Yahweh Is Salvation

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins.

—Matthew 1:21

Please check back daily during the month of December as through Christmas we’ll have an entry from The Heart of Christmas: A Devotional for the Season.

Hard to believe, but our twenty-five-day odyssey to the heart of Christmas has almost reached its climax. Today, as Christmas Eve approaches, it is time to turn our hearts toward the primary reason for the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ—namely, the salvation of sinners. The very name—Jesus—embodies salvation. Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua, meaning “Yahweh saves” or Yahweh is salvation.” Indeed, the Bible is God’s unfolding plan of salvation from the fall in Paradise to the promise of Paradise restored.

This Christmas season and throughout the coming year, may you be ever mindful of the reality that God has condescended to use you as the means through which the free gift of the water of life is dispensed to a parched and thirsty world. Perhaps you yourself are thirsty! If so, the concluding words of the last book of the Bible have direct application to your life—“Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life” (Revelation 22:17, emphasis added). In essence, there are three steps to this fountain. They are encapsulated in the words realize, repent, and receive.

First, you need to realize that you are a sinner. If you do not realize you are a sinner, you will not recognize your need for a savior. The Bible says we “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Furthermore, you must repent of your sins. Repentance is an old English word that describes a willingness to turn from our sin toward Jesus Christ. It literally means making a complete U-turn on the road of life—a change of heart and a change of mind. It means that you are willing to follow Jesus and to receive Him as your Savior and Lord. Jesus said, “Repent and believe the good news” (Mark 1:15).

Finally, to demonstrate true belief means to be willing to receive. To truly receive is to trust in and depend on Jesus Christ alone to be the Lord of our lives here and now and our Savior for all eternity. It takes more than knowledge (the devil knows about Jesus and trembles). It takes more than agreement that the knowledge we have is accurate (the devil agrees that Jesus is Lord). What it takes is knowledge, agreement, and trust in Jesus Christ alone. The requirements for eternal life are not based on what you can do, but on what Jesus Christ has done. He stands ready to exchange His perfection for your imperfection.

According to Jesus Christ, those who realize they are sinners, repent of their sins, and receive Him as Savior and Lord are “born again” (John 3:3)—not physically, but spiritually. The reality of our salvation is not dependent on our feelings, but rather on the promise of the Savior who says, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24).

If you have just confessed your faith in Jesus Christ for the first time, you can rejoice in the angelic proclamation of salvation given to the shepherds on that very first Christmas: “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10–11). If, on the other hand, you have already experienced salvation, you have the inestimable privilege of taking the message of salvation to the world.

 

Reading

 

Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:1-5)

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. For
God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but
to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not
condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already
because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved
darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone
who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear
that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes
into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done
has been done through God. ( John 3:16–21)

Questions

What are the three steps to the spring of the water of life?

What does true belief entail?

Christmas Carol

 

Silent Night
—Josef Mohr

Silent night, holy night,
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin mother and child.
Holy Infant so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night, holy night.
Shepherds quake at the sight.
Glories stream from heaven afar,
Heavenly hosts sing alleluia;
Christ the Savior is born!
Christ the Savior is born!

Silent night, holy night,
Son of God, love’s pure light
Radiant beams from thy holy face,
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth,
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth!

Silent night, holy night,
Wondrous star, lend thy light.
With the angels let us sing,
“Alleluia” to our King!
Christ the Savior is born,
Christ the Savior is born!