Somber Soteriology

Imagine an elderly man. He sits alone in his hut, thinking and praying. He has heard that the soldiers are coming, ready to kill all those who resist them and their religion. They have pillaged and murdered for months, growing ever closer, ever nearer to this village. The young men are dead, having defended their families and wives with their last breath. All that remains for him is waiting for death to come at the end of a soldier’s blade.

The man did not fear death. He had made peace with the fact years ago. He had suffered much in his childhood, growing up in a disease-ridden desert area. Many of his siblings had died before they reached adulthood. He had been lucky to make it to the age of manhood. He had however; and as soon as he reached that ripe age of 13, he was quickly wed. His darling wife had also passed, but not before giving him two sons. He loved his sons, who had loved their father as fiercely as he them. But the boys were both gone now, having died in the first wave of attacking soldiers. The boys had given their lives defending the weak and allowing many of the others to survive until now.

A horn sounded outside. The lookout, a boy of eight summers- not quite a man- had been posted on a hill in the direction of the onslaught.

The man bowed his old wrinkled head one final time. 

“God,” he prays. “I am not worthy of your mercy. I am an evil man, no better than the soldiers who are coming towards our village. I too, have fought and killed those who do not believe as I do. I pray that though I am not worthy, you may receive my soul with mercy. I pray that you would show these men that killing others does not make us right, it only makes us guilty. I pray that you may have mercy on their souls as well.”

Opening his eyes, he reaches for his cane. Slowly rising to his feet, he feels a peace well up inside his soul. He walks slowly outside to meet his fate. He would stand as his brave boys had. There was no fear in the old man’s eyes, only pity for these lost, misguided souls who were butchering an entire people with fanatic religious fervor.

As one of the young soldiers enters the town, he sees this old man standing there, resting heavily on his cane. The soldier hesitates, why kill an old helpless man? he asks himself. As he stalls, he recalls the voice of the captain, as he lead them off to this crusade, all those months ago. “Kill them all! God will know His own.” With that thought in mind, the young man takes his sword from its sheath. The old man looks at him with soft, patient eyes. No hate, no anger, just pity looks back at him. The man’s gray beard is already moist with tears that must have preceded this moment. But now, those eyes were dry, resolute, awaiting what he knew was coming. The boy waits, he sees no evil in this man. Putting his sword back in its sheath, he moves instead to help the weak man stand.

As the soldier moves toward him, the old man sees an archer come over the hill. As if in slow motion, he watches the bowman pull an arrow from his stained quiver and fit it to his bow. The pull was smooth and true; a well seasoned pull of a man who had seen many battles. Without even a twitch of hesitation, the archer lets his arrow loose.

It flies true and hits the elderly man in the chest. He falls down, as a warm feeling spreads through his body. He closes his eyes and sees no more.

Questions to Ponder: 

What is calling on the name of the Lord?

JOHN 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

ACTS 4:12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

ROMANS 10:13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

What saves us?   God’s Name or His Grace?

The story written above is an example of something that could very well have happened. It is set in the Middle East during the Holy Crusades (1095-1272 AD) when the Church killed many Middle Eastern people who were ‘defiling’ the Holy Land. The Crusade soldiers had the Name of God on their side. These were wars blessed by the Church. The man in our story would have despised the name of Jesus, not for the name’s sake, but because those who carried it were thieves and butchers of men. If the man did indeed come before God, broken and humbled, knowing that he was not good enough to obtain grace, but begged for mercy anyway. What difference is there from what we as Christians teach? Do we not teach that a man or woman must come to God realizing they are not good enough for God? Do we not rely on God’s mercy? Are we the only just ones because we know a ‘secret password’ - the name of Jesus? If all that separates us is this, than how was Melchizedek saved, or Job, or Moses, or Noah? They relied on God’s mercy, not knowing the name of Jesus. If the only thing that makes a difference there is that Jesus hadn’t come; then why would He come? If people could be saved by grace without Jesus name before He came why not after? Is this not what “by Grace alone” means? If this man is condemned only because he did not speak the name we know, then Moses, Abraham, and David are also condemned. If they are not, then this man should not be either. The only other explanation is that God has changed the requirements of Salvation. If Moses could rely on God’s grace without knowing his Saviour’s earthly name, then why could this man not do so as well?