The Rescuers

When our children were young we watched a lot of Disney movies with them, as I'm sure that you having children did likewise. One of my daughter's favorites (and mine too) was "The Rescuers." This was the animated movie where "Bernard and Miss Bianca" (the heroes) were sent by the mouse version of the United Nations to rescue Penny, a little orphan girl who had been kidnaped by "Miss Medusa" (the villain). My favorite character was "Evenrude, the outboard dragonfly."

I know that this opening paragraph relates to a cute little movie, but it also serves to provide me with a lead-in to our lesson topic for today. I'm going to combine that paragraph with a phrase that we've all heard used several times in the past few months. That phrase is: "rescue mission." See, that's what Bernard and Miss Bianca were sent out on - a "rescue mission" to save a person from peril who could not save herself. Let's see if we can enlarge on this thought for a few moments.

Within a relatively short period of time we've seen "rescue missions" sent out to rescue a 17 year old girl who was attempting to sail solo around the world and her boat had become disabled. She was found and rescued. We've had a couple of "mine rescues" attempted, one with good results and one that didn't.

The one that went badly was the one in Australia in which all of the trapped miners perished. The good one is the one in Chile wherein all of the miners were successfully saved by the "rescue mission." We'll come back to these Chilean miners in a moment, but first, let me tell you about the greatest "rescue mission" ever sent out and I see this lesson as being appropriate to the holiday season that's upon us right now.

Approximately 2000 years ago God, the Father and Creator of all mankind, launched the greatest, most beneficial, "rescue mission" ever. He sent His "only begotten Son" to the earth to save the eternal souls of everyone on earth. And this was not a spur of the moment endeavor on His part. Because He created man "in His own image," meaning that man differed from all the rest of creation in that he has a soul, has an intellect and a conscience and thus is capable of making choices, God knew that man would make poor choices and in doing so, would put his soul in grave danger of being eternally lost.

From the very beginning of time, from the creation of man, God had a plan for rescuing man from the poor choices made in his life. Probably the poorest of man's choices is to "follow the pleasures of sin for a season." (Heb. 11:25) Those doing so are in the clutches of Satan, having been, shall we say, "soul-napped." And, God knew that man cannot "rescue" himself from that dire situation. Is not capable of saving his own soul, therefore a "Rescuer" IE: a "Savior" was needed.

So, about 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ was sent to earth by His Father for the sole purpose of rescuing all the souls of mankind from sure and certain death. Those souls that had become trapped in Satan's mine and were/are incapable of rescuing themselves. In Matt. 1:21 we see an angel telling Joseph exactly what I just said, only in different terms. The angel said, "thou shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins." There is no doubt as to who our "rescuer," our "Savior" is. Parabolically speaking, who our "rescue capsule" is - Jesus Christ.

Okay, let's go back to the Chilean miners again for another illustration. Their "rescue mission" consisted of a "rescue capsule" sent down to where they were trapped. All they had to do was get into the capsule and be raised to the surface. To their salvation from a certain death in the location where they were trapped.

Let's use that "rescue capsule" as an analogy of how our souls are rescued from their trapped location. For our souls to be rescued, they have to get into the "capsule." Here's my analogy: the "blood of Christ" is our "rescue capsule." The mechanism that we must "get into" in order to be rescued, be saved. There are numerous scriptures that tell us this, but these three are sufficient to make this point: Romans 5:9, Ephesians 1:7 and Ephesians 2:13.

And, here again, we can make use of the Chilean miners and their situation to make a lesson point. What if some of the miners refused to "get into" the "rescue capsule?" It's almost beyond our capability to imagine that scenario, isn't it? Think about it - they couldn't save themselves. A plan was perfected, that when launched, would provide an avenue of rescue for them. "At just the right time," the rescue effort was sent forth that would bring them out of their peril.

We would consider any of the miners insane if they didn't choose to participate in this rescue effort, wouldn't we? We'd probably conclude that they had some sort of "death wish" if they refused to get in the capsule. Well, I ask you, isn't this the same principle to be seen when people refuse to accept God's "Rescuer" and choose rather to stay in the "mine?" Certainly it is.

God has a perfect plan, designed from the very beginning of time, for the rescue of man's soul. He launched His perfect plan by sending His Son to earth as the perfect sacrifice to initiate the "rescue mission." Again, parabolically speaking, He sent down the "rescue capsule" and all we have to do to be "rescued" is to get in it. Hard to imagine not doing so, isn't it?

Maybe some don't like this particular method of rescue. Maybe they prefer a different one that doesn't require them to leave their place of entrapment. Perhaps they believe that if they wait a while longer another form of rescue will come. If any of those reasons are subscribed to, I have sad news for them. There will not be another "rescue mission" sent for them. If they reject this one and refuse to "get into" the "rescue capsule" they will perish ETERNALLY. God said that He only sent out one "rescue mission" and if we don't take advantage of that one "....there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins." (Heb. 10:26)

In summation, we (mankind) are the "miners" trapped in our own "mine" to wit: a lost condition in which we cannot save ourselves. It was for this very reason that God sent us His "rescue mission." If we "get into" the "rescue capsule" we'll be like the Chilean miners - we'll be "rescued" (saved). If we ignore the "capsule" we'll be like the Australian miners - forever lost.

Ron Covey