Our Horn of Salvation
In Psalm 18:2 we find these words of King David, “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” The term ‘horn,’ in the Bible, represented several things, but one significant application was to demonstrate strength, power, protection, victory, etc. In Psalm 75:10 it says, “All the horns of the wicked I will also cut off, but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.” It was a promise from God that no matter how strong the wicked, the enemy, may seem to be, the righteous will prevail and come out the victor.
Psalm 89:17 says, “For You are the glory of their strength, and in Your favor our horn is exalted.”
This is indicating that God is the source of any power or strength we may have, and He is the reason for any victory a person may have as a follower of God.
Down across ancient times the Jewish writings and scrolls indicated that they were looking forward to the time when the Messiah would come, and when He does they believed He would come in strength and power and authority. When Jesus arrived on the scene and was taken by His mother and earthly father to the temple and old Simeon, who had long waited for the promise, took Jesus in His arms and proclaimed that that he had set eyes on God’s Salvation, meaning Jesus. Just prior to that time Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, had proclaimed that God had “raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of David.”
The reference of God being the horn of our salvation was bridged with the proclamation that Jesus was that horn of salvation, which emphasized that Jesus was indeed God and the promised Messiah who would come in strength and authority. The very name Jesus means ‘the Lord is Salvation.’ He and He alone has the power and the authority to bring victory and triumph over sin and the devil. He offers a salvation that is powerful, strong and able to conquer the rule of sin in any person’s life. As one writer put it, “The salvation Jesus offers is strong, triumphant, and powerful. Just like the horns on the altar offered refuge and atonement, Jesus offers clemency and cleansing through His death on the cross. However strong our spiritual foe, the horn of our salvation is stronger still.”
The Godhead works together to provide all of us a path to freedom, strength, victory and to be more than a conqueror. Let’s praise Him today as the Horn of our Salvation!