God and the tsunami?

It was on Boxing Day that the tsunami, this series of enormous waves originating from seismic activity on the sea bed, spread out across the Indian Ocean wreaking horrific destruction across thousands of miles of coastline of South East Asia.

With a death toll of 150,000 or more, many of whom were Western holidaymakers, the scale of the tragedy is such that the world community has a hard job to mount a quick and effective relief effort.

Random tragedy?

Soon after it happened someone said to me: 'I think God is trying to say something to the world through this tragedy'. Should such an idea be taken seriously? Secularists would say: 'Surely this is just an unfortunate accident on a world in a chance universe. Random disasters mean nothing.'

Such reasoning would be fine if our world really had come about by chance. But there is evidence everywhere - from the world's eco-system, to the fine-tuning of the physical constants which govern our universe, to the human body's immune system and much more - of intelligent design. Tragedies cannot be shrugged off as pure accidents. God is real.

On no occasion on which the Lord Jesus spoke about 'natural disasters' did he dismiss them as mere accidents. Unpalatable and controversial as the lessons might be, the Bible always has something to teach us when the world faces a crisis.

Noah's flood is the only biblical event with which we can compare those TV images of the tsunami's tumultuous waves. And in Matthew 24.36-42, Jesus links that disaster to his Second Coming, and the last judgement. He says, 'No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. Therefore keep watch.'

The world is in rebellion against its Maker. Human nature is fallen. This is clear from simply comparing the decadence of the West with the ten commandments. Think of the looting, robbery and child abductions which have followed the tsunami. The world is out of sync with its Creator, and that is why these natural disasters happen. It is bound up with the judgement of God on sin. And, Jesus tells us that we should not be afraid to see the tragedies which come to this world as warnings from God.

A SIGNAL

Jesus uses the tragedy of Noah's flood to remind us of judgement day. He says, As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man (v.37). History is not going round in circles. It leads to the coming of Jesus, the final destruction of this world, and the bringing in of God's new world. Though the date is unknown to us, world disasters signal that last day. Revelation speaks of them as warning trumpets.

* Because God sends judgements on the world which signal the final judgement, we must not think that he does not love the world. God is both angry with humanity and loves humanity simultaneously. Those who are parents will understand this. Your child acts terribly - steals some money. You are furious. You chastise them in some way. But part of the reason you chastise them is because you love them and hope that they will learn their lesson and change. You don't want to be visiting them in prison later in life! Similarly, though there is judgement, yet God also has a loving purpose in disasters. 'O that they may see the danger and turn to Christ and be saved!'

* Also, because God allows tragedies to occur, we must not think badly of those individuals who have lost their lives. Jesus's emphasis in Luke 13.1-5, as he comments on two terrible calamities of his own day, is that we are all sinners who need to repent. We are not better than anyone else because God has spared us - because we happened to cancel that holiday in Thailand this Christmas. We all deserve God's judgement, and therefore we should not point the finger, but be humbled and lovingly get behind all the relief efforts. You see, although we are shocked by the scale of the tragedy, actually 1,000s of people die every day. It is God's judgement. The wages of sin is death. Is it worse to die in a tsunami than in the geriatric ward at the local hospital, or in a car accident? But we like to try to forget death, and not face reality. So sometimes God allows such enormous tragedies to try to make us face the truth.

Many religious leaders have said that their faith has been shaken by this disaster. But that is because God is not the God they would like to believe he is - a soft touch, nothing but love. He is love. But he is also holy, a God who judges sin. People fix on these tragedies and say, 'How can there be a God?' The God of popular imagination indeed does not exist. But these things are totally consistent with the true and living God of the Bible who sends judgements to signal the day of judgement.

A SURPRISE

Next, Jesus describes the attitude of the world in general at his coming. People were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about it until the flood came ... That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. The world will be totally surprised, just as the people of Noah's day were taken totally unawares by the flood.

* Jesus indicates in these verses where this thoughtless attitude comes from. Noah's contemporaries were regardless of the warnings of God because they were totally absorbed in the things of this life. There is nothing wrong with eating and drinking. There is nothing wrong with romance and marriage. They are all good gifts of God. But these lawful things were being unlawfully managed by Noah's peers. They had taken over people's thoughts completely, to the neglect of God and the life to come. Similarly today, materialism robs us of spiritual awareness.

* They knew nothing about it. It was not so much that they 'knew nothing about it', Noah had preached. It was more that they did not want to know anything about it. And not wanting to know anything about it, they had convinced themselves that it would never happen - and so forgot about it. Our material prosperity makes us feel secure. With our scientific genius we think we do not need God. So it was that in Noah's day people did not wake up until it was too late.

So it was sadly, on Boxing Day. Haven't you thought as to why there was no warning given of these great waves. Surely, with satellites and seismic surveys permanently scanning our world, somehow there should have been a warning to get off the beaches? But there was nothing until it was too late. It was so poignant to read a Daily Telegraph report which said that on Sri Lanka they found no animal carcasses. Somehow the animals were forewarned and found safety. We humans didn't. Isn't that so humbling of our pride? But Jesus warns us that the world will be taken totally by surprise by his sudden return. His loving warning to us all is, 'Don't you be!'

A SEPARATION

One will be taken, the other left, says Jesus. In the newspapers we have read harrowing accounts of friends separated, of families divided by the rushing flood waters. Parents and children, friends and neighbours were separated by the flood, never to be seen again.

* Just as the waves brought separation, so the coming of Christ to judgement is a day that will bring separation. There will be the saved and the lost; those who have turned from this world and self, to follow Christ, and those who would not take hold of his hand of rescue. The feet that run to our aid, those hands which reach out to us, are those hands and feet of Jesus that were nailed to a cruel cross, to pay for our sins, and secure pardon and forgiveness for a lost humanity in the sight of a holy God. But we either take hold of Christ's hand, or we don't. So there will be eternal separation - heaven or hell. For the unrepentant world disasters signal eternal judgement. For believers, they are the birth pangs of a new creation (Romans 8.22).

* This separation takes place between people who are right next to each other, in the same field, at the same work. That is the dreadful thing about a flood. You can be so near to being saved, yet so far. People who were right next to you were OK. 'If only I had done what they had done! I would have been safe!' It is interesting that in the next chapter, Matthew 25, Jesus tells three parables about his Second Coming, and each parable focuses not on sins of commission, but sins of omission. The foolish virgins had neglected to buy their oil. 'We'll turn to Christ later, not now' some people say. The unfaithful servant had neglected to put his master's talent to work. The wicked in the parable of the sheep and goats had neglected to help Christ, or welcome him in the persons of the poor.

I realise this will not be a popular message. These are not lessons you will hear broadcast by church dignitaries from the BBC's religious affairs department. But, though of course there are other things to say about this dreadful disaster, I believe these are lessons Jesus would have us learn. The invitation is there. 'Come to Jesus Christ and be saved!' Don't neglect it.

Matthew 24.36-41

Random tragedy?

A SIGNAL

A SURPRISE

A SEPARATION

JEB

John Benton

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