24. Hostage Rescue
"The individuals opposing you may not be the enemy."
– Hostage rescue principle. A number of military branches and law enforcement agencies have highly trained and specialized Hostage Rescue Teams. The HRT of the American FBI is one of the most well-known, but many countries have such military or paramilitary groups dedicated to saving the lives of people taken captive by hostile forces.
Hostage rescue teams don't simply arrive and announce their credentials to all, of course – they usually work covertly and carefully until close to the time the rescue with which they are tasked is executed. At that point they may infiltrate or storm the area where the hostages are being held to capture or neutralize the hostage takers and give the hostages their freedom.
Christians understand that spiritually a similar hostage rescue situation – affecting all humanity – occurred through the life and death of the Messiah Jesus.
The apostle Paul explained it this way: "This is why it says: 'When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people'" (Ephesians 4:8). Paul's remark is based on Psalm 68:18: "When you ascended on high, you took many captives; you received gifts from people, even from the rebellious … ," but notice that the apostle changes the sense of some of the words of the psalm to fully apply the saying to the work of Christ.
While David spoke of God ascending to Zion, Paul shows the words apply ultimately to the ascent of the resurrected Christ. And rather than God taking "gifts" or tribute from the people as in the psalm, Paul stresses that in Christ's case he did not take gifts, but gave them. In overthrowing the spiritual enemies of humanity Christ rescued human captives from sin and death and gave them the gift of their freedom.
Although the enemies of humanity were beaten in Christ's rescue operation, the overthrow of the forces hostile to humanity is not yet the final one (Revelation 20:1-15). For the present time, it is an initial victory, and the divine rescue mission is an ongoing one. The rescued become the rescuers. It is similar to a hostage or captive situation in which the rescuing team neutralizes the enemy guards and forces open the doors confining the captives – but each captive, in each generation, must individually decide that he or she wants to flee captivity, and it is our job to help them.
In physical hostage situations, captives often unconsciously succumb to what is called the "Stockholm syndrome" or "capture bonding" – they begin to identify with their captors or their ideology and may not want to leave their captivity. Spiritual captivity is no different and humanly, until a person's mind is opened, he or she may not see their captivity as such. So Paul, writing to Timothy, stresses this very fact – and the role of the warrior of the Way in helping others understand what has happened to them and to escape the captivity they do not even realize holds them:
"Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will" (2 Timothy 2:25-26).
Notice Paul reminds us that this rescue work must never be done belligerently. Even apparent "opponents" must be treated as those needing rescue when it comes to their opportunity to turn to the light – just as Ananias treated the formerly murderous Saul (Acts 9:17). We must always remember that no matter how individuals may fight against the good, they are not the enemy – they are often captives held in the grips of a syndrome they themselves do not understand.