When I was wondering what to write this time, I heard someone say 'Jesus came to save us,' and I thought, do people know what they need saving from? I meditated about it during the day as I was cooking and cleaning, and decided to do a blog on it, which always makes me look it up in more detail than I would probably do for myself.
Anyway, my first thought was, we need saving from our sins, which is what we have been told for years in the church. In fact the church has often totally focused on 'sins' to the exclusion of the good news Jesus talked about. When you focus on sin, you lose sight of the grace of God, that is Jesus. Your life becomes all about 'me' - how I behave, how many faults I have, how I have failed God, what do I need to do to get back into God's good book etc. It can become a downward spiral which Satan will take full advantage of to keep your eyes off Jesus!
Now we do need saving from our sins, our sins cause God to be angry, and what we are being saved from is the outpouring of God's anger that our rejection of Him and his ways bring upon us.
His anger burns like ours does, (Exodus 15:7, 32:10). But he does not react as we would. We are made in his image and so have anger in us, but what we usually do is immediately react with violent words or actions to those who have upset us, which ends up causing more problems for ourselves and those around us.
What God does is say, I have set a day when I will come and pay back the wicked for their transgressions. (2 Kings 22:13). He gives people warning and time to turn back to Him so that hopefully He will not have to do it, (read Jonah). He has done this all through the old testament, and for a while they would turn back to Him and his ways, (Psalm 78:38), yet people soon forgot and went back to their own ways, then it would all start again.
So God decided to make an end to wickedness once and for all, to bring a day in where he will judge all the nations, (Malachi 4:1), in which all those who seem to prosper in their wickedness will be cut down and burnt like the chaff at harvest time.
Yet even then, even though He was extremely angry with mankind, because He loves his creations, He has given us a way to escape the day of his judgement in Jesus Christ.
God's anger was poured out on Jesus, and His love and grace flows out through Jesus so that on the day of judgement, it will pass over those who believe in Jesus, and they will be saved from the judgement that is coming.
When you look up how God wants us to be, you realise how far short we all fall - every one of us, you will discover how much we need his grace. And because He is primarily a God of love, you will understand how much he has let pass just to save us. He does this not because He doesn't care, but because He does care, very much! He does not ignore our pain and distress, it burns in Him as it does in us. What He has done is put an end to all distress and pain in the person of Jesus Christ who gave himself in our place, so that we will not be left behind in the judgement day. He calls us to be patient and believe to the end. (See my blog the promises)
Jesus is 'the root of Jesse that stands as a banner for the peoples,' (Isaiah 11:10), and he has become the only way to avoid the coming wrath.
So now, Jesus is 'the way, the truth and the life.' He is not a way, he is the way. Those who reject Gods grace, through the forgiveness in Jesus, are in danger of being left behind in the day of His anger. And in that day, 'All hands will go limp, and every man's heart will melt with terror' (Isaiah 13:7).
He calls us to turn to our Saviour Jesus Christ so that His anger will pass over us in the day of Judgement.
This is how I see my God.
Look it up for yourself. See what you think.