Jesus promised, "I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am" (John 14:3). The hope of Christ's return has sustained Christians through persecution, suffering and long seasons when it felt as if God had forgotten them.
This story about the return of Christ, retold in our own words, comes from one of the most remarkable rescues of the Second World War. It ends with a takeaway for sermons or reflection.
Stories in this collection:
"You're Not Forgotten": The Raid at Cabanatuan
Early in the Second World War, in 1942, American and Filipino forces were forced to surrender to the Japanese in the Philippines. Tens of thousands of soldiers became prisoners of war.
On the infamous Bataan Death March, the prisoners were forced to walk more than sixty miles in brutal heat. Those who were too weak or too slow were beaten or killed, and many more died from disease, hunger and thirst. Those who survived were held for years in appalling prison camps.
Some of the American prisoners began to call themselves ghosts: men who had been left behind and forgotten by their own country.
By January 1945 only around five hundred prisoners remained in the camp at Cabanatuan. Many were sick and starving. American forces were advancing through the Philippines again, but instead of hope the prisoners felt fear. They had heard reports that Japanese troops were killing prisoners rather than allowing them to be freed.
Then came one of the most daring rescues of the war. On the night of 30 January 1945, a small force of about 130 American Army Rangers and scouts, working with hundreds of Filipino guerrillas, crept across open fields to the camp. With thousands of Japanese soldiers in the area, they launched a surprise attack, overwhelmed the guards and carried and led the prisoners out.
The Raid at Cabanatuan freed more than five hundred prisoners. Many were too weak to walk and had to be carried, some on carts pulled by water buffalo, through the night to safety.
The historian Hampton Sides tells the story in his book Ghost Soldiers. One of the rescuers, Alvie Robbins, described finding a prisoner huddled in a dark corner of his barracks, muttering to himself with tears running down his face. The man told him that he had thought they had been forgotten.
No, you're not forgotten, Robbins told him gently. You're heroes. We've come for you.
Many of us know what it is to feel forgotten: by others, and sometimes, we fear, by God. Life can feel like a long imprisonment, and help seems far away. The cross and resurrection of Jesus tell us that God has not forgotten us. And the promise of his return tells us that one day our Rescuer will come, set us free from all that holds us captive, and say to us: I have come for you.
Takeaway: "The Lord himself will come down from heaven... and so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words" (1 Thessalonians 4:16–18).
Source: Hampton Sides, Ghost Soldiers (Doubleday, 2001).
Final thoughts
A prisoner in a dark corner, and a soldier saying, "We've come for you." The return of Christ is the promise that no one who belongs to him will be left behind.
For related stories, see our stories about hope and stories about heaven.
How does the hope of Christ's return change the way you face difficult days?
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These stories are retold in our own words for teaching and reflection. Sources are credited under each story.
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