Always Was by the Grace of Jesus

Acts 2:20 "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come: 21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved (Greek sozo)."

Acts 2:26 "Therefore did my (David quoted) heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: 27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. 30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; 31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption."

Acts 2:32 "This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. 47b And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved (Greek sozo)."

First off, David had an even more profound belief in Jesus than even you or me! David knew that he was "safe"  because he said "my flesh shall rest in hope" and "because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell". David's hope was because he had faith that God "would raise up Christ to sit on his throne". David knew that Jesus would be resurrected, implying David knew that Jesus would die and that he would die for him! David, as with any of the Old Testament prophets, had the "hope of salvation" because he knew that Christ was coming and would die for his sins!

Psalm 51 is David's belief in Christ, remorse, repentance and his hope in salvation by the cleansing from sin.

Psalm 51:12 "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation (Hebrew: yesha'); and uphold me with thy free spirit."

The "free spirit" is grace and "thy salvation" is "safety". David was saved by grace; the same grace of Jesus that we are saved. The words of David in Acts 2 are from Psalms 16:9-10. Luke, when he wrote the Book of Acts, used David's own words to describe his hope in salvation through Christ!

David referred to his "hope"! Hope for what? "thou wilt not leave my soul in hell" through the perfection (not suffering corruption) of Jesus Christ.

What is "salvation"? It's deliverance from the soul's torment in hell! Who saves? God "through the  fruit of his loins"! Salvation, even to David, was through Jesus Christ. David had the "hope of salvation" from afar. However, his salvation came sooner than ours. Although Jesus had yet to die, David was saved by his faith in the atoning blood of Jesus!

As David referred to his "hope", Paul did too!  (1 Thessalonians 5:8). Prophets and apostles have the same "hope". There is one way to salvation. That is by the name of Jesus: "whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved". That includes David, Luke, Paul, you and me!

David spoke Hebrew. David spoke of the joy of yesha'. To be kept "safe". Safe until when? Until he dies! It's at the moment of death that a believer is "saved from hell". Until then a person who is born-again is made "safe". Because "salvation" does not occur until hell is eminent with death; until then the believer is kept in safety by the blood of Jesus. Just as Job had a hedge of protection around him (Job 1:10) and Satan could not physically harm him (Job 1:12), Christians today have the same "hedge" providing safety which Job had.

The entire Book of Job is about Job's faith. Did he have the faith to avoid trials and temptations from Satan and remain in good faith with God, or would be commit apostasy and deny God?  Because Job was a righteous man, God allowed Satan to test his faith. It is possible that Job could fail. However, God trusted his faith!

Just as Job could have failed his test by not persevering under the temptation and attacks from Satan, we too can fail. (Ephesians 6:18). Those born again, as did David, have the "hope of salvation" and being "saved" (sozo) is made "safe" until the time that we are "saved". The implication is that Christians are "safe" until they're "saved" from eternal death and that occurs at physical death. There is not "somewhere else" to wait. Upon dying it's either heaven or hell. Heaven is the place we're taken when we're saved from hell. When we're alive we're "safe" from eternal flames!

It's important to note from today's verses that there has always been one way to salvation. It's by faith in Jesus. The prophets of old believed in the atoning blood in the coming Jesus, and apostolic Christians believe it was by the blood of the arisen Jesus! Likewise, it's imperative to understand from "the hope" of salvation and being "safed" that we must live  a righteous life. Our obligation is to love Jesus for redeeming us from hell and loving others to demonstrate to Jesus that we love him. If we don't love, we fail the test! It's imperative that Christians befriend everyone!

Job was tested. Would he demonstrate his love for God by remaining faithful. Would he love those who were in league with the devil to tempt him to deny God? We have the same test as Job had. Paul spoke of persevering. We are modern day Job's. Our faith is tested every day. Shall we leave "safety" under the protection of Jesus, or do we relent to Satan? The coming of the Holy Spirit is the same Spirit which Jesus had. The Holy Spirit "comforts" us as we're tested. The Holy Spirit's role is to provide continuous safety so that we will remain safe until ultimately we are saved!