Jesus Saves

What an incredible hymn this week from my childhood that reminds us of the joy of salvation – because Jesus Saves! This hymn has appeared in nearly 500 hymnals, which is an incredible feat for any song. The music both in the text and in its composition brings smiles to Christians’ faces as they sing of the great news of salvation. Everyone in the world needs to hear this incredible news with a mighty voice – Jesus Saves!

Jesus Saves Lyrics

The Theology

There are few themes more fun to sing for the Christian than salvation. “We have heard the joyful sound – Jesus saves! Jesus saves!”

And, joyful, it is.

Fundamentally in this song, the saint is reminded to share the great news of salvation with everyone in the world. Before internet, cell phones, text messages, blogs, and all the various forms of media we have today, this song suggest sending the great news of the Gospel that Jesus Saves around the world with references to the winds, the oceans, wherever there are battles, the waves, the tides, and to the nations.

Let all the world rejoice in the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ! He saves!

The Author and Composer of the Song

The author of Jesus Saves, Priscilla Jane Owens, was born July 21, 1829. She worked in public schools. For 50 years Miss Owen focused on serving in Sunday school. In fact, 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. [1]

The composer of Jesus Saves, William J. Kirkpatrick, received his musical training from his father and several other private teachers. A carpenter by trade, he engaged in the furniture business from 1862 to 1878. He left that profession to dedicate his life to music, serving as music director at Grace Methodist Church in Philadelphia. Kirkpatrick compiled some one hundred gospel song collections; his first, Devotional Melodies (1859), was published when he was only twenty-one years old. Many of these collections were first published by the John Hood Company and later by Kirkpatrick’s own Praise Publishing Company, both in Philadelphia. [2]

Enjoy This Media

Some groups singing the song from YouTube:

Enjoy listening to this beautiful Christian hymn that challenges us to share the Gospel with all the world.

Classic congregational singing of all four verses.

 

This is one of the early copies of the song from 20th Century Gospel Songs #51 [5]:

I enjoyed singing this song in my childhood from Great Hymns of Praise #445 [6]:

 

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