Blood On Your Hands

In the finale episode of 24: Season 6, the U.S. Military was about to bomb a oil rig because it was housing some very dangerous terrorists. But there was a problem: CTU Agent Jack Bauer, the star of 24, his nephew, Josh, was being held hostage by those terrorists on the oil rig. Obviously, since the oil rig was about to be destroyed, his nephew would die. If you know Jack, he wouldn't accept that. So he went in to save Josh. He, and a friend, took on an oil rig filled with terrorists, killed all of them, grabbed Josh, and flew away in a helicopter just as jet fighters destroyed the oil rig with missiles.

As I was thinking about that, I realized that isn't that like what Jesus did for us? Think about it. I think the situations are almost identical.

God was growing tired of putting up with sin. Eventually, His righteous justice would have to be shown. The world was condemned to be judged. This wasn't the first time either. He did the same thing with Noah. He got tired of sin and decided to wipe the earth of everyone. Everyone, save eight people: Noah and his family. But this time, true judgement would happen. A once-and-for-all trial where every human who had ever lived would stand before the God of justice. In other words, God gave the order to bomb our little oil rig, which we call earth. By doing so, He sentenced everyone to death, to hell, to justice. We sinned, and the price of sin is death, so we had to pay the price.

But the God of justice and judgement is also a God of love and grace. So God sent in Jesus Christ, Himself in human form, to save us. So the Messiah came, in an unassuming form so the terrorists wouldn't suspect Him. He didn't come in guns blazing, but in the quiet. He slipped in among us, positioning Himself to be our Savior. When the time was right, He made His presence known. Though His body was slain, He came back from the dead, and so atoning for our sin. By coming in on a secret-mission, He saved us. By giving His own life for ours, He saved us. With a selfless love, a love that we'll never ever understand, let alone deserve, He saved us.

But what's crazy is that most people will reject what He did. Can you imagine if when Jack grabbed Josh and shouted, "Come on, Josh, let's go!", Josh just looked at him and said, "You're a nice  man and wonderful teacher, but there's no way you can save me. I don't think anyone can ever save me." Can you imagine if Jack showed Josh the helicopter to prove they could escape, showed him all the dead terrorists to prove no one could stop them, and by simply standing there Jack offered Josh hope and life, but Josh chose not to believe it? How foolish would Josh be! To stand in the face of salvation and deny it's possibility is utter foolishness. To stand before a Holy Rescuer and not believe in His power is complete stupidity.

And yet, most of humanity will respond this way to Christ. Jesus came, Jesus proved that He was God's Son, and Jesus promised redemption, love, and eternal life to all who followed Him. But most people will look blindly at what He did and deny even His existence. How sad and sobering! No matter how much we warn them or how we prove that He exists and that the Bible is truth, most people will simply never see.

In Ezekiel 13, the Lord is telling Ezekiel how to warn others about the coming day of judgment: “Son of man, speak to your countrymen and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not take warning and the sword comes and takes his life, his blood will be on his own head. Since he heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning, his blood will be on his own head. If he had taken warning, he would have saved himself. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.’"

Basically, God is saying, "If you know the city is about to be attacked but don't warn anyone, I'll hold you accountable for their blood. If you warn them but they chose to not save themselves, what is it to you? Their blood is on their own head. And if you don't warn them, then they have no chance and they will die. But their blood will be on your hands. Warn them, so your hands will be clean of blood." See what He's saying?

Our job as Christians is to warn people. Tell them of the Rescuer who has a helicopter and who has defeated the terrorists!
I don't want to be one who has to stand before the throne with someone else's blood on my hands. I don't want to be the reason someone never heard about Jesus. He's too important to not tell anyone about. By not informing someone of the Rescuer is like condemning them yourself. Don't let anyone die without hearing of His secret mission, the mission that gives everyone a chance to live eternally with Him.