He Gave His Life

I have been listening to the book Unbroken, a true World War II story about the incredible survival of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner whose plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean.  I’ve been shocked by the descriptions of harrowing experiences and unbelievably difficult conditions for the airmen who risked, and far too often gave, their lives fighting the Japanese.  When the plane Zamperini was on crashed into the ocean, the job of the engineer was to be in a certain position so that he could launch the raft at the very last possible moment in an effort to keep it close enough for the men to find it if they came up out of the water alive.  But completing the task was, as the book described, a near certain death sentence because of the position in the plane the engineer would be in at the time it hit the water.  In Zamperini’s case, the engineer did just that, giving his life and allowing the three survivors of the crash to have a chance at life as they found the raft.  A second story was told of a different crash on the ocean in which one man was injured and another saved his life as he took him to a raft.  A shark got the leg of the man who was helping the injured airman, and they both went under water as the shark dragged them down.  Eventually the man’s leg broke off, he got up back to the surface, and he put the originally injured man on the raft.  The man who lost his leg then sank to his death in the ocean, having given his life for his comrade.  The man on the raft survived. 

              These brave men in this and so many other wars gave enormous sacrifices, including their own lives, for the life and freedom of others.  Their sacrifices were praised by the Lord Himself: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).  The Savior of course was the ultimate sacrifice, giving “his life a ransom for many,” saving not just a few but individually offering life to the billions of people who have or ever will live (Matt. 20:28).  On another occasion He said, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep…. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself” (John 10:11, 17-18).  He described His willing sacrifice with another metaphor, saying, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:24).  He is the one who fell to the ground, letting Himself die, giving His life in order to provide life—“much fruit”—for all of us.  In their descriptions of the crucifixion of the Savior, three of the gospel writers described His final moments in these words, He “gave up the ghost” (John 19:30).  While we might consider this just an expression to mean He died, it also accurately teaches that He gave His life voluntarily for all mankind.  The sacrifice of so many in wars defending our freedoms are types of the great sacrifice of the Son of Man for the salvation and spiritual freedom of all of God’s children.