What does it mean to be saved by ace?

There are several ways in which someone can be saved by ace.

If you are a WWII pilot in the 97th Bomb Group, flying a B-17 Superfortress over enemy territory, too loaded to effectively dodge the enemy's fighters, an ace Spitfire pilot from the Royal Air Force may shoot down those fighters, thus allowing you to safely reach the bridge or manufacturing plant and blow it to smithereens.

If you are a beach volleyball player in the championship Olympic match in your third set, with 13 points against your opponents' 14 points and your teammate serves the ball right when the sun comes from behind a cloud, blinding your opponents such that the ball lands on the sand, saving you from wretched defeat, you have been saved by ace. Also, put some clothes on.

If you are a lowly settler who has fallen on hard times and mortgaged your dirt farm for more than it's worth and your lender agrees to give you a chance to win it back in one hand of poker or else he's going to take your mule who is your only friend in all the world and you have a king of diamonds, a queen of spades, a jack of hearts, and a ten of clubs and you know he has three of a kind and you get hit with an ace of spades, you have a flush and you've been saved by ace.

If you are a student and you're trying to go to school online because COVID and your grade in Medieval European History is horrendous and you don't want to take it again next semester so you study really hard and get a 100 percent on the final, bringing your grade up to 61 percent, you've been saved by ace.

It is very human to love comeback stories like these. You're up against the ropes, on your last leg, one last chance, and some grand gesture sweeps in and saves the day. From our perspective, God's work is even more dramatic. We are as good as dead in our sins, no rescue to be found, when Jesus sweeps in and saves us by grace.

And he doesn't even need a Spitfire to do it.

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