A Salty World

What is salt good for? Is it only good to put on those bland french fries from your favorite fast food joint? Practically speaking that is pretty much what we use salt today for. We use it simply as a seasoner to add flavor to our food. Salt has historically had more uses than this though.

​Salt really has three historic uses. First, is what was already mentioned. Salt is used to add flavor to food. Second, salt serves as a preservative. This was especially true before we had refrigeration systems. Both of these uses are great blessings that come from salt. The third thing that salt is used for is to destroy productive land. This is a curse, “...the whole land burned out with brimstone and salt, nothing sown and nothing growing, where no plant can sprout, an overthrow like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger and wrath—” (Deut. 29:23). Salt is a tool of judgment: God’s negative sanctions. Salting over a city was a strategy of military conquest in the ancient world, “And Abimelech fought against the city all that day. He captured the city and killed the people who were in it, and he razed the city and sowed it with salt” (Judg. 9:45).

Salt in the Sacrifices
The Old Covenant required salt to be used when offering up sacrifices, “You shall season all your grain offerings with salt. You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt” (Lev. 2:13). The substitute of animals were God’s symbolic substitutes for man. Instead of the flesh of man burning the animals flesh was burned. Before these substitutional sacrifices were offered up God required that they would be salted. God’s sacrifices required salt which means that God’s covenant does, “All the holy contributions that the people of Israel present to the LORD I give to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due. It is a covenant of salt forever before the LORD for you and for your offspring with you” (Num. 18:19). Salt is a covenantal tool. This is why salt was thrown on Jesus back before He was offered up as the New Covenant sacrifice .

An Imitation Covenant
Satan is the great imitator of God. He uses similar tools God does. For instance instead of the sacrifice of animals he has often negotiated the sacrificing of babies. He has done this historical through idol worship and today through the false promises of the abortion industry. He requires blood just like God does. At the abortion mills were modern day child sacrificing is taking place we see that he often uses the covenantal tool of salt. A common way to give an abortion is to use saline (salt) solution that is injected into the mother’s uterus. This solution literally burns the baby alive. This is one of the means to destroy the innocent. This is Satan’s imitation covenant. The covenant of death using the covenantal tool of salt.

Salting Over Satan’s Kingdom
Christians are called to be salt of the earth, “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet” (Matt. 5:13). This call is a three fold act of flavoring, preserving and destroying. We are called to flavor and preserve the culture. We are called to destroy Satan’s Kingdom. The church is not to be passive but aggressive in engaging the culture and calling done judgment upon Satan’s waning kingdom.


Contributor / Eric Stewart
Eric Stewart is the Lead Pastor of ONElife Church in Flint, MI.