THE PROPHETIC SIGNIFICANCE OF 9/11

Once again I’m persisting with something which the blaze of the media spotlight has left, namely 9/11. Things get dated too quickly sometimes in the rush for the latest “spectacular”! I’m very happy to buck that trend, and particularly so because I said in last week’s column that sadly the prophetic aspect of 9/11 had received very little comment and I wanted to say something about it.


It seems very clear to me that whatever way you look at 9/11, and whatever you may see of courage and heroism etc. in it, it remains prophetic of the judgement of God. I pointed out in the new booklet that the destruction of the twin towers was a prophetic pointer to what would happen in the economic and financial world of America and the West as the years progressed. I also pointed out that the destruction of part of the Pentagon was prophetic of the military bruising that America and the West would similarly suffer. It was not just a one off event – it cast a long shadow over the future, and we remain under that shadow.


I realise, of course, that for many the very idea of judgement as being expressed in the happenings of that appalling event is anathema. For them such a thought seems to cheapen the human tragedy, the human pain and the horror of it all. It seems too callous, too hard. “If that is God, we don’t want to know”, is the response. Jeremiah, sitting and lamenting in the ruins and devastation of a Jerusalem burned with fire and with unburied corpses all around him, was intensely aware of the human tragedy of which he was part. He was equally intensely aware, however, that the cause of the tragedy was the persistent, godless sinfulness of that city. With a broken heart, he acknowledged judgement. He also acknowledged the utter need of God’s grace in the midst of it. He clung to God closer than ever, as he sat in the midst of the carnage of judgement.


It is fundamental to our Christian understanding of God that he judges sin; there is a present judgement on sin and there will be a final judgement on sin. Every bit of the bible makes that point very clear. It’s on this account Jesus came. But what does that judgement look like? It is here that 9/11 is so prophetic. 9/11 shows, in awful, devastating manner, what it can look like. It came swiftly, out of the blue (literally), when least expected. It came as an appalling cataclysm. It came with fire. It was utterly destructive, a total collapse of both towers. The agency and manner by which it came was utterly bizarre. It had the same characteristics as a Tsunami. This was no mere slap on the hand from an indulgent father; it was a searing, painful lash of the whip, and worse.

Why did it come? Amos is the best guide here. Two things at least stand out; national pride and economic exploitation. Both are abhorrent to God.


All this means that 9/11 brings us a prophetic challenge. It is a searching demand that we face up to the fact that the eternal God is a holy God, and that there is a day of reckoning both for individuals and for nations. Judgement is an awful reality, and will remain so. We have to take judgement much, much more seriously. We have to measure ourselves and our behaviour, not by our own human and earthly standards, but by the standards God requires. Our purpose on earth is not pleasure and riches, but to seek righteousness and integrity.

Unfortunately the prospects of the nations listening to such a challenge are not good. But God remains rich in mercy, even in the midst of judgement.


Bob


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