The Salvation of the Lord

During this Advent season, when we are to consider why Jesus Christ came to earth from heaven, many people are thinking instead about Santa Claus and songs like “Jingle Bells,” “White Christmas,” “Winter Wonderland,” and “Frosty the Snowman.” They are taken up with lights, decorations, Christmas trees, sending and receiving cards, giving and receiving gifts, and getting together for elaborate dinners. Many businesses make much money during this time. Yet for many, this is also a very depressing time, and some people even commit suicide.

I do not know what gifts Santa Claus is bringing for good children this year. But I want to tell you about the gift God sent in his Son, Jesus Christ. Most Christians today have no idea about this great gift of God’s salvation in Jesus Christ. Let us therefore briefly consider the person and saving work of Jesus Christ.

I. The Person of God’s Son

Every human birth in the world is the result of a man begetting and a woman conceiving. The only exception to this was the birth of Jesus Christ. His birth was the consequence of a miraculous conception of a poor Jewish teenager, the virgin Mary, who lived in Nazareth. A sinner like us, Mary received the grace of God even as Noah, another sinner, had earlier received grace (Gen. 6:8). The Holy Spirit begat, and the virgin Mary conceived and gave birth in due time.

Mary was betrothed to a poor, older man named Joseph. But before they came together, Mary was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit’s creative action. Both Mary and Joseph, though they were very poor, were of royal lineage of the family of King David. It was decreed by God and prophesied by Micah that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). A taxing decree of Caesar Augustus brought Joseph and the pregnant Mary to Bethlehem, the city where David was born, a three-day’s journey south from Nazareth.

While they were in Bethlehem, the time came for Mary to deliver the baby Jesus. But there was no place for them in the inn of Bethlehem, and no room, apparently, in the houses of Bethlehem. Additionally, this couple had no relatives in Bethlehem to receive them. So Jesus was born in the open air, or in a cave stable, and Mary laid him in a feeding trough, a manger used to feed the cattle. No midwife attended her, although I am sure Joseph helped.

This baby was born sinless. Earlier, the angel Gabriel had told Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). When he became an adult, Jesus asked, “Who can convict me of sin?” (John 8:46) Jesus was the seed of the woman, born to crush the head of the ancient serpent, the devil, who deceived the other woman, Eve. Mary was the virgin of whom Isaiah prophesied (Isa. 7:14). She was the woman Paul wrote about: “When the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the [adoption] as sons” (Gal. 4:4-5).

Who is this baby? He is Immanuel, God with us. Jesus himself told his apostles, “I will be with you always” (Matt. 28:20). He is the Son of God, the Lamb of God, the King of Israel, fully God and fully man. He is the Christ promised long ago. He is the King of kings, and his kingdom is forever. He is the Holy One of God. He is Lord. He is Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins (Matt. 1:21). He is the Savior of the whole world.

Jesus alone forgives our sins. But he does even more. When he became man, he did not begin to exist as a person like every other man. He eternally has existed as divine person. To this divine person he added human nature, both body and soul.

Incarnation therefore means the addition of sinless human nature to Christ’s divine person. Professor John Murray explains, “The incarnation means that he who never began to be in his specific identity as Son of God, began to be what he eternally was not. . . . The infinite became the finite, the eternal and supratemporal entered time and became subject to its conditions, the immutable became the mutable, the invisible became the visible, the Creator became the created, the sustainer of all became dependent, the Almighty infirm. . . . God became man.” In other words, the incarnation “means the conjunction in one person of all that belongs to Godhead and all that belongs to [true[ manhood. . . . He came into the closest relation to sinful humanity that it was possible for him to come without thereby becoming himself sinful.”¹ Dr. J. I. Packer states, “It was in virtue of His deity that He was able to defeat and dispossess the devil, [who] kept sinners in a state of helpless thraldom. . . . only so could He mediate between God and men. . . . His deity was the guarantee that he would achieve in the flesh that sinlessness which was prerequisite if He were to die as ‘a lamb without blemish and without spot.'” ²

As God/man, Jesus was tempted. Yet he fought against every temptation and won every time, for the glory of God. He fully obeyed God’s law and died for our sins.

II. The Saving Work of Jesus

The work assigned to Jesus was to save his people, the elect sinners of the world, who are the Father’s eternal donation to the Son. He was to accomplish this by his atoning death. The wages of sin is death; Christ died for the sins of his people. Matthew speaks of this, saying he was to be named Jesus, “because he will save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). Later, Jesus himself said, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28). The Hebrews writer says, “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death-that is, the devil-and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Heb. 2:14-15). John writes, “He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work” (1 John 3:8). Paul says, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-of whom I am the worst” (1 Tim. 1:15). And at his second epiphany, Jesus will come to annihilate death. So Paul writes, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:26).

Our text, 2 Timothy 1:9-10, gives us a summary of Christ’s work. It is also a summary of the gospel:

[God] has saved us and called us to a holy life-not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

Jesus was sent from heaven. This tells us there is a heaven, an upstairs, a transcendence. Christ was sent from heaven, from the very bosom of the Father, into this fallen world to be born of a virgin, that he may deal with sin, Satan, death, hell, and all our fears.

1. “God has saved us.”
   The Bible calls God the Father “our Savior.” Paul writes, “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared” (Titus 3:4). God the Father is our Savior because he planned our salvation. He has saved us, he is saving us, and he will save us. He has saved us from his own wrath that was revealed against us and from the dominion of sin and Satan. He has saved us from death and our crippling fear of death, and has given us eternal life. There is therefore now no condemnation and no separation from the love of God to those who are in Christ Jesus. God is for us; who can be against us? He did not spare his own Son, but gave him up to justify and spare us.
2. “God . . . called us to a holy life.”
   God called us through the gospel preached by his chosen and sent preachers to come and have fellowship with him and his Son. When he called, we came, because he himself powerfully and irresistibly drew us. When God called us, he gave us new birth, opening our closed hearts and minds so that we could believe the gospel. We were like Lazarus, who was in the tomb for four days. God called, “Lazarus, come out!” and the dead man came out. This is effectual calling. We who were dead in sins and trespasses have been raised by the preaching of the gospel, by the effectual call of God.God is calling us to dwell with him; therefore, we must be holy because God is holy. Proud and arrogant sinners cannot dwell with a holy God. Paul speaks about this: “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight” (Eph. 1:4). He also writes, “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (Eph. 5:25-27). If we live unholy lives, we are not saved; we are still in our sins.God’s purpose for us is to be holy. Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17). Paul tells us, “For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life” (1 Thess. 4:7). To the Corinthians Paul says, “To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy” (1 Cor. 1:2). He also declares, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age” (Titus 2:11-12).God’s children are to be like their heavenly Father (Matt. 5:48). If someone is living a sinful life and at the same time claiming to be a Christian, he is in fact a child of the devil, as Jesus himself explained: “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).
3. “[God] saved us . . . not because of anything we had done.”
   Salvation is not based on any good works, which are like filthy rags in God’s sight. Paul describes his own acts of self-righteousness as loss, refuse, and dung (Phil. 3:7-8). We must do good works, for they are proof that we are saved by God by grace. But it is by grace alone we can do anything pleasing to God. Our salvation by grace precedes our good works. So Paul says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph. 2:8-9). Paul also states, “God our Savior saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy” (Titus 3:5). Elsewhere he says of our salvation, “It does not therefore depend on man’s desire or effort but on God’s mercy” (Rom. 9:16).
4. “[God] saved us . . . because of his own purpose and plan.”
   The source of our salvation is God’s purpose and grace. Without his divine good plan, no one would be saved. Unlike human purposing, what God purposes, he fulfills, and nothing can frustrate his plan. He purposed to save us by grace before time, before history, before our birth, and before any of our good works. From all eternity we were loved by God and in his plan. He purposed to save us, not based on our eligibility. God saves only sinners. He refuses to save the self-righteous Pharisees.So God saves by his own purpose and grace, not his and our purpose. He does not consult with us. Paul writes, “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will” (Eph. 1:11). Elsewhere Paul says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified” (Rom. 8:28-30). He also writes, “Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad-in order that God’s purpose in election might stand” (Rom. 9:11). God loved Jacob but hated Esau. If anyone is saved, it is because of God’s eternal purpose and grace alone.
5. “This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.”
   Consider this grand and exhilarating truth: we were given the gift of grace by God the Father in eternity past, before time, long before we were born. We were given this grace in Christ Jesus. Paul declares, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ” (Eph. 1:3). In one sense, we were in Christ from eternity, for from eternity the Father loved us and chose us to be saved by his Son. We were the Father’s donation to Jesus from all eternity, that he may become incarnate, die for our sins, and save us: “For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him” (John 17:2; see also vv. 6, 9, 24). From eternity we were given to Christ so that he may give us eternal life in the fullness of time.We belonged to the Father in eternity, and we belong to him now. The Father loves us even as he loves his own Son (John 17:23). This truth should give us great security, deep assurance of God’s love, and peace beyond all human comprehension, especially at the time of our death! Paul says this grace abounds to many (Rom. 5:15). He says we receive grace in abounding measure, so that God’s grace is sufficient for us to live in this sinful world. He also says that because of this grace, we reign in life (Rom. 5:17). We are not merely existing, complaining and being miserable and putting up with life. “We are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Rom. 8:37).

Grace and Salvation Revealed in Christ

This saving grace is embodied in Jesus alone. Salvation is by grace alone in Christ alone. All other ways of salvation are false and deceptive, engineered by the devil himself.

Do you want to see grace, love, salvation, truth, and the way to life? Look to Jesus! God’s grace was given us in eternity. It was hidden in Christ, but now it has been made manifest to the whole world. Now in the historical incarnational life of God’s Son Jesus Christ our Lord, it is brought to our attention and knowledge by the gospel preached by a man who is sent by God. In the fullness of time, God sent his Son, born of Mary, born to obey the law and redeem his people, guilty sinners, that they may become sons of God by adoption. Grace has been manifested in Jesus Christ in the gospel. So John says, “From the fullness of his grace we have all received grace upon grace upon grace,” one blessing after another. Paul writes, “For the grace of God [that brings salvation] has appeared to all men,” that is, in the person of Jesus Christ (Titus 2:11, author’s translation). Grace made its epiphany in Christ; now all the world hears about it in the gospel proclamation. The ground of our salvation is the historical work of Jesus, performed in his first advent, which we celebrate with intelligence and gratitude.

Not only did Jesus reveal God’s grace to us, but he is also the only Savior, as we are told in many places. “There is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). He is also our salvation. (PGM) The old Simeon took one look at this infant Jesus and said, “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel” (see Luke 2:26-32). What he was saying is, “God, let me die now, for I am saved by Jesus the Savior, in whom I am trusting.” Isaiah exhorts, “Look to him and be saved, all the peoples of the world” (Isa. 45:44, author’s paraphrase).

Christ Abolished Death

What did Jesus do for his people? Negatively, he abolished our death by his death on the cross. Christ died in our place. Jesus said, “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides the spoils” (Luke 11:21-22). Thank God for a stronger One, stronger than the devil. Jesus Christ, the eternal God/man, came. He bound death, Satan, and sin, and set us free. That is why we sing and praise our God.

Peter declared, “But God raised [Christ] from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because death was incompetent to keep its hold on him” (Acts 2:24, author’s translation). Death could not hold him because he is eternal God without sin. Elsewhere we read, “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death-that is, the devil-and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Heb. 2:14-15). All of sinful man’s fear is centered in his fear of death. Jesus abolished death, meaning he rendered it powerless and inoperative. By Christ’s death, our enemies-death, Satan, and sin-are all rendered powerless. That is why we can resist the devil and he shall flee from us. This superhuman devil shall flee in the name of Christ.

Modern secular people either trivialize death or live in total despair. They refuse to speak or think about death. They are gripped by their fear of death, and cover their fear through plastic surgery or partying. And their fear is justified. Every son of Adam is spiritually dead, that is, his soul is separate from God. So they die physically-that is separation of soul from body. And they will also die eternal death, or what we call second death, which is separation of soul and body from God forever.

But for believers in Jesus there is no eternal death. They will not experience spiritual death, for they have been made alive in their spirits by God’s gracious, effectual call. Believers need not fear even physical death because they are dying in the Lord, not in their sins. So they enjoy great freedom from fear of death. The Bible calls the death of believers “falling asleep in Jesus.” Death for Christians is not a loss but gain, and far better, says Paul. They are blessed, as the Bible says: “Blessed are those who die in the Lord” (Rev. 14:13). Their death is precious in the sight of God (Ps. 116:15). They have crossed over from death into life because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. When they die, they will go to paradise to be with the Lord. They will worship in heaven, perfected in spirit, with great joy.

To believers, Satan is bound and defeated. To them, death is like a black dog without teeth that barks but he is tied up, bound by the mightier Christ. So Paul writes to Timothy in his last letter as he faced beheading by Nero’s sword, saying, “Christ abolished death and brought light and immortality to light through the gospel.” The sting of death has been removed from the scorpion by Christ. Elsewhere, Paul exults, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:56-57). Jesus kept the law for us and died our death. Therefore, we need not fear Satan, who has lost the power of death over us. Christ abolished death and will annihilate it when he comes again. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. Even now death is rendered inoperative. But at his second coming, Christ the victor will finally destroy it. Death will be swallowed up in victory.

Christ Brought Light and Immortality to Life

Positively, Christ has brought life and immortality to light. Jesus himself is life and immortality. He said, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25); “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6); “I have come that [you] may have life, and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10, author’s translation). He said, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish” (John 10:28). He said, “I will raise them up on the last day” (John 6:39, 40, 44, 54).

Incorruptibility is an attribute of God. God will make us like him by giving us incorruptible life in Christ. So Jesus declared, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15). In the same chapter we read, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him” (John 3:36).

We enjoy this life in increasing fullness in three stages. First, in this life, God gives eternal life to all who believe in Jesus. Union with Jesus by faith is union with life and immortality. Second, at death our perfected spirits, carried by angels, will enter into God’s presence where we will enjoy life with God in greater degree. There, in paradise, we will rest in Abraham’s bosom and be comforted by God. Finally, at Christ’s second coming, we shall be given incorruptible and glorious bodies in which we will dwell with God forever. That will be maximal enjoyment of eternal life.

Jesus said, “This is life eternal, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3, KJV). To know God is to love him and dwell with God and his Son forever. Life and immortality is God’s gift to us. In this Advent season, God the Father is offering us life and immortality in his Son Jesus Christ, who abolished our death.

Paul writes, “So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable. . . . in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory'” (1 Cor. 15:42, 52-54). Jesus said, “I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades” (Rev. 1:18). Christ lives this immortal life, and because he lives, we also live. In him we are given life and immortality.

How do we obtain this life and immortality? Through the gospel. The gospel reveals Christ, who nullified death and brought to us immortal life. The gospel is the good news of great salvation. What must we do to be saved? Make room for Jesus in the inn of our hearts. Let Christ come in, and sin, death, and misery will go out. Jesus came to set us free from the fear of death and give us the gift of immortal life. So the angel Gabriel told the poor shepherds of Bethlehem, “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).

I urge you to receive him as Savior, Christ, and Lord. Jesus is both sôtêr (Savior) and sôtêrion (salvation). He saves his people from their sins, guilt, and death. Friends, believe this and you will sing with great joy. Join with the celestial choir that celebrates this greatest event in the universe: the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

Paul declares that the gospel “is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16). But then he asks, “How can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent?” (Rom. 10:14-15). As a minister of the gospel, I am sent, and I am preaching to you. Hear, believe in Christ and call on the name of the Lord. “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Rom. 10:13).

¹ John Murray, Collected Writings of John Murray, Vol. 2, Systematic Theology(Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1977), 132-133.

² J. I. Packer, “Incarnation,” in The New Bible Dictionary, edited by J. D. Douglas et al (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974), 559, 561.