Zephaniah 3:17b He
is a mighty savior.
The word Hero gets
thrown around a lot. It’s used for
athletes (mine is Joe Montana), it’s used for political figures, it’s used for
firefighters and policemen, it’s used for people who have been influential in
other’s lives, and in many of these, a real case can be made for these people
being heroic.
What about the
single mother who works tirelessly as the provider of her home as well as the
housekeeper, accountant, mechanic, and everything else that comes her way? Or the grandmother who never gives up on her
wayward grandchildren but continues each and every night to pray for them by
name and uses every opportunity to show the love of God to them. I can’t forget the men and women who choose
to put themselves in harm’s way by joining the military and defending our
country.
I could go on to speak about
judges who refuse to be bullied into taking the 10 commandments down, or well
known religious men and women who are ridiculed and attacked for standing up
for Biblical principles, and many others.
The Bible uses the
Hebrew word Gibbor to describe heroes, champions, powerful warriors. There really isn’t a more descriptive word in
the Hebrew language to describe a hero.
It’s the word used in Genesis to describe giants, and Nimrod, and yes it’s
the word used to describe who Goliath was.
Hero, champion, so powerful it could even be translated tyrant in
certain situations.
And then there is
the countless times it is used to describe God including here in Zephaniah 3:17
– God is the heroic, mighty, champion of salvation. Makes Joe Montana and others look
pretty small doesn’t it? The mighty Goliath couldn’t
even stand up to a teenager who had the power of this God let alone God
Himself.
God is the champion
of salvation, but He had to pick a method for this salvation. Justice demanded it, the gift of grace came
at a price, and the mercy of forgiveness needed a sacrifice. In comes Jesus, but that’s not really an
accurate representation of how all of this came about because God chose Jesus,
His only Son, before He ever created the universe, and long before you and I
ever came to be. It wasn't a last minute hail mary.
The prophetic book
of Isaiah (9:6) refers to Jesus as “the mighty God”, among other things. The language here combines Gibbor with El;
calling Jesus the El Gibbor from birth.
When you combine these two words you have - Jesus - the Almighty God, Champion and
Hero of the story, Savior of the world!
This Lord God who is with you that we read about in the first part of
this verse, sent His Son Jesus on your behalf.
Yes He is Mighty to
Save – Thank you God for sending El Gibbor!
Lance
