On August 5, 2010, 550 miles north of Santiago, Chile, a large part of the San Jose gold and copper mine collapsed trapping 33 miners over 2,200 feet underground. Seventeen days later, they discovered them still alive, and they had been entombed there for almost two months.
At first, all they had to eat were two spoonfuls of tuna, a glass of milk and one small biscuit each day. Those miners had lost over 20 pounds each and have had stomach problems. There was hope, but there was only one way they could be rescued. And that was by a large escape shaft being drilled from above.
Those trapped miners remind me of something in the Bible.
When God created this world and everything in it, man was free, and there was no sin. But when Adam and Eve sinned, mankind became trapped and, we needed a way of escape from the consequences of physical death and separation from God. ( Genesis 3:14-19 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” 16 To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” 17 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God, Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.)
God loved us and wanted to rescue us so He devised a plan. That plan was for His Son to die on the cross for our sins. ( Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost., John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life., Romans 5:8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.) It is only by His death and resurrection that we can be rescued or saved. ( John 10:10, 28 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly,...
(28) I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.)
One thing, we must admit (or confess) that we are sinners, and call upon Jesus. (John 8:24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.) See you in Church next Sunday. - Brother J