The Great Escape

by Dale M. Sides

While my wife and I were praying one morning, the Lord brought to our remembrance one of our partners who was experiencing a very difficult battle with a rebellious teenager. By the Holy Spirit, the following verses came pouring out of us:

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;  2 Corinthians 4:8,9  

A quick glance at the context of these verses reveals a dynamic truth that we all need to hold in our minds daily. Even though we may be troubled, perplexed, persecuted and cast down, we have a hope—a hope of The Great Escape.

Our great escape from the problems of this world is summarized in the concluding verses. We may be perplexed and troubled, but we hold on to the hope that someday we will be delivered from the despair of this life and experience eternal life in our heavenly home.

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2 Corinthians 4:17-5:1

A man recently said to me, “Christians are using their rapture theories as an escape mechanism.” He continued to say, “All they want to do is get away from their troubles—and they do it by looking for Jesus to come and take them away.” I thought about the Christians I know that have to pray each day for their daily bread. I also thought of men and women struggling through trying times of loved ones lying on sick beds and dying. I thought about my Christian brothers in Sudan, China, Nepal and India that have to worship in dimly lit rooms.

Righteous indignation rose within me as I looked at his fancy clothes and plump belly hanging over his belt. I said, “Your hope is in this life. You are secure in your money, your medicine and your insurance policy. Your trust is not in the Father, but it is in the world.” I said to him, “You are exactly right. Many Christians do look for an escape and if you suffered the same way as they do, you would do the same thing.”

The words in 2 Corinthians 4:8 and 9 have deep meanings to Christians that suffer. Each of the conditions that come upon us—being troubled, perplexed, persecuted and cast down—has a deep meaning. The corresponding words: not distressed, not in despair, not forsaken and not destroyed gives us the solution. The solution of each condition shows the same reality—the great escape. Here is a modern translation of verses 8 and 9.

We are squeezed on every side, but not confined with no escape. There are things we do not understand, but there are things we know for sure. The enemy pursues us, but we are not abandoned by our God. We are “shot down” but have not “crashed and burned.”

There is always an escape. To be wise as a serpent (Matthew 10:16) means that try as you may, you cannot back a snake into a corner. We always have hope. While we are dying in our flesh, we are spreading the hope of eternal life to others. We know that He Who raised up Jesus from the dead will raise us up too. Though our outward body is perishing, our inward man is new day by day. We might be suffering now, but at least we are stockpiling rewards.

We dare not look at physical things, but things that are eternal. If we die, we will live. We long to go home. The Holy Spirit is our token of eternal life. While we are in our physical bodies we are not with the Lord, but someday we know that we will be with Him forever by faith in Jesus Christ. So while we are here, we labor to be well pleasing to Him.

Christians that push the fight of faith suffer persecution. Others may try to sign a peace treaty with Satan and the world, but those people who are on the front lines are looking for the help of the Lord and rescue from the crossfire. Soldiers must endure hardness while civilians rest comfortable in their easy chairs.

We have a hope. We might be squeezed and not have all the answers, but we know the final score. We might live on the earth, but this world is not our home. We may not be as close to the Lord as we want to be, but someday we will be with Him and see Him as He is.

We all have the same spirit of faith; therefore we speak the same thing. We have the great escape. We choose to look at things that are not seen—the hope of eternity with our Lord. The world may criticize us and tell us that we are living in “escapism,” but we know that we are focused on “real estate” and not on flammable soil.

We keep our eyes in the sky from whence cometh our help. We have a retirement plan that is out of this world. Someday down the path of time we will stand in the presence of the Lord. We might be persecuted Christians, surrounded and squeezed by circumstances, and we might be perplexed parents with no apparent answers in sight. We might be rejected by the world but we know Who holds the future, and our names are written in the Book of Life.

Life is not womb to the tomb. We await the great escape.