The Rescue

As first responders, the word rescue carries immense weight. It is more than an action; it is the moment that tests us, the moment that reveals exactly what our careers, our training, and our sacrifices have prepared us for.

We prepare, and when lives are on the line, we give everything we have to rescue them. There have been many nights on the job when I’ve crawled into my bunk after a call, exhausted, yet wide awake, lying there as my mind races with the same haunting thoughts: “We had him. We responded quickly. We did everything we could. I can’t believe we couldn’t save him.” 

Pulling someone from a burning structure and watching them live, stopping an active shooter before more lives are lost, achieving ROSC in the field, snatching someone back from the very doorstep of death and seeing them walk away neurologically intact; these moments are what we aim for. They are the pinnacle outcomes of any first responder performing on a call.

But reaching those outcomes requires more than skill. It takes focus, bravery, determination, and right execution from everyone who responds to the call. It is a team effort. One that, when executed well, carries the possibility of the best possible result.

And yet, when it comes to rescue attempts, there are variables we cannot control. We cannot control how long someone was exposed to smoke or trapped unconscious in an IDLH environment before we arrived. We cannot control the twisted plans of an unstable shooter or how long their mission unfolded before we showed up. And we certainly cannot see inside the human body to know exactly how the heart, lungs, and brain will respond to our resuscitation efforts.

But God, before the foundation of the world, in His perfect will and purpose, designed a rescue for you and for me.

The Bible is filled with God’s promises and His actions to bring rescue to humanity, one that would forever change the world. From Genesis to Revelation, Old Testament to New, we see the promise, the arrival, the substitutionary sacrifice, and resurrection of the Messiah revealed to us.

Christmas is a powerful reminder of the ultimate rescue mission designed by God. This perfect mission was prophesied and fulfilled throughout all of Scripture.

God planned exactly how He would prepare, perform, and accomplish His rescue mission to redeem His Church. Through Jesus Christ alone, God’s rescue was never destined to fail. 

“Jesus as our Rescuer was always Plan A. There was never a Plan B. And God’s rescue mission revealed in Jesus has a 100% success rate.”

By His loving grace and mercy, God sent His one and only Son to earth as the perfect sacrifice for those who believe. God is holy and perfect; humanity is not. Because of our sin nature, we are spiritually dead, incapable of rescuing ourselves or making ourselves right with a holy God.

But God, rich in mercy, sent His Son Jesus to live the perfect, sinless life we never could. Jesus lived that perfect life and willingly went to the cross on our behalf. He bore the wrath against sin that was meant for us. He took the penalty we deserved and died in our place.

Three days later, by the power of the Holy Spirit, He rose to new life, showing that His sacrifice was sufficient and proving that our debt was paid in full. Jesus became the only way for us to be made right with a holy God.

After His resurrection, Jesus revealed Himself to hundreds over the span of more than forty days, affirming that He is who He said He is, God. Only God can remove the sins of humanity, and Jesus did that for you and for me. Jesus ascended to heaven, and now He rules and reigns at the right hand of God, interceding for us day and night.

Praise be to our glorious Savior and Lord. He is the only reason we can be truly rescued and brought into the family of God in right standing.

Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and He performed the greatest rescue mission of all time. This Christmas, remember that the greatest event in human history was when God came to earth in human form to rescue His people who had no hope of rescue any other way.

What is the “rescue” mission of God?

• The Gospel is the rescue mission: “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles” (1 Cor 15:3-7)

• Jesus is the only way: “Jesus answered, “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.” (John 14:6)

• Jesus is our living hope: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Peter 1:3)

• Nothing can separate us from Jesus when He rescues us: ^“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)