The first stage of salvation is deliverance.
"Who rescueth David his servant from the hurtful sword." This describes what is involved in "giving salvation unto kings." An act of deliverance is always the beginning of salvation; but such act of deliverance is only a beginning.
I. AN ACT OF DELIVERANCE IS THE BEGINNING OF SALVATION. This is the truth of a fact that is once for all illustrated in the history of Israel. God would saw that people in a large sense of saving. He must begin by a formal act of deliverance, in bringing his people out from bondage in Egypt. That truth once presented in so large a way, is afterwards presented again and again in more limited spheres. In the time of the Judges, when God would save his people, he began the salvation by a formal act of deliverance, as is seen strikingly in the case of Gideon. When God would save his people from captivity in Babylon, he began by the formal act of liberation made by Cyrus. And it was the same with the great spiritual salvation of men. Its beginning is that sublime act of sacrifice which is man's rescue from the thraldom of sin. The formal act of surrender made on the cross was Christ's triumph over man's sin, his "leading captivity captive." And so in personal experience salvation begins in that act of consecration to Christ which we make, and which is met by Christ's act of delivering us from the power of self and sin.
II. SUCH AN ACT OF DELIVERANCE IS ONLY THE BEGINNING. The deliverance of Israel from Egypt was only a beginning of God's dealings in their salvation. Gideon's overthrow of the Midianites was only a beginning. Cyrus's decree was only a beginning. Our Lord's sacrifice was only a beginning. Our consciousness of acceptance is only a beginning. The salvation of a nation is a large and comprehensive thing; so is the salvation of a man. But in every case God's beginning is the pledge that he will carry on the work and perfect it.—R.T.