Let's talk about heroes. I don't mean the Hollywood heroes like Batman, Captain America, or Spiderman. I'm talking about real people who are willing to risk, and even give, their lives for others. Yes, people like that are rare, but they still exist. Here are a few examples that have been reported over the years:

Arland Williams - Arland Dean Williams Jr. (September 23, 1935 – January 13, 1982) was a passenger aboard Air Florida Flight 90, which crashed on take-off in Washington, D.C., on January 13, 1982, killing 74 people. All but six passengers were killed in the tragic accident. Some 20 minutes later, a helicopter arrived to rescue the survivors. After getting one man to safety, the helicopter threw a life-ring to Arland Williams … who immediately gave it to the passenger next to him. When the helicopter came back for a third time, he did the same thing again. And again. When the helicopter came back a final time, Arland was dead. He’d used his last ounce of strength to save 5 complete strangers.

The 14th Street Bridge over the Potomac River at the crash site was renamed in his honor.

Most people who become heroes never plan to be heroes. They simply are caught in circumstances that reveal their heroic nature, which they may not have known they had. Some however, deliberately choose occupations that are potentially dangerous, whether knowingly or not. Here is an example of such a hero:

Rick Rescorla - Cyril Richard Rescorla (May 27, 1939 – September 11, 2001) was an English-born military officer, police officer and private security specialist who was a British paratrooper during the Cyprus Emergency and a United States commissioned officer in the Vietnam War. He rose to the rank of colonel in the United States Army and eventually became head of security at Morgan Stanley at the World Trade Center. Rick was instrumental in the evacuation of thousands of people during the 9/11 attacks. As the director of security at Morgan Stanley, Rescorla was a stickler for his building’s safety and held twice-yearly evacuation drills to get people out. When the attacks happened and the tower next to Rescorla’s was hit, he put his plan into action and calmly instructed people to leave, right up until the moment he was killed. Rescorla’s actions were considered instrumental in the successful evacuation of over 2,500 people.

There are many stories of heroes in wartime, but the story of these four chaplains is rather unique:

Four Chaplains - Four United States Army chaplains gave their lives to save other soldiers during the sinking of a ship during World War II. They were sailing on the USAT Dorchester troop transport on February 3, 1943, when the vessel, travelling in convoy, was torpedoed by the German submarine U-223 in the North Atlantic. The chaplains, who all held the rank of lieutenant, were the Methodist Reverend George L. Fox, the Jewish Rabbi Alexander D. Goode, the Roman Catholic Priest John P. Washington and the Reformed Church in America Reverend Clark V. Poling. As the ship was sinking the chaplains quickly rallied together and began handing out life jackets, and directing people to safety. When the life jackets ran out, they selflessly gave away their own. When the ship went down, the four men linked arms and began singing. 230 men aboard the ship were rescued. "As I swam away from the ship, I looked back. The flares had lighted everything. The bow came up high and she slid under. The last thing I saw, the Four Chaplains were up there praying for the safety of the men. They had done everything they could. I did not see them again. They themselves did not have a chance without their life jackets."—Grady Clark, survivor

Perhaps, like me, you feel inspired by stories of real life heroes like these. All of these heroes have certain things in common that bring out the best in others. Self-sacrifice for others is a key element, often resulting in saving lives, even at risk of great danger and even death. While I greatly admire all such heroism, there is just one hero whom I consider to be my hero, the one hero who is forever set apart from all others. I am, of course, speaking of Y'shua Messiah. What is so exceptional about Him above all others? Here are a few quotes from notable men that attempt to scratch the surface:

Let a man once see his God down in the arena as a Man--suffering, tempted, sweating, and agonized, finally dying a criminal's death--and he is a hard man indeed who is untouched. - J.B. Phillips, "Your God Is Too Small"

I know men and I tell you that Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creation of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded His empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him. –Napoleon

No one else holds or has held the place in the heart of the world which Jesus holds. Other gods have been as devoutly worshipped; no other man has been so devoutly loved. --John Knox

A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act. --Mahatma Gandhi

Jesus of Nazareth, without money and arms, conquered more millions than Alexander the Great, Caesar, Mohammed, and Napoleon; without science and learning, he shed more light on things human and divine than all philosophers and scholars combined; without the eloquence of school, he spoke such words of life as were never spoken before or since, and produced effects which lie beyond the reach of orator or poet; without writing a single line, he set more pens in motion, and furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussions, learned volumes, works of art, and songs of praise than the whole army of great men of ancient and modern times. –Philip Schaff

I am an historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history.-H.G. Wells

As the centuries pass, the evidence is accumulating that, measured by His effect on history, Jesus is the most influential life ever lived on this planet. -Historian Kenneth Scott Latourette

Socrates taught for 40 years, Plato for 50, Aristotle for 40, and Jesus for only 3. Yet the influence of Christ's 3-year ministry infinitely transcends the impact left by the combined 130 years of teaching from these men who were among the greatest philosophers of all antiquity. –Unknown

There is something so pure and frank and noble about Him that to doubt His sincerity would be like doubting the brightness of the sun. -Charles Edward Jefferson

It was this same Jesus, the Christ who, among many other remarkable things, said and repeated something which, proceeding from any other being would have condemned him at once as either a bloated egotist or a dangerously unbalanced person...when He said He himself would rise again from the dead, the third day after He was crucified, He said something that only a fool would dare say, if he expected longer the devotion of any disciples—unless He was sure He was going to rise. No founder of any world religion known to men ever dared say a thing like that! -Wilbur Smith

As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene ... No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life. -Albert Einstein

Yeshua Messiah is the greatest man who ever walked this earthly ball, and His willing death on the cross is the center of all history, that absolutely changes everything forever. By His death He validated all prophecy, overturned all the works of the devil, condemned sin while saving the sinner, and revealed the astounding heart of God toward us all. By His death we can have real life now and eternal life in His Messianic Kingdom. No event of all history is more vital to everything of eternal importance than the willing death of Yeshua Messiah for us all.

Shalom,

Eliyahu
Tsiyon.Org