Steve Gaines

The whole world watched and rejoiced this week as 33 miners in Chile were brought to the earth’s surface from half a mile underground. The rescuers offered “the way out” to those desperate men who had been trapped for 69 days, and they were magnificently saved!

Luke 9:30-31 tells how Jesus was transfigured one day as He prayed on a mountaintop. His divine glory shone forth as Moses and Elijah appeared and talked with Him about His approaching “departure.” That word in the Greek is exodus. Ex means “out of,” and odos means way. It was a reference to Jesus’ death for sinners on the cross. The cross was Jesus’ “exodus” or “way out of” this world. The only way He could go was by dying on the cross.

Christ’s cross is our “way out,” (exodus) too. When we come to Jesus for salvation, His cross cleanses us. The Jewish exodus from Egypt is a striking picture of our salvation. In that exodus God provided “the way out” by saving the Israelites. Likewise, God saves all those who come to Him through the exodus of the cross of his Son.

God provided “the way out” for the trapped miners in Chile spiritually as well as physically. His Word was sent down to where they were in the form of small New Testament Bibles and MP3 versions of Bible sermons. The light of God’s Word shone even there in the depths of the earth!

As each miner was rescued, it was a graphic reminder of how God lifts us up out of the slimy pit of our sin and sets our feet on a rock, giving us a firm place to stand (Psalm 40:2). The cross of Jesus Christ is the only way we can be saved. It was Jesus’ predetermined “way out” of this world. Make sure it is your “way out” as well.