◄ What Does Acts 4:12 Mean? ►

The world at large and man, in particular, has for thousands of years been on a desperate search for meaning in life – for love and health, for peace and prosperity, for youth and beauty, and for a perfect dwelling place of eternal bliss and over-abounding happiness. Humanity as a whole and each individual personally is looking for salvation from the evils of this world. Each one longs to escape the pain, suffering, and disappointments that are the inevitable product of a fallen race living in a cursed creation - separated from their Creator.

Man was made in the image of God, Whose perfect character and eternal attributes encompass all that man desires and needs, but the world in general, and man in particular, is separated from the one source that gives meaning to this life, and in the eternal ages to come... life everlasting. The only salvation that can bring the world in general, and sinners in particular, back into fellowship with the only source of life, light, love, and peace, is found in the one name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved – the Lord Jesus Christ.

Men seek salvation without the need to turn from sin. They long for eternal life and never-ending beauty but refuse to acknowledge their sinfulness and need of salvation. Men long for the glory without the Cross. They crave after all this world offers, without realising the satanic trap into which they will fall - for if they do not accept salvation on God's terms, they will face the pit of hell and the lake of eternal fire.

The early Church had heard Christ's teaching, witnessed His miracles, watched as He was nailed to the Cross, and rejoiced, three days later, when He rose from the dead. They knew that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the living God, and that in Him were the words of eternal life, and light, and truth, and love. They knew that Jesus alone was their blessed hope and so they proclaimed the good news far and wide - with great boldness.

But their message was an affront to the Jewish rulers who attempted to silence their voices, for had they accepted the truth of the glorious gospel, their authority would have been challenged because the old order had been set aside and a new order had started - the dispensation of the grace of God. Had they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, their finances would have dried up and their positions of power would have evaporated.

But the early Church could not be silent and when Peter and John exercised power from on high, by healing a paralyzed man, the Jewish leaders became fearful, arrested the apostles, and brought them before the Sanhedrin for trial. But Peter could not remain silent and boldly proclaimed, "let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—Whom you crucified and Whom God raised from the dead—by Him this man is standing here before you - healthy. This Jesus is the stone rejected by you builders. He has become the cornerstone and there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved.

Peter did not tell of one way to be saved. He declared the ONLY way. Salvation is only found in Christ alone, for His shed blood paid the price for the sin of every man. And those who believe in the Person and Work of Christ WILL be saved. But men seek for salvation without the Saviour. They crave forgiveness without trusting the one Person Who is qualified to save them - Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God and righteous Son of Man.

The world in general and man, in particular, have spent thousands of years constructing a wide variety of ways to be saved. They have built a range of false illusions which they suppose will bring meaning to life, but all are empty vessels. They are vain perceptions that have been born from a race that is at enmity with its Creator. How blessed are we who have been rescued from man’s unachievable quest to save himself. How blessed we are, that through God’s grace, we have been given the free gift of salvation, simply by believing on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us glory in that wonderful name of JESUS and resist the deceit of the world, the lusts of the flesh, and the wiles of the enemy, by keeping the eyes of our heart fixed upon Him and the ears of our understanding ever open to His still small voice. We are saved... spirit, soul, and body, when we believe on Christ. We are saved once and forever when we trust in Him, "for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved."

I thank You, Father, for Jesus my Saviour. Thank You for Your gift of salvation that has been given to me through Christ alone. Thank You that salvation is so simple, that even a little child can understand it. In Jesus’ name I pray, AMEN.