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ELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31)
Miss Priscilla Jane Owens, the author of this hymn, was 21 born July 1829, of Scotch and Welsh descent, and was in (1906) resident at Baltimore, where she was engaged in public-school work. For 50 years Miss Owen interested herself in Sunday-school work, and most of her hymns were written for children's services. Her hymn in the Scotch Church Hymnary, 1898, "We have heard a joyful sound" (Missions), was written for a Sunday-school Mission Anniversary, and the words were adapted to the chorus "Vive le Roi" in the opera The Huguenots. [Rev. James Bonar, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix II (1907)
This is a Gospel song that I have heard from the earliest memories of my childhood and was common fare on public radio stations throughout the Blue Ridge Mountain regions of Tennessee, Georgia and Kentucky in those days.
Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves
We have heard the joyful sound:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Spread the tidings all around:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Bear the news to ev'ry land,
Climb the steeps and cross the waves;
Onward! 'tis our Lord's command;
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Waft it on the rolling tide:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Tell to sinners far and wide:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Sing, ye islands of the sea;
Echo back, ye ocean caves;
Earth shall keep her jubilee:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Sing above the battle strife:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
By His death and endless life:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Sing it softly through the gloom,
When the heart for mercy craves;
Sing in triumph o'er the tomb:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Give the winds a mighty voice:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Let the nations now rejoice:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Shout salvation full and free,
Highest hills and deepest caves;
This our song of victory:
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
1 We have heard the joyful sound: Jesus saves! Jesus saves! Spread the tidings all around: Jesus saves! Jesus saves! Bear the news to ev'ry land, Climb the steeps and cross the waves; Onward! 'tis our Lord's command; Jesus saves! Jesus saves! Much beauty is revealed in this first stanza. The sinner one day finds himself alone facing his awful sins and realizes his hopeless predicament, but then comes to his tortured mind the words of Jesus comes to mind – words he may have heard in his childhood a Bible camp, or else at some tent revival so long ago that he barely remembers. But remember he does! Suddenly, there is a joyful hope in those simple words, “Jesus saves!” The sinner always questions the depth of love that could forgive all sins and remove the death penalty at once; but not so. He need only consider the next verse for a veritable assurance: “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?" (John 11:25-26) Does life remain? Yes, there is still time to answer the beckoning call of the Holy Spirit to approach our Lord’s Throne of Grace. With salvation comes a responsibility to share the glorious news to a fallen world.
2 Waft it on the rolling tide: Jesus saves! Jesus saves! Tell to sinners far and wide: Jesus saves! Jesus saves! Sing, ye islands of the sea; Echo back, ye ocean caves; Earth shall keep her jubilee: Jesus saves! Jesus saves! Walking along the shoreline of the seas, one seas the relentless tides rolling in constantly and never relenting. Though they reach the limits set by their Creator, they never cease their roaring against the boundaries of the sea. The testimony of our salvation, too, must be as relentless as those tides, and must be wafted aloft on the airwaves with the most vigorous voice and every means of communication. Though many will reject that joyful sound, God desires the Word to be preached to all the world – every nation, tribe and tongue alike. The melodious and rich voices of the men and women of the Solomon Islands join together with those of every land to echo the love of God and the salvation He makes available to His elect people. Once the Word has been so preached, the earth will enjoy a sabbatical rest the likes of which it has not known since Eden.
3 Sing above the battle strife: Jesus saves! Jesus saves! By His death and endless life: Jesus saves! Jesus saves! Sing it softly through the gloom, When the heart for mercy craves; Sing in triumph o'er the tomb: Jesus saves! Jesus saves! The Christian believer is engaged in a war more tumultuous than any other fought on the far-flung battlefields of the world, and his enemy is far more cunning. The mournful sounds of battle dominate the spiritual realm as well as the earthly. The war is intense. The mourning of the lost who die without God are the most haunting of all others. But the Christian soldier, though he may fall in battle, maintains an invincible spirit of eternal joy unchecked by the specter of death. He has the certain knowledge that our Lord also suffered death once for our salvation and then rose from His borrowed Tomb. He not only died and was buried, He arose and ascended to the Father where He intercedes for the believer.
4 Give the winds a mighty voice: Jesus saves! Jesus saves! Let the nations now rejoice: Jesus saves! Jesus saves! Shout salvation full and free, Highest hills and deepest caves; This our song of victory: Jesus saves! Jesus saves! How shall we, in our day, “give the winds a mighty voice?” By every means of vocal and electronic communications of the modern age. There is only one answer to the wars and disunion of the world, but that answer is the only one that the world at-large disregards – the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Victory is in the salvation of the Lord alone! Regardless the rigors and hardships of our mission, we must persevere to the depths of every canyon and the heights of every mountain peak and promontory, and every island of the sea – Jesus Saves!
