Jeremiah 39:18 “‘I will save you; you will not fall by the sword but will escape with your life, because you trust in me, declares the Lord.'”

Ebed-Melech the Cushite, to whom this was addressed, was a person with no genetic connection to Abraham, far from his ancestral home, who had quite possibly been a slave before he had risen in the ranks because of his ability. However, he knew truth when he heard it, character when he saw it, and he had rescued Jeremiah from a potentially deadly situation. (Jeremiah 38:7-13) The Lord knew his heart and why he had been kind to Jeremiah, and this verse expresses the response to that. Lots of people are never recorded by name in the Bible, and few of those recorded have entirely favorable things said about them, but Ebed-Melech made the cut. That he would not be slaughtered might seem like a small consolation, but many were not so fortunate, as verse six makes clear. In the final analysis we don’t know people’s hearts the way God does, so His judgments are always just and righteous. The New Testament is very, very clear that we are saved by grace through faith, and not by “merit points” earned by “checking boxes.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) We are to proclaim the message of God’s love and salvation and invite people to “Repent and believe the good news,” (Mark 1:15) but God is the One who saves people, and indeed, knows who is saved and who is not. We often don’t know who cries out to the Lord before it’s too late. What we can do is give them the information to be able to do so if that is their heart, as was evidently the case with Ebed-Melech.

I have committed my life to sharing the Gospel with the Japanese, but I cannot say definitively who has been saved through that. Recently my wife has been compiling a list, with pictures, of all the people who have been associated with this church over the past 42 years. Some of those were Christians before we met them, some were baptized here, and some were never baptized, despite fairly close association. I keep coming back to something Jesus said: “I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.” (John 13:20) I do not know all that means, how far it extends. Ebed-Melech was saved in a temporal sense because he trusted the Lord enough to rescue His prophet. That makes me think I’ll see him in heaven. Many people have been kind to us, and some specifically because we represented Christ. And Jesus said they will not “lose their reward.” (Mark 9:41) what that means, I have to leave in His hands.

Father, the whole question of salvation is in many ways “above my pay grade,” as the saying goes. Help me in no way dilute the message, wandering into universalism, but keep me also from putting people into boxes. May I be a faithful steward of Your Word, allowing You to do through me whatever You please, for Your glory alone. Thank You. Praise God!