“The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, He will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you” (Rom 8:11)

In 2010 we all read about a wonderful story of deliverance. Thirty three Chilean miners got trapped beneath two thousand feet below the earth. Their only exit tunnel collapsed. They knew that except for a miracle, they will die there, all of them. They decided to pray for a miracle, for the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit. They encouraged one another with memory Bible verses. They made a survival plan: they will eat very little so that they can economize their food. Every other day, they ate two spoons of tuna, a sip of milk and a bite of peaches. For two months they prayed for someone to save them.

On the surface above, the Chilean rescue team worked around the clock, meeting with experts. They designed a thirteen-foot-tall capsule and drilled, first a communication hole, then an excavation tunnel. There was no guarantee of success. No one had ever been trapped underground this long and lived to tell the story. On October 13, 2010, the men began to emerge, singing victory songs. There was a great-grandfather… then a forty-four-year-old who was planning his wedding…. then a nineteen-year-old, training to be a miner… All had different stories of survival but all had made the same decision: They trusted someone else to save them. No one down below was foolish enough to trust in himself. No one said: ‘I can get out of here on my own…’ They all agreed from the beginning that they need help from the outside, saying: ‘We need help. We need someone to penetrate this world and pull us out.’ And when the rescue capsule came, they climbed in. They were all saved! Praise the Lord!

Their story should encourage us to trust the Lord Jesus Christ. No one can come out of the stony tomb of sin and death except by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ who lives ‘outside’ this world of sin. He died that we may live. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to us who believe in Him! Dear friend, this is the truth: you cannot make it on your own! You cannot save your own soul! Sin is too sinful. The wicked devil is a slave master who never let’s go of his victims. But Jesus destroyed his claim over you by the Cross. Give your life to Christ! Like these miners in Chile, you shall live to tell the story of His amazing grace and unfailing love!

(see some pictures from the dramatic rescue in Chile: the capsule arrives underground, the miners are taken up one by one and once outside, they kneel to thank God)