Incredible – so extraordinary as to seem impossible

Several years ago, a Georgia man showed up here saying he had been kidnapped. He told a rather incredible story, and I wasn’t buying it. In my defense, most of the kidnapping cases I had investigated thus far were bogus. Not all, but most. Some people used kidnapping allegations to explain all sorts of unwise choices and indiscretions.

For example, one lady came home from a night of binge drinking with an elaborate new butterfly tattoo on her back. She had some “splainin” to do to her family. So, she claimed she was kidnapped, held down in the back seat of a moving car, and tattooed against her will. The story didn’t last long. She just needed an excuse for her night out.

The Georgia man’s story didn’t sound much better. He said he was loading groceries at a store in Atlanta when he was abducted by five foreign males. He claimed they held him at gunpoint and forced him into his own van. Then they drove him here and tied him to a tree just off the interstate. He eventually freed himself from the ropes and walked to town to call the police. He even took us to the tree.

Despite my doubts, we investigated the case. To my surprise, New Orleans police stopped the van a few days later…occupied by five foreign males. The man’s story proved true, and I ate some crow. I learned that an incredible story doesn’t always mean an impossible story. Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction.

I’ve always found it interesting that Jesus addressed the two stories in the Bible that seem the most incredible. It’s the story of Jonah and the story of Noah. Two incredible stories, yet Jesus validated both. In Matthew 12:40, He says, “For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.”

Then, in Matthew 24, Jesus says, “When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away.”

Those stories may sound incredible, but Jesus validated the truth of both. Perhaps the most incredible of all, however, is that Jesus died to pardon my sin and rose again to conquer death. That defies human logic. Yet it doesn’t end there. The Bible claims “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9) That seems much too good to be true, yet I know it to be so. He did it for me. He will do it for you.  

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. (Titus 2:11)