Savior (21 Days of Prayer & Fasting)

The picture of a Savior originated in the garden of Eden with the offspring of the woman bruising the head of the serpent and simultaneously getting his heel bruised by the serpent (Gen. 3:15). This follows the first sin in history and is the hope for God's people throughout their history in the Old Testament. God continuously gave the people leaders to help them through trying times such as oppression from opposing nations or slavery in Egypt. But Israel struggled with a short-term memory of sorts as they often ran back to their fleshly wants and desires of the opposing nations and then complained to these leaders that God had left them.

Fast forward to the triumphal entry narrative recorded in all 4 gospels. With slight differences in each, the theme is the same. The Jews looked at this man Jesus, the prophet, seated on a donkey as the Savior they had been waiting for. They looked upon Him, quoting Psalm 118 "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord", signifying the coming of the messianic kingdom, while remembering Israel's liberation from Egyptian slavery. However, many weren't looking at Him as the spiritual savior they needed or that this Psalm was pointing to, but rather as a commander to overthrow their current oppression of Rome.

Jesus as Savior has a much greater result than just an in-the-moment earthly deliverance. Jesus came to save sinners from the root of our problems not just merely the effects of it. The root of our problem is sin. Everything else in our fallen world stems from it. Our tensions with others, conflicts at work, troubles at home, heartbreak over lost loved ones are because of this root problem of sin.

Jesus is a much better Savior than just one who helps with our trivial day-by-day issues. He came to save mankind from their sin. This included Jesus' own mother Mary, who acknowledged that while chosen by God to bring the Savior into the world by birth, had no exemption from her own need of His saving in her life too (Luke 1:47). Jesus came to "save his people from their sins." (Matthew 1:21) Jesus is the embodiment of God's great love expressed to sinners to save us because He gave up His life for sinners who didn’t deserve it. The picture of Jesus as our Savior reminds us that Jesus is the only one who could and did save sinners. If even the mother of Jesus couldn’t save herself from her sins, then neither can we.

The things in this world that we encounter, like back in the day with Rome or Egypt, can be tough to endure. But Jesus our great Savior, looked upon our sin, and the great stain it left and washed it white as snow. Jesus is our great Savior from our great enemy of Satan and sin (bruising the head of the serpent) as He gave up His life on the cross (the bruise on his heel).