The greatest help and rescue imparted by God was to save us from the lake of fire and eternal death. Deliverance from sin, rescue from trials, and escape from the influence of a world in the control of the evil one come only through Christ, the Son of God who has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. I John 5:19-20 “And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. 20 And we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.”
As a consequence of disobedience to God by our first parents, sin reared up its ugly head. The Lord had said if you eat the forbidden fruit you shall die. Thus, Adam and Eve were doomed to die. At this juncture, God operationalised the ‘Plan of redemption’. This is the greatest rescue operation in the whole of the Scriptures. Simply put, it means that the death we had to die, was circumvented by God, who, came down to this earth and died for us. He paid the penalty of sin for the entire humanity. The sinless Jesus Christ died on the Cross of Calvary and was resurrected on the third by, by virtue of which, He defeated death.
The deliverance from sin is available only through Christ. He offers deliverance from mankind’s greatest peril—sin, evil, death, and judgment. By God’s power, believers are delivered from this present evil age. Galatians 1:4 “Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:” He also delivered us from the power of Satan’s reign. Colossians 1:13 “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:” All aspects of deliverance are available only through the person and work of Jesus Christ, who was Himself delivered up for us so that we would be delivered from eternal punishment for sin. Only Jesus rescues us from the “wrath to come” I Thessalonians 1:10 “And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.”
The Devil, like a roaring lion, is after us to tear us apart. While believers are delivered once and for all time from eternal punishment, we are, by the great mercy of God, also delivered from the trials of this life. II Peter 2:9 “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. The great assurance is given in I Corinthian 10:13 “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” God makes the way of escape simultaneously with the temptation and we can rest assured be confident in our God.
Dr Ashwin Drummond
Laddertoheaven.co.in