To Save…

Isaiah 9:⁷ “His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!”

Matthew 1:²¹ “And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (emphasis added). When we turn to Jesus in repentance, we find salvation, forgiveness, deliverance, and cleansing from our sins. No sin too great, not sin too small. During one of our God Will Do It Again services at KFA Events Centre, God gave us a Word of Knowledge that there was someone in that service who had partaken in the eating of a foetus. The person had partnered with other people who had killed a pregnant woman and eaten the foetus. So, we made the call, and the person came out.

After the service, one erudite learned, educated gentleman walked up to me and said, ‘Pastor, we should hand this person over to the police.’ I said, ‘If the police had caught the person that would be a different matter. But the God of heaven says He wants to forgive the person, and you want to stand in judgment over the person?’ There is no sin too great, that when you make that turn in repentance, God cannot forgive. I do not know who I am speaking to but be assured that when you make that turn, He will come and save you. He has come to deliver you, and to save you from that sin. 1 John 1:⁹ “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness, from all unrighteousness.” (NLT, KJV).

Jesus has sent us to do three things – to teach, preach, and heal. By God’s grace, I like to teach a lot and in teaching, I sometimes go into the root words of certain key concepts in scriptures. However, I do not like boring people with Hebrew, Greek, or German root words. Instead, we focus on the meaning and build on that. But for certain key concepts in scriptures, it is important for us to look at the root word. Take the word church, for example, Kirche in German and Ekklesia in the original Greek. This helps us understand the concept of the church as the assembly of God’s people. Jesus said, I will build my church, Ekklesia, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18). One of such concepts that needs to be explained from the root word is Sõzõ.

Sõzõ is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word in Isaiah 35:³ “…He is coming to save you”. Sõzõ is translated ‘Save’ in English and there are over a hundred instances in the New Testament alone where this word was used in different forms. It is an all-encompassing word. The English translation for save has led to an understanding that is too narrow.

Prayer: Father, please expand my understanding to see the depth of Your heart in this season, to fully grasp the gift, which is Christ Jesus, in Jesus Name. Amen!