An Air France plane with 139 passengers left Ben Gueron Air Port in Israel back on June 27th 1976. It was headed for Paris but had to stop in Greece to let off several passengers and to take several others on the plane.

The year 1976 was the year of the American bicentennial. All America was excited about its birthday party. Leaders from all over were wishing America well. Everyone in America was getting ready to celebrate.

But on board the Air France, an entirely different event was happening. Just a few minutes airborne out of Greece, the plane was suddenly hijacked by terrorists who demanded that it be flown to Entebbe in Uganda. When the plane landed there, the Jewish hostages were taken to an old terminal building. There under threat of death at any moment, they were imprisoned and watched .

Their captors made it very clear that they had no sympathy for Jews. They would be very happy to kill everyone of them. But they wanted to use them as hostages to gain the release of their friends who were in jail in other countries.

Back in Israel, word soon spread of the hijacking. The Israeli government had a long standing policy of not dealing with hijackers and terrorists. How would they ever rescue the hostages?

The Jews felt that they had no choice. They must save their fellow Jews. A special force of Israeli commandos devised a rescue plan. They trained for several days trying to shorten their time for the raid to only a few minutes. Speed was absolutely necessary.

On July 3, 1976, four Hercules jets with Israeli commandos took off for Uganda. The mission was led by a young, brave Israeli, Jonathan Netaniahue. He would not come back alive.

Meanwhile, back at the terminal, the Jewish hostages were huddled together, awaiting death at the hands of their captors. The hijackers were getting more and more angry because their demands were not being met. The hostages expected to hear the men begin firing guns at them at any time.

Suddenly, they heard gunfire. Many of the Jewish hostages thought that they were going to be killed. They waited for the hijackers to come to where they were and open fire. They were ready to die. But suddenly, as one hostage said, "We heard a voice. It was Jewish voice! We knew that we were saved."

The gunfire that they thought would take their life actually was the sound of their salvation. In a daring and courageous raid, the commandos rescued almost everyone who was being held hostage and flew them back to Israel.

What seemed like certain death became life. To rescue the hostages, Jonathan, the brave young leader of the raid, gave his life.

God's rescue plan for sinners cost Him His Son. "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (1Tim.1:15). The Lord Jesus CHrist went to Calvary to give HIs life to save us from the penalty of our sins and eternity in hell. The voice which tells us that "All have sinned" now tells us that "He gave Himself a ransom for all". You can be saved because Christ has died.

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