Chaplains Chat

I am sure that we all heard of the four Australian surfers and two Indonesian nationals who were rescued off the islands of Indonesia recently after the boat they were travelling in capsized. These people were in the water on surfboards for about 38 hours while the rescue search party was trying to find them. It is an amazing story, and we saw the relief and elation from their parents in Australia when they heard the news that they were rescued.   

As we continue to look through the story of the Exodus in Chapel this Term, we are learning about the God who rescues his people. We read in Exodus that God sees the hardship the Israelites are facing, he hears their cries for help, and he remembers his promises. God is the God who acts, and in these amazing events we see that God will deliver his people from their slavery in Egypt. In the context of the whole Bible, we will see that God continues to rescue his people. But this story in Exodus is really pointing to the bigger rescue that God has accomplished. The Israelites were rescued physically from their slavery, and the surfers in Indonesia were physically rescued from the water. However, the Bible says that we also are in need of rescuing in our lives. As Colossians 1:13 says: “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins”. God has provided the means by which we can be rescued from our sin and restored into a loving relationship with him. The wonderful news of Jesus and his death on the Cross for us all, is the means by which this rescue takes place.  

Rev. Anthony Benn 
Chaplain