However the song goes on, “But the Master of the sea heard my despairing cry, From the waters lifted me, now safe am I.” This is the experience of being saved, a rescue that only God can do! He proves His power to save in many ways.
There are three Hebrew verbs in the OT and two Greek words in the NT translated RESCUE. These could be translated “to save, rescue, deliver, or escape, flee to safety, or take away, or even heal.” These five words are used about 500 times. I quickly realize that even an intense look at this word requires selection of the most significant passages that describe God as the one who rescues His people.
The first is in David’s prayer after many escapes from the hands of Saul. He also sings the same words in this psalm:
Psalm 18:17–19. He rescued me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support. He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.
In the same sense of relying on God, the psalms repeat this testimony. For example, David says again in Psalm 31:1–2, “In you, O Lord, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me! Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily! Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me!”
The prophets also tell of God’s power to rescue His people:
Isaiah 49:24–25. “Can the prey be taken from the mighty, or the captives of a tyrant be rescued? For thus says the Lord: ‘Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken, and the prey of the tyrant be rescued, for I will contend with those who contend with you, and I will save your children.’ “
Ezekiel 34:12; 22. “As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered . . . . I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey . . . .”
King Darius of Persia said of God in Daniel 6:27, “He delivers and rescues; he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, he who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions.”
In the NT, Paul gives testimony to God’s power, an encouragement to Christians today who suffer at the hands of those who persecute them:
2 Timothy 3:10–13. “You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
2 Timothy 4:17–18. But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Using Lot as an example, Paul repeats this encouragement in 2 Peter 2:9–10:
(If God rescued righteous Lot who was tormented over the sin around him) “then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones” but they “will also be destroyed.”
GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. God rescues His people from all sorts of danger, but even if danger or persecution or ills of all sorts overcome us, we have been rescued from His just condemnation concerning sin. Death cannot hold us because Christ paid our debt and no matter what happens in this life, we have been rescued to live with Him in the next — and for all eternity.
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