What an extraordinary week this has been. What a horrifying, sad, frightening, exhausting week this has been. By now, you all know the tragic story: terrorists hijacking four commercial airliners and flying three of them into buildings filled with tens of thousands of people. You’ve seen the images repeated dozens of times: a twin-engine Boeing 757 appearing in the sky over Manhattan, then suddenly banking and disappearing into the side of the World Trade Center. The explosion, the huge fireball. Then another jet, another explosion. A massive fire, caused by thousands of gallons of burning jet fuel. Trapped office workers making their way to the roof, waiting for a rescue that never came, or jumping hopelessly to their deaths to avoid being burned alive. Then the terrible spectacle of both towers collapsing. One moment, a hundred and ten stories of glass, steel, and concrete reaching into the sky. The next moment, just a pile of rubble. And who could ever forget that scene, with thousands of people running through the streets in panic, choking, eyes burning, covered with ash, looking for some place, anyplace, to escape the poisonous clouds of smoke and dust billowing out from the wreckage.
And the worst of it was what we couldn’t see - thousands more trapped in the towers when they fell, most of them almost certainly crushed beneath the tons of debris, including hundreds of fire fighters and rescue workers. Thousands of lives snuffed out in an instant - parents whose children would never see their father or mother again; sons and daughters; friends; people with plans, and hopes, and dreams, and futures, thousands of people - gone. Some of us may know people who lost their lives there. And even if we don’t, even if they were all strangers to us, we can’t help but grieve for them, and mourn, and weep.
What are we to make of all this? How are we supposed to find any comfort; any reassurance in the face of these horrific events? How do we gain wisdom and understanding? How do we recover our sense of peace, and safety and security? It’s not an option for us to return to our lives unchanged, as if nothing had happened. Because something has happened; something which cannot be ignored. Our faith has been challenged. And either we find a way to incorporate these events into our faith, to integrate them into our view of the world; or they will undermine and weaken our faith. These events will either draw us closer to God, or push us away from Him. And so this morning, although I don’t pretend to have all the answers, I would like to remind you of three things to help you make sense of all this. Three essential truths to keep in mind as you think about this catastrophe.
First, this was not done out of God’s sight or without His knowledge. Apparently, these attacks were being planned for years, and yet the CIA and FBI and NSA were completely clueless. Our government agencies were taken completely by surprise. They had no idea it was coming. Now, how a terrorist plot of this magnitude, involving this many people, could remain undetected for so long, is a mystery. Nevertheless, it happened. They completely deceived the people who were supposed to protect us. In addition, the terrorists’ intentions went undetected by the airline personnel. No one noticed their weapons. No one’s suspicions were aroused by their behavior. In short, no one knew what was going on until it was too late. But know this for certain: God was not surprised. God was not deceived, not even for an instant. Nothing these men did, or said, or even thought, escaped his notice. Every detail of their murderous plan was known to him from the very beginning. He watched their every move, and he knew precisely what they had in mind. There’s been a lot of talk on the news this week about how elusive this Osama Bin Laden character is; how difficult it will be to find him in his mountain hideaway. But God knows exactly where he is, every minute of every day.
"From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth - he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do." - Psalm 33:13-15
"For a man’s ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all his paths."
- Proverbs 5:21
"Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account." - Hebrews 4:13
As I’ve been watching the news coverage over the past few days, I’ve heard the this feeling expressed: knowing what we know now, if we could only go back to Tuesday morning, and somehow stop those men from getting on the planes. Shoot them. Warn the police. Do something. Yet God knew what they were going to do, and He didn’t stop them. He could have thwarted their plan, but he didn’t.
This leads us to the larger point, that God is still on his throne, sovereignly governing the affairs of mankind. He has not been deposed or defeated. He has not been rendered powerless. He remains in active control of every part of his creation. So although the hijackers were apparently able to overpower the flight crew and the pilots, they did not overpower God; they did not wrestle control away from him, even for a moment. God was in control then, God is in control now, and God will be in control for ever and ever. He is absolutely sovereign, and nothing can change that.
"In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will," - Ephesians 1:11
"The LORD works out everything for his own ends -- even the wicked for a day of disaster." - Proverbs 16:4
What does the Lord’s sovereignty include? "Everything." The presence of wicked people in the world does not upset God’s plans. His purposes are not thwarted when evil men to evil things. In fact, not only does the Bible tell us in general terms that God is sovereign over all things, but it tells us specifically that his sovereignty includes disaster, and calamity, and misfortune. Listen:
"I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. . . . I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things." - Isaiah 45:5-7
"When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it?" - Amos 3:6
"Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?" - Lamentations 3:37-38
What does this mean? It means that what those terrorists did, they did with God’s permission. As evil and destructive and horrifying as their intentions were, they were only able to carry them out because God allowed them to do so. He removed the restraints, he stepped out of the way, so that they could give full expression to their wickedness.
But why would God do that? What good purpose could possibly be accomplished by allowing thousands of innocent people to be brutally slaughtered? What kind of a God would permit such evil? Good question. Here’s the answer: an all-wise God whose purposes are beyond our ability to comprehend. A loving God who has proven his love, beyond any doubt, by giving his own Son to die for our sins. An all-powerful God who demonstrated his power by raising Jesus from the dead. In short, a God who has given us good reasons to trust him, but who must still be trusted by faith. As Isaiah tells us:
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." - Isaiah 55:8-9
In other words, I don’t know what God’s purpose in this terrorist bombing could have been. And I know that no possible purpose I could come up with would satisfy those who have lost husbands, and fathers, and mothers, and wives. But I don’t have to know why. I only have to trust that God knows.
Let me give you an example. When Jesus Christ was murdered, when the Son of God was crucified, it was regarded by everyone as a complete disaster. No one, not even his closest companions, could imagine any good coming out of it. Their Lord, their teacher, their savior, was dead! But now we understand that he had to die, to pay the penalty for our sins. Without his death, there would have been no forgiveness. Without death, there would have been no resurrection, and no hope of eternal life. Putting Jesus Christ to death was a great crime, a great tragedy, a great evil, and the men who did it are guilty of a great sin. There was nothing good about it. But it was necessary in order to bring about a good result, which is the salvation of untold millions. As Peter said on the day of Pentecost:
"This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross." - Acts 2:23
Yes, Jesus was crucified by wicked men, and they bear the guilt of their actions. But it was also according to God’s purpose. In the same way, God in his sovereignty has a good and wise purpose for every tragedy and every catastrophe, including this one, even though we cannot necessarily see it. We simply have to trust that God loves us, and that he knows what he’s doing. That’s called faith.
Perhaps that’s not very satisfying. But what are the alternatives? Would you prefer to believe that evil happens because God is unable to prevent it? That we suffer because God is too weak to protect us? Or would you find it more reassuring to believe that we live in a random, arbitrary universe, and that bad things just happen, for no particular reason? No. Of course not. The alternatives aren’t any better; in fact, they’re far worse. Better to believe the truth - that God has a purpose for everything, even disaster and calamity. That we serve a wise, loving, and powerful Lord whose ways we don’t always understand, but who always does what is right. Let’s take comfort in knowing that evil cannot touch us unless God gives his specific permission - and then, only because He has a purpose in it, ultimately to bless us and to do us good.
Along with this truth, that evil exists only because God permits it, we need to remember that it will not always be so. Someday this will all change. Good and evil will not always be warring with one another, in the world or in our hearts. No, when Christ returns, then evil and wickedness will be completely abolished, the enemies of God will be destroyed, and even our own hearts will be cleansed of sin. And so any victory which evil appears to have won will prove to be very temporary.
"For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death." - 1 Corinthians 15:22-26
[Read Revelation 21:1-10, 27]
The second truth I’d like for us to keep in mind concerns our need for repentance. The natural response to these bombings is to focus on the wickedness of the men who carried them out. We want to see them punished; we want to see justice done. And that’s entirely appropriate. But God also intends for us to have another response to disasters. He wants us to receive them as a warning, as a reminder of the judgment to come, and of our own need for repentance.
"Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. And Jesus said to them, ’Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.’" - Luke 13:1-5
From the standpoint of justice, the terrorists who committed these atrocities should be punished. But from the standpoint of our own spiritual life, God intends for us to draw a very different lesson. A warning. Those who were passengers on those planes didn’t die because they were more guilty of sin than we are. Those who were crushed in the collapse of the towers weren’t more familiar with evil than we. They were just like us. And yet, in an instant they were destroyed, their lives extinguished. The point is not that they suffered this fate because they were worse sinners than us. No, just the opposite. They suffered this fate in spite of the fact that they were no worse than anyone else. Here’s the point: God intends for us to see their destruction as a foreshadowing of the ultimate destruction that is to come upon each of us, unless we repent of our sin. God is warning us not to be complacent, not to think that we have all the time in the world to get our act together and seek forgiveness. Because we may not. Death may come upon us as suddenly and unexpectedly as it did upon the thousands who perished on September 11th. And if that happens to us before we’ve repented and turned to Christ, then our final judgment will be a terrifying experience of condemnation, followed by an eternity of suffering.
Let me make the appeal as clear as possible. If you’ve never repented of your sin; if you’ve never placed your trust in Christ, please don’t wait any longer. Have you convinced yourself that you can live as you please, and perhaps someday in the future come to Christ? Are you waiting for different circumstances? If so, don’t delay any longer. You don’t know that you’ll even have one more day of life. Turn to God now. Confess your sin; turn away from it in repentance; seek forgiveness from Christ. Don’t delay even one more day, or destruction may come upon you without warning, and your opportunity may be lost.
Finally, the third truth I want us to remember is that there is no safety except in God. In Him, we are completely secure; no wicked person can touch us; no disease, no accidental tragedy, no harm of any kind can come to us without his permission. But apart from God, no place is safe. No wall, or weapon; no government or earthly power, is sufficient to keep us safe. Only God can offer ultimate refuge and safety.
"The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you." - Psalm 9:9-10
"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging." - Psalm 46:1-3
[Read Psalm 91]
Now, you might think that the deaths of those who perished on Tuesday would contradict these assurances of refuge and protection. You might think that God had failed them. Nothing could be further from the truth. On the contrary, those who knew Him, those who belonged to Him, those who were His sons and daughters through faith in Christ - when those people stepped out of this life and into God’s presence, they began to experience his love, and care, and protection in a way that we can only imagine. They now know far better than we do what it means to be cared for by a loving heavenly Father. And one day, when our brief sojourn here on earth is over, we will know too. We will realize that we were under God’s perfect care the whole time - every moment of every day. And we will know with certainty, as they do now, that nothing ever again will be able to harm us, and that his love and care for us will never end.
(For an .rtf file of this and other sermons, see www.journeychurchonline.org/messages.htm)
