Last Monday, before dawn, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake caused widespread destruction across northern Syria and southern Turkey.  Thousands of lives have been lost and thousands of buildings have collapsed.

Amid the destruction, there have been some marvelous rescues.

On Monday evening in Jinderis, Syria, a young girl was found alive, buried in the wreckage of a building made of concrete.  Video footage from the White Helmets, a regional emergency service, shows a rescuer digging through crushed concrete amid twisted rebar, uncovering the head of the little girl.  The little girl, whose name is Nour, looks up dazedly.  The rescuer informs her that her father is there.  “Dad is here, don't be scared. ... Talk to your dad, talk.”  The rescuer wipes dust from her eyes as she looks for her father.

After additional, careful digging, Nour was rescued from the rubble and reunited with her father. *

Another dramatic rescue effort was accomplished in the midst of an earthquake.  The lives at stake were yours and mine.  The Rescuer was the sinless Son of God.  In order to rescue us from our condemning sins, Jesus had to give His life for our sins by dying on a cross.

After suffering intense agony on the cross, Jesus cried out and “yielded up His spirit” (Matthew 27:50).  “Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split” (Matthew 27:51).  Perhaps the earth quaked because God’s wrath was being “poured out” on Jesus as He bore our sins on the cross (1 Peter 2:24).  The veil of the temple being torn from top to bottom indicates that Jesus was opening up the way for man to be reconciled to God.  The fact that it was torn from the top points to the fact that it was God who made the reconciliation possible (see 2 Corinthians 5:17-21).

Nour’s timely rescue pictures our rescue by Christ: “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6 NIV).

And we are also encouraged to look to the Father.  He is the one who has made salvation and eternal life possible at tremendous cost: the precious blood of His Son (1 Peter 1:18-19).  He awaits with open arms those who will accept His rescue through their trusting obedience.

God will save, welcome to His family, and give eternal life to those who place their faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).  He will continue to cleanse from sin those who continue to walk in the light of His Word (1 John 1:7-9).

In our sins, we are found in the rubble, dying.  Yet through the sacrifice that Jesus made for us, God is calling to us: “I am the Father.  I love you and want to save you.  Take My hand.  Accept My offer of salvation.  I will care for you for an eternity.”

-- David A. Sargent

* Information gleaned from “A newborn was found alive in the rubble after the earthquake in Syria” by the Associated Press, as shared in www.npr.org.

David A. Sargent, Minister

Church of Christ at Creekwood 
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama  36695

Archived issues of Living Water can be viewed and accessed from our website at: www.creekwoodcc.org