The Brother Who Rescued His Brother

It’s a heartbreaking image and yet beautiful at the same time. A little boy hooked up to an IV with his body stretched out on a hospital bed. His pure and healthy marrow is extracted from the core of his bones. Without those precious few ounces of genetically-matched marrow cells, the brother of this little innocent boy, seven-year old Seth, would face a scary and uncertain prognosis as Seth's body battles a very high risk form of leukemia.

In Need of Rescue

Before the doctors could proceed with the transplant, they had to be certain that any trace of Seth’s original and defective cells had been eradicated. His system would be completely annihilated through a heavy combination of chemo and radiation. In other words, before Seth could receive his brother’s healthy marrow, his own cells had to die.By God’s grace through prayer and an amazing medical team, Seth made it through the risky procedure and recovery phase successfully. After more than three weeks in the hospital, Seth and his parents packed up their bags last Tuesday to finally go home.

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It was this moving image of one brother giving life to another that brought to mind another heart-wrenching and soul-sustaining picture. It’s the picture of our brother. 

Jesus, The Brother Who Rescued Us

“It was only right that he should make Jesus, through his suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation. So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters.”  - Hebrews 2:10-11

Scripture tells us that our souls are dead even before we’re born. In our core, we are unable to respond and relate to our Creator because the cancer of damaged desires has ruined all hope of a life-giving relationship with God. But then a brother came along. This brother willingly stretched out his innocent body on a Roman cross to allow his holy lifeblood to be extracted. Though it cost Him everything to save his sin-stricken siblings, Jesus was willing to do whatever it took to call us his brothers and sisters.

Being Made Pure

It must be a strange thing to be able to look into the eyes of your brother and know that his very existence became your own source of rescue. Yet in reality, that is the single event that all believers will one day experience as we see Jesus face to face. The Bible tells us that when we see Him, we will be like Him.  Though it took chemo and radiation to annihilate stubborn cancer cells in Seth, it will only take one look at our Savior to purify us and completely eradicate the sin that would have brought eternal death otherwise. Praise God, our brother is our Savior!

"Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.  And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure."  - 1 John 3:2-3