Day 4: Christ the Centre

“Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11)

A Saviour has been born to you! To understand the full scope of the salvation that God has provided for us in Jesus, we need to look at the meaning of a particular verb that’s used many times in the New Testament.

In the Greek language, the verb is sozo. It’s normally translated, “to save,” but it’s also translated many other ways, such as “to heal,” “to cure,” and so on. Every time it’s used it means this is a part of what God has provided in Jesus the Savior. This is the great, all-inclusive salvation which Jesus brings.

Healing

For instance, it’s used of the healing of an incurable disease. A woman, who had haemorrhage or an issue of blood that could not be cured medically, came behind Jesus in the crowd. In faith she touched the border of His robe and she was healed. In Matthew 9:22 it says:

“Jesus turned and saw her. ‘Take heart, daughter,’ he said, ‘your faith has healed you.’ And the woman was healed from that moment.” (NIV)

That Greek word there is saved: your faith has saved you. It wasn’t just the salvation of her soul but it was the healing of her body as well.

Deliverance

That same word is used for deliverance from mental illness and demon oppression. In Luke 8 we read about a demoniac who had a legion of demons but he came to Jesus and Jesus drove out the demons and healed the demoniac (Luke 8:35–36):

“The people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured.” (NIV)

The Greek word is saved, so, deliverance from mental sickness and demon oppression is all part of the salvation that’s in Jesus.

Raising the dead

It’s also used about someone being brought back from death. Jesus went to the house of Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, whose daughter had just died. But Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid; just believe that she will be healed,” but the Greek word is, ‘she will be saved.’

Paul uses it, speaking of his confidence in God’s power to keep him through to the end of his life. He says in 2 Timothy 4:18:

“The Lord will rescue me from every evil work and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom.”

“Bring me safely” in Greek is “will save me.” So, it’s the ongoing preservation of God as well.

Salvation is God’s total provision for every need of humanity in time and eternity. God wrapped it all up in one Christmas gift: Jesus.