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A COMPLETESALVATION by Esther Swyer
Daniel 3: 1-30
Written March 2004.
In the story of the three Hebrews who were thrown into the fiery furnace because they refused to worship the image of King Nebuchadnezzar we get a good look at how completely the Lord saves His own.
Even though the furnace was heated seven times hotter than usual, and those who threw them in were themselves killed because of it, the fire had absolutely no power over the Hebrew men. Not over their bodies, nor their garments - their hair was not even singed and there was no smell of fire upon them. And in verse 25 of this passage we see that they did not go through this trial alone, for there was a fourth Man walking through it with them, "One like the 'Son of God' ". All because they trusted God, and refused to worship any other gods.
A note in my Bible says, "in order to overcome our fiery trials, we need to be overcome by God". And another says, "We are not likely to be of much use to the Lord until He has taken us through times of fire." Then my commentary says, in speaking of this passage in Daniel, "God saved them completely, so that there was not the slightest evidence that they had been in danger. The salvation offered by the Lord is so effective and complete that nothing of the lost condition remains." (emphasis mine)
This made me think of 1John 1:9, where God's Word says, "When we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." This is an ongoing, continuous cleansing - daily, present tense. And I thought about how complete our salvation is - yet how often we forget that, and begin to hold on to the sins and regrets of the past, and allow them to spoil our trust in the Lord.
We take our eyes off of Him, and wallow in our own misery again. Whether we realise it or not, we are sinning against Him - in effect saying He isn't strong enough to keep us, and keep us clean. Because of this, when the "fiery trials" come we lose sight of where, or Who, our strength comes from - and we forget that He is in the trial with us and will deliver us - that He has a purpose for allowing everything that happens. We forget that we are new-born - a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), that He has removed our lost condition, and cast it away.
We need to stop mourning over our sins, etc. and fasten our eyes on Him, and trust Him to work in and through us. We need to stop allowing the enemy to swamp us with memories and regrets that keep us from being all we can be - all the Lord wants us to be. We need to remember that as saved, cleansed people, we are now free from the guilt of the past. None of the "fiery trials" He permits in this new life will be able to singe our hair, or our garments, or leave any smell of the fire on us, when we yield ourselves to Him, and trust Him to keep us.
Because of the faithfulness of the three Hebrews, a pagan king acknowledged that their God was above all other gods and commanded other nations not to speak against Him. Just so, when we are faithful to our Lord, when we trust Him in whatever circumstances He allows into our lives, and when others see His strength keeping us, even in our weakness, God is lifted up, and we begin to know how complete is our salvation, as He is glorified in, and through us.
about the author
Esther Swyer was born in Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia. The eldest of eight children she married at twenty-one and promptly had six children. She became a Christian in October of 1958 at the age of twenty-five and was baptised in December of that year. She began teaching a Sunday School class of a dozen nine to ten year olds in 1961 or 1962 and has been teaching various age groups ever since.
Esther began teaching adults and leading Bible studies sometime in the seventies. She became involved in WMS in the late sixties and held various positions over the years, then in the early to mid-seventies she started serving on the Association Council. On top of all that she was involved for many years in ladies retreats serving as small groups director for around twenty years. Currently Esther is president of the WMS on the Association level, treasurer of her church, adult ladies class teacher, and is completing her third year as a church deacon.
Her first marriage ended after twenty-two years. She re-married thirteen years later in December 1988 and was widowed in June of 2000. She has eighteen grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Esther has just published a book about her spiritual journey.