Back in ancient, Old Testament times there were great kings called Suzerains who ruled the lands. Lesser Vassal kings who ruled under them would make agreements or covenants with these greater kings for protection and help with battles in case enemies should attack. The covenant ceremonies between these kings were quite serious and followed strict guidelines. They contained wonderful promises of protection and benefits and they warned of equally serious penalties for the party who should break the covenant. When the Vassalking entered into covenant with the greater Suzerain king he pledged, upon penalty of death, to uphold the covenant in exchange for the benefits to be given to himself and his people by the greater ruler. The many subjects under the Vassal king automatically enjoyed the benefits won by the agreement of their leader with the Suzerain. You can imagine the celebrations and joy of the people under the lesser king when their king had successfully made one of these important covenant agreements.

The good news I want to set before you is that God’s salvation is like the Suzerain-Vassal story above. Jesus left his thrones above to become our great Vassal King. He came to earth to negotiate as our Leader with the mighty Suzerain God of Heaven and obtain for us the following benefits: 1. The offering of his own life in the place of ours for the forgiveness of our sins, for we have all broken the covenant and face the eternal death penalty. 2. The right for every one of us, his subjects, to enjoy eternal life in a restored world from which the enemies of sickness, sorrow, hatred, war and death are forever barred. 3. Furthermore, Jesus our great Vassal King negotiated for US ALL the right to become the sons and daughters of God, the mighty Suzerain of Heaven, to become fellow heirs with Jesus and rule together with him for evermore on his thrones in the heavens.

In the Suzerain treaties, animals were sacrificed to seal the agreement. But in the treaty between Jesus on our behalf, and the great God of Heaven, something far better, far more priceless and everlasting than the lives of heifers and bulls was used. Jesus, the son of God, sacrificed HIMSELF on Calvary’s cross to ratify the great covenant by which you and I are restored to Eternal Life with all of its benefits, freedoms and joys.

By simply HEARING of, BELIEVING and CLAIMING the grand truth of what Jesus our Vassal King has done for us, any and ALL of us can be saved and changed forever.

And the way we make it our own reality is by confessing our sins to God and being baptized as a public testimony that we have entered into covenant with Jesus, that we might enjoy ALL the benefits of his great sacrifice on our behalf. You see, by baptism we are baptized into Jesus’ death, making it our own. And, rising up from the waters of baptism, we symbolize that we are now resurrected to the new, eternal life under the covenant with Him, for, though we may briefly and harmlessly sleep in the grave, we shall never die but rise in newness when He calls us from our graves in the Resurrection at His 2nd Coming.

Yes, the great covenant that Jesus our Vassal King worked out with the mighty Suzerain God of Heaven has many awesome promises. There are more than 3,500 of them listed in that divine covenant book we call the Bible. Because Jesus has won these gifts and benefits for you and me by his death for us, now you and I may claim any one of these mighty benefits whenever we need them. In fact, just as a whole forest of oak trees is contained in one small acorn, ALL of these promises and their fulfillments are contained in God’s marvelous gift of His Son Jesus to us.* If you claim Jesus as your very own, you have claimed all of the 3,500 promises and their fulfillments, plus infinitely more!

Here are just a few of these wonderful gift-promises contained in the ONE gift of Jesus.

• *"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." –Jesus’ words in John 3:16
• "Whosever lives and believes in Me shall never die." –Jesus’ words in John 11:26
• "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." –Isaiah 1:18
• "All we like sheep have gone astray, but the Lord has laid on him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all." –Isaiah 53:6
• "For as by one man’s disobedience (Adam’s) many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one (Jesus) shall many be made righteous." –Romans 5:19
• "But as many as received Him, to them gave He the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." –John 1:12
• "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose." –Romans 8:28
• "Whosever hears and receives my word, and believes on him who sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life." –Jesus’ words in John 5:24
• "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them (i.e. any circumstance or enemy that threatens you), for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." –Deuteronomy 31:6
• "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." –Isaiah 41:10
• "Fear not: for I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you: when you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; neither will the flame kindle upon you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior." – Isaiah 43:1-3
• "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." – John 1:9
• "Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also." –Jesus’ words in John 14:1-3
• "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and…earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new." –Revelation 21:1-5

When Moses was leading the noisy Israelites out of Egypt across the deserts sands, poisonous snakes attacked them at one of their encampments (a vivid representation of what Satan has done to the human race through sin) read the story in Numbers 21:1-9. God instructed Moses to make a brass serpent and hang it on a pole and said. "All who LOOK upon it shall live." In this case the serpent, which normally would represent Satan, represented Jesus who "…was made to be sin for us…," (II Corinthians 5:21) meaning he took all our sins upon him and died for us all that we ALL might live.

As in this brass serpent illustration which God commanded Moses to erect on the pole (the pole representing Calvary’s cross that was still future), the "winning" spectators simply watch (look) and WIN. God wants us to realize that it is our great privilege to look and behold what He has done for us all in the saving activity and sacrificial work of His Son, Jesus, and be able to shout, as at a baseball game, "WE HAVE WON! WE HAVE WON!" Salvation, the gift of God, was won by Jesus but is FREE to believers.

All I have been telling you is the summary of the Gospel (see 1 Corinthians 15:1-4). It is the true religion that Satan works to fight and obscure with his false religion. But it all sounds so simple. Isn’t there something we must do to be saved? Of course. There is a work for us to perform but it is NOT the work that Satan’s doctrines have portrayed to us over the years, -the idea that somehow we must become good enough to save ourselves.

Our work is to KEEP by faith what God has so freely given to us in the gift of His Son, our great Vassal King, Jesus, for it is a daily battle to NOT forget it or let the delusions of daily life steal it away again. It takes Bible study, prayer, seeking the fellowship of good friends who lift you up instead of pull you down. It takes sharing the Gospel’s good news with others, which also refreshes your own faith. It takes wrestling with Satan daily when he returns to mock you and scorn you and undermine your hope by digging up the muck of your old sins. "You, a son or daughter of God, looking forward to a place in Heaven? What a joke!" he scorns. He is especially discouraging when he takes an old familiar, favorite sin you thought you had overcome and rushes it in front of you without warning and you fall for it. Then you feel so unworthy and he quickly uses it as fresh proof that you are still lost and might just as well give up and enjoy some more favorite old -or new- sins and kick this foolish notion that you are saved.

Then the next failure, and the next, compound your guilt and Satan’s evil reasoning makes all the more sense to your hurting, guilty mind as he whispers to your soul that you are just as lost as ever. If, in the middle of this experience, you do NOT remember that it was not your doing that saved you in the first place, but you were a spectator in the bleachers and it was Jesus’ heroic performance that saved you, then you are powerless to break from his web. But, if you remember that you have ALREADY WON, thanks to Jesus, then you have the power to escape Satan’s trap and to say to him, "Hey, you demon, I already own real estate in Heaven, I already have a golden place marker with my name on it at God’s great table, why are you trying to take it away from me? GET LOST, SATAN!" Then you pick yourself up and dust yourself off and talk to your wonderful God in Heaven and praise Him that He has put before you an open door which no man can shut. That beautiful door of escape is Jesus, for he said, "I AM THE DOOR." –John 10:9, and "I HAVE SET BEFORE YOU AN OPEN DOOR, AND NO MAN CAN SHUT IT."–Revelation 3:8 Let us go for THE OPEN DOOR, friends!

May all these things fill your heart with great confidence, hope and the joy in God’s FREE salvation given to us in the gift of HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON!