Have you ever played outside in the dust or mud and then come inside and walked across the clean floor? Your mom or dad, if they saw you, would probably get excited and want you to take those shoes off and wash up right away. Would they let you go for two weeks of playing in the dirt and never taking a bath, never washing and sitting in filth? I’m sure they wouldn’t, but I want to tell you about two men who didn’t have any choice. They had to spend two weeks filthy dirty.
Brant Webb and Todd Russell grabbed their mining tools, hung their identification tags around their necks, and got ready to ride down the elevator to their work site . . . way down . . . three thousand feet down into the inky-black darkness of an Australian gold mine. As they reached their level and walked to the place where they would dig, they passed under millions of tons of rock. No weather report told them about the earthquake coming later that day.
The two men reached their spot and stepped inside a small, metal safety cage about three feet wide, three feet long and four feet tall where they set to work digging into one of the richest deposits of gold in the world. I don’t know how long they had been working when the rock ceiling above them began to shake. Rock and dust began crashing down around them, and a huge slab of rock smashed down, covering the cage over their heads.
When the shaking stopped, the whole tunnel where they had entered was filled with many tons of rock, blocking their way out. Surrounding them in every other direction were walls of rock, five times as hard as concrete. They were completely trapped! No shower, no toilet, no sink, no supply of water, and with only one small cereal bar for food.
Now, I’ve gotten muddy hiking in the rain a few times, and I’ve slept in my dirty clothes for a few days when on a trip. But I’ve never been trapped underground like Brant and Todd. However, I have been trapped in an even dirtier and more dangerous pit - the pit of sin. Psalm 40:22He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. (Psalm 40:2) in the Bible mentions a “horrible pit” and “miry clay.” That’s an awful ugly, sticky spot to be stuck. Isaiah 64:66But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. (Isaiah 64:6) says that even what we decide are our good, clean deeds, God says they are like “filthy rags.” And just like being trapped three thousand feet down inside a mine, there’s no way we can get out of the pit of sin by ourselves.
For the two men trapped in the mine, one day passed . . . then two . . . then three. They licked the walls for a little moisture. They slowly ate their one cereal bar, and they waited. They couldn’t see anyone, hear anyone or talk to anyone.
However, far above on the surface there was a rush of activity. A private jet flew back and forth throughout Australia, picking up specially trained rescue workers from other mines. Equipment of every possible kind was brought to help in finding the missing miners. Rescue crews worked day and night. And then they found something.
Special sensors detected the trapped miners’ body heat, and a sensitive microphone was able to “hear” them talking. Soon a very long tube had been drilled through the collapsed rock and into the miners’ prison. Five days after they were trapped, Brant and Todd began to receive food, energy drinks and other supplies through the drilled tube. But the men were still trapped, and rescuers would need to dig through solid rock to reach them. They waited, fearing another earthquake.
When we were dead in sins, the Lord Jesus did everything necessary to rescue us. “Even when we were dead in sins, [God] hath quickened us [made us alive] together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:55Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) (Ephesians 2:5)). I’m thankful that Brant and Todd had courageous men who came to try to rescue them from the mine. But I’m far more thankful that Jesus Christ came to rescue each of us from our sins. He gave His life, shedding His blood to make a way for us to escape the horrible pit of sin. “[God] hath made [Jesus] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:2121For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)). The filthy sins of all who trust Him were put on His sinless person so that we could be made clean.
Finally, after fourteen days, rescuers reached the trapped men and freed them. On their way up on the mine elevator, Brant and Todd stopped for a long shower . . . a very long shower. The rescuer waiting for them said, “We didn’t think they would ever get out.”
If you and I had been trapped without tub, shower, toilet or water supply for two weeks in a tiny hole, I think we would do the same thing. How wonderful to bathe our souls in the wonderful, refreshingly clean Word of God.
We can let it run over and over and over our hearts. “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to Thy word” (Psalm 119:99BETH. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. (Psalm 119:9)). What a wonderful thing to be rescued from the trap of sin by the cleansing blood of Christ. Then we have His Word to keep us clean all the way home to heaven.
ML-12/03/2006