The Rescue Mission!

A great storm blew in from the sea, and the waters began to rise. When the water was a foot or two deep, a local trucker pulled up the large gray house and shouted to the man standing on the porch, "Hey, mister... jump in! I'm here to rescue you." With a glint of pride in his eye, the man said calmly, "I don't need you. I've lived a good life. God is going to rescue me." Off the trucker drove. The waters got higher than the first floor as the storm raged on. In the midst of the driving rain and rushing waters, a boat pulled up to the house and someone yelled, "Anyone in there? We are here to rescue you!" The man poked his head out of the second story window and said, "Don't bother yourselves... God is going to save me." The waters continued to rise to the point where the man was forced to climb onto the roof of his house. Before long a helicopter came over the hill, hovered over the house and let down a harness. "You don't need to bother with me. God is going to save me" the man said confidently. Finally the raging waters rose above the roof of the house and the man was washed away and drowned. When the man arrived at the pearly gates and stood before the throne, he had a look of shock on his face. Indignant and unhappy, he muttered,"I thought you were going to save me!?!" God looked him squarely in the eye and said, "I sent a truck, a boat and finally a helicopter. What more did you expect me to do?"

Do you think that you are a good person?  Good people go to Heaven, right?  So what do you have to worry about... Why all this talk about Jesus Christ?  He lived and died 2,000 years ago... what does that matter? Why do people still read the Bible... some dusty old book? They didn't have the internet back then... what did they know?  And churches?  Just a bunch of hypocrites talking about God on Sunday morning and then cursing and yelling like drunken sailors when the game comes on Sunday afternoon. Right?  You tell yourself, 'I'm basically a good person...  I don't need any of that outdated fairy tale stuff to get to Heaven... right?' Suddenly, your heart stops, you get hit by a bus, or you are killed by cancer. The next thing you know, you are standing before the throne, confident that you are good enough to get in. To your shock and horror, God says, "Depart from me. I never knew you".  Mixing terror with anger you cry out, "God, I was basically a good person... I thought you were going to save me?" On that day He could well say, "I sent my Son to earth to die and pay the price for your sins, but you neglected and rejected him. I had holy men put My Word in black and white so you could read it for yourself, but you dismissed it as rubbish. I established my church on earth and sent them on a mission to tell you about me, but you treated them like fools. What more did you expect me to do? You rejected all my efforts to save you, so you remain unsaved and stained with your disobedience and rejection. Nothing unclean enters into the kingdom of Heaven, so your choices are the reason you are banished." Yikes! If that's a sobering thought (or not), please read on... it's Big Picture time!

In the time before time began, God who is spirit had a passion to create, to give, to do, to love. Being non-physical, God brought into manifestation his 'body' per se... a means by which he could interact with the multi-dimensional universe that he was about to create. That 'body' (i.e. the Word of God), while part of God, was given a will and consciousness that was interdependent with God, so that God had someone with whom to share of joy of creating the universe! (This explains how Jesus Christ can be both the Son of God and God... He is the 'Arm of the Lord'... is your arm you?) The Word became the firstborn of all creation (and thus became his 'Son', who he named 'Yeshua' in Hebrew (meaning 'to rescue' or 'to deliver'), translated 'Jesus' in the New Testament), and it was by the Word (Jesus) that God 'spoke' the universe into being (quantum physics has shown that all matter is simply different vibrational states of energy/power... notice the connection between 'speaking', the 'Word', and 'vibration'). The Gospel of John famously starts out, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made... And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." Elsewhere it is written, "The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." Remember in Genesis, where it says, "God said, Let there be light...", etc.? When God 'said', that was God 'speaking' and 'his Word' brought it into being.

Prior to Adam, God had created other beings called 'angels' in the Bible, under the leadership of three archangels, Gabriel, Michael and Lucifer. At some point Lucifer became prideful and organized a failed mutiny against God (along with his 1/3 of the angels) and they were banished from Heaven. Stripped of their glory and banished from the presence of God, the fallen angels mutated into demons, and these inter-dimensional beings became the ancient (and contemporary) aliens, 'gods' of old (small 'g'), all types of 'paranormal phenomena', and (what we recognize as) demons. The remaining angels are still angels and often work for our benefit on behalf of God (though mostly in an alternate dimension so unseen by us).

The crown of God's creation, however was mankind. Made in God's image (God is body [the Word, Jesus] soul [God The Father] and spirit [the Holy Spirit]), the first humans (Adam and Eve) were also a three part beings, consisting of a body, soul and the holy spirit (that they received from and shared with God). Given free will, when man still chose to love God, it was the highest form of love for God in the universe. Jealous of God and Adam's relationship, Satan (who's name had been Lucifer, meaning 'Lightbearer', after his fall is referred to as Satan, meaning 'the enemy/adversary') deceived mankind and caused them to fall. The holy spirit 'died' (was removed) but the body and soul lived on. Unlike the fallen angels, however, because of free will, man could choose to be obedient to God and, if he was really faithful (and I mean Abraham/Moses/Isaiah faithful), he could earn his way into Heaven under the Law of the Old Testament.

The requirements of living an entire lifetime of purity, faith and holiness without the indwelling holy spirit were so difficult for mankind, however, that most did not make it into Heaven (in the purest sense, just thinking of committing a sin is a in itself sinful). God loved man, but man was, generally speaking, a failure. That is why God implemented a secret plan. He began hinting at it throughout the Old Testament (ex: Psalms and the book of Isaiah), but the full nature of the plan was kept a mystery, because if Satan fully understood it, it was so shockingly powerful that he would not have had Christ crucified! Yashua (Jesus) the Word of God, the son of God, the one who participated in the creation of the universe with God the Father and sat at His right hand in glory, came down from his throne to this planet and became one of us. Instead of coming as a king, however, he was born a 'helpless' baby raised in obscurity and poverty.  Although Satan was out to kill him from birth, God kept him safe from harm, always one step ahead. Jesus, as the son of God, was the first man since Adam to be born of the spirit as well as body and soul. He grew in wisdom and power, and came to understand that the spiritual superseded the material. He became our example, loving, teaching, healing, and casting out evil wherever he went. Satan was furious, and figured out a plan to have Jesus killed. On Passover, somewhere around 31-33 AD, Jesus Christ was crucified. How the demons must have rejoiced. What they failed to understand is that he had become the Passover lamb, the substitutional sacrifice by whom all men's sins could be cleansed, by paying the ultimate price of his life... his death for our life. Imagine their shock and dismay when three days later, Christ rose from the dead and was once again seated at the right hand of God! Not only that, but on the day of Pentecost, the remaining faithful Apostles received the third part that Adam had lost so many years ago... the holy spirit! Suddenly the good news of salvation was spreading like wildfire! Thousands of souls received the holy spirit in the days that followed! They began speaking in languages they did not know, healing the sick, even raising the dead! Then, the ultimate mystery that was revealed is that not only Jews, but anyone (i.e. that means you and me!) could become part of the chosen, the elect of God! Like Neo of the Matrix, he is 'The One' who demonstrated authority over even the 'laws of nature'. Like Obi-Wan Kenobi of Star Wars, Jesus Christ became more powerful through his death (and resurrection)! Like a spiritual 'Rambo', he came into enemy territory under cover and overpowered an entire army of demons single handedly! Then he replicated himself in us by empowering anyone who believed in him with the holy spirit so that each one of us could have authority over all evil in his name!

YOU can be part of the 'body of Christ', being filled with the holy spirit (if you are not already), and destined for Heaven! How can you be saved, rescued, delivered from death and hell?  There are two parts to redemption... The first part (understanding that God raised Christ from the dead), is to make a verbal covenant promise to God that you accept Jesus Christ as your LORD (Rom 10:9,10).  This means that you agree to stop living just for yourself, and like a marriage vow, you commit to living in a way that benefits your 'marriage partner' (i.e. the Lord), even above yourself (no good deed will go unrewarded). When you accept Jesus as your Lord, then He becomes your Savior... you are washed clean of all past sins, and made worthy of Heaven. This is typically done as a prayer to God.  The second part of redemption is to do it... to live it out. We prove that we really meant it when we said that we accepted Jesus as our Lord by living that way. If we say it and then don't do it, then it was just a lie... a false promise. We can't lie our way into Heaven. What does it mean to live it out? We need to change our ways, from selfish to selfless, from taking to giving, from hurting to loving, etc. Bottom line: Love God with all your being, Love others as Christ loves us, and share the good news! So if you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord, now is the time! What matters more than anything else is where you will spend eternity...  Make Jesus the Lord of your life and you will be spending eternity in Heaven!  God sent His Son to rescue YOU.  Take His hand and fly!

Epilogue:
Though the final outcome of this spiritual war is certain (he will come back, win a decisive victory, and reign as King of Kings, ruling over all creation... and that time may in fact be near), the destroyer, Satan, still wants to take down as many souls as he can, so the battles rage on. In war, 'bad things happen to good people'. All around us, men, women and children that are not living for Christ are prisoners of war, though most are completely unaware of it. In Biblical times, people's names had meaning and even great significance, often reflecting their nature or purpose in life. As I mentioned, the Hebrew name of Jesus, Yeshua, actually means "to rescue", "to deliver".  Jesus Christ is the great deliverer, and his rescue mission is now in full swing! Once we have been rescued by committing ourselves into his service, we have the opportunity to become part of the rescue team. It is through our voice and actions that he typically speaks (though there are still times he intervenes personally!). We can help people see that Christ is knocking at the door of every person's heart, asking to be let in. If a person opens the door of their heart to him, we become part of the living Temple, and God in Christ then dwells in us, giving us wisdom, direction and strength. We who have accepted him as both Lord (i.e. commanding officer) and Savior (rescuer, deliverer) have become his brothers and sisters and his hands and feet on this planet. To anyone who is willing, we can offer them the truth, and the truth can set them free! Then, when the end comes, he will take all those who have joined with him in the great global rescue mission to our home in the sky.... Heaven!

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16