is the gift of God”). Don’t waste your precious free gift from God.