Who’s Gonna Save You?
The movie “Superman” from 1978 starred Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent/Superman and Margo Kidder as Lois Lane. There’s a famous rooftop scene in the movie where the Daily Planet helicopter’s blades are spinning and waiting for Lois to board so they can fly off to report on location. As they take off the helicopter's landing gear gets caught on some wires. The helicopter spins out of control and lands on its side, hanging over the roof of the 50 story building. Lois falls out of the door but grabs the landing gear, holding on for dear life. If she let go, she’d fall 50 stories or so to her death.
Clark Kent sees this from the ground. He quickly finds a revolving door and changes into Superman. Lois’ strength failed and she let go. As she hurtled toward the ground, Superman flew up to meet her and caught her in midair. He says to Lois, “Don’t worry, I’ve got you.” She says, “You’ve got me?! Who’s got you?!”
What prompted her question of course, is that people can’t fly, and Superman, other than the costume, appeared to be a regular human. When she let go of the landing gear, she had no hope. But she had a savior who, though he appeared human, was so much more than human.
In many ways, that’s the story of Jesus. He came to the world on Christmas Day, appearing as a baby just like any other baby, but He was so much more than that.
Luke 2:1-14: 1 Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. 2 This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all the people were on their way to register for the census, each to his own city. 4 Now Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, 5 in order to register along with Mary, who was betrothed to him, and was pregnant. 6 While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
8 In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock at night. 9 And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood near them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. 10 And so the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; 11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army of angels praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace among people with whom He is pleased.”
God coordinated so many wondrous events in the birth of Jesus. We could talk about the virgin Mary gave birth, or how God got Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem to fulfill the prophecy that the Messiah would be born there. We could talk about the humility of Jesus, that He would come to the world as a helpless baby and allow Himself to be placed in a manger, which was most likely a feeding trough for animals. We could focus on the appearance of the angel of the Lord to the shepherds. If that wasn’t stunning enough, then a multitude of angels appeared and sang a song praising God! So many miraculous events happened that night 2000 years ago.
What I want to focus on is the announcement from an angel of the Lord in verse 11: For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior who is Christ the Lord. The angel said so much in this one sentence. The city of David is Bethlehem, which is where the Jewish Messiah would be born according to the prophecy of Micah 5:2. The shepherds would have known the prophecy. More than that though, the angel used three descriptive words to tell the shepherds exactly who had been born. A Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
The first word is “Savior.” In the first century, when Israel lived under Roman oppression, all Israel was waiting for someone who would rescue them from Roman rule. Jews dreamed of being a sovereign and proud nation again like they were 1000 years earlier under King David and Solomon.
The second word is “Christ.” The word Christ is the same word is the Hebrew word “Messiah.” It means “anointed one.” Priests, prophets, and kings were anointed with oil, so that this baby is called the anointed one, the Christ, the Messiah, would have raised the shepherds hope about how this child might one day rescue them from Rome.
The last word is “Lord.” Lord could mean anything from the owner of property to God Himself. After the angel’s announcement, the shepherds said, "let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." They went and saw Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. They reported to Mary everything the angel had said. Mary treasured these things and pondered them in her heart.
It would take 33 years for Mary and the shepherds to understand the announcement in Luke 2:11. A Savior, who is Christ the Lord, did not mean salvation from the Romans. It meant salvation from the penalty of sin and death that we all deserve. You see, as glorious as Christmas is, it cannot be separated from the events of Easter weekend. That’s because the story of Jesus did not end at His birth. The real meaning of Christmas is that Christ came, yes, but that He came with a purpose, to live the sinless life that we cannot live, and to offer Himself as a sacrifice to God, to pay the penalty that we deserve for sin on our behalf.
When God raised Jesus from the dead on Easter Sunday, God was saying that He was satisfied with Jesus’ life and death. God accepted Jesus’ payment for sin on our behalf. God raised Jesus to show us that He has the power to raise the dead, and that if we put our trust in Jesus, God will raise us from the dead too.
So, who’s going to save you? Lois Lane had Superman, but that’s just science fiction. Even if it wasn’t, Superman could only save her from physical death. Only Jesus can save us from spiritual death. Whether we know it or not, each one of us is like Lois Lane, falling from a 50-story building with spiritual death waiting for us. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Only God’s wrath awaits us. We need a Savior.
God promised that all who trust in Jesus will never perish but have eternal life. Jesus is the Savior we need and the only Savior God offers. Don’t put your faith in yourself, or that you think you’re a pretty good person, or that you think your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds. You cannot save yourself. Only Jesus can save you.
That’s why He came and why we celebrate Christmas. He was born to live a sinless life, to die a sacrificial death, to bring glory to God, and to save those who believe in Him. When we believe in Him, God credits us with Jesus’ sinless record and transfers all the guilt of our sin to Jesus’ account. Then God marks our account “paid in full.”
Who’s going to save you? Put your faith in Jesus. For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Praise the Lord!