To clear his head, a man walked along a seafront boardwalk. Admiring the quaint littles shops and pausing for a moment to look through their windows at their wares, he continued his walk in no particular direction. An aroma caught his nose’s attention from the pier and he began to walk toward that direction. A small group of people were gathered at a small outdoor grill with a man preparing hot dogs and hamburgers while his oldest daughter assisted with dressing buns to the customers’ delight. Waiting for his burger, the man noticed a frantic and boisterous crowd was growing at the end of the pier. As he glanced, numbers of people began running to the end of the pier to join them. Many of the people at the end of the pier appeared to have faces of horror and desperation. Leaving the line, he followed a couple of men to the end of the pier. A frenzy of exclamations punctuated the air all about something happening at the water below. The man pushed ahead to see what grabbed these people’s attention: a small girl had fallen from the pier and was slowly being pulled out to sea. He looked around him and all he saw were people barking requests but no one endeavored to save this child. The man glanced over towards a wall and saw a length of good rope. He ran and grabbed the rope. As he began to tie a knot around his waist and shoulder, he hushed the crowd to give instruction: I will dive into the water and risk my life to save this child. All I ask is that you hold the rope. It appeared everyone agreed to partner with this man’s risky mission to hold the rope. The man dove from the rail into the churning and clawing waters and swam as hard as he could towards the little girl.
A verse of scripture caught my attention while reading my Bible the other morning after a time of prayer. It is found in Joshua chapter two of the two spies who were led out from a window in the wall of Jericho from Rahab’s apartment by a single scarlet rope (or chord). Not only was this chord used to save these two men’s lives, it would later be used as a symbol to later save this woman and her families’ lives when millions of Hebrews obediently walked around the walls of Jericho before the walls came crashing down. This scarlet chord serves as a metaphor to what I declare that from Genesis through the Bible to John 3:16 with a knot tied there and then the rope continues to the Revelation 22 of God’s redeeming promise. As I momentarily pondered this chord from Rahab’s window, it came to mind of another rope was used to lower a basket (Acts 9:25) containing Saul who eventually became the Apostle Paul. Without this rope (and basket) we would see the life of Saul in a much shorter narrative and Gentiles perhaps would be delayed with the blessed gift of salvation. So are there any similarity or simply coincidence of these ropes?
Tied (no pun intended) to all of these events is a rope that brought salvation. It saved these two men in the book of Joshua, saved Rahab and her home, saved Saul in Acts 9, would be used to save this little girl in the story I share above, and is used to save a relationship (see Ecclesiastes 4:12 that a threefold chord is not quickly broken). Once secured fast, a rope can hold the largest of ships at port, can tow a child’s toy, can save a physical life, and can hold/bind things together. It keeps the item or person at one end safe by the strength and length of the rope. This end of the rope represents pastors (and their wives), missionaries, and those who go from house to house, city to city, nation to nation to share Jesus Christ. This end of the rope is crucial for without it, these two men would have perished and the plans for Israel taking the Promise Land may had failed before it started or would have certainly been delayed. The absence of the rope would have allowed Saul to perish by the hand of the Jews who sought to kill him before Saul’s missionary journeys ever would had begun. It is the end of this rope that a man ventured against wave and the ferocious water choking him as he swam with all his might towards this little girl. And it is this end of the rope that the lost come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Without it, everyone would be lost. There is an old gospel hymn that begins with, “Throw out the lifeline across the dark wave; there is a brother whom someone should save; somebody’s brother, O who then will dare to throw out the lifeline, his peril to share? Throw out the lifeline! Throw out the lifeline! Someone is drifting away; throw out the lifeline! Throw out the lifeline! Someone is sinking today.” Without the goer, salvation isn’t extended. Lives and eternity truly are at the mercy of those who go out. Will we go? Or will we make excuses? Too much work. Too much money. Too much time. Too wrong of people and let’s wait for the right people. Unqualified. Only certain people should do this but not I. Only those who want to impress the pastor should go but not I. Only those who can afford to pay their own way can go. My friend, what do I see?! Street lamps are coming on. The sky is turning to a soft hue of dark blues and purples. My friend and to quote Jesus, night is coming when no man can work (John 9:4). Keith Green in a line of one of his songs sang, “Jesus commands us to go. It should be the exception if we stay. It’s no wonder we’re movin’ so slow. When His church refuse to obey feelin’ so called to stay.” What or more exact WHO is at the end of the rope?
But the other end of this rope is also as critical as the one on the end who reaches out or is being held safe. The other end of the rope is secured by people who let down the two spies and then was secured to an object in Rahab’s apartment, the rope was held by a group of unnamed men to save Saul, and it is requested by this man to be held by the people who remained at the end of the pier as this man dove and swam to rescue this girl. It is those whom are unable to go. It is those who diligently pray. Praying not exclusively for themselves or a small circle of friends and family. But to lift up to the Lord with tears on their cheeks and their hearts burning for those pastors, missionaries, and brethren who are out at the end of that rope in that city, in that nation, in that work of the Lord. And to pray for those where God’s church isn’t there that someone will respond and go there. It is held by those who give not just their tithes but gladly partner financially and with prayers AND giving toward missions (for that, I believe, is the heartbeat of God). It is those who gladly say, I have nothing I can do—perhaps age, injury, whatever—but I can be the best prayer warrior and the best giver I can. It is also these who hold the rope who train (disciple) those who will also dive into those waters, who will go to the promise land, who will carry on His work. 1 Samuel 30:24 says, “…But as his part is who goes down to the battle, so shall his part be who stays by the supplies; they shall share alike.” An aphorism goes like this, “For want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the rider was lost; being overtaken and slain by the enemy, all for want of care about a horseshoe nail.” That nail are prayers, money, and people. So why didn’t anyone else help the man who dove into the water to save the girl? Why didn’t anyone dive in before he did or to follow him into the dark depths?
Strength all but spent, the man swam one more stroke and then dove under the water to catch the little girl who was finally overtaken by the waves. As he pulled her above water, he fastened the rope around the girl also and then yelled to the pier, “I have her, pull us in!” But to his horror, what did he see? Less people were on the pier. Some of the people went back to their lives. Some of the people went back to their fishing. Some of the people went on to buy their wares. Some the people went home. Some of the people went back to work. And for those who did remain at the edge of the pier, where it was deep concern to save her is now these people looking upon this man and girl with indifference while the last inches of the rope slipped off the pier. These two—the man and the little girl—perished at sea because no one held the rope. A life could have been saved by this man who went to the rescue but was ultimately lost by those who didn’t want to be involved any more. My friend, the lost are so lost that they don’t know that they’re lost. But who will go and who will hold the rope? Hudson Taylor wrote to his sister, “If I had a thousand [dollars] China should have it—if I had a thousand lives, China should have them. No! Not China, but Christ. Can we do too much for Him? Can we do enough for such a precious Savior?”
Who will go with the rope? Who will hold the rope?