Perhaps the story of Zacchaeus will help us to see the simplicity of salvation. Without giving the entire story of Zacchaeus from Luke chapter 19, I will give only the part of the story in which Jesus told Zacchaeus to come down from the sycamore tree, which Zacchaeus had climbed to see Jesus. Luke 10:5-10 says, “And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house. And he made haste, and came down, and received Him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, that He was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner. And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
I doubt that salvation can be made any more clear than in this case. Please do not read into this story what is not here, for the whole scope of salvation is shown here, with nothing beforehand to be added or subtracted. So, let’s look at the story in more detail. In verses 2-4, we learn that Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus, thus he climbed up into a sycamore tree. Then we pick up with the verses above to learn that Jesus came to the place where Zacchaeus was, showing that Jesus comes to us, before we come to Him, at least in conviction. Next, we see that Jesus told Zacchaeus to “make haste and come down”, so Jesus called him to come down to where He was. Then we see that Jesus told Zacchaeus that He must abide at the house of Zacchaeus, and that has a double meaning, for Jesus would go to the physical residence of Zacchaeus, but He would also come to live in the heart of Zacchaeus! Notice that Zacchaeus did not argue with Jesus, when He told him to hurry and come down. This may show us that we do not have to “twist the arms off sinners” to get them to receive Jesus, when real conviction has taken place! It is not our job, as Christians, to try to force people to receive Jesus, even though we can still use persuasion in a proper sense.
We do see that Zacchaeus came down with haste to receive Jesus, which is characteristic of those who really receive Jesus for salvation. Please take note that Zacchaeus received Jesus joyfully, for that is the way sinners receive Him when they have been convicted of their sins and have repented and believed in Jesus! Those who say they have received Jesus for salvation, yet never show any joy, might cause others to doubt that they have really received Jesus for salvation. Oh, I know that there are times in the lives of those truly saved that doubt will come, but that is not a continual characteristic of those truly saved. Jesus told Zacchaeus that He would abide at his house, which Jesus did, both physically and spiritually. He does not come to us today in His physical body, but He does come by the Spirit to live in the hearts of all who truly receive Him!
Some who were standing by saw what had happened and said that Jesus was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner. The fact is, all of these were sinners too, but evidently had not realized it! Jesus will take up residence, by the Spirit, in the lives of all who repent of their sins and place their trust in Him. Zacchaeus showed that he had truly repented, for he was willing to give half of his goods to the poor, and to restore whatever he had taken falsely from others. The interesting conclusion to our story is that Jesus said salvation had come to the house of Zacchaeus that particular day, showing that all that needed to be done to be saved had been done. It might be good if all those who add other things to salvation would pay close attention to what Jesus said here, for He named salvation, and He identified the day that salvation came to the house of Zacchaeus, thus Zacchaeus had not been saved at any time prior to this time, nor did he do anything else to be saved!!!
By J. Briggs King, Rainsville, AL (678) 451-0921