Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Robert Johnson
“Guilty,
vile, and helpless we; Spotless Lamb of God was He; ‘Full atonement!’
can it be? Hallelujah! What a Savior!” (Song by Philip P. Bliss -
1875). This song communicates two truths about the sacrifice of our
Lord that are important for us to realize, essential for us by which to
live.
First, we must never forget the price that was
paid for our forgiveness from sin to be achieved. The familiarity we
have with the cross can sometimes minimize the esteem we hold for it.
It is incredible to consider the Son of God coming to earth as the Son
of Man, to take flesh and blood and live a human existence, so our sins
might be pardoned. For Deity to be humbled and become part of creation
is amazing to consider. “Who, though he was in the form of God, did
not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself
nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of
men” (Philippians 2:6-7).
Not only is the incarnation amazing to
consider, but also is the death to which it led. Christ became human
knowing it was to die for our sins, the most horrific, painful,
shameful death conceivable. What greater act of love can be shown than
God offering His Son for our sins? “By this we know love, that he laid
down his life for us” (1 John 3:16). “For one will scarcely die for a
righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would dare even
to die, but God shows his love for us in that while we were still
sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:7-8). The enormity of all this
should never be lost on us, those who would perish eternally without
such a sacrifice being made on our behalf.
Another truth we must understand is that all
Christ did for us in becoming human and dying on the cross, he did
willingly, from love, and this should be a source of joy for us. It
reminds us the value we have to the Father. “See what kind of love the
Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and
so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not
know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has
not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like
him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:1-2). God wants
fellowship with us, and He is willing to do everything necessary for it
to be possible. “What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son
of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than
the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor” (Psalm
8:4-5). What an honor for God to so love us and provide so richly for
us. We can rejoice that God so cares for us.
We should never take for granted what God has
done for us in Jesus Christ. We should be humbled and in awe that God
so loves us and that our Lord has done so much for us. We also should
never forget how precious we are in God’s sight, our value and worth to
him. We ought to commit ourselves wholly to loving and living for Him.
“We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). “Lifted up was He
to die; ‘It is finished!’ was His cry; Now in Heav’n exalted high.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!”