Many of us equate the idea of salvation with a ticket that will get us into heaven. While the thought brings us joy now because we anticipate what is coming, it is something that happens some day in the future. But salvation is so much more. While it includes the reality of an eternal life with our Lord, salvation starts now.
The root of the word salvation is from the Latin salvus – meaning safe or whole. From that same root we get salve, a healing ointment. The idea behind both is a restoration to what we were supposed to be.
Similarly in the Greek, sozo, can be translated as either to save or to heal. Strong’s says that it is used in the New Testament to describe both.
She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save (sozo) His people from their sins. Matthew 1:21
Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” He said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed (sozo) at that moment. Matthew 9:22
Even in the Hebrew these ideas are tied together in the word yasha, meaning to deliver or to save. In the Septuagint, yasha is translated as sozo and carries this dual meaning. Importantly, yasha comes from the same root as Yeshua, who is our salvation and our healing.
The gospel, that Jesus has come to save us, is for now. He delivers us from our sin so that we can enjoy eternity with Him and He begins the healing process now, bringing us back to how we should be. He not only saves us from our sin, but He heals us from sin. Jesus is the salve that binds our wounds, restores our soul, and brings comfort in a still painful world.
