I was just listening to some praise music on Pandora and was caught by the song “If I Could Only Imagine” so much that I had to stop what I was doing and write some things down. I do not know the origin of this song but it seems to be based on an Old Testament writing from Isaiah 64 referenced in the Apostle Paul’s first letter to Corinth.
1 Corinthians 2:9
But as it is written:
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
The song seems to focus on what our future experience will be when we leave earth and reach heaven. It is beautiful to stop and consider what things might look like in heaven when we see Jesus and leave the trials of earth behind. It is going to be wonderful and we need to stop and try to imagine those things, but it is also dangerous to think that the message of the scripture is only in regards to being with Jesus in heaven. You see, the thing that the Prophet Isaiah was proclaiming was the coming of the Messiah and the establishment of the kingdom of Heaven on earth. What he saw was a day when the visions of the Old Testament became the SOZO of the New Testament
The greek word SOZO in the New Testament has been translated to the word “save” or “saved” in our modern Bibles. I am not here to argue the word that is used but I do believe that by not being more precise in the translation we do not have a full understanding of the message and have become limited in our imagination. Being “saved” actually references the greatest miracle of all when we receive Christ’s forgiveness for sin and receive eternal life. It is after we are saved that the full meaning of the word SOZO must be realized so we can see and live in God’s full intentions for us. SOZO means: Saved, Healed, Delivered, Preserved, Made Whole. Jesus wants to meet us at our point of need and bring us to a place of wholeness that restores us to the original plan in creation when the triune God said, “Let us make man in our image.” That means oneness with God in our whole being: body, soul, and spirit.
I have started reading the New Testament differently. When I read the word save or saved, I stop and say “saved, healed, delivered, preserved, made whole.” (It helps to have a good Bible Study App because I can click on the word and have the definition right in front of me.) This has created a much broader picture of what God wants to do. God wants us to be SOZO’d and when you stop and consider the breadth and the depth of this concept you HAVE to also broaden and deepen your imagination. The intentions of the Father really are that all men would come to repentance, that the lame really should walk, that the eyes of the blind really should see, that the captive really should be free, and there is real freedom for all who are oppressed. (See Luke 4:18, 2 Peter 3:9)
Somehow, I feel that the Church has lost its ability to imagine or see the complete, mighty work of SOZO. There are no secondary elements in what God wants to do when we come to Him if we will only begin to, once again, imagine.
His Kid, Your Brother,
Ken
His Kid, Your Brother 