It鈥檚 a simple concept:听 God is our Rescuer, and we are to be imitators of God (Eph 5:1).听 Therefore, we should be rescuers of others.听听

God is the Rescuer par excellence.听 This revelation is presently impacting me as I am doing research on the book of Judges.听 I have come to realize that the heroic acts in the book of Judges are not actually accomplished by any one of the human so-called 鈥渏udges,鈥 but that the only true hero in the book is the Divine Judge who rescues Israel time and time again (e.g., Judg 1:2, 4; 2:16, 18; 3:9-10, 15, 28; 4:14-15; 6:36-37; 7:7, 9, 15, 22; 10:12-14; 11:9, 32; 12:3; 15:18).听 Furthermore, God鈥檚 acts of rescue in Judges are never earned by the beneficiaries.听 That is, God鈥檚 heroic deliverances are always based on grace alone (see Judg 2:18; 3:9; cf., Eph 2:8-9).

But this message (of God as Rescuer of his people) is not unique to the book of Judges.听 In fact, it is virtually everywhere one looks in Scripture!听 I would dare say that rescue may be one of the greatest themes鈥攊f it is not the greatest theme!鈥攊n Scripture.听

A sampling of references should suffice: 鈥淩escue belongs to the LORD鈥 (Ps 3:8); 鈥淕od is our rescue鈥ur God is a God of rescue鈥 (Ps 68:19-20); 鈥渢he LORD is our Judge鈥e will rescue us鈥 (Isa 33:22); 鈥淚 am the LORD鈥our Rescuer鈥 (Isa 43:3); 鈥渂esides me there is no Rescuer鈥 (Isa 43:11; Hos 13:4).听

Or how about these: 鈥測ou shall call his name Jesus, for he will rescue his people from their sins鈥 (Matt 1:21); 鈥渦nto you is born鈥 Rescuer, who is Christ the Lord鈥 (Luke 2:11); 鈥渢he Son of Man came to seek and to rescue the lost鈥 (Luke 19:10); and 鈥渢here is rescue in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be rescued鈥 (Acts 4:12).

This list could go on and on but I think the idea is clear enough.听 I have intentionally opted to translate words for 鈥渟ave/savior/salvation鈥 with the words 鈥渞escue/rescuer.鈥澨 I prefer to do so because the term 鈥渟alvation鈥 is almost exclusively now used in Christian parlance with the technical, narrow sense denoting God鈥檚 soteriological work on our behalf.听 Therefore, modern religious people rarely speak of salvation (or the act of 鈥渟aving鈥) as a character trait or virtue that Christians should model.听 This situation seems problematic to me, and perhaps it can help to simply modify our word choice when we speak of this matter (and shift from 鈥渟ave鈥 to 鈥渞escue鈥).

The bottom line here is that Christians are all called to be like God (Eph 5:1); that is, to model His characteristics.听 And since God is the consummate Rescuer, our lives should also be characterized by acts of rescue.听 It should be added at this point that acts of rescue are selfless acts.听 Rescue is centered on others and their needs, and it requires self-sacrifice (see Eph 5:2). 听Such virtue is basic to both the Torah of Yahweh and the Gospel of Jesus (not surprising, since Jesus is Yahweh!). 听Rescue should therefore be the modus operandi for all Christians; it should be normative behavior in churches everywhere. 听听

So what does this look like today?听 The first step is to identify those who need to be rescued.听 The next step is to personally engage in a rescue operation, or perhaps in more than one of them. 听Rescue can take many forms.听 Of course, non-believers are people who need to be rescued from their sin, and all Christians can engage in evangelism and missions.听 We can also try to identify minorities, outsiders or oppressed people so that we can engage in the ministry of listening, inclusion, befriending and loving.听听 We can identify those who are homeless and we can offer them shelter, food or other assistance.听 We can identify children who need rescuing (like orphans or even children of single parents) and offer them adoption, foster care or other forms of surrogate parenting.听 We can also target the unborn so that we not only take pro-life political measures but also take measures to actually help unwed mothers.听 And the unborn are now not only defined as 鈥渇etuses,鈥 but also as fertilized frozen embryos (see S. Rae and J. Riley, Outside the Womb).听 Some of us may even be called to adopt these embryos and to carry them to term.听

These are just a few examples of how one can get engaged in God鈥檚 rescue program. 听Obviously, none of us can do all these things, but all of us can do something.听 And that鈥檚 where the Holy Spirit enters the equation by guiding and convicting us.听 Let鈥檚 seek the Lord and pray about exactly how He wants us to model rescue today.听 听听听