“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” (2Tim 3:11)
The hero to the rescue. You see it everywhere. In the movies. On TV. In literature. The Calvary thunders over the hill at the very last moment. Just when the evil genius is about to destroy the planet, (insert your favorite superhero here) swoops in out of nowhere. Just as Darth Vader is about to zap Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon save the day.
Just like the Bonnie Tyler song of the ‘80s, every one of us is holding out for a hero. Ever wonder where we get this standard storytelling cliche? I have a sneaking suspicion it’s because God has written this plot line on our very souls. Long before Marvel Cinematic Universe was a gleam in Stan Lee’s eye, we’ve longed for the Lord to save our bacon.
Jesus to the rescue!
It’s not just a mega-theme in God’s ultimate story, it’s one of the top two. Wonder what sits at number one? God getting the glory only He deserves. But a close second is Jesus to the rescue. It starts in the opening pages of Genesis when God announces to the satanic snake that a Hero is on the way to ultimately smash his sinful skull (Gen 3:15).
You know this Hero by several different names. Christ. Lord. Son of God. Son of Man. The Word. The Way. The Truth. The Life. Immanuel. The Lion of Judah. The Alpha and Omega. But these three handles best describe One coming to our rescue. Deliverer. Messiah. Savior.
The Old Testament is an endless series of announcements of Messiah’s eventual arrival. The NT reveals our Savior’s secret identity as Jesus, the humble Carpenter/Rabbi from the boondocks of Galilee. Before Christ Jesus returns to heaven, He promises to return one last time to save the day one last time.
Jesus to the rescue!
Which brings us to Paul’s second letter to his spiritual son Timothy. Talk about someone in need of rescue! The apostle is behind bars and facing capital punishment (2Tim 1:16; 2:9; 4:6-7). While he certainly hopes Jesus will bust him out of the joint before it’s too late, he’s desperate for one last visit before execution (2Tim 4:9, 21).
They always say your life flashes before you just before you die. Maybe that’s why the apostle flips through the scrapbook of his relationship with the young pastor from Lystra who has been a huge part of his life over the past few years. Timothy’s been his apprentice during both the good times and bad. Tim knows all about Paul’s “persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from the all the Lord rescued me” (v11). Time and time again, Paul can personally testify about Jesus to the rescue.
Our Bible begins this verse with “my persecutions and sufferings” (v11). But these two are actually the last things in a list Paul started in verse 10. He encourages Tim for being such a great student and putting into practice all he’s learned from the apostle. “You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness” (2Tim 3:10).
Thanks to those handy dandy verse numbers, many of us may have stopped before reading on and finishing the list. Don’t forget to add Paul’s “persecutions and sufferings” as God’s spokesman to most of the known world.
Did you know the authors of Scripture didn’t include these chapter and verse numbers? Scholars added those numbers so we could find specific passages more quickly. Chapters started showing up in the 5th Century. Verse numbers hit the pages more than one hundred years later in the 1500s. Think of them like street addresses that help you find your way around. Sort of a biblical Google Maps. For those of you lucky enough to grow up in a Baptist church, imagine doing Bible drills without them! Yikes!!
Most of the time, these chapter and verse numbers are a huge help to us as we find our way around God’s Word. Occasionally, they create artificial or awkward breaks in passages. This would be one of those. The apostle included his “persecutions and sufferings” (v11) in Tim’s apprenticeship checklist. We should too. Being a good follower of Jesus means following Him through the hard times.
When you first read the combo of “persecutions and sufferings” (v11), you might think it’s really two words for the same thing. Not so much. The first term in the original language (Gr. διογμος/diogmos) describes a chase, intense harassment, or an organized and planned oppression. In this situation, you’re the hunted and the hunter is in hot pursuit. It’s something that happens TO you.
This is a case of “it takes one to know one.” Paul knows what it’s like because he’s been the hunter. The apostle formerly known as Saul was on a mistaken one-man mission from God to wipe Jesus’ followers from the face of the earth (Acts 8:1). After Jesus set him straight, the tables were turned. The former Pharisee often found himself square in the sites of those who wanted to do the same to him. There was the time Jewish leaders in Pisidian Antioch “stirred up persecution (Gr. διογμος/diogmos) against Paul and Barnabas” and chased them out of town (Acts 13:50).
If “persecutions” are what happens TO you, “sufferings” (v11) are what happen IN you. The word in the original Greek (Gr. παθημα/pathema) focuses on strong inward emotions or what’s going on inside you. It’s all about pain, affliction, calamity, affliction, or something that must be endured. At dinner on the night before His execution, Jesus tells His team, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer (Gr. παθημα/pathema)” (Lk 22:15). And this passage from Luke is the source for our word describing the internal suffering or the passion of Christ. It’s something that happens IN you.
Why are “persecutions and sufferings” important when it comes to following Jesus? I don’t know about you, but it would be my personal preference to avoid these two things like a nasty combination of an IRS audit and colonoscopy! But then again, that’s why God didn’t leave me in charge.
First of all, don’t make the mistake of thinking that hard times mean Christ has turned His back on you. The apostle tells the Romans that there’s no way “tribulation, or distress, or persecution (Gr. διογμος/diogmos), or nakedness, or danger, or sword” will ever separate us from Jesus’ love (Rom 8:35). And, as they say in those Ginsu knife commercials, “But wait, there’s more!” Because God’s grace and power shines brightest in our weakness, Paul actually finds contentment “with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions (Gr. διογμος/diogmos), and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2Cor 12:10).
Meanwhile back in 2 Timothy, the apostle takes a little stroll down memory lane and recalls all “that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured” (v11). If you’re familiar with Paul’s travel history, you probably recognize these places. They were all tour stops on his original Gospel expedition with his buddy Barnabas.
Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra are cities in the southern central part of what we know today as Turkey. So Paul’s descriptions of what went down there aren’t some generic, hard-to-pin-down generality of harassment. He is incredibly specific. In other words, these are real events involving real people at real places in real points in history. If you’re still not buying what he’s selling, Dr. Luke carefully has researched these events in one handy dandy little book known as Acts.
The apostle’s first stop in this terrible triple-header is “at Antioch” (v11). This is not to be confused with another Antioch we see in the NT, which was the capital of Syria. Syrian Antioch is the location of the multicultural megachurch that sent Paul and Barnabas on their original mission trip in the first place (Acts 11:19-27; 13:1-3). Here in 2 Timothy, he refers to another city by the same name in the region of Pisidia over in Asia Minor.
After Paul announces that Jesus is the long promised Messiah in a synagogue in Antioch (Acts 13:14-41), Jewish leaders in the city lose their ever-loving minds (Acts 13:45). As a result, the apostle and his boy Barney take the message of Christ to the non-Jewish people of the city and they go absolutely gaga over it (Acts 13:46-59). That leads to Jewish leaders inciting a riot and running the two evangelists out of the city (Acts 13:50).
The second stop is “at Iconium” (v11). As a result of the persecution in Antioch, Paul and Barney hit the road and head east about 85 miles away to what we today call Konya (Acts 13:51). Once again, they head straight to the synagogue and break the news that Jesus is the Hero whom Jews have been expecting for several thousand years (Acts 14:1).
When a cross cultural stew of people place their trust in Christ, Jewish leaders begin a campaign against the Gospel and poison the minds of a many Gentiles in the city against the message (Acts 14:2). Jesus uses the dynamic duo to save even more folks. But Iconium remains a city divided (Acts 14:3-4). When Paul and Barney get wind of plot to rock them to sleep with real rocks, they beat feet out of town (Acts 14:5-6).
From Iconium, they head south 30 miles to Lystra to the third stop in the terrible triple-header. This is where God uses Paul to heal a disabled man who had never walked in his entire life (Acts 14:8-10). Citizens are so blown away by this that they are convinced two of their gods named Zeus and Hermes have rolled into town (Acts 14:11-13). Paul does his best to let them know they’re not gods but they do know the One who is (Acts 14:14-18).
That’s when a posse of Jewish leaders from Antioch and Iconium roll into town, looking to for the two troublemakers. They fire up the crowds who hunt down Paul, stone him until they think he’s dead, and drag his unconscious body outside the city limits (Acts 14:19). Somehow, someway, the apostle survives and hooks up with Barnabas to take the Good News down the road to Derbe (Acts 14:20).
I don’t know about you, but I would totally eliminate Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra from any of my future travel plans. I certainly wouldn’t be giving them good reviews on Tripadvisor. You can take that to the bank! We’re not talking about a bad service at a restaurant or a dirty hotel bathroom. These are big time “persecutions and sufferings” (v11) that would lead most of us to put these places in our rearview mirror once and for all.
Oh, but not Paul and Barnabas! On their return trip to Syria, they hit these three cities a second time, “strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:21-22). The Gospel is too important to let a little persecution stop them!
It’s likely that during those crazy days in Lystra that a young man named Timothy hears about Jesus as Messiah for the first time. A couple of years later on Paul’s second tour, he actually swings by Lystra a THIRD time! That’s when makes Tim part of his team (Acts 16:1-3). Young Tim was probably an eyewitness to the attempt to murder the apostle the first time he was in town. And you can bet he’s heard all the stories of the persecution that happened up the road in Antioch of Pisidia and Iconium.
You may be wondering how the world Paul survived three terrible tour stops where he was bullied, chased, harassed, assaulted, and left for dead. Well, he lets us know right here. “Yet from them all the Lord rescued me” (v11). While we don’t get details, the apostle gives all the credit for each one of his escapes to the one and only Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus to the rescue!
The apostle carefully selects a word here that the ESV translates as “rescued” (Gr. ρυομαι/rhuomai). It’s means to bring someone out of severe and extreme danger to safety. It describes deliverance…and I DON’T mean the kind with banjos. When someone comes to your rescue, there’s no doubt of the imminent danger. It’s what Michael Scott on “The Office” would call Threat Level Midnight. It’s not a matter of IF you’re in trouble but WHEN it will happen.
Check out a couple of other times NT writers use this term. The apostle and his team thought they were going to die when rioting broke out in Ephesus. Are you seeing a pattern here? But Paul writes to the Corinthians that’s exactly when God came to their rescue. “He delivered (Gr. ρυομαι/rhuomai) us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver (Gr. ρυομαι/rhuomai) us. On Him we have set our hope that He will deliver (Gr. ρυομαι/rhuomai) us again” (2Cor 1:10).
Jesus to the Rescue!
When Jesus teaches His boys to pray, He wraps up the model prayer by asking His Dad to “deliver (Gr. ρυομαι/rhuomai) us from evil” (Mt 6:13; Lk 11:4). While Christ hangs on the cross, the crowd trash talks Him, “He trusts in God; let God deliver (Gr. ρυομαι/rhuomai) Him now” (Mt 27:43). Pretty sure they’d be eating those words a few days later when He came strolling out of cemetery!
As important as it is for Jesus coming to our rescue when we’re stuck between the proverbial rock and the hard place, it pales in comparison to desperate need for Him as our spiritual Savior. After we completely trash God’s perfect creation through our own sin and rebellion, Christ executes the most spectacular search-and-rescue operation the universe has ever seen. The Lord left the pleasures of the heavenly palace to dive into the dumpster of the mess we’ve made.
Jesus rescues us by doing for us what we could never do for ourselves. He lives the perfect life of obedience to God’s commands that we’ve failed to live. He dies the brutal death on the cross for our sin that we should have died. He rises to the spectacular new life that we in no way deserve. Paul says it this way in a little ditty to the Colossians. God has rescued us and “He has delivered (Gr. ρυομαι/rhuomai) us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Col 1:13).
Jesus to the rescue!
So what do we do with all this? First of all, Timothy has learned a lot from following Paul while he follows the Lord. As an apprentice to the apostle, he’s seen first hand that the abundant life isn’t an endless supply of rainbows, unicorns, and Skittles. As a matter of fact, his mentor makes that plain in the very next verse. “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2Tim 3:12). Remember, life is messy. Even for the the followers of Jesus. ESPECIALLY for the followers of Jesus!
Our Savior warns His team before His crucifixion that we can be certain everything will go completely off the rails. “In this world you will have tribulation” (Jn 16:33). Of all the promises in the Bible, you never see anybody claiming this one. You don’t see a whole lot of “in this world you will have tribulation” bumper stickers or coffee mugs at the Christian bookstore, do you?
But if we keeping reading Jesus’ words at that Passover party, He gives us a sneak preview of it all ends. “But take heart; I have overcome the world” (Jn 16:33). Spoiler alert! Christ wins. And when we trust in Him, we win too. The apostle desperately wants the folks in Colossae to never forget the end of the story (Col 3:1-2).
We need to know that Jesus always walks with us through the trouble. That’s why the prophets like to call Him Immanuel which means God is with us (Mt 1:23). He’s not just with us in the past tense. He’s STILL with us in the present tense. Our Savior is right by your side. Right here. Right now.
Jesus to the rescue!
Sometimes He plucks us out of the storm. Many times He walks with us right through the eye. Hang onto Jesus when the hurricanes of life make landfall. And no matter bad it gets, you can be sure that He’ll never let go of you. King David sings all about that. “Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!” (Ps 27:14). Or as my old buddy Ross Turner always said, “Wait IN the Lord while you wait ON the Lord.”
Jesus to the rescue!
Let’s not sugarcoat things. The commercial is right. Life does come at you fast. Don’t fall for the lie that following Jesus suddenly transforms life into an all-inclusive resort on this side of eternity. Not so much. When it comes to “persecutions and sufferings” (v11), it’s not “if” but “when.” Job loss. Betrayal by a friend. Bankruptcy. Something “suspicious” on an x-ray. Death of a loved one. We can guarantee that bad stuff will happen TO us. But remember Who is IN us (Gal 2:20; Col 1:17).
Paul wants Timothy and the rest of us to know that this isn’t just any random hero coming to save the day. Yeah, He has an “S” on His chest alright. But this time it stands for Savior.
Jesus to the rescue!
The hero to the rescue. You see it everywhere. In the movies. On TV. In literature. The Calvary thunders over the hill at the very last moment. Just when the evil genius is about to destroy the planet, (insert your favorite superhero here) swoops in out of nowhere. Just as Darth Vader is about to zap Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon save the day.
Just like the Bonnie Tyler song of the ‘80s, every one of us is holding out for a hero. Ever wonder where we get this standard storytelling cliche? I have a sneaking suspicion it’s because God has written this plot line on our very souls. Long before Marvel Cinematic Universe was a gleam in Stan Lee’s eye, we’ve longed for the Lord to save our bacon.
Jesus to the rescue!
It’s not just a mega-theme in God’s ultimate story, it’s one of the top two. Wonder what sits at number one? God getting the glory only He deserves. But a close second is Jesus to the rescue. It starts in the opening pages of Genesis when God announces to the satanic snake that a Hero is on the way to ultimately smash his sinful skull (Gen 3:15).
You know this Hero by several different names. Christ. Lord. Son of God. Son of Man. The Word. The Way. The Truth. The Life. Immanuel. The Lion of Judah. The Alpha and Omega. But these three handles best describe One coming to our rescue. Deliverer. Messiah. Savior.
The Old Testament is an endless series of announcements of Messiah’s eventual arrival. The NT reveals our Savior’s secret identity as Jesus, the humble Carpenter/Rabbi from the boondocks of Galilee. Before Christ Jesus returns to heaven, He promises to return one last time to save the day one last time.
Jesus to the rescue!
Which brings us to Paul’s second letter to his spiritual son Timothy. Talk about someone in need of rescue! The apostle is behind bars and facing capital punishment (2Tim 1:16; 2:9; 4:6-7). While he certainly hopes Jesus will bust him out of the joint before it’s too late, he’s desperate for one last visit before execution (2Tim 4:9, 21).
They always say your life flashes before you just before you die. Maybe that’s why the apostle flips through the scrapbook of his relationship with the young pastor from Lystra who has been a huge part of his life over the past few years. Timothy’s been his apprentice during both the good times and bad. Tim knows all about Paul’s “persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from the all the Lord rescued me” (v11). Time and time again, Paul can personally testify about Jesus to the rescue.
Our Bible begins this verse with “my persecutions and sufferings” (v11). But these two are actually the last things in a list Paul started in verse 10. He encourages Tim for being such a great student and putting into practice all he’s learned from the apostle. “You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness” (2Tim 3:10).
Thanks to those handy dandy verse numbers, many of us may have stopped before reading on and finishing the list. Don’t forget to add Paul’s “persecutions and sufferings” as God’s spokesman to most of the known world.
Did you know the authors of Scripture didn’t include these chapter and verse numbers? Scholars added those numbers so we could find specific passages more quickly. Chapters started showing up in the 5th Century. Verse numbers hit the pages more than one hundred years later in the 1500s. Think of them like street addresses that help you find your way around. Sort of a biblical Google Maps. For those of you lucky enough to grow up in a Baptist church, imagine doing Bible drills without them! Yikes!!
Most of the time, these chapter and verse numbers are a huge help to us as we find our way around God’s Word. Occasionally, they create artificial or awkward breaks in passages. This would be one of those. The apostle included his “persecutions and sufferings” (v11) in Tim’s apprenticeship checklist. We should too. Being a good follower of Jesus means following Him through the hard times.
When you first read the combo of “persecutions and sufferings” (v11), you might think it’s really two words for the same thing. Not so much. The first term in the original language (Gr. διογμος/diogmos) describes a chase, intense harassment, or an organized and planned oppression. In this situation, you’re the hunted and the hunter is in hot pursuit. It’s something that happens TO you.
This is a case of “it takes one to know one.” Paul knows what it’s like because he’s been the hunter. The apostle formerly known as Saul was on a mistaken one-man mission from God to wipe Jesus’ followers from the face of the earth (Acts 8:1). After Jesus set him straight, the tables were turned. The former Pharisee often found himself square in the sites of those who wanted to do the same to him. There was the time Jewish leaders in Pisidian Antioch “stirred up persecution (Gr. διογμος/diogmos) against Paul and Barnabas” and chased them out of town (Acts 13:50).
If “persecutions” are what happens TO you, “sufferings” (v11) are what happen IN you. The word in the original Greek (Gr. παθημα/pathema) focuses on strong inward emotions or what’s going on inside you. It’s all about pain, affliction, calamity, affliction, or something that must be endured. At dinner on the night before His execution, Jesus tells His team, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer (Gr. παθημα/pathema)” (Lk 22:15). And this passage from Luke is the source for our word describing the internal suffering or the passion of Christ. It’s something that happens IN you.
Why are “persecutions and sufferings” important when it comes to following Jesus? I don’t know about you, but it would be my personal preference to avoid these two things like a nasty combination of an IRS audit and colonoscopy! But then again, that’s why God didn’t leave me in charge.
First of all, don’t make the mistake of thinking that hard times mean Christ has turned His back on you. The apostle tells the Romans that there’s no way “tribulation, or distress, or persecution (Gr. διογμος/diogmos), or nakedness, or danger, or sword” will ever separate us from Jesus’ love (Rom 8:35). And, as they say in those Ginsu knife commercials, “But wait, there’s more!” Because God’s grace and power shines brightest in our weakness, Paul actually finds contentment “with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions (Gr. διογμος/diogmos), and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2Cor 12:10).
Meanwhile back in 2 Timothy, the apostle takes a little stroll down memory lane and recalls all “that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured” (v11). If you’re familiar with Paul’s travel history, you probably recognize these places. They were all tour stops on his original Gospel expedition with his buddy Barnabas.
Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra are cities in the southern central part of what we know today as Turkey. So Paul’s descriptions of what went down there aren’t some generic, hard-to-pin-down generality of harassment. He is incredibly specific. In other words, these are real events involving real people at real places in real points in history. If you’re still not buying what he’s selling, Dr. Luke carefully has researched these events in one handy dandy little book known as Acts.
The apostle’s first stop in this terrible triple-header is “at Antioch” (v11). This is not to be confused with another Antioch we see in the NT, which was the capital of Syria. Syrian Antioch is the location of the multicultural megachurch that sent Paul and Barnabas on their original mission trip in the first place (Acts 11:19-27; 13:1-3). Here in 2 Timothy, he refers to another city by the same name in the region of Pisidia over in Asia Minor.
After Paul announces that Jesus is the long promised Messiah in a synagogue in Antioch (Acts 13:14-41), Jewish leaders in the city lose their ever-loving minds (Acts 13:45). As a result, the apostle and his boy Barney take the message of Christ to the non-Jewish people of the city and they go absolutely gaga over it (Acts 13:46-59). That leads to Jewish leaders inciting a riot and running the two evangelists out of the city (Acts 13:50).
The second stop is “at Iconium” (v11). As a result of the persecution in Antioch, Paul and Barney hit the road and head east about 85 miles away to what we today call Konya (Acts 13:51). Once again, they head straight to the synagogue and break the news that Jesus is the Hero whom Jews have been expecting for several thousand years (Acts 14:1).
When a cross cultural stew of people place their trust in Christ, Jewish leaders begin a campaign against the Gospel and poison the minds of a many Gentiles in the city against the message (Acts 14:2). Jesus uses the dynamic duo to save even more folks. But Iconium remains a city divided (Acts 14:3-4). When Paul and Barney get wind of plot to rock them to sleep with real rocks, they beat feet out of town (Acts 14:5-6).
From Iconium, they head south 30 miles to Lystra to the third stop in the terrible triple-header. This is where God uses Paul to heal a disabled man who had never walked in his entire life (Acts 14:8-10). Citizens are so blown away by this that they are convinced two of their gods named Zeus and Hermes have rolled into town (Acts 14:11-13). Paul does his best to let them know they’re not gods but they do know the One who is (Acts 14:14-18).
That’s when a posse of Jewish leaders from Antioch and Iconium roll into town, looking to for the two troublemakers. They fire up the crowds who hunt down Paul, stone him until they think he’s dead, and drag his unconscious body outside the city limits (Acts 14:19). Somehow, someway, the apostle survives and hooks up with Barnabas to take the Good News down the road to Derbe (Acts 14:20).
I don’t know about you, but I would totally eliminate Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra from any of my future travel plans. I certainly wouldn’t be giving them good reviews on Tripadvisor. You can take that to the bank! We’re not talking about a bad service at a restaurant or a dirty hotel bathroom. These are big time “persecutions and sufferings” (v11) that would lead most of us to put these places in our rearview mirror once and for all.
Oh, but not Paul and Barnabas! On their return trip to Syria, they hit these three cities a second time, “strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:21-22). The Gospel is too important to let a little persecution stop them!
It’s likely that during those crazy days in Lystra that a young man named Timothy hears about Jesus as Messiah for the first time. A couple of years later on Paul’s second tour, he actually swings by Lystra a THIRD time! That’s when makes Tim part of his team (Acts 16:1-3). Young Tim was probably an eyewitness to the attempt to murder the apostle the first time he was in town. And you can bet he’s heard all the stories of the persecution that happened up the road in Antioch of Pisidia and Iconium.
You may be wondering how the world Paul survived three terrible tour stops where he was bullied, chased, harassed, assaulted, and left for dead. Well, he lets us know right here. “Yet from them all the Lord rescued me” (v11). While we don’t get details, the apostle gives all the credit for each one of his escapes to the one and only Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus to the rescue!
The apostle carefully selects a word here that the ESV translates as “rescued” (Gr. ρυομαι/rhuomai). It’s means to bring someone out of severe and extreme danger to safety. It describes deliverance…and I DON’T mean the kind with banjos. When someone comes to your rescue, there’s no doubt of the imminent danger. It’s what Michael Scott on “The Office” would call Threat Level Midnight. It’s not a matter of IF you’re in trouble but WHEN it will happen.
Check out a couple of other times NT writers use this term. The apostle and his team thought they were going to die when rioting broke out in Ephesus. Are you seeing a pattern here? But Paul writes to the Corinthians that’s exactly when God came to their rescue. “He delivered (Gr. ρυομαι/rhuomai) us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver (Gr. ρυομαι/rhuomai) us. On Him we have set our hope that He will deliver (Gr. ρυομαι/rhuomai) us again” (2Cor 1:10).
Jesus to the Rescue!
When Jesus teaches His boys to pray, He wraps up the model prayer by asking His Dad to “deliver (Gr. ρυομαι/rhuomai) us from evil” (Mt 6:13; Lk 11:4). While Christ hangs on the cross, the crowd trash talks Him, “He trusts in God; let God deliver (Gr. ρυομαι/rhuomai) Him now” (Mt 27:43). Pretty sure they’d be eating those words a few days later when He came strolling out of cemetery!
As important as it is for Jesus coming to our rescue when we’re stuck between the proverbial rock and the hard place, it pales in comparison to desperate need for Him as our spiritual Savior. After we completely trash God’s perfect creation through our own sin and rebellion, Christ executes the most spectacular search-and-rescue operation the universe has ever seen. The Lord left the pleasures of the heavenly palace to dive into the dumpster of the mess we’ve made.
Jesus rescues us by doing for us what we could never do for ourselves. He lives the perfect life of obedience to God’s commands that we’ve failed to live. He dies the brutal death on the cross for our sin that we should have died. He rises to the spectacular new life that we in no way deserve. Paul says it this way in a little ditty to the Colossians. God has rescued us and “He has delivered (Gr. ρυομαι/rhuomai) us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Col 1:13).
Jesus to the rescue!
So what do we do with all this? First of all, Timothy has learned a lot from following Paul while he follows the Lord. As an apprentice to the apostle, he’s seen first hand that the abundant life isn’t an endless supply of rainbows, unicorns, and Skittles. As a matter of fact, his mentor makes that plain in the very next verse. “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2Tim 3:12). Remember, life is messy. Even for the the followers of Jesus. ESPECIALLY for the followers of Jesus!
Our Savior warns His team before His crucifixion that we can be certain everything will go completely off the rails. “In this world you will have tribulation” (Jn 16:33). Of all the promises in the Bible, you never see anybody claiming this one. You don’t see a whole lot of “in this world you will have tribulation” bumper stickers or coffee mugs at the Christian bookstore, do you?
But if we keeping reading Jesus’ words at that Passover party, He gives us a sneak preview of it all ends. “But take heart; I have overcome the world” (Jn 16:33). Spoiler alert! Christ wins. And when we trust in Him, we win too. The apostle desperately wants the folks in Colossae to never forget the end of the story (Col 3:1-2).
We need to know that Jesus always walks with us through the trouble. That’s why the prophets like to call Him Immanuel which means God is with us (Mt 1:23). He’s not just with us in the past tense. He’s STILL with us in the present tense. Our Savior is right by your side. Right here. Right now.
Jesus to the rescue!
Sometimes He plucks us out of the storm. Many times He walks with us right through the eye. Hang onto Jesus when the hurricanes of life make landfall. And no matter bad it gets, you can be sure that He’ll never let go of you. King David sings all about that. “Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!” (Ps 27:14). Or as my old buddy Ross Turner always said, “Wait IN the Lord while you wait ON the Lord.”
Jesus to the rescue!
Let’s not sugarcoat things. The commercial is right. Life does come at you fast. Don’t fall for the lie that following Jesus suddenly transforms life into an all-inclusive resort on this side of eternity. Not so much. When it comes to “persecutions and sufferings” (v11), it’s not “if” but “when.” Job loss. Betrayal by a friend. Bankruptcy. Something “suspicious” on an x-ray. Death of a loved one. We can guarantee that bad stuff will happen TO us. But remember Who is IN us (Gal 2:20; Col 1:17).
Paul wants Timothy and the rest of us to know that this isn’t just any random hero coming to save the day. Yeah, He has an “S” on His chest alright. But this time it stands for Savior.
Jesus to the rescue!
Great Jay! Like you mentioned, the original Christian Scriptures (NT) was written without the verses we are so used to. It was also written with no spaces between the words and the scribe copying and translating had to decide where to put the punctuation. Therefore we have to be aware of that when reading it in English.
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