Please turn in your Bibles this morning to Hebrews chapter 7 as we look at one of the greatest hostage rescue stories ever to be told. In fact, it is THE GREATEST, all others pale in comparison, even this one that some of you might remember and it was truly spectacular. We are told:
One of the most amazing rescue stories I know about occurred in July of 1976 when, in a swift display of military precision, courage, and sheer daring, Israeli commandos rescued 102 Jewish hostages from Uganda, in Central East Africa. Their plane had been hijacked by Palestinian terrorists and flown to that safe haven protected by the monstrous madman, dictator Idi Amin. The hostages were probably good as dead if something could not be done to save them. Something was done.
The dramatic series of events began shortly after noon, Sunday, June 27, when a white Air France Airbus lifted off the runway at the Athens International Airport. It banked west, then began the flight over the brilliant blue gulf of Corinth and on to the Aegean Sea. It was a beautiful day to fly, a sharp contrast to the events to follow.
The serenity of the early moments of the flight was shattered by a scream as a man and a woman jumped to their feet, brandishing hand grenades, quickly training pistols on the flight attendants. The man stepped toward the pilot’s cabin and ordered the plane taken to the airport at Entebbe, the capital of Uganda. The goal - to force Israel and four other nations to release fifty-three Palestinian or pro-Palestinian terrorists from jail. They made it clear that if the jailed terrorists were not freed, the 102 hostages would be slaughtered like diseased cattle.
Two days later, two thousand miles away, the leaders of Israel sat in the wood-paneled Cabinet Room of the Israeli Knesset. Weary and anxious, they had to face still another threat to their people. In addition to the safety of the Jewish people aboard the flight, they had to consider another issue: If the terrorists got away with this, more acts of violence and terrorism would follow. No Israeli would be safe unless the terrorists could be stopped. Yitzhak Rabin, the prime minister, Lt. Gen. Mordechai Gur, the military chief of staff, and all the cabinet members decided they should explore the possibility of negotiating a release without bloodshed. But at the same time, they would make an all-out effort to come up with a military option. They had no reason to believe the terrorists would negotiate honorably. Immediately, a strike force was assembled on a military base in the Israeli desert to begin planning the impossible: a raid on Entebbe to save the hostages. Staff members of El Al, the Israeli national airlines, gave information about possible flight routes, refueling opportunities, and communication facilities. Israel slipped secret agents into Uganda to analyze the situation. Information began pouring back.
On June 30 and July 1, the terrorist released all non-Jewish passengers. This was good news, because fewer hostages increased the chances of success. Israeli intelligence learned that the hostages were being kept in the central open area of the small airport terminal building in the capital city, and that the airport was not wired with explosives. It was another good sign that the terrorists and the Ugandans hadn’t considered the possibility of a rescue attempt. The United States gave Israel satellite photographs of the airport, and Kenya gave secret assurances that an Israeli strike force would be allowed to land at Nairobi to refuel and, on the return trip, care for any wounded.
The raiding party was selected and honed to a strike force specially trained in air-assault operations. They were among the finest military men in the world, led by thirty-year-old Col. Jonathan Netanyahu, who had moved to Israel from the United States when he was only two. Deep in the desert at the isolated military base, they practiced the raid again and again, shaving the ground rescue down to fifty-five minutes.
The airplanes chose to take the strike team to Entebbe were four U.S. – built Hercules C-130 cargo planes and two Boeing 707 jets. One jet was an airborne command-and-communications center and the other was a hospital plane. The six planes followed El Al’s usual route to South Africa: down the Red Sea and over Ethiopia and Kenya. The hospital plane landed in Nairobi. The five military aircraft left the Nairobi landing pattern and redirected toward Entebbe. No suspicion was aroused anywhere, because it was assumed that the radar reading of the planes, to this point, was the normal El Al flight to South Africa. The planes then dropped very low to escape radar and flew directly to the airport at Entebbe.
As one cargo plane rolled to a stop in the darkness - as yet undetected because the airport was not being used – its huge tail ramp dropped and out came a large, black Mercedes Benz limousine, closely followed by two Land Rovers filled with Israeli commandos dressed in Palestinian uniforms. In the back of the limousine was bulky Israeli officer dressed like dictator Idi Amin. The license plate on the limousine was identical to that of Amin’s official car. As the party drove up to the terminal building, the Ugandan guards snapped to attention, allowing the Israeli commandos to get within a few yards of the building before the first shots were fired.
Bullets were soon raining on the airport like hail in a thunderstorm. Within ten to twenty minutes, the shooting was over. The commandos ordered the hostages to the planes that were waiting in takeoff position, engines still running. As the hostages ran to the planes, great fireballs erupted in the distance as Israeli commandos blew up the eleven parked MIG jets that would have scrambled to intercept the escaping Israeli planes. As the hostages and commandos rushed onto the huge Hercules, the rear hatch slammed shut. Fifty-three minutes after the raid began, the planes began moving into position for takeoff. The hostages were saved!
The rescue was not letter perfect. Three hostages lost their lives. That was deeply saddening, but all of them may have died otherwise. Remarkably, only one Israeli commando lost his life - the assault-force commander, Col. Jonathan Netanyahu. A sniper in the control tower killed him with a bullet in the back. Netanyahu gave his life to save others.
- Max Anders, Jesus, Knowing Our Savior, pp. 1-4
As great as a mission at Entebbe was, it pales in comparison to the greatest rescue mission in history – the saving of mankind by God. Mankind found himself lost in life, held hostage by the evil, he was helpless, and he was hopeless. Jesus risked Himself – even gave His life, to rescue mankind. His is the greatest of all acts, marked with nobility, dignity, and honor. Jesus truly gave to us the Greatest Escape and that is found in Him! In fact, Jesus’ rescue was so powerful that He lost not one, every one that was to be rescued was rescued! With that as our background, let’s begin reading in Hebrews chapter 7, starting in verse 20 and see what God has done for us!
To understand why this rescue mission was needed in the first place, we need to understand the problem. You see, when God created the Heavens and the Earth everything was very good. Man and all of creation lived in harmony with each other, even the weather was peaceful, there were no violent storms, there was no rain. Every night a mist came up and watered the ground for the earth at that time was like a giant terrarium with beautiful temperatures all over the earth. Even the North and South Poles were warm! There was no death, no violence on the earth.
That paradise lasted for 2 chapters in the Bible, not because God failed, but man rebelled against God, his creator. In Genesis chapter 3 the Devil comes on the scene and gets Eve to doubt God’s Word. He told Eve “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” Genesis 3:1b. In others words, “It is all yours, eat what you want, God didn’t really say you couldn’t eat the fruit of a certain tree, that is not what He meant!” And Satan continues to perpetrate this lie on people getting them to doubt God’s Word and because they do, they will die. Keep in mind the Devil has come to steal, to kill and to destroy peoples lives and he hasn’t changed!
Not only did he get Eve to doubt God’s Word but to doubt God’s judgment for their sin. The Devil said to eve, “You will not surely die.” Genesis 3:4. In other words, don’t listen to God, His judgment is not real, you can do as you please and there are no consequences for your actions. Again, Satan uses this same lie on people and they will be shocked one day as the judgment of God falls upon them for their sin.
Lastly, Satan got Eve to doubt God’s goodness, that God was holding something good from their lives and thus, partake and see how good it really is. He said to Eve, “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:5. Satan still uses this lie today and look at the people who dive into sin thinking how good it was going to be and then in the end the bondage they found themselves in because of it.
As Adam and Eve partook of the fruit of that tree, as they disobeyed God, sin entered the world and by it death and the death process began. Paul put it this way in Romans 5:12, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” The Amplified Bible puts this verse like this, “Therefore, as sin came into the world through one man, and death as the result of sin, so death spread to all men, [no one being able to stop it or to escape its power] because all men sinned.” Now, all that was very good was in bondage to sin and its nature, from Adam and Eve and their descendants to the animal world and down the road even the weather will turn violent!
Not only that, but sin had now separated man from God. In Isaiah 59:1-2 we are told, “Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.” Sin has affected our relationship with God and with our fellow man and through sin the Second Law of Thermodynamics or the Entropy Law was introduced. What that means is that things were now moving from order to disorder, they are falling apart, they are wearing down, the death process began and continues on today!
Paul, in II Timothy 2:26 tells us, “and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.” Notice we have been taken captive because of sin. We are born in sin because we are descendants of Adam and we have his sin nature. So, in reality, everyone of us was born into this world in sin, taken captive by the Devil, a prisoner to him!
I know, some of you can’t believe a beautiful child can be born with a sin nature, but listen to what David said in Psalm 51:5, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.” The Living Bible puts this verse like this, “But I was born a sinner, yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.” And think about it, we don’t have to train our children to be bad, but we do have to train them to be good! Why is that? Because they were born with a sin nature!
Now some have taken that to the wrong conclusion, that you just have to be good enough to get into heaven, whatever that means and to what degree it must be attained. Some even realize in this life you can’t be good enough so you go to a halfway house when you die, a place called Purgatory to atone for your sins in this life and then you will be let into heaven!
Folks, let’s be real, you can’t be good enough because God’s standard to get into Heaven is perfection and as Paul said in Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” In others words, we have all missed the mark, we come up short of perfection and it really doesn’t matter how close you can get, you still missed the mark! The Greek word for “sin” is HAMARTIA, (ham-ar-tee’-ah) and it was an archery term meaning to miss the mark and the mark, of course, was the bulls’ eye or perfection!
Also, nowhere in the Scriptures will you find a place called Purgatory where you go to when you die to atone for your sins. In fact, if you could do that, then Christ died in vain! And thus, we have this problem of sin that has brought us into captivity, has separated us from God and there is no way by our own efforts to rectify that problem, that condition, we can’t escape on our own!
Some of you may remember the movie “The Great Escape” with Steve McQueen. It is a true story of the mass escape of 76-Allied Pow’s from Stalag Luft III in March of 1944. The producer of this movie said this about the escape of these men from this prison:
Locked behind barbed wire, the men who lived The Great Escape tunneled their way toward freedom with nothing but guts, perseverance and ingenuity. With only their bare hands and the crudest of homemade tools, they sank shafts, built underground railroads, forged passports, drew maps, faked weapons and tailored German uniforms and civilian clothes. They developed a fantastic security system to protect themselves from the German “ferrets” who prowled the compounds with nerve-wracking tenacity and suspicion. It was a split-second operation as delicate and as deadly as a time bomb. It demanded the concentrated devotion and vigilance of more than 600 men – every single one of them, every minute, every hour, every day and every night for more than a year. Never has the human capacity been stretched to such incredible lengths or shown with as much determination and courage.
- Producer – Director John Sturges
Man continues to try to do that with his relationship with God, trying to reach God by their own efforts and it won’t work, you can’t reach God that way but God has reached down to sinful man and has rescued Him, we have not rescued ourselves.
Now as God called the Jewish people to be His representative, He established a covenant with them, He gave them the Law to live by and the sacrifices as a covering for their sin. He established the priesthood from the tribe of Levi and the descendants of Aaron. The priests were the mediator, in a sense, between God and man. They represented God before the people and the people before God. But man did not have access to God because of his sin and thus, the Holy of Holies, in the tabernacle and later in the temple, the place where God dwelt where the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat were located, was only assessable once a year, on the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur, and only by the high priest.
You see, after the high priest offered sacrifices for his sin he then could offer sacrifice for the people as he entered the Holy of Holies with bells on his robe to ring as he sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat and a rope on his foot in case the bells stopped ringing signifying that he is dead and they would pull him out, they would not enter the presence of God because sin had separated man from God! And the high priest did not spend much time in the Holy of Holies in the presence of God because he too was a sinner and no man can stand before God in his own righteousness!
Turn to Hebrews chapter 9 and listen to what Paul says regarding the tabernacle and the temple starting in verse 1. We are told, “Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary. For a tabernacle was prepared: the first part, in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary; and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All, which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant; and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people's sins committed in ignorance; the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience — concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.” Hebrews 9:1-10.
You see, these sacrifices could not cleanse a person of their sins, they could not take away a persons sins but only cover them for a time. Even the high priest needed to offer sacrifices for himself. And in Hebrews chapter 7, verses we have been looking at this morning, Paul shows us the inferiority of the Levitical priesthood through Aaron.
The priests were placed in that position by birth, by being part of the tribe of Levi, a descendant of Aaron. Their priesthood was not eternal, in fact they died off and were replaced with the next person in line. And depending on who the high priest was, it could be good or bad, like it was in the days of Jesus where the high priest was wicked, they were making a profit off of God with people who came to worship God. The character of the high priest was always in question. They had to offer sacrifices daily because man is weak just as the high priest, being a man, was weak, he was a sinner as I have said.
Now please understand that I am not saying that the Law was bad or the Law was wrong for the Bible teaches us that the Law is perfect. The Law is not the problem, we are. You see, all the Law could do is point to our weakness, our imperfection, our sins, it can’t save us nor was it intended to do so. In fact, if you try to live by the Law you will die by the Law as James tells us, “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.” James 2:10. You could be doing really good, keeping 612 of the 613 Laws and yet if you missed that one, then you are guilty of all, and the reality is, you can’t even do that because it is not just the outward action but the attitude of the heart!
As you look at the tabernacle and later the temple, as you look at the sacrifices and the feast days, they were all pointing to Jesus, they were a type of Christ and so often people hold onto the shadow rather than the substance, which is Christ. Paul made this point in Colossians 2:16-17, “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.”
Now, that which was incomplete has now been made complete in the New Covenant, in Jesus Christ! The contrast is interesting between the high priest and our Great High Priest, Jesus Christ. We have talked about the shortcomings of the high priest, now lets look at the perfection, the infallibility of Jesus Christ as our Great High Priest.
God made an oath that Jesus would be a Great High Priest from the order of Melchizedek, not according to the Levitical priesthood and the descendants of Aaron. And when God takes an oath, when He makes a promise, you can count on it coming to pass! And this position is not limited but is eternal. He continues on, He is unchanging, His character is flawless, He is without sin, He didn’t need to offer sacrifice for Himself, but He offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins, once for all!
It is as Paul said in Galatians 3:23-27, “But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”
The Law, as I have said, could never save us, it was our tutor or schoolmaster pointing us to Jesus, our Savior. How did it do that? By showing us that we fall far short of God’s standard of perfection, it shows how weak we are and how we can’t accomplish this on our own, but Jesus has done it for us! Praise the Lord for that.
You see, Jesus is able to save us to the uttermost or He is able to take a sinner and make him into a saint. He is able to take us out of the pit of sin and bring us to glory! Now, why didn’t God do this from the beginning, why did He wait so long? Paul put it like this in Galatians 4:3-7, “Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”
I can’t tell you the reason, but I can tell you that it was according to God’s perfect timing. Some say that during the time that Jesus was born into this world, when God became flesh and dwelt among us, it was the perfect time to bring forth this good news. All I can say is that God said it was perfect, it was in the fullness of time, and what the Old Testament prophets, people were looking forward to the coming of the Messiah and they were saved by faith, we look back at the finished work of the Messiah and we too are saved by faith in Jesus!
Now Jesus, our Great High Priest represents God to us and He represents us before the Father as He makes intercession for us, He is praying for us. The access to God is now open for all who receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Let me show you how glorious this is with this story. We are told:
During the Civil War, there was a young Union solider who had lost his father and older brother in the war. He went to Washington, D.C., to see if he could get an exemption from the military service so that he could go back home and help his mother and sister with the spring planting. When he approached the White House and asked to see the president, he was turned away.
Totally disheartened, the soldier sat down on a park bench nearby. A little boy approached him and said, “You look unhappy, soldier. What’s wrong?”
After the soldier shared his story, the little boy took him by the hand. He led him through the back door of the White House, past the guards, and into the president’s office itself. President Lincoln looked up and asked, “What can I do for you, Tad?”
Tad said, “Daddy, this soldier needs to talk to you” - and the soldier was not turned away. When Jesus completed the work of salvation, He opened up the way so that we could have access to God. Those who have placed their trust in Christ may come directly to the Heavenly Father with their petitions. And the Son sits on the Father’s right hand and says, “. . . this is someone who needs to talk to you.” He is the only intercessor we need. Hallelujah, what a Savior!
- Progress Magazine, December 12/13, 1992
That is exactly what Paul tells us in Hebrews 4:14-16, “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Praise the Lord for that!
God became flesh, He dwelt among us to be that perfect sacrifice for ours sins, once and for all! Satan loves to confuse us, distort the truth, place us in a position that we cannot escape from. And folks, it does seem impossible, no matter how hard a person tries, he still comes up short. But again, let me use this illustration to show you what God has done for us. We are told:
J. Oswald Sanders reports that years ago, Paul Morphy was the world’s champion chess player when he was invited by a friend to look at a valuable painting titled, “The Chess Player.” In the painting, Satan was represented as playing chess with a young man, the stake being the young man’s soul. The game had reached the stage where it was the young man’s move; but he was checkmated. There was no move he could make which would not mean defeat for him and so the strong feature of the picture was the look of utter despair on the young man’s face as he realized that his soul was lost.
Morphy, who knew more about chess than the artist, studied the picture for a time, then called for a chessboard and pieces. Placing them in exactly the same position as they were in the painting, he said, “I’ll take the young man’s place and make the move.” Then he made the move which would have set the young man free.
- Source Unknown
That is exactly what God did for us. He outmaneuvered Satan by taking our place and the victory is now found in Him, the victory over sin, the victory over death, the door to God has been opened now for all to come to Him, not because of our righteousness, our goodness, but the righteousness of God that has been imputed into our life by faith in Jesus! Yes, He is our Great High Priest!
Yes, the problem was sin, it separated us from God. The Old Covenant pointed us to Jesus, to the Messiah because the Law showed our weakness, our failure. And then God established the New Covenant in His blood which was shed for us and now we are cleansed as white as snow, our sins have been cast as far as the east is from the west to be remembered no more. That is what our Lord has done for us, He is the only one who can save us to the uttermost, to bring us to glory. It is as A. B. Simpson said regarding the Gospel. He tells us that it:
Tells rebellious men that God is reconciled, that justice is satisfied, that sin has been atoned for, that the judgment of the guilty may be revoked, the condemnation of the sinner canceled, the curse of the Law blotted out, the gates of hell closed, the portals o heaven opened wide, the power of sin subdued, the guilty conscience healed, the broken heart comforted, the sorrow and misery of the Fall undone.
- Evangelism, A Biblical Approach, p. 29
As I said earlier, let me close with this, As great as a mission at Entebbe was, it pales in comparison to the greatest rescue mission in history – the saving of mankind by God. Mankind found himself lost in life, held hostage by the evil, he was helpless, and he was hopeless. Jesus risked Himself – even gave His life, to rescue mankind. His is the greatest of all acts, marked with nobility, dignity, and honor. Jesus truly gave to us the Greatest Escape and that is found in Him! In fact, Jesus’ rescue was so powerful that He lost not one, every one that was to be rescued was rescued! Folks, it is the greatest rescue in history, it truly is a great escape for man and that escape is only found in Jesus Christ! May we enter into the presence of God through His door, through Jesus!