Day 13: Jesus Is the Savior of the World

Day 13: Jesus is the Savior of the World

Prayer:

Father in heaven, Your mercy extends to the whole world; help us to see the largeness of Your heart and the magnitude of Your love. Teach us to revel not only in the salvation You have provided, but even more in the Savior who provided it. Amen.  

Primary Scripture:

John 4:39-42: And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans had come to Him they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. And many more believed because of His own word. Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”

John wrote his Gospel for the world, for everyone—"whosoever"—revealing to us in a unique way the heart of God. Jesus wasn't sent to be the Savior for the Jewish people only. John makes this point several times over in his Gospel. When John the Baptist points to Jesus as the Lamb of God, he says this Lamb is the One who "takes away the sins of the world" (John 1:29, emphasis added). In his first letter the Apostle John says that Jesus "is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world" (I John 2:2, emphasis added). The work of Christ is sufficient for all and is available for all. God desires to redeem the whole world; His plan is global in its scope (Romans 8:19-22, I Timothy 2:1-4).

God desired relationship with the people He had made. But God is holy. He dwells in unapproachable light. He is a Consuming Fire. Whenever men got a glimpse of His glory, they were terrified and "fell at His feet as though dead" (Revelation 1:17, Matthew 17:6). How could holiness, justice, and truth be maintained and still have the close, love relationship He desired once sin had entered the world? There was only one way: to provide a Savior who was untainted by sin, who was not under the curse of sin, who could pay the penalty that the whole of mankind deserved.

In order to save the entire world, this Savior would have to also be the Creator of the world, the only One who is greater than all the multitudes of historic generations. And, to be unstained by sin, the Savior could not come from the sinful line of Adam. The angel proclaimed to both Joseph and Mary that the Child she carried was conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit. He was begotten of God, the very Son of God through whom God created the world (John 1:3, Colossians 1:16, Hebrews 1:2). The angel told Joseph to call the baby Jesus, for He would save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). For this primary purpose Jesus came to earth: "He was manifested to take away our sins" (I John 3:5).

From the very first sin, God had promised a Savior who would come from the woman and crush Satan's head (Genesis 3:15). This promise was universal in its extent, in regard to both history and geography. The heart of God from the beginning was redemption, reconciliation, and reversal of the curse—though He knew what it would cost. On the cross, Jesus, the Son of God, dealt a death blow to Satan, the perpetrator of sin. He came to "destroy the works of the devil" (I John 3:8).

In Luke 2 we are told of a man who lived in Jerusalem named Simeon. He had long been waiting for "the Consolation of Israel," and he was now an old man. The Spirit of God had revealed to him that he would not die before he saw the Lord's Christ. The Spirit led him to go to the temple on the same day Mary and Joseph brought Jesus for the purification sacrifice forty days after He was born. When Simeon took the baby Jesus into his arms, he blessed God with these emotion-filled words, “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all people, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of our people Israel” (Luke 2:29-32). It seems he must have been meditating on the words of Isaiah the prophet: "It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth" (Isaiah 49:6, emphasis added). Many portions of the prophetic Scriptures were written to the Gentiles. Simeon understood from the Old Testament that the Messiah was not just for the Jews; He was for all people. God's heart is for the world and the work of the Messiah was for the world.

An honest and thorough read-through of the Old Testament reveals a God of justice and uncompromising truth who also has a heart of compassion for His rebel creation. He is full of mercy and lovingkindness, slow to anger, loathe to execute judgment. There are no more tender passages in all of literature than those written in the Prophets. They are full of longing and of promise. How often God pleaded with His wayward people to return to Him and His love (Joel 2:13, Hosea 14:1-7, Isaiah 55:7). Isaiah 30:18 says: "The Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore He will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him." Because we would not return on our own, He rose up to provide salvation for us (Isaiah 59:16, 63:5). The God of justice and the judgment that justice requires is also the God of salvation.

Since there was no man suitable to stand in the gap for us, God Himself provided salvation for us by sending His own Son (Isaiah 59:16). Many times over in the Gospel of John, Jesus call us to simply believe in Him to receive the gift of eternal life. Belief in Jesus and what He accomplished does not just bring us back to innocence, the state of Adam and Eve before sin entered the world. What we have in Christ is better than what Adam and Eve had in the Garden before they sinned. Can this be true?! How we long for the idyllic scenes of the Garden of Eden before the Fall! Sin has wreaked such havoc in the world, and the struggle we have with sin even as believers in Christ is hard and burdensome day after day.

Yet Romans tells us that we have been justified before God. We have not just been given innocence, or the clean slate of forgiveness. God's definition of justification is so much broader, higher, deeper, longer than that! Forgiveness is only half of the justification equation. Justification is also the gift of Christ's own righteousness, His perfection bestowed upon us. I like to define justification as two-sides of the same coin: 1) just as if I'd never sinned (clean-slate forgiveness) and 2) just as if I'd always done the right thing at the right time in the right way for the right reasons (Christ's holy, flaming perfection). When we add the second half of justification—imputed righteousness—suddenly a panoramic vista of whiteness opens before us, and we catch our breath in sheer awe and amazement.

When I first was contemplating and writing about this, the window above my desk looked out on a still, peaceful scene of snowy whiteness. Snow-laden branches, snow-capped fence. Lovely. Calming. So beautiful. We rarely get snow, so this was a special treat. The previous day as the snow was falling in thick, powdery flakes, I marveled once again at the beauty and perfection of what God has done for us in Christ, for He has likened His salvation within us to the whiteness of snow. He goes further to say that He makes us whiter than snow! (Isaiah 1:18, Psalm 51:7). I don't know of anything that's whiter than snow. When the sun hits it, it is dazzlingly white and breathtakingly beautiful. We have not only been forgiven and cleansed; we have been clothed in the very perfection of Christ!

We used to live in Alaska. How I reveled in the winters there. The daytime hours in Alaska are so brief through the winter months; and when we drove up the winding road to our home in the pitch darkness, the headlights would catch the sparkle of the snow as if God were giving me millions of diamonds. Oh, His salvation is better than millions of diamonds! All winter long, every winter, I knew I could never fully grasp the vastness of what God had done for me in Christ. Whiter than snow. Better than innocence? By far. No comparison. If you are a believer in Christ Jesus, this is what He has done for you. This is who you are. Rest in it. Revel in it.

Oh, for a glimpse of His glory that we might understand our own sinfulness and the wonder of what He has done for us! How it would hack in pieces and deal a final death blow to our pride—our self-aggrandizement and self-promotion, the claiming of our petty rights (aka: irritability, frustration, anger, unforgiveness), and all the ways in which we lean on our own understanding. This is the wonder and longing and joy of seeing Him face to face! With that first look, those flaming eyes of fire (Revelation 1:14) will burn out forever the entrenched sin of my heart. My heart longs for this.

But the greatest marvel of all is the revelation of His glory that God gave to Moses (Exodus 33:6-7). When at last we look into the burning brightness of the God of heaven, the consuming Fire of His Presence, we find Mercy. We gaze in dumbfounded, inexplicable wonder into the eyes of Love. How can it be? We fall at His feet . . . and find nail prints. We look at our garments and find, not the filth and rags of our treacherous, soiled sin, but the dazzling brightness of His righteousness. There are no words. Only unstoppable tears of gratitude.

Jesus has taken our sin and given us the gift of His own righteousness. He has made it possible for God to be both just and the justifier of sinners. Oh, may our hearts bow in wonder and worship.

Family Worship:

Review and repeat the two sides of justification: 1) just as if I'd never sinned (clean-slate forgiveness) and 2) just as if I'd always done the right thing at the right time in the right way for the right reasons (clothed in the righteousness of Christ). Tell everyone to close their eyes and picture a snow scene, all a-sparkle in the sun. Meditate for a moment on that being the condition of your heart because of Christ.

Conclude your family time with prayer, worshipping Christ for all He's done for you, for His amazing salvation, and for the greatness of His mercy.

Jesus Christ: The Savior of the World, who came to restore and renew the world from all the ravages of sin, to redeem all of mankind, and to clothe me in His own perfect righteousness.

Other Related Scriptures:

Exodus 15:2: The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him; my father's God, and I will exalt Him.

Psalm 3:8: Salvation belongs to the Lord. Your blessing is upon Your people. Selah.

Psalm 98:2-3: The Lord has made known His salvation; His righteousness He has revealed in the sight of the nations. He has remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

Isaiah 43:10-11: "You are My witnesses," says the Lord, "and My servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after Me. I, even I, am the Lord, and besides Me there is no savior."

Isaiah 45:21b-22: "There is no other God besides Me, a just God and a Savior; there is none besides Me. Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other."

Isaiah 49:6, 8: Indeed He says, "It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth." Thus says the Lord: "In an acceptable time I have heard You, and in the day of salvation I have helped You; I will preserve You and give You as a covenant to the people, to restore the earth, to cause them to inherit the desolate heritages.

Isaiah 52:10: The Lord has made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

Jeremiah 3:23: Truly, in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains; truly, in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.

Hosea 13:4: Yet I am the Lord your God ever since the land of Egypt, and you shall know no God but Me; for there is no Savior besides Me.

Zephaniah 3:17: The Lord your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.

Matthew 1:21: And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.

Luke 1:46-47: And Mary said: "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior."

Luke 1:67-69, 76-79: Now his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying: "Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David . . . And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God, with which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Luke 2:10-11: Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Luke 2:25-32: And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to Him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said: "Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel."

John 3:16-17: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Acts 4:10-12: "Let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. 'This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.' Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

Acts 5:30-31: The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins."

Acts 13:23: "From this man's [David's] seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a Savior—Jesus.

Romans 1:16-17: For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."

Philippians 3:20-21: For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

I Timothy 4:10: For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.

II Timothy 1:8-10: Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought immortality to light through the gospel.

Titus 2:11-14: For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

Titus 3:4-7: But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

II Peter 3:18: But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

I John 2:1-2: My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

I John 4:9-14: In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.

Jude 24-25: Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.