A Word From Our God About Human Tragedy

    “There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:1-5).

    On April 19, 1995 Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols bombed the federal building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, indiscriminately murdering 168 people. Our nation was shocked. Just a few days after that, my wife and I were in Oklahoma City. I drove by the site of the bombing. I cannot describe the sense of numbness, rage, and frustration I felt as I reflected upon the cowardly act of those murderers and their crime against our nation. Even more than that, I was (and still am) filled with hurt for those families so devastated by the crime.

    On April 20, 1999, two teenage boys walked into Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado and murdered twelve other students and a teacher. Again, our nation was shocked.

    On September 11, 2001, our nation suffered the mass murder of 3000 people. Across the United States, citizens watched in horror as cowardly terrorists in hijacked planes crashed into the Pentagon, World Trade Center, and a field in Pennsylvania. What pain the families of those who died in that assault of religious maniacs must live with for the rest of their lives!

    Added to the pain caused by such senseless slaughters is the insinuation by many that these acts of inexplicable human cruelty were also acts of divine judgment upon those who died, as though they were sinners above the rest of us.

    Not only are such events as these, which are so much on our minds as a nation, so alarming that they make our blood boil, they are horrors that so astound the mind that (try as we may) we have no ability to explain them. The sudden death which has fallen on the sons of men baffles human reason. We have, in recent years, almost come to expect another report of such barbaric deeds every time we turn on the radio or the television or open a newspaper.

    Yet, we must not imagine that such things are new. We must not imagine, as many do, that these things are the inevitable consequences of our racially and culturally diverse society, or that they are events beyond the reach of divine wisdom and the control of divine providence.

    Luke 13:1-5 tells us otherwise. The Galileans, like those in the terrorist attack of 9/11, were slaughtered by the senseless rage of a cruel man with the power, money, and the means to commit mass murder. Remember those eighteen upon whom the tower in Siloam fell were suddenly ushered out into eternity by the crushing weight of a falling tower.

    These events may seem much less significant to us; but you can be certain they were not less significant to the families who lost their loved ones, than the events in Oklahoma, Colorado, and New York. These things are written in the Book of God for us that we may learn to walk with our God in the face of woe. Let us never imagine that God’s providence has become lax. Sudden death is a part of life in this sin cursed earth. There always have been and always will be (for as long as the earth shall stand) such tragedies for men to face. As God’s children in this world, in the face of such events that shake our society to its very foundations, we must not be shaken, or even appear to be shaken. Our God is still on his throne. Let us, therefore, walk through this world of woe, even through this valley of the shadow of death confident and free of fear. God has not given up the reins of the universe. He has not taken off his hand from the helm of the ship. He is still in total control of all things, at all times, in all places. I want grace to trust him and honour him. Don’t you? This is his promise to those who do: “his soul shall dwell at ease” (Psalm 25:13).

    It matters not who or what the instrument may be (Timothy McVeigh, Terry Nichols, street thugs, or Islamic thugs), that which takes men, women, and children out of this world is the hand of our God. It is God and God alone who kills and makes alive as he will. Sometimes he does so in such sudden, glaring displays that the whole world is shocked by his work.

    First, I want to give you a word of caution. We must never assume, as self-righteous men always do, that those who experience great tragedy and suffer great loss are being punished for their sins, as though they were greater sinners than we are. Such arrogant, self-righteous assumptions are as inexcusable as the deeds of wicked men, by whom such acts of terror are executed. I say to you, as our Master did to those who made such a proud assumption, “Suppose ye that those who have suffered such tragedies are sinners above all the rest of us, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”

    Without question, God does judge men for sin, visiting the iniquities of men upon them, their families and their nation. Without question, ours is a nation and a generation under the judgment of God, judgment we have heaped upon ourselves by wilful rebellion. But it is not within the realm of our ability to know when or for whom sudden death comes by divine judgment.

    Often God brings death to his people suddenly, unexpectedly as an act of great mercy and grace.

    “The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness” (Isaiah 57:1, 2).

    For the believer, death is never an act of divine judgment, an act of God’s anger. The believer’s death is always precious in the sight of the Lord. It is totally irrelevant how I die, where I die, when I die, or what the instrument of my death may be. The only thing that matters is that I die “in the Lord” redeemed, forgiven, justified, and accepted. “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints” (Psalm 116:15). Everything about the prospect of death is, for God’s elect, joyful (John 14:1-3; 2 Corinthians 5:1-9; Revelation 14:13).

    When I have breathed my final breath

    And dropped this robe of flesh in death,

    When my appointed work is done

    And my allotted time is gone,

    Don’t stand around my grave and cry.

    I’ll not be there. I did not die.

    My Saviour came to call me home,

    And I with him to heav’n have gone!

    Now I am free from sin and pain;

    And with the glorified I reign!

    Don’t stand around my grave and cry.

    I’m glorified! I did not die!

    Seated with Jesus on his throne,

    Glorified by what he has done,

    I am a trophy of his grace.

    Rejoicing, I behold his face.

    Don’t stand around my grave and cry.

    I am with Christ! I did not die!

    My body lies beneath the clay,

    Until the resurrection day.

    In that day when Christ comes again,

    Body and soul unite again!

    Don’t stand around my grave and cry.

    Rejoice with me! I did not die!

    Next, our Saviour gives us this word of warning: “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish”! You and I shall soon be cut off from the earth and ushered into eternity. Are you prepared to die? Am I? There is but one way for you and me to be prepared to die, to meet God in judgment. We must repent. Should you ask me, “What is repentance?” I would answer briefly that true repentance involves at least these three things: Holy Spirit conviction (John 16:8-11), faith in Christ (Romans 10:9, 10), and turning to God (1 Thessalonians 1:2-10; Philippians 3:3-14).

    But we must never imagine, as all the deluded will-worshipers of this world universally assert, that repentance is an act of man’s imaginary “free will”, by which he wins God’s favour. Nothing could be further from the truth. The repentance spoken of by our Lord Jesus Christ, the repentance taught throughout the Word of God, is the work and gift of God wrought in chosen, redeemed, called sinners by his omnipotent, effectual, saving operations of grace. All the persons of the Godhead are engaged in the gracious work of creating repentance in his chosen. God the Father pledged himself to give it, (Ezekiel 36:24-27). God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, has been “exalted as a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31). And God the Holy Ghost is the “spirit of grace and supplication” poured out upon every redeemed sinner at the appointed time of love, causing every heaven born soul to “look unto him whom they have pierced, and mourn” (Zechariah 12:10).

    Repentance is not a condition qualifying sinners for grace, but an evidence of grace bestowed. It is not the cause, but the effect. Unless the Lord God works this work in us, enabling us and effectually causing us to turn to him, just like those described here by Luke, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish”!