Look at the Book. Think about the Day of Salvation NOW

Pray that God will fill the Slavic believers with a hunger for His Word: "Desire the sincere milk of the Word" (1 Peter 2:2), and a spirit of prayer: "Pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Ask God to call many young men and women to serve Him sacrificially and sincerely in places of leadership. Pray that some will choose to serve in other Slavic countries as missionaries. Intercede for the Christian leadership in Eastern Europe that they will withstand the powers of darkness and remain stable in their spiritual roles.

Salvation is God’s initiative. Jesus inaugurated this message of God’s grace in His ministry. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord… And he began to say unto them, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4:18-21). This portion of Scripture which Jesus read was quoted from the book of Isaiah 61:1-2.

According to the Scriptures, the “day of salvation” is the present “age of grace.” “NOW is the acceptable time, NOW is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). Paul quotes this passage from Isaiah 49:8. He is urging the Corinthian believers not to spurn that grace by turning to Pharisaical legalism. If so, the grace of God would be received in vain. The age of grace is a parenthesis coming between the past Law of Moses and the future Day of God’s judgment upon this world.

Today, God is favorable to mankind. He is ready to forgive anyone who acknowledges Him as the true God and who receives His Son, Jesus Christ, as the Savior from sin. Today is not a day of judgment but of salvation.

Jesus Christ came into this world to give Himself as a sacrifice for sin once for all. “But NOW once in the end of the age hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (Hebrews 9:26). As a result of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ “there is therefore NOW no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).

“Being NOW justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Romans 5:9). The Apostle Paul insists upon the word “now” to explain that the grace of God is ever present today and something to which man should acknowledge and accept. Paul uses the word “now” in his own testimony as a believer. “The life which I NOW live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

We are “NOW the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but NOW have obtained mercy” (1 Peter 2:10). Even the Apostle Peter emphasizes this word “now” when discussing the gift of salvation given through Jesus Christ. “For ye were as sheep going astray, but are NOW returned to the Shepherd and the Bishop of your souls” (1 Peter 2:25).

Dr. A. W. Tozer wrote, “The inspired word of God insists that the reality and the blessings from the heart of the Living Christ are not reserved for some future and heavenly age. They are now.” Believers can meet God in blessed reality now. We can know the Lord Jesus Christ as personal Savior today. “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). And one day, because of that blessed salvation we shall dwell with our God forever in His kingdom. “NOW is our salvation nearer that when we believed” (Romans 13:11).

Rob Zapotoski,
SMS interim Director

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Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart.

Psalm 119:2

Pray that the Gospel will reach the millions in the Slavic countries that have not yet heard what Christ has done for them. Many small cities and towns still do not have an official place of worship. Ask God to help the Slavic churches be effective witnesses in their neighborhoods. Pray that souls will continue to be saved, baptized and discipled through the ministries of the church. Pray that the Holy Spirit powerfully and persistently will convict men of sin and lead many to believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world.