Kidnapping

“And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.” (II Timothy 2:26)

Earlier this week, the big news item in Kansas City has been the kidnapping of a 10 month old baby right out of the house where she lived. It wasn’t one of those typical “estranged parent” kidnappings where one of them decided they wanted the child. Both parents live in the house, and the baby turned up missing in the middle of the night. So far, a couple of days in to the ordeal, no good news is available. I cannot imagine the depth of the heartbreak, and I cannot imagine the depths of depravity that would cause some filthy disgusting waste of human flesh to perpetrate such a horrible act. Sometimes these things work out OK, so pray for the child and the family that God’s will be done.

While I in no way want to minimize the pending tragedy of this ordeal, a far greater abduction took place about 6,000 years ago in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were happily minding their own business when a stranger appeared, tempting them with a forbidden fruit that God had withheld. He promised them something he could not deliver, and had no intention of giving them. He told Eve, “Go ahead, a little bit won’t hurt. It won’t kill you.” (All of our expressions come straight from the Bible. I have collected about 300 of them over the years). She was promised that if she partook of the forbidden fruit, that she would, “Be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Go ahead, Eve. You can be one of us. You can be on my team. Unfortunately for all of us, she fell to the temptation and took of the tree. When she did, Satan kidnapped her and the entire human race, and has held us in the bondage of sin and death ever since.

True story: One day many years ago I was sitting at my desk at work when my phone rang, and I heard the voice of my lovely wife on the other end. She said in a very hurried and excited tone, “Oh good, you’re there! Call you back!” Click. I thought, “That was strange. Has she been hitting the cooking sherry again?” The phone rang again a couple of minutes later and she explained the previous call. Some guy had called the home number apparently at random and said, “I have your husband. Do as I say and he won’t get hurt.” Well, my wife is no dummy. She said, “Hold on just a minute.” Then she ran next door and called me at the office to find out if I was there. By the time she got back home, the creep had hung up. Obviously, if it had been true, there would have been some form of ransom required.

When Satan took the human family captive at his will, a ransom was required. The Bible says of Jesus, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” (I Timothy 2:5-6) Our enemy is a coward and a bully. He is a creep who does not play fair, and he hides behind every rock trying to get men and women to buy in to his dastardly plans. Unfortunately, he is successful about 99% of the time. Most of the abductees are oblivious to their plight. They think life is just merrily flowing along and “it will all work out OK in the end.” Deuteronomy 32:29 says, “O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!” But men do not. The little girl abducted last week is only 10 months old. She is probably oblivious to most of what is happening to her. She has no concept of the danger she faces. Lost men and women charge ahead in life with no thought of the pending judgment of God against sin.

But the ransom was paid for our soul by Jesus. Job 33:24 says, “Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.” His name is Jesus. Those who reject him are held in captivity because they refuse to accept the ransom payment. Don’t let this be you.