Chapter 16 - Operation thunderbolt
On Sunday 27 June 1976, an Air-France Airbus destined for Paris (France) flew from Tel-Aviv (Israel) and made a stopover in (Athens) Greece were it picked up more passengers. It is in Greece were four terrorists took advantage of the lax in security at the airport and got on board with weapons. The plane left Athens intending to go to France but some minutes after take-off, the four terrorists (three men and one woman) announced that they had hijacked the plane. Under normal circumstances, the plane was supposed to be under the control of the flight Captain, but now the game had changed, the terrorists were in charge. This reminds me of this planet earth, Adam was given dominion by God after creation, he was to be the captain in charge of everything, but Satan hi-jacked this planet and he seems to steer the course of events in this world at his will. It was no longer business as usual in that flight as the hijackers armed with guns, bombs and hand-grenades changed the course of the aeroplane. The terrorists announced that they had hi-jacked the plane in the name of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
The flight lost communication with the control tower back in Israel and those on the ground assumed that either the plane had crashed or had been hijacked. As mankind fell into sin, communication with God was negatively affected. When Adam and Eve heard the voice of The Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day, they ran to hide among the trees (read Genesis 3:8). They no longer enjoyed communicating with God, sin brought separation between God and His people. That’s why even today many people don’t want to talk to God in prayer and they don't want to hear what He says in His word the Bible. They hide under the cover of anything they can find. Communication lines were distorted on this hijacked planet.
When those in Israel later learnt that the plane had been hijacked, they expected it to return to Israel but this did not happen. Instead, the terrorists directed the plane to Benghazi. You see, Satan always takes people to where they don't want to go. One man came with his son who was demon-possessed to Jesus and told Christ that whenever this evil spirit seizes him, it throws him into the fire and sometimes into water (read Matthew 17:14-15). Many people are being pushed into various sins and circumstances where they don’t want to be in and live to regret afterwards. In Libya, the plane stayed for less than seven hours as the then Libyan President Muammar Gadhafi refused to entertain it on his soil but only allowed it to refuel and leave his territory.
Before leaving Libya one woman was released after she had feigned illness. The rest of the passengers, crew and terrorists went back into the air and their new destination was Uganda. The plane arrived at the Entebbe Airport where they were greeted by the President at that time Idi Amin, and in welcoming them he shouted: “Shalom, Shalom” (meaning peace, peace). This man pronounced peace when there was no peace at all. The false prophets in the days of Jeremiah preached peace, when there was no peace, they spoke based on false visions and divination (read Jeremiah 14:13-15). Even the false prophets of today they prophesy peace and prosperity and make people relax in their sins when sudden destruction is coming (1 Thessalonians 5:3).
The terrorists moved the 257 passengers and crew who were now hostages from the plane to a disused old terminal at the Entebbe airport. Six more terrorists who were already in Uganda joined in to secure the hostages together with the help of the Ugandan army. Demands were made by the terrorists in exchange for the release of the hostages. They requested the release of 53 terrorists, 40 of whom were prisoners in Israel and the rest were in various countries. They also demanded US$5 million ransom money from France and they threatened that if these demands were not meet on the set deadline, they were to kill all the hostages.
At the Entebbe airport, the hostages were separated into two groups, the Jews from the Gentiles (non-Jews). The terrorists wanted to deal specifically with the Jews, they were their main target. Satan has a special group of people which he targets, he is against those who worship the true God. The Bible records in Revelation 12:17 that the dragon (satan) was enraged with the woman (the church), and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. That is the specific group which satan concentrates his efforts of persecution.
Several hostages from the non-Jews group were released by the terrorists on different days. As the terrorists awaited their demands to be met, Israel was busy making plans to send soldiers to Uganda to rescue the hostages. This was no simple plan, the odds where very much against the rescue team, but it was a risk which Israel was willing to take. The mission was codenamed
Operation Thunderbolt.
About 100 soldiers from the Israeli Defence Forces flew secretly to Uganda. The last thing they wanted was for the enemy to be aware that they were coming to rescue the people, so to avoid detection by radars they flew at a height of not more than 30 meters. They left the comfort of their homeland and flew for more than 4,000km to Uganda with one mission that is to save their people. Jesus came down from heaven, He travelled a much longer distance to earth than what the commandos of Israel travelled to Uganda. Christ came to a territory under the control of the evil one, with one mission, that is to save us from sin.
The Israeli soldiers arrived at the Entebbe airport on the 3rd of July at 23:00. What followed was a heavy gunfire exchange between the Israelis and the terrorists who were backed by Ugandan forces. The Israelis succeeded in rescuing 102 hostages, while 3 died as they were caught in the crossfire. One Israeli commander by the name of Jonathan Netanyahu was killed in action. Operation Thunderbolt remains arguably the most successful rescue operation in the history of hostage situations in the world. If an earthly government could not just let its citizens perish at the hands of foreign terrorists, how much more is the government of heaven concerned with the rescue of mankind who was created in the image of God, who has been taken hostage by sin?
Taken Hostage by Sin
“Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.” John 8:34
Mankind was taken hostage by Satan through sin. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating from the forbidden tree, they sinned and became slaves of sin. Just as Jesus said in the preceding scripture, whoever sins is a slave of sin. For by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage (read 2 Peter 2:19). A slave is more or less similar to a hostage, he dances to the tune of his master who is the hostage-taker. You will be under the rule of someone who doesn't care about you. There is no freedom in being a hostage, even if when you are given some form of privileges, you are still a 'prisoner'. You are like a dog on a leash, you can only go as far as the leash allows you to go. Such is sin, it is a tyrant which rules by an iron fist and behind it is Satan. There is no freedom is sin, its slavery.
Sometimes your hostage-taker can give you something just to make you feel comfortable, be it a bed, food, medication etc., but those things are temporary, those terrorists want you dead. There is some pleasure in sin but it is temporary as the Bible tells us in Hebrews 11:25. Don't be fooled by Satan. You might appear to be enjoying sinning in the meantime, but just know that it's for a season, it will come to an end.
Ultimately sin brings about death for the wages of sin is death (read Romans 6:23). Not just death in the ordinary sense but there is what is called the second death which we read of in Revelation 20:14-15. This is when Death and Hades will be cast into the lake of fire as well as anyone not found written in the Book of Life.
Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins. John 8:24
If you keep on clinging to your sins you will die in them and your final destination will be the lake of fire.
Freedom in Christ
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:32
If the Entebbe situation was to end with failure to rescue the hostages, it would have been a sad story, however, it didn't end like that, help was sent for the people. Ours also is not a sad story, God did not leave us on our own, but He so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). Jesus said you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. When we come to the knowledge of the truth, it will break the chains of sin which hold us. Truth is the word of God (read John 17:17) and also Jesus Himself is the truth (read John 14:6). So when we get the knowledge of the word of God and we believe in Jesus Himself, we are freed from sin. This is not just about intellectual knowledge of knowing scriptures by memory but it goes beyond that. There has to be an intimate, up- close relationship between you and the word of God and with Jesus.
In as much as Jesus is there to free us from sin, He can only free those who are willing to be freed. He cannot force His freedom on a person who doesn't want to be freed. It is hard to liberate a happy slave, he will resist any form of help offered. As long as you keep on holding on to sin and appreciating it without any desire to let go, Christ will leave you like that. Jesus said on Revelation 3:20; "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”
Though having powers to break down the door, or get in via walls, Jesus knocks at the door, He doesn't force entry. Anyone who hears His voice and goes on to open the door by himself/herself, then will Jesus come in and dine with that person. Therefore as long as you feel no need for the Saviour, Jesus will not force His way into your life. If you want freedom from sin, you have to allow Jesus to come in.
Sin entered the world through Adam, because of that, death which is brought about by sin spread to all men. But we have Jesus who can give us eternal life “For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive."1 Corinthians 15:21-22
Adam brought us death, but Christ came to give us life. He frees us from sin which is the sting of death (read 1 Corinthians 15:56). Though a person might die today even if they believe in Jesus, their death is not permanent, it is a temporal sleep and they shall be raised again to eternal life at the second coming of Jesus.
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. John 11:25
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first 1 Thessalonians 4:16
Sin brings about death but Jesus brings about eternal life, the choice is yours to make.
Saved From Sin, Not In Sin
The Israeli commandos’ mission was to free the hostages and take them back to Israel and they did exactly that. They were not to free the hostages from the jaws of the enemy and leave them there in Uganda, no ways, otherwise, they would have been taken hostage again and a worse thing could have happened there. When Jesus came here on earth, in His mission one of the main objectives was to save people from sin.
"And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins." Matthew 1:21
The foregoing words were uttered by Angel Gabriel to Joseph, informing him about the child (Jesus) which Mary was carrying in
her womb. Jesus came to save His people from their sins, take note, he didn't come to save people in their sins, but from their sins. Real salvation involves not only being forgiven from your past sins but being taken out of that sin. Jesus doesn't just forgive you your sins but He also gives you the power to stop committing those sins. Just like the hostages at Entebbe, they were not just freed from the hands of the hostage-takers, but they were given a flight out of the place of the hostage.
Many people want to be saved in their sins, they want Jesus just to pardon them of their past wrongs and they resist any other further help which God offers to take them out of those sins. Jesus doesn’t just want to clear your bad record of the past but He also wants to change your conduct in the present and the future so that you may live a holy life. That’s why He says in Matthew 5:48; “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” He wants us to be perfect, just as God in heaven is perfect.
The woman caught in adultery