The Greatest Rescue Operation of All Time
A glimpse into the mighty working power of God at work to bring about your salvation.
Israel’s deliverance from Egypt was a tour de force not seen since Creation and the Flood. In it, God demonstrates the extent to which He will go to rescue His beloved from darkness.
The Israelites endured brutal slavery under Egyptian rule—forced into backbreaking labor from sunup to sundown, their lives crushed by cruelty and stripped of dignity. Every day was a bitter reminder that their lives were not their own.
The promise given to their forefather Abraham seemed like nothing more than a distant glimmer as their young children were murdered—their Egyptian overlords sealing their hatred for them.
In desperation the Israelites cried out to God who heard from heaven and sent Moses and Aaron to lead the rescue mission.
Pharaoh, lured by pride, wagered everything in a battle against God. His kingdom that once pulsed with life was now reduced to ruin by the ten plagues.
The mighty Nile, once the pride of Egypt, reeked with rot, its waters choked by the bloated remains of frogs and fish. The lush green scenery was now a lifeless dustbowl, with only smoldering fires as the land attempted to purge the mountains of carcasses that accumulated throughout.
The stench of death saturated valleys and streets with no reprieve for peasant or king.
Then, the final blow in the early morning hours, cries and screeching resounding through the streets as families find their firstborns lifeless.
An exasperated Pharaoh finally agrees to let the people go to worship God—acknowledging defeat by this eighty year-old shepherd with a speech impediment and his enslaved brother.
All 1-2 million Israelites just walked out of Egypt passing by civilians, government officials and the armed forces of Egypt as though their hands were tied behind their backs.
In what could be considered one of the most bizarre turn of military events in biblical history, Pharaoh reverses his decision, gathers his army, his chariots in an attempt to recapture his slave labor force.
The trapped Israelites hear the thunderous roar of Pharaoh’s army behind them and the Red Sea in front of them. But God creates a great wall of fire keeping the army from the Israelites until they make safe passage through the parted waters of Red Sea.
Once safe, the Lord releases the raging waters that were piled up sending the Egyptian army to the depths—their bodies washing up on the shore as a sign to the people of God that it was finished.
No more slavery. They would never see those taskmasters again. They would never experience the sting of the whip on the back.
The air was filled with music, feasting, and celebration as God’s people experienced freedom for the first time.
This was a foreshadowing of what would be the greatest rescue operation of all time—the rescue of your soul.
Like the Israelites, we were subject to the bidding of merciless task masters, without hope and without light. But when we cried out to Him, He heard our cry, broke through the darkness and declared “Let my people go!”
Deceived into Complacency
Is it possible that we could be so steeped in bondage, yet completely oblivious to it?
Could a few sprinklings of “happiness” mask the depths of our spiritual depravity?
Drugs, lust, money, all have the allure of something fulfilling, but their end is emptiness, loneliness and misery.
Satan is the one who deceives the whole world (Revelation 12:19). He has masterfully crafted ways and means to hold the world in bondage.
The Pharisees thought that they were free, but Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin" (John 8:34).
They thought that they were saved because Abraham was their father, but they were wrong. They were building kingdom of the one who hated their soul (John 8:44).
"You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it." - John 8:44
Likewise we also thought we were free, but we were wrong. We were lying, stealing, killing, and destroying—working out Satan’s purposes in the earth (John 10:10).
We may not have murdered anyone, but hatred counts for the same (1 John 3:15, Matthew 5:22). These things that seemed harmless, done in our ignorance, were done by the influence of the evil one who is hell-bent on bringing hell to every living soul on planet earth.
The enemy of our soul stood in gleeful admiration of his work to destroy what God had created. To bring our soul to a bloody mess that resembled Jesus on that cross, and to join him in torment forever.
Let My People Go
At a time when all hope was lost as if condemnation was final, Jesus steps in.
The Lion of the tribe of Judah roars—is there anyone who can resist?
He saw you before you were even born. He created you in beauty and wonder—for a purpose so glorious that minds cannot comprehend its fullness.
Your redemption was always on His mind. He orchestrated the circumstances and events leading to your salvation.
He saw your trials, he felt your pain, but in your pride you never saw the tears He wept for you.
Then it happened—you came to your senses and recognized your desperate need for a Savior.
You beheld His love, such as you had never experienced before. All the chaos and turmoil that filled your soul like those raging waves to which He speaks, “peace, be still,” and all was calm.
In a moment of desperate surrender you find more peace, more joy, more righteousness than you could ever imagine. So much love fills your soul, you scarcely wonder if any human soul could survive it all.
That’s when you realized, He was there. You were never alone.
It Is Finished
When He hung on that cross, he saw you. He looked past all your failures, your sin, your mess, right into the glorious man or woman of God that He created you to be.
He was full of joy when He cried out, “It is finished,” because of you, and others like you who would come to know Him.
Your salvation was no small event. This was a rescue operation extraordinaire to deliver you from the clutches of evil. The Father, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, angels, and the great cloud of witnesses all worked to bring about the glorious day.
Heaven was sitting on the edge of their seat waiting for that moment when you would believe.
It was at that very moment that all of Heaven exploded in joy … for you.
What was once lost is now found.
Total Redemption
All those sins—forgotten. He has cast them as far as the east is from the west. Not a single stain remains.
Your past sins: atoned.
Your future sins: atoned.
The hold that Satan had over you. Gone.
That corrupt heart, so bent on evil? Replaced.
This is the good news of the gospel. The captives are set free.
He places a ring on your finger, drapes a robe over your shoulders, places a crown on your head, and calls you His own.
He trades your mourning for joy, your ashes for beauty.
The heaviness you carried? Exchanged for a garment of praise.
Worthy of all Praise
This raw act of love expressed on the cross that wrought about your salvation was bar none the greatest rescue operation of all time.
In the same way that Mephibosheth saw himself as a dead dog, so we too observed our wretchedness. Just as king David looked passed all that and called Mephibosheth to sit at his table, so the Father has called us to sit at His table.
It isn’t just about forgiveness of sins. It’s about redemption of purpose. That we would take our place as the sons and daughters of God.
We were once instruments of destruction, but now we become His instruments of redemption—to rescue those who still need to be found.
The question is not whether we are worthy. The question is whether He is worthy.
The question isn’t what we believe we’re worth. It’s what He believes that we’re worth.
Is He not worthy of all praise?
"But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light" - 1 Peter 2:9.
Let’s declare His praises.
Let’s do our part to fill the wedding hall with guests from the highways and byways.