Saved from what?

Recently I was involved in a discussion with a high-level churchman (who will remain nameless!) and lots of other people who worked in churches. We were all asked to respond to the question 'What is salvation and what does it mean to you?' It would have been better if the question had been 'What does God say salvation is and what does God say it means to you?' but it wasn't.
Various responses were given, none of them wrong; salvation is being given purpose in your life, salvation is knowing you're accepted by God, salvation is knowing your stuff-ups have been forgiven.
Someone ventured this answer: 'Salvation is being saved from something - God's anger at our rebellion against him - and being saved for something - life lived his way for eternity.' Now, that's straight out of the Bible - we deserve God's rightful anger (Romans 1:18-20, 2:5, John 3:36, and countless other places), but in dying on the cross Jesus saved us by bearing our punishment (1 Peter 3:18, Mark 15:33-34, Isaiah 53:4-6, and lots of other places) so that we could have eternal life (John 3:16, Revelation 21, 1 Peter 3:18, etc). That is what God says salvation is; being saved from his anger for eternal life with him.
No, no, said the eminent church leader; 'I don't want to think of God being angry; I prefer to start with God's love for me, not God's anger. That's not what I find Jesus saying in the Bible.' Cue much nodding from most of the others there - salvation was about acceptance, not anger.

Why am I blogging about this? Well, because 'not wanting to think of God being angry' is the default position of the human heart, it is increasingly the default position of the Anglican Church, and it leads to a total misunderstanding of salvation.
Let's see why it's serious. If God is not angry at my sin, if I am not rightly facing eternal death and separation from the love of God, why do I need salvation at all? To be saved, you have to be saved from something. Imagine a man swimming in a river. He's having a lovely time, it's warm and calm and he's enjoying himself. Then suddenly in jumps some guy, grabs him, wrestles him to the riverbank, drags him up onto some grass, and starts kissing him. 'Why did you do that?' asks the man who was enjoying a pleasant swim. 'I saved you!' says the second guy. 'That's ridiculous,' says the by now annoyed first man - 'I didn't need saving from anything. I was fine. You haven't saved me - and I'm not thankful to you for doing it.'
Now imagine that guy in a river, swimming along, when suddenly he realises he's caught on something and is being dragged down. He's drowning, and there's nothing he can do about it. He's going to die, he has no chance of getting himself free. He begins to lose consciousness. Then suddenly in jumps some guy, grabs him, wrestles him to the riverbank, drags him up onto some grass, and starts giving him the kiss of life. 'I saved you,' says the second guy to the first.' 'That is awesome,' says the extremely thankful first man. 'I needed saving desperately. I was lost. You saved me - and I will always be thankful to you for doing that.'
There's the difference - to be saved, you have to first be in trouble. And mankind is in desperate trouble, facing God's anger day by day and most of all on the Day of Judgement. That's what Jesus saved us from, and if you take that away then Jesus' death on the cross becomes pointless. And the problem with ignoring God's anger is that the Jesus of the Bible talks about it himself - he talks about people being punished in hell (Luke 17:19-31), he talks of separation and judgement when he returns (Matthew 13:24-29, 36-43), he tells people 'Unless you repent, you too will all perish' (Luke 13:5). To ignore the reality of God's anger and his judgement of human sin, you have to ignore Jesus.

We may not like to think of God's anger, we might in our sin prefer a God who doesn't mind about injustice and genocide and murder and all other forms of rebellion against him, including our own (though that's not a very loving God then, is it?) We may like to think that God would never punish people for rebelling against him (though that's not a very just God then, is it?) We may not like to think about it, but if we don't understand the desperate position we find ourselves in before God then we will never understand what salvation is.
The doctine of God's anger at human sin is controversial, is unpopular, and is increasingly ignored by those within the church as well as without. But we must hold on to it, because it is the truth God tells us in his Word, and because if we do not realise what Jesus saves us from, we do not understand that Jesus saves us at all.