About people who need to escape

According to the United Nations, at the end of June 2024 there were 122.6 million people worldwide who had been forcibly displaced from their homes due to persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations, and events seriously disturbing public order. Among those were 43.7 million refugees. People escaping from danger of some sort. People fleeing to save their lives, or to find somewhere to live without privation, persecution and hopelessness. These statistics are deeply sobering. And the reality of this tidal wave of human misery impacts on so many parts of the world and aspects of life, as desperate humans move around in search of a haven and a new life. The writer Warsan Shire summed it up: “No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark.”

Sadly, millions feel the need to escape, and to flee. Reader, if you live in comparative peace and comfort, please spare a thought for your fellow human beings who are escaping and fleeing.

But at the same time, you would do well to consider another dimension – the spiritual dimension – to this business of escaping or fleeing.

There is one terrible thing which every one of us faces. One thing, above all others, from which wise people flee: God’s wrath. That wrath has been stirred up by our rebellion and disobedience towards our Creator. It is a bit like a ferocious thunderstorm that has brewed up and is about to break above our heads. Any sane person would run for cover. 

The solution is beyond our own imagination and creation. But God Himself, the offended party, has provided the way of escape which we need. He sent Jesus Christ, who is the one unique person with both a human nature and a divine nature, to come to this world. Having come, he lived a perfect life, at the end of which he was condemned to death on false charges with false witnesses. He willingly gave up his life, enduring the terrible wrath of God in the place of sinful people like us. Through his death, men and women can gain eternal life instead of God’s wrath and condemnation. He said “I am the way, the truth and the life. No person can come to the Father (God) except through me”. If we “run” to Christ, spiritually speaking, we will escape the just reward for all our transgressions and disobedience (Hebrews 2, verse 3).

I sincerely hope that you, reader, will never be forced to flee from your home and to escape from persecution, war or any similar thing. If you are one of those who has been forced to flee, then I hope you will find sanctuary and a new place to call home.

But, above all, I truly hope that wherever you live in this world, you will take that wise and life saving decision to escape from God’s wrath, by turning your back on sin, and putting your faith in Jesus Christ, believing that his death on the cross was done in your place, taking the wrath of God from you, and instead making the way for you to be reconciled to God, for ever.