I will soon be going on a mission trip to El Salvador in Central America, and so I have been trying to learn some things about this tiny country. I was surprised by some of the geographical facts, such as it’s the smallest nation in the continental Americas. It is also the most densely populated country in Central America. I read about its history; how it gained independence from the Spanish who had conquered it; and how it has gone through more than one period of civil war, with the most recent one ending in 1992. But the most interesting tidbit about El Salvador that stands out to me is the name.
The Spanish Conquistadors originally named the country "Provincia De Nuestro Señor Jesus Cristo, El Salvador Del Mundo," which means “Province of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World,” but that name was soon shortened to “El Salvador,” which means “the Savior.” Despite the source of this name, the intentions behind it were good. The Spanish wanted El Salvador to be a place where people lived under the dominion of Jesus Christ, the Savior, though they went about it the wrong way.
Wherever European Catholics went during the great age of world exploration and discovery, native peoples were more often forced into Christianity than given the opportunity to freely choose to believe on their own. It is an embarrassment to all Christians that there were many who “converted” to Christianity at the tip of a sword, rather than through hearing and believing the truth of God’s Word. From the moment that Columbus landed in the Caribbean, the Spanish acted in the name of Christ, but acted like anyone but Christ. When they named El Salvador the “Province of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World,” the Spanish did so as conquerors claiming dominion in the name of Christ. But even though their actions were wrong, the name of Jesus is always a good one. Though Christians can misrepresent the name of Jesus with their actions, He is the One who defines that name and makes it something special regardless.
The name “Jesus” is actually a transliteration of the Hebrew word “Yeshua,” which literally means “salvation,” or “deliverance.” It’s no wonder that the angel told Joseph to “…call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21, NKJV). Even His name points to what Jesus came to do: to save those who need saving. The Bible explains that Jesus “…did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28, NKJV). He came to do whatever it would take to save sinners, even though that would require Him to give up His own life. We don’t have to read it in the Bible to know that “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23, NKJV), and it isn’t hard for us to understand that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23, NKJV). But what we all need to know is that “…God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8, NKJV). That means that we are all sinners facing God’s punishment, but our Savior stepped in and took our place to save us. It’s no wonder that the Bible emphasizes the name of Jesus saying, “…whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13, NKJV), as well as saying, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men, by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12, NKJV).
Jesus did all that it takes to save us, but now we have to do our part. Thankfully, all that is required of us is that we simply believe in who He is and what He did to save us, as the Bible explains, saying, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16, NKJV). This is about making a personal decision concerning Jesus Christ. You cannot force someone to believe no more than you can force someone to love you. A coerced decision to believe in Jesus Christ means nothing. If a person is to be saved from their sins, be born-again by the Spirit of God, and have a home in Heaven, that person must be given the opportunity to hear about Jesus and believe for themselves.
From what I’ve read of the history of El Salvador, when it was named the “Province of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World,” the people there were not given the opportunity to hear and believe in Jesus Christ without being forced by the Catholics. And although Catholicism became and still is the main religion of the country, the vast majority of the population has never been confronted with Biblical Christianity and the Good News of Jesus Christ. Generations have come and gone in El Salvador without coming to believe in and follow the One who truly is the Savior of the world. That is why mission work in El Salvador is so important. The missionary hope and prayer for El Salvador is that each individual living there will hear and believe the Gospel, transforming each of their lives into a “Province of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World.” Nothing better could happen to anyone in this life than that.
Please pray for this upcoming mission trip (April 26-May 4) and the team that will be going. May God richly bless these efforts and show that He truly is “El Salvador.”
