1John 4:14 - Save The Humans

”And we ourselves have seen and are witnessing that the Father has sent the Son [as] Savior of the world.”

-Some say, save the whales.  Or save the bees.  Or save the children.  Or even save the planet.  Some are thinking about quality of life, taking better care of something, saving it from misuse.  Others are on to more of this idea of an extinction level of catastrophe.  So many causes.  So many things to which, for which one could give their LIFE.  But how ‘bout this one?  Save the world.  Not the physical world, per se, but its inhabitants, the 7-plus billion of them.  That’s what Jesus talked about (John 3.17, 12.47), saving humanity one soul at a time (Luke 19.10, 9.56, 8.12; Mark 8.35).  Save the humans.  That’s what He gave His life for.  This is that one ultimate cause which compelled Him to step down out of heaven’s glory, take on fragile human flesh, and enter in to the brokenness of humanity.  He came to save the world, to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19.10).  Me.  Us.  The humans.  He is our Savior.  Curiously, He never once called Himself Savior.  No matter.  There is salvation in no other Name (Acts 4.12).  And curiously, this is the only time John mentions this concept in the entire letter.

-And the stakes could be no higher.  The fact of there being such a thing as salvation, of there being a need to be saved implies some kind of danger.  But here we’re not just talking about missing out on a better quality of life, or even of failing to add a few extra years here and there.  The real danger here is that one would lose their very soul.  So great a peril - so many don’t even know or care to acknowledge the fact that they even have a soul to begin with, this part of them which was made to live on forever after their physical body ceases to function.  Materialism, existentialism - all that appears “real”, what you can see and feel and touch - this all that matters to them.  But are we not so much more than an animated collection of chemicals?  Do we not have the capacity for love and for dreams and all kinds of good and evil, the thoughts and intentions of the heart?  There are myriads of realities which we can neither feel nor see.  For his part, John did see the real Son of God, this One Who revealed the unseen God, Who brought to light the truth that there is a God, that He so loves me and so desires a relationship with me, and He sent His Son to save me from an eternity of being separated from Him.  Sin - my sin, our sin - had made this separation between us and God, and that separation becomes permanent if something isn’t done to rectify the situation.  Forever separated from God, from the One Source of love and light - that is the real danger.  There are no pleasant descriptions of this anywhere in Scripture.  There is no worse fate than this, and it was this danger which compelled God’s Son to climb down out of heaven and up onto that cross.  He is Savior, the One and Only.  Thanks be to God...