Rescue!

God is, always has been, and always will be a God who rescues people.

This is a longer than usual blog. Part if it is a listing of some of God’s rescues as told in the Bible. You can scan that part to get the feel for the message.

God’s rescues as told in the Bible have become symbols for rescues that are still going on. The slaves in this country used to sing songs about Canaan’s Land as a code for the northern states where slaves were free.

The movie, “Harriet”, is a powerful tale of the life of Harriet Tubman, a runaway slave, who instead of just enjoying her freedom kept going back down south to rescue more slaves.

As her reputation was being established, no one knew who she was or even whether she was a man or a woman. She was simply referred to as “Moses”.

After her routine was known, there is one enormously powerful scene where several slaves are spread out across a field, each with a hoe, chopping cotton. Suddenly an invisible voice just inside the tree line starts singing. “Go down Moses, way down in Egypt’s land. Tell old Pharaoh ‘Let My People Go’”. Suddenly there is a look of recognition on the faces of the slaves. About six of them just drop their hoes right where they were chopping and run for the tree line. Their guide to the promised land had arrived.

I love the story of Moses. I told it this morning to the people at the Roseville Church of Christ There is not room for the whole story here, but here are some highlights.

Egypt’s Pharaoh became concerned that the Jews who were living among them might become too strong, so he took them as slaves and forced them into labor. Isn’t that just like what happens today around the world and in our neighborhoods? One people sees another with some difference. Maybe it is their tribe, or their language, or their skin color, or their religion, or some other difference. This other group becomes “They.” And “They” are not “Us”, so we become afraid of them and we think we have to control them somehow. That is how wars start, and people are killed over some minor perceived difference.

^{Exodus 3:23} Now it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry for help because of their bondage ascended to God. ²⁴ So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ²⁵ And God saw the sons of Israel, and God took notice of them. [Emphasis added]

Now get this: God noticed His people in pain in Egypt. Moses is off in Midian, living a happy life with a small family, a full-time job, plenty to eat, and nobody hassling him. He is in the wilderness with the sheep one day, close to Mount Sinai, and notices this bush on fire. But it is not being consumed by the fire. So he says, “I need to check this out.” As he gets closer to the bush God speaks to him:

^{Exodus 3:7} And the Lord said, “I have certainly seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their outcry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. ⁸ So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey.

God sees us and He sees our suffering.

¹⁰ And now come, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.”

That is how God operates. He often uses people (us) to rescue his people from whatever is troubling them. What if he is saying to us right now, “I have heard the cry of my people and I am sending you to rescue them.” Think about it.

¹¹ But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?” ¹² And He said, “Assuredly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall ^[e]worship God at this mountain.” [Sinai]

And, as we know, he did. But that is not all of it. Or God is a God of rescues. Consider this and see if you can detect pattern here.

1.   He rescued even Cain, the cursed son of Adam and Eve by putting a mark on him so people would know that if they hurt Cain, they would be punished seven times as much as they hurt him. Gen 4:13-15.
2.   God rescued Noah from the flood, using the water itself and the ark that Noah had the faith to build. Gen 6:8-9.
3.   He saved Isaac from being sacrificed by his dad, Abraham, and thereby ending the promise to Abraham about his offspring (that’s us). He used a ram caught in the bushes. Gen 22:9-13
4.   He rescued Joseph from being killed by his brothers when his brother, Judah, intervened and suggested they sell him to the Egyptian slave traders instead. Gen 37:26-27.
5.   Joseph predicted God’s protection of Pharaoh’s cupbearer from execution. Gen 40:20-23
6.   God in turn saved Joseph from prison using the memory of Pharaoh’s cupbearer. Gen 41:25-45
7.   Then he used Joseph to redeem Joseph’s family and Egypt itself from starvation. Gen 47:1-6, 25.
8.   The next in sequence is the salvation of the Israelite Nation from slavery to the Egyptians when God came down and used Moses to effect the rescue. Exodus 3:7-8.
9.   In the process, He saved the Israelites from each of the ten plagues as He used the plagues to convince Pharaoh to let them go. Exodus 7-11
10.               And finally, He saved the Israelites from the Egyptian Army, dramatically moving His pillar of cloud from in front of the Israelites to behind them to block the Egyptians from hurting them, then drowning all of Pharaoh’s chariots and drivers in the red sea, Pharaoh included, after telling His people to “stand by and watch.” Exodus 14
11.               God further saved His people from starvation in the desert by sending manna. Exodus 16:1-7. And water, and from each of the enemies they met on the way.
12.               He saved Jonathan from execution by having his fellow soldiers speak up for him: 1 Sam 14; David’s family from the Amelikites: 1 Sam 30:1-20 and from numerous enemies as David recorded in the Psalms, e.g. Psalm 18:2.
13.               And then lets don’t forget Daniel from the lions’ den; Shadrack, Meshack and Abednigo from the furnace, and Jonah from the whale. Daniel 6:22; Daniel 3:25; Jonah 2:10.
14.               God used Esther the queen to save the nation from being wiped out by Haman’s decree. Esther 9:1
15.               Twenty-nine times in twenty-one chapters of Judges the record continues to tell of God’s rescues of his people. Over and over He steps in when he is needed, using people a lot of the time, like when He used Rahab to save Joshua’s spies and they in turn to save her and her family. Joshua 2.

That is the pattern. What would have happened if Moses had refused to go to Pharaoh?  God would have found another way to free His people, but Moses would have failed in his God given assignment.

When Esther told her uncle that she was afraid to go in to the King to tell him of the plot to kill her people, Mordecai told her that if she keeps silent “liberation and rescue will arise from another place, and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14

God has always been a God of rescue and He always will be. He rescued all these faithful people from all these trials. He may not rescue you the way you want him to, but He loves you and He will take care of you if you are faithful. He can rescue you from hatred, from poor relationships, from addictions, from a bad job or a mean boss, from depression, from sin, from poverty, from whatever is hurting you most right now. You just have to open the door to Him. In Revelation [3:20] He said “Behold I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him and he with Me.”

God sent Jesus to this earth for the greatest rescue of all time – to save us from death. And He got up out of the grave on a Sunday morning to prove once and for all that we have nothing to be afraid of. He conquered death so that we would not need to be afraid of it.

God continues His rescues, and He continues to use His people to bring them about. Just like He came down to rescue His people and told Moses to “Go tell Pharaoh…” He has come down to rescue the people of this generation and has told us to “Go into all the world and tell the good news to all the nations” [Mark 16:15]. Starting right here in our neighborhood and in your apartment building or community.  [Acts 1:8] .