Hallelujah what a Saviour
You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins
(Matthew 1:21).
Jesus came to save. When we remember the Lord Jesus, we do so against the wonderful background of a journey that began in eternity. It is beyond our ability to understand how the Eternal Son of God could step into the world He had made. But we know Jesus came to save. Before He was born, He was given the name Jesus, the Saviour. The angel announced His birth with great joy, “For unto you is born this day in the City of David, a Saviour” (Luke 2:11). Days afterwards, as He lay in the arms of Simeon, the aged saint could declare, “My eyes have seen your salvation” (Luke 2:30). On seeing Jesus, John the Baptist said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). The Saviour had come.
Jesus lived to save. We trace the life of Christ through the Gospels and reflect on the name Immanuel, “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). In the power and beauty of His life, Jesus healed every illness: the withered hand, the blind eyes, the deaf ears, the dumb lips, the leprous body, and He conquered death itself. He also healed damaged minds, broken hearts, those with possessed spirits – removing sin and bringing forgiveness and peace to troubled lives.
Jesus died to save. We know that to bring salvation to everyone, His precious life had to be sacrificed at Calvary. Just as the Passover lamb was kept from the tenth to the fourteenth day for its perfection to be evident (Exodus 12:3-6), so Christ’s life was seen in all its majesty over the three years of His ministry, before He laid it down in love for us upon the cross. As the Lamb of God, He gave Himself to take way the sin of the world; and as the Good Shepherd, He gave Himself for the Flock of God; as the Son of God, He gave Himself for me (John 1:29, John 10:15-16, Galatians 2:20).
Jesus rose to save. The Lord broke the power of death through resurrection. We recall the message of the angels, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen!” (Luke 24:5-6). The journey down to the cross became
an upward journey through His resurrection and ascension into glory. We look back to trace the wonder at His coming down and the love that took Him into death. And we look up into heaven to behold Him by faith as our Saviour, our Lord, our Head, our all. He lives for us in the power of an endless life (Hebrews 7:16), and we have life in Him (Colossians 3:4).
Jesus returns to save. We break bread and drink wine in memory of the suffering, love and death of Christ: “This is My body which is given for you” and “My blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22:19-20). We do this looking up to where Christ is now in glory. We see Jesus “crowned with glory and honour” (Hebrews 2:9). And we look on in anticipation of the day when He will save us from the presence of sin and bring us into His Father’s house (John 14:1-3, 1 Corinthians 11:26).
“Hallelujah! What a Saviour!” As we consider the Saviour who accomplished “so great a salvation” (Hebrews 2:3), may the Spirit of God fill our hearts with worship and our voices with praise: “Hallelujah! What a Saviour!”
