Ain’t no mountain high enough…ain’t no valley low enough…ain’t no river wide enough to keep me away from you, saith the Lord!

In 1996, Columbia Pictures released a thought-provoking movie written by Tony Gilroy and directed by Michael Apted entitled “Extreme Measures”.  The leading cast members included Hugh Grant as the hero doctor and Gene Hackman as the villain doctor.  The film grossed approximately $18 million at the box office.  It’s all encompassing moral dilemma was centered around the question posed by the villain doctor to the hero doctor: “If you could cure cancer by killing one person, wouldn’t you have to do that?”

In order to get the full implication of this complex question, you would have to see the movie, which is available to rent on Amazon for $3.  The plot of this film centers around Gene Hackman’s character who labors to improve or extend life at the expense of human sacrifices.  He conducts secret experiments on innocent and indigent human beings (rather than on animals) in his laboratory which, more often than not, is a terminal exercise.  On the other hand, Hugh Grant’s character is on a crusade to prove that the villain’s conduct is akin to murder.

Now, at this point, you may be asking yourself what does this movie have to do with the title of this blog post.  You may also have decided to respond to the above question in the affirmative once you have calculated in your mind the numerous amount of cancerous lives that could be saved at the expense of just one death.  Well, if that was your conclusion, I’ve got news for you.  In today’s society, you would be tried and found guilty of murder.

Scripture reveals that in the beginning God used a more perfect version of “Extreme Measures” to save a sick and sinful and dying world with the execution of his Only Begotten Son and is declared not guilty of murder.  Why, because God alone also has the power to not only take but to give life and to give it more abundantly.  And today and forever more, Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of God the Father!

Gene Hackman’s character did not understand this divine principle.  He wanted to accomplish the impossible…to become an earthly god with no power to give life.  All he could do was to cure life.  And he certainly did not have any power to revive the human sacrifices used in his experiments!

God’s whole premise for operating with ‘extreme measures‘ was to set in motion a spiritual and eternal concept.  All bodies are initially sown (grown out of) from Adam, a perishable being. In order to obtain eternal life after our sojourn on this earth, we must be raised imperishable.  The natural body must become spiritual because in the eternal all we will be doing is worshiping a Spiritual God.  “God is Spirit and his worshippers must worship him in spirit and in truth.”  John 4:24

So the extreme measures that God provided for us while his Son was on the Cross is this:  In heaven we will no longer bear the image of the earthly man, Adam, but of the heavenly man, Jesus Christ.   We shall be changed.  That is why it is imperative that while here on earth, we confess Christ as our personal Savior, the Son (image-bearer) of God.  HE LIVES!

Extreme Measures?  A job for Someone who holds life AND death in His Hands! GOD!

Scripture Lesson:  “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.  For since death came through man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” 1 Corinthians 15:20-22

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