Rescued or Brought to Life?

A proper view of our salvation can truly change the way we look at our faith and our lives. I was talking to a friend of mine at work a few weeks ago and we were talking about this. He had a point of view that I hadn't thought of before and it really stuck with me. You see many people look at their salvation in terms of a rescue. As if they were a castaway floating in the middle of the ocean. As they caught sight of a passing ship they cried out for help and God threw them a life ring and pulled them to safety. At first thought this sounds like an accurate description of what takes place at salvation. We think of verses like Romans 10:13 "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.", but to fully grasp our salvation we need to get a picture of our depravity. We were not merely lost in our sin but dead in our sin.

The Bible says in Ephesians 2:4-7 "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus."
We have to realize that we were dead in our sin. Christ quickened us or brought us to life. Why? Because of His grace. It's only by His grace we are saved; not by anything we have done.
Titus 3:5 says, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;"
Christ more than just rescued us; He brought us to life. We were not floating in the middle of the ocean like a castaway, called out for help, and got a life line thrown out to us; but rather we were in the middle of the ocean on the bottom. We were dead, rotting at the bottom of the sea and God in His unfathomable grace came and found us, reached down with his hand, pulled us up, and breathed life into us. So rejoice in your salvation. Praise God for his unending grace. Rejoice because we were dead, but now we are alive!