The sky was dark and stormy-looking when John got on his snowmobile. He was heading to his home in the next town in Switzerland. Soon after he started out it began to snow, and then the snow turned into a real blizzard. The snow fell so heavily that it quickly covered the road in front of him.
It’s too late now to turn back, John thought, so he continued driving toward home. What really worried him was that the area he was traveling through was known to have avalanches, and the snow was continuing to fall fast and heavily.
He had only gone a little farther when he heard the roar — the unmistakable sound of an avalanche! Before he could turn around, he was engulfed in a swirling, rushing river of snow. It knocked him unconscious and buried him under three feet of snow and ice.
When he did not arrive home, his family organized a search party. With them on the search, the search party took a specially trained dog who could find a person buried in the snow by smell. Even with his help, for a while they could not find John as they searched the road.
Then the dog, unnoticed by the rest of the search party, turned off the path and wandered a little distance off alone. Suddenly he stopped and with his nose deep in the snow he sniffed. Then he began to dig rapidly into the snow with his paws.
Down under the snow, John, now conscious, became aware that something was digging down through the snow toward him. What could it be? Perhaps a wild, hungry animal had discovered him. He must act quickly to save himself, he thought. With difficulty he drew his pistol from its holster, and pointing it at the dark form above him, he pulled the trigger. There was a loud shot, a yelp of pain, a dull thud as the dog fell, and then all was still.
The search party heard the shot and hurried to the spot. There they found the faithful dog lying dead on the snow. John, half-frozen under the snow, heard voices and was soon pulled to safety, alive thanks to the dog he had shot.
How sad John must have felt when he saw the beautiful dog lying dead on the snow. This sad story makes me think of an even sadder story, only this story has a happy ending. It is the story of the Lord Jesus, the Son of God. The Lord Jesus came to earth to look for sinners, because He loves us. “The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:1010For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10)). As He lived here and served His Father by doing many miracles, healing the sick and preaching about God, some important men grew jealous of Him and hated Him for the perfect life He lived. They hated Him so much that they decided they would kill Him. Not only did they want to kill Him, but they also had Him die a terrible death, nailed to a cross. He died and was buried, and as far as they were concerned, that was the end of His life.
What they didn’t know was that by His death, God was making the way to give eternal life to all who would believe on the Lord Jesus. They didn’t know that the Lord Jesus would rise from the dead on the third day, and in spite of how awfully man had treated His Son, God would offer salvation to all who would believe on His Son. Another thing they didn’t know was that what they did to the Lord Jesus was fulfilling God’s plan to save sinners. “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. And ... He was buried, and ... He rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-43For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: (1 Corinthians 15:3‑4)).
And ... what about you? Have you heard about this Savior? Have you received the precious Lord Jesus as your Savior, or do you look at Him as an enemy? Or do you ignore Him so you can keep on living life the way you want to live it?
Messages of God’s Love 4/9/2023