God’s Word for You
Psalm 53:6a Our salvation
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Saturday, December 24, 2022
6 Who will bring salvation for Israel from out of Zion?
“From out of Zion” could have two or even three meanings. First, Zion can be a reference to the Old Testament Jews, the nation that was promised a Savior that would come from their nation (Genesis 12:3), from among their own brothers (Deuteronomy 18:18). He would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), and he would be called the Messiah, the Anointed One (Christ, Daniel 9:25-26).
But Zion can often simply be a reference to the true church of God, and in this way this verse is a reminder that the Savior was not only going to come from the family of Abraham and the line of David, but that salvation is found coming out of the religion of the Jews, or true Judaism. This is the faith that became Christianity when Christ entered the world as the fulfillment of all the prophecies. This was the confession of Andrew his apostle who said to his brother Simon Peter, “We have found the Messiah” (John 1:41).
Thirdly, “from out of Zion” can also have a simple geographic meaning, a possibility that is often lost on many readers. But there, out from the city of David, away from Zion, Christ was forced to walk, carrying his cross to the little Hill of the Skull outside the walls near the road where so many travelers passed by. It was little for us and for anyone else, but for him, the labor up the slope must have been among the worst of his agonies.
A fourth way of thinking about salvation coming out of Zion is to think of the Christ child being born from out of the true church. He is “the male child who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter” (Revelation 12:5). The dragon was there, that ancient serpent called the devil. He “stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour the child the moment it was born” (Revelation 12:4), but he failed to accomplish his desire. While it might be going too far to say that the woman is Mary the mother of Jesus in the fullest sense, since all believers are said to be her offspring in the last verse, it is more natural to think of the woman giving birth as the church itself. Christ was not born to a family of unbelievers, but a devout family who believed in God and who trusted in his promises.
The salvation he brought was not a salvation by example, as if everyone being nice to one another is all he wants. His salvation is the saving of mankind from our sins. For although the devil has a good case to accuse each one of us of our sins, and we cannot deny his charges, Christ our advocate intercedes for us. He has in his hands the proof that our sin has been paid for, but that proof is no document of clay or of paper, but the very wounds which he received as he himself atoned for our sins. “Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. And who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Romans 8:34-35).
He is the salvation that came out of Zion, for Israel and for more than Israel; for all mankind. “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given” (Isaiah 9:6). “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation” (Isaiah 12:2).
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.