This past week the news media followed the gripping story of a submersible vessel that disappeared in the North Atlantic. Last Sunday night, “The Titan,” operated by OceanGate expeditions, lost contact with its surface ship about an hour and 45 minutes into its dive to explore the wreckage of the Titanic. OceanGate had offered tourists trips to explore the Titanic’s wreckage for $250,000.
At first, many assumed the vessel was intact but lost or stranded, with the five passengers having several days of oxygen remaining. It is hard to imagine a more terrifying experience than to be trapped in a disabled sub, stranded in a deep, dark ocean with little food, water, and oxygen. However, on Thursday evening, searchers located jagged pieces of the tiny sub on the ocean floor, and it is presumed the vessel disintegrated, killing all five passengers on board, including Oceangate founder and CEO Stockdown Rush.
How could the US Coast Guard condemn people to die such a terrifying death? What kind of government officials would send people to a watery grave and not rescue them? Have they no compassion? How can we have confidence in a branch of the military that is so sinister and inept?
Of course, that is not what happened. No reasonable person blames the Coast Guard for this tragedy. Coast Guard Captain Jamie Frederick, who coordinated the rescue effort, told reporters, “We’ll continue to put every available asset that we have in an effort to find the Titan and the crew members.” It appears they did everything possible to locate and rescue the lost vessel. No one with common sense would blame the Coast Guard. They did what they could.
If anyone is to blame, it is those who willingly took the hazardous journey. We often admire and commend courageous explorers. Yet, at some point, mistakes were made. Maybe it was a poor design, inadequate preparation, or careless naivete.
As I watched this story unfold, I thought about those who protest, “How could an all-powerful, loving God condemn people to hell?” Some insist, “I cannot believe in a sinister supreme being who would punish people in a lake of fire and allow them to suffer for eternity!”
The Scripture makes it clear God is not the one to blame. He has done everything possible to prevent spiritual disaster and rescue those who have fallen. Yet we have all made wrong choices and separated ourselves from the source of life. The Bible warns, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). And “the soul that sins it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20).
All of humanity is hopelessly trapped in sin. We are destined to eternal death unless there is a miraculous rescue from above. The Apostle Paul asked, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?” (Romans 7:24). He wrote, “…remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, …without hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12).
God condemns no one to hell. We are condemned already because of our poor choices.
In the Garden of Eden, God searched for Adam after he and Eve sinned, asking, “Adam, where are you?” Since then, God has been on a determined rescue mission to save us from our self-imposed damnation. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Jesus sacrificed His life on the cross to atone for our sins and provide a way of escape.
You may have memorized John 3:16, but are you familiar with the two verses that follow? “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (John 3:17-18).
Unlike those in the doomed submersible, we have a way of escape. God is calling us to spiritual safety through His Word, our conscience, the beauty of creation, Christian friends, and the prompting of His Holy Spirit. “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16). “ For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
Evidently, those who perished on “The Titan” were wealthy, influential people. But all their human resources couldn’t save them. All our earthly possessions are useless, and all our human goodness is as filthy rags to God. We can only be saved by swallowing our pride, admitting our hopeless condition, and calling out to Jesus for salvation. Don’t let arrogance prevent you from turning to Him today. “…’Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’” (Acts 2:38).
There will soon come a day when your lungs will not be able to breathe, and you are destined to suffocate in your sin. Therefore, “…we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation, I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:1-2).
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