“Safe” means “a place of refuge; security, trust, confidence, hope.”
Everyone naturally wants to be safe.
But the world can be a dangerous place. Armies face each other, nations arm themselves with nuclear weapons and crazy ideas stir up trouble.
Ukrainians, especially, face daily threats to safety. War has everyone on edge.
The Bible mentions two kinds of safety; physical safety and spiritual safety. Often they are connected.
God promised the Old Testament Israelites they would be kept physically safe if they obeyed His spiritual commandments. But they turned away and followed other gods. The result was disaster. Jerusalem was destroyed and the people taken captive.
The New Testament also speaks of physical safety. Jesus spoke of carrying a sword for protection, and Paul was kept safe from those who would harm him physically on several occasions.
However, the New Testament focuses more on spiritual safety. Salvation through faith in Jesus is spiritual safety—faith in Jesus’ shed blood and death in payment for our sin, and faith in His resurrection.
Jesus came to provide spiritual safety and eternal security to all who would believe in Him. We may be threatened by physical harm but we can still have His peaceful assurance and have security forever in heaven.
Many people look for security in money, comforts, position or power. But the safety these things provide is temporary and unreliable. Nothing is sure in this world. Anyway, no worldly foundation can provide spiritual security in heaven.
And Jesus will someday return to earth.
Then those who have trusted in anything other than Him will have no peace or safety: “For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them…And they shall not escape.”
But those who do trust the Lord Jesus Christ have true safety and eternal security.
Jesus said,
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
And Solomon tells us:
“Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble. When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked, for the Lord will be at your side and will keep your foot from being snared.”
Bible references:
Leviticus 25:18–19; 26:3–5; Deuteronomy 12:10; Luke 22:36; Acts 9:25; 17:10; 19:30; 23:10 John 3:17; Acts 2:21; 4:12; Romans 10:9; Ephesians 2:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:2–3; John 14:1-3, 27; Proverbs 3:23–26.