One Year into the third millennium we are living in a world at war. In one day, the terrorists struck and the whole world was transformed. Being on the other side of the world, in Canberra the capital of Australia, we went to bed blissfully unaware of events on another continent. We awoke in amazement to find ourselves surrounded by soldiers guarding all government buildings and embassies. It was stunning. How true are those words of Paul: You know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “Peace and safety” destruction will come on them suddenly (I Thess. 5:2-3).
We are all affected. Unknowingly, we had travelled on the last flight of a major airline. The crisis was too much for the shaky airline and 48,000 people are jobless. Life in the Caribbean, already beset by tremendous hardships, will now get much worse. “Is that really possible?” you will no doubt respond! Tourism, the one bright spot, will obviously be adversely affected, at least for a time.
As happened so often during the past century, a few evil men with a plan have disrupted the lives of millions.
This morning we are exhorted by the Lord Jesus Christ: “You must be on your guard” (Mark 13:9). The war into which we have all suddenly been plunged is unlike any other man has known. It is not nation rising against nation, with armies and battlefields. Those, as Jesus said, are only the “beginning of birth pains” (v.8). Previous tyrants from Genghis Khan to Napoleon to Mao have had conquest and subsequent rule of nations as their goal. Except for the deliberate victims of genocide, death and destruction have been just a means to that end.
The “western” world is now faced with cunning and merciless enemies, inspired by irrational hate rather than by quest for power, who are self-appointed leaders of an organization stretching half way round the world. As was stated by one prominent Islamic leader the day after the first attack on New York, their immediate goal is the “liberation” of Jerusalem, that burdensome stone for all peoples. But, make no mistake, the long term goal, as proclaimed openly and constantly by these leaders, is total extermination of all those considered infidels who refuse to convert, in particular all Jews and Christians. I doubt they are likely to make nice distinctions between ourselves and many Christians whom we consider astray from scriptural teaching.
This morning we are exhorted by the prophet Isaiah: The LORD Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that are exalted, and they will be humbled, for every lofty tower and every fortified wall. The LORD alone will be exalted in that day. A curse consumes the earth. Earth’s inhabitants are burned up. The city is left in ruins: so it will be on the earth and among the nations. By the prophet Zephaniah: I have cut off nations. Their strongholds are demolished. Their cities are destroyed; no one will be left no one at all. The whole world will be consumed by the fire of my jealous anger.
We are exhorted by Haggai: I will shake all nations, and the Desired One of all nations will come. By the apostle Paul: The lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will destroy by the splendor of his coming. By Jesus through the apostle John: In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.
Obadiah warns us: You should not look down on your brother in the day of his misfortune, in the day of disaster. Christadelphians must share, like all other people of goodwill, the burdens of grief, sorrow and sheer heroism that we have all seen presented so vividly in the media. Jesus’ words in Luke 13:45 were never more relevant.
The table of the Lord is an oasis of peace in a world at war. Its Jewish origins are based upon the peace offering, which included a meal consisting of cakes of bread and a cup of wine. It speaks of love and reconciliation. It would truly be ironic if there is not complete unity in contrast with the world’s strife. “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness and your night will become like the noonday. The LORD will guide you always. He will satisfy your needs and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail” (Isa. 58:9-11).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One