Jesus Is Saviour

So this is where Christmas gets its significance and what it really boils down to: Jesus is Saviour.

Today’s passage is possibly one of the most well-known verses in the Bible and it’s widely referred to as the “gospel in a nutshell”. It’s possibly one of the most amazing things you’ll ever read:

John 3: 16:

“16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

What we understand first and foremost from this verse is God’s passionate love to save the world from eternally being separated from Him and to defeat the power of Satan, the master of sin and death.

Two of the many things that we can take away from this verse are that there is a Saviour and there is a victory. The fact that Jesus is Saviour makes Christianity drastically different to any other faith. Jesus was not simply a teacher who came to enlighten us on how we can find eternal life; He is God coming to us to give Himself as the way to eternal life.

Whether or not you believe in the God that you are looking for and putting your hope in, mankind knows that it needs saving from it’s imperfections and from the evil world we live in. We know deep down that we’re very lost, swerved majorly off-course from the route we should be on and weighed down by our insecurity, longing for love and yearning for approval.

A saviour is something we know we need, trying to find, and attempting to forge. Our career can be propped up as our saviour through which we try and find acknowledgement; we can construct a relationship to acquire all security and love we desire; we can even uphold our children to find the full acceptance and purpose we long for. All of these things are not bad in and of themselves but when buttressed to become saviour, to rescue us from discontent and unfulfillment, any enjoyment that can be had in them is crushed.

These things ultimately fail the role of ‘saviour’ because they are not designed for that purpose. Jesus is the Saviour who exchanges the sin and shame we have with His beautiful righteousness when we place our faith in Him. But if this really is the hope of the world, then why isn’t this something every single person is rushing to?

Simply put, it’s because to take the step of admitting Jesus is our only Saviour is to admit that there is something deeply wrong with us; that is not something easily done by a race in rebellion. In using these otherworldly saviours we can try and retain as much power and control as we like. The gospel instead tells us to humble ourselves before Him. So what does this tell us about Jesus, and what does this mean for believers?

Jesus as our Saviour means He is victorious and has rescued and delivered those who put their hope in Him. It means that we’re dealing with a God who came down to us, a God who is completely and utterly humble, loving and fierce. He is what poetry, folklore, myths and legends point to in describing brave knights and princes who overcome and save the one they love.

For believers, this means we no longer have to place our hope in constructed saviours we find in the world; we have the same acceptance, love and security as shared within the Trinity. It means that whenever we find ourselves putting our faith in anything but God, and therefore begin to grow weary and discontent, we realign our gaze toward the true Saviour who never grows faint-hearted or weak.

Jesus as the world’s Saviour means none of the glory or credit goes to us; but we respond by rejoicing, glorifying and submitting ourselves to Him who is deserving of it in this life and throughout eternity.