“Thus saith the LORD, As new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith,
Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sake,
that I may not destroy them all.”
— Isaiah 65:8
“Ye are the salt of the earth, but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is henceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” — Matthew 5:13
Salt is good[1]!
Salt was a precious commodity in the ancient world not just for flavoring food, but for preserving it. By calling His disciples the salt of the earth, it must be implied that the elect are in some way preserving this present world. When scoffers laugh and say Where is the promise of his coming [2]? We are to hold fast the faithful word [3] knowing that the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance [4].
This is not to be interpreted to support universalism, where everyone on earth is saved regardless of their beliefs about Jesus, but rather it means that judgment will not come before every last one of the elect comes to faith. He is longsuffering to us-ward, not the unbelieving world in general. The unbelievers give God a different kind of glory when he bears long with the vessels of wrath that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, when he had afore prepared unto glory [5].
Another preservative effect the elect have on the world is through their prayers and intercessions made for kings, and for all that are in authority [6]. Our activity in the world should glorify God, appeal to his mercy, and teach the nations [7] to uphold biblical morals and social norms. Artaxerxes had enough of God’s people around him in his court to know of God’s power and so he decrees, Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently done for the house of the God of heaven: for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons [8]?”
Jesus illustrates this preservative effect another way in the parable of the wheat and tares in Matthew 13:28-30: The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the time of the harvest…
This parable affirms that we are, by nature children of wrath, even as others [9], and that there is a period of time before a believer comes to maturity where it is difficult (from our human perspective) to distinguish the elect from the non-elect. The Lord knoweth them that are his [10], but until that gospel seed is fully grown it is hard to know a wheat from a tare. So, both are allowed to grow together so that no elect person dies in their sin before reaching that fruit of maturity which is repentance and faith in Christ.
And now it should be easy to see the connection to Isaiah 65:8. Despite the grievous sins of national Israel, God often spared generation after generation for the elect’s sake.
But we should also be warned — God does not accept worship in prayer or deeds done out of corrupt, self-seeking motivations. That is salt without savour, and Jesus says that such salt (and the religious hypocrite who does them), is good for nothing…. Let’s not assume that 70 AD, or Genesis 19 can’t happen to us.
....whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath,
he cannot be my disciple.
Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour,
wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land,
nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out.
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
— Luke 14:33-35
Lucas van Leyden: Lot and His Daughters
Scriptures:
1Mk 9:50, Lk 14:3
22nd Pet 3:3-4
3Tit 1:9
42nd Pet 3:9
5Rom 9:22-23
61st Tim 2:1-2
7Matt 28:19
8Ezr 7:23
9Eph 2:3
102nd Tim 2:19
Comments