(September 11, 2011) 
It is heart-wrenching watching the documentaries about that tragic day ten years ago which became known as 9/11. As Pearl Harbor changed the world in 1941 and led to a World War so too 9/11 brought a worldwide war on terrorism. Approximately 2400 persons died at Pearl Harbor while nearly 3000 died on 9/11. World War II lasted seven years and resulted in the deaths of more than sixty million people. The War on Terror continues to this day and will continue as long as there are Islamic fundamentalists willing to kill innocent people to achieve their goal of the destruction of Israel and the establishment of an Islamic Caliphate.
The problem is that the world sees this war in a temporal manner and how it affects the world. While we mourn with those who mourn, there is a deeper issue than the current state of geopolitical and “georeligious” affairs. Wars of all kinds have been fought since the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden. Death and destruction have always been part of the human experience. The lesson to be learned is not how to solve the current state of global affairs but rather how each individual person reacts to the life God has given them. Jesus Himself made this point: “54 And He was also saying to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming,’ and so it turns out. 55 And when you see a south wind blowing, you say, ‘It will be a hot day,’ and it turns out that way. 56 You hypocrites! You know how to discern the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why do you not discern this present time? 57 And why do you not even on your own initiative judge what is right? 58 For while you are going with your opponent to appear before the magistrate, on your way there make an effort to settle with him, so that he may not drag you before the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. 59 I say to you, you will not get out of there until you have paid the very last cent. [13] 1 Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? 3 I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 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? 5 I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 12:54-13:5)
In the first part of this passage Jesus criticizes the Jewish religious leaders for not recognizing Him as their Savior and Messiah. The Old Testament had given many prophecies which said the Messiah would heal people and preach the Good News of salvation to them. That is exactly what Jesus was doing yet they didn’t discern the times they were living in and rejected Him. In the next section Jesus tells a parable about a judge who in this story refers to God. The opponent who is dragging the person before God is the accuser and adversary of humankind, the Devil. The debt is the person’s sins. Unless that person has their debt paid for they will be cast into what amounts to eternal punishment. In the final part of this passage the multitude ask Jesus about the cause of the deaths of people who had died recently in Israel at the hands of Pontius Pilate. In His response Jesus includes the deaths of eighteen people who were killed when a tower fell. The Jews thought the deaths occurred because those people must have been worse sinners than most people. Jesus declared that their particular sinfulness had nothing to do with their deaths but rather all people are sinners and unless they repent and have their sin debt paid they will face the Judge and be incarcerated into eternal punishment. Therein lies the crux of human existence. No matter what kind of life a person leads they are going to die one day. Some will die in wars, others as the victims of crimes. Sickness, accidents, disease, natural disasters will take the lives of people. And some will die by terrorists acts such as those who died on 9/11. The point is everyone is going to die by some means. What matters is what we do before we die and Jesus told us what we should do: Ask God to grant us Godly sorrow for our sins which leads us to repent and to save us by receiving the sacrificial death of Jesus the Messiah and Savior as payment for our debt of sins. This will lead us to eternal life so that when we die we will be with the Lord forevermore.
Jesus rebuked the religious leaders for not discerning the signs of the times they were living in and for not acknowledging that He was fulfilling the prophecies of the suffering Messiah with His first coming. Jesus and the prophets gave signs as to what world events would take place leading up to His second coming. The world mocks these End-Times prophecies as the apostle Peter said they would: “1 This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles. 3 Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” 5 For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, 6 through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. 7 But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. 8 But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. 9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. 11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! 13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. 14 Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, 15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” (2 Peter 3:1-18)
The world rejects the second coming of Jesus Christ while His followers believe God’s word which declares unequivocally that He is returning. The world needs to be prepared by repenting of its sins for they don’t know the hour of His return. This time when Jesus comes to earth it will be in judgment: “5 This is a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering. 6 For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, 8 dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 10 when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed—for our testimony to you was believed.” (2 Thessalonians 2:5-10) Death will come to the world’s population in many horrible ways at Jesus’ second coming. Whether or not Jesus comes again in our lifetime we will each face our own End-Times. Because we don’t know how we will die or when we will die we need to follow the admonition of Isaiah the prophet: “6 Seek the LORD while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the LORD, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. 8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:6-9) If you do this then it doesn’t matter what the sinful, fallen world does to you because you will have more than this temporal life, you will have eternal life.
