In 1972, my brother, Gary (1956-2017), and I (1951-) ventured to the Sangre de Christo mountains – about 100 miles southwest of our Colorado Springs home. We drove to a trailhead; then we hiked miles searching for a cave above timberline – a cave marked by a Maltese cross chiseled into the rock.
We found it! Here, legend chronicled conquistadors secreting gold – and, more: supposedly, a large gymnasium room opened up under the mountain.
Headlamps shining, we entered the tunnel – about three feet high, three feet wide with an icy floor. After crawling in about 50 feet, Gary, behind me, retreated.
Shouting ahead, my voice echoed. Was the gymnasium room ahead? “Gary, I’m pressing on.”
Minutes later, my hand slipped over the edge of a large hole. I saw a bit of a ledge. Did that lead to the gymnasium? I tossed a pebble in. I waited and waited and waited! Finally, it hit bottom. Later, I learned this vertical shaft was 400 feet deep! With haste, I escaped!
“Escape”
“Escape” comes from a dramatic Latin compound word: “ex” – “out of” + “cappa” – “cape.” Picture your enemy grasping for you but getting only your cloak. You “escape” by the “skin of your teeth.”
“Pheugó,” the Greek word for “escape,” is used 29x in the New Testament (NT).
Picture the Urgency of “Pheugó” in These NT Stories!
Joseph and Mary “fled” to Egypt – protecting baby Jesus from Herod’s blood lust (Mt 2:13).
After Jesus’ arrest in Gethsemane, “all the disciples deserted him and ‘fled’” (Mt 26:56). “A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him, he ‘fled’ naked, leaving his garment behind” (Mk 14:51,52). “Escape” indeed!
In Hebrews 11 some heroes of faith suffered ignominiously; others triumphed; some “‘escaped’ the edge of the sword” (11:34).
In our world, we may need to escape physical danger.
Spiritual Urgency in the NT
Friends, the NT also shows us our soul danger. Can we apply the physical urgency of the stories above to the fleeing urged here?
Paul warns: 1 Cor 6:18 – “‘Flee’ from sexual immorality.”
1 Cor 10:14 – “My beloved, ‘flee’ from idolatry.”
1 Tim 6:11, 6-10 – “As for you, O man of God, ‘flee’…envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, constant friction and the love of money.”
2 Tim. 2:22 “‘Flee’ youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace.”
Are you still with me? Has your soul laced up its track shoes? Do the above spiritual dangers evoke in us our need for urgent escape?
Upping Our Urgency with the Ultimate “Escape” Question
Jesus, the Word made flesh, sharply probed religious leaders: Mt 23:33 – “You snakes. You brood of vipers. How are you to ‘escape’ being sentenced to hell?” How?
Can we hear Jesus warning us too? Will we continue to fake godliness/niceness? Will we continue in godlessness – whether naïve or sullen? Jesus warns eternal judgment is coming – unmediated judgment stripped of the present ameliorating effects of God’s common grace.
Except for profanity, we hear little about hell, even in Scripture. But Jesus vividly talks about hell more than anyone else. Ponder that – Jesus, not some overreaching, over-zealous preacher.
Ponder his words. “No one ever spoke the way this man does” (Jn 7:46).
Ponder his miracles. A former blind man testifies: “Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind” (Jn 9:32).
Ponder his compassion for the woman taken in adultery: “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more” (Jn 8:11).
Ponder his promise to the repentant thief on the cross: “Truly I tell you, today, you will be with me in paradise” (Lk 23:43).
Ponder Martin Luther’s (1483 – 1546) question about our disregard of hell: “If a doctor was at the side of a person who had been poisoned and promised to help, and if the sick person knew the doctor could help, but nonetheless said: “Oh, get out; the poison will not hurt me,” would you not say: “This spiritual madness – that we do not want to accept help when God’s Son wants to help us – is ten times worse?” (Plass, “What Luther Says,” 2:695).
Jude (23) urges: “Save others by snatching them from the fire. To others, show mercy with fear, hating even the ‘clothes’ (chiton, a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin) stained by their sinful lives.” Aha, “escape” again.
Asking Ourselves
How do we escape hell?
Friend, Jesus is our only hope. Only Jesus, an eternal being, can satisfy the eternal punishment we deserve. How he must love broken sinners.
Real trauma needs real treatment. El Greco’s (1541 – 1614) painting, “The Disrobing of Christ” (1579) shows Jesus did not “escape” prior to his crucifixion. And, we remember Jesus’ first disrobing came when he humbly laid aside his heavenly robe to be conceived in Mary’s womb. No one snatched his royal robe. And during his passion, his love allowed him to be caught. More than nails, his love held him skewered on the cross. With love, he bought back his dearly loved ones, opening a door of grace for the great escape of so many.
Novelist Larry Dixon (1966- ) comments: “A faithful youth worker thirty years ago challenged a small, insecure, pimpled group of adolescents with a simple question: “If you were to die tonight, where would you spend eternity?” Like only a few questions we hear in life, this one sank deep into my heart.”
“That question of eternity burned in my mind. I barely made it to my room before dropping to my knees beside my bed and receiving Christ. It was a teenager’s sense of guilt – and rightfully deserved judgment in hell – that the Holy Spirit used to bring me to Christ” (“The Other Side of the Good News,” 9).
And so, friend, trust Jesus bought you; come to Jesus; make the great escape!
Surprising Postscript
A final word about “pheugó” – partnership with Jesus brings more than a heavenly destination. Note this present remarkable ability. James 4:7 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will ‘flee’ from you.”
