Archaic KJV Word
Salvation
Modern equivalent: going to heaven
What Was Lost
The spaciousness. Yeshuah came from a root meaning 'to be wide/spacious' -- salvation was being brought from a narrow, crushing, confined place into wide-open freedom. It was comprehensive: body, mind, spirit, community, now and forever. Jesus's name (Yeshua) literally meant 'God delivers into spacious freedom.'
Closest Survivor in Modern English
salvation (still used but almost exclusively in afterlife context)
Peak Usage (1611)
KJV Psalm 27:1 -- 'The Lord is my light and my salvation'; Philippians 2:12 -- 'Work out your own salvation'
Died still used but narrowed (~1900)
Hebrew yeshuah ('deliverance/rescue/spaciousness/victory') reduced to 'going to heaven when you die.' The present-tense, comprehensive liberation became a future-tense, afterlife-only concept.
What Replaced It
“going to heaven”
Afterlife only; yeshuah included physical rescue, political liberation, healing, and restoration in the present
“being saved”
Passive and once-for-all; salvation in Hebrew was ongoing divine rescue and was also the root of Jesus's name -- Yeshua
“eternal life”
Future-oriented; yeshuah was often experienced now -- the Red Sea parting was salvation