Jesus: The Lord Saves

“Grace and peace to you from…Jesus Christ…” Revelation 1:4, 5 

The Lord Saves
So, for my first post in my series on “The Revelation of Jesus Christ”, I want to share some thoughts on the Son of God’s given name – Jesus.  As it says in Matthew 1:21, “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.“  In the footnote for this verse, it informs us that Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua, which means “The Lord Saves”.  Although Jesus was sent to the earth for many reasons, it would appear that his primary reason was to declare and provide the salvation of the Lord.  In John 3:17, Jesus says this of himself, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.“  I think most Christians understand this about Jesus in his first coming, but I believe that this will be a dynamic motive in his second return as well!  Even though Jesus will be coming to release judgment upon sin, we see in Isaiah 63:2, that in the midst of slaying the wicked, he still declares of himself, “It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save.“  When he is unleashing the end-time judgments and when he ultimately returns to the earth, I believe that salvation for the lost and especially for his beloved people, the Jews, will be foremost on his mind and heart.

His Name Forever
As I was meditating on his name and what this meant for me, I was struck by the fact that before he became a human, he was simply the Son of God, perhaps manifesting in the Old Testament as the Angel of the Lord, but without a human name.  Of course he knew that this would one day be his name and how humanity would come to call him, but for thousands of years in human history and for eternity past, he was just the Son.  Yet, the Father ordained it and chose this specific name for His Son and told Joseph and Mary to name him, “The Lord Saves”.  He decided that it was going to be at the name of Jesus that every knee would bow and that every tongue would confess that Jesus is Lord!  (Philippians 2:10-11)  And from the moment he was born, for all of eternity, this will be his name forever!  While he has many names and titles, Jesus is his human name – the name that connects him with all of humanity, and he will forever be identified with the fact that he came to save us from our sin and from eternal separation from God in the flames of hell.

He is My Salvation
As David so loved to declare in the Psalms, “The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.”  The thing about salvation is that it is incredibly personal.  When Jesus came to save the world, although he paid the price for all of mankind’s sin, I have to consider that he was actually thinking of me – Jacqueline Ruth – as he hung on that cross.  He came not only for humanity as a whole, but for me!  “The Lord Saves” is my salvation!  How can I ever express my gratitude that he came to save me from my sin and from Satan’s grip upon me?  No matter how good I may have tried to be, I was never going to be able to save myself – I needed a Savior!  I was lost in darkness and destined for eternal death and torment before he came and rescued me.  Without him, I had no hope and would’ve sunk into deep depression and depravity, but in his incredible mercy and love for me, he came and saved me from the curse and bondage of sin – which includes salvation from sickness, suffering, barrenness, and spiritual defeat.  On that cross, he took my iniquity, infirmities, and sorrows.  He took upon himself the punishment that I deserved, pouring out his life unto death and making intercession on my behalf that I might be reconciled with the Father (Isaiah 53).  And while I can write all this, I know that my revelation and understanding of the magnitude of what this truly means is so incredibly limited.  How I long for greater revelation of what he did for me, that it might produce such love in my heart for him! 

Still Asking
I still have so many questions.  What is the significance of the name of Jesus for how I am to relate to him?  What does he want me know and learn about his heart and his character from his name?  What does this say about who he is and what was in the Father’s heart towards him when He chose that name?  What joy and delight does he feel, that every time his name is spoken, that people are declaring “the Lord saves”?  What pleasure does he experience in saving the souls of mankind?  How does he desire for me to partner with him in this mission and purpose? 

He Loves Saving People
In all of this, the one thing that he spoke that reverberates in my heart is this simple declaration – “I love saving people!”  I just felt the joy and pleasure that he takes in rescuing a soul from darkness and bringing them into his light.  This is something I also need more revelation on, that I might have that same passion for seeing the lost saved.  I want to have his heart for salvation, that I might proclaim “the Lord saves” to the world.  In fact, his desire to see as many as possible come into salvation is the very thing that is delaying his return, for “the Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.  He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)

The Revelation of Jesus Christ

A little while ago, Mike Bickle at the International House of Prayer was teaching on the book of Revelation and he spent some time focusing on the fact that this book was meant to reveal Jesus to us, as it says in the first five words of the book, “The revelation of Jesus Christ…”.  For many, this book can be intimidating and confusing, and though it is meant to give us insight into “what must soon take place” by revealing details about the end of the age and the return of Jesus to the earth, it is primarily meant to show us who Jesus is.  The first chapter in this book actually contains 22 descriptions about Jesus (maybe even more), and so I was challenged to being meditating on and praying through them by following the simple acronym that Mike suggested – A.R.K.

A – Agreement: make declarations of agreement to Jesus about who He is and what He does. Simply declare the truth back to Jesus with affection and gratitude. For example, “Jesus, I thank You for being a faithful witness to the truth. I love this about You. I trust what You say”.
R – Revelation: pray for increased revelation of each description of Jesus. For example, “Reveal Yourself to me as the faithful witness and show me more of Your glory in this”. 
K - Keep the prophecy: by committing to respond in faith and obedience to the specific truths about His Name and by asking for God’s help to do so. We make simple declarations of our resolve to obey or to stand in faith in the Word. We also ask Jesus to empower us to do this. For example, “I commit to be a faithful witness to the truth regardless what it costs. Help me to walk this out”.

So, my desire is to go through all the descriptions of Jesus found in Revelation 1, as well as the others throughout the book, while dialoguing with Him, journaling, and blogging about the things He shows me about Himself.  It’s seemingly going very slowly and I am realizing that there is a lot of depth and richness in there that I hadn’t seen before, so I am happy to take my time discovering who He is! 

A helpful resource for your own meditation and study is an outline with the descriptions of Jesus and space to write your own brief notes using the A.R.K. acronym.  If you’re interested in reading the notes from the other sessions in this series by Mike Bickle, or even listening to the MP3′s, you can find it all here.  To read all of my blog posts on this subject, feel free to check out “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” category and I hope you will be stirred with hunger to search Him out as well and find yourself falling more in love with this God-man who is returning to claim us as His bride!