Dates That Live In Infamy

Each generation seems to have a “Date That Will Live In Infamy”.  For “The Greatest Generation”, their date is most likely December 7, 1941; the day Pearl Harbor was attacked.  For our generation, that date is probably September 11, 2001.  Most of us who are adults today can remember very well what we were doing the morning that the flying bombs struck the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and that lonely field in Pennsylvania.  That day brought about national mourning and changed the way many of us looked at the world.
Typically, there are a couple of questions that accompany these historic dates:  Should we have known what to expect and could we have been better prepared to deal with the event?  I remember that once much of the initial shock  and sadness of 9/11 abated our national attention turned to these two questions.  For the months and years that followed we assessed the information in an effort to uncover the truth.
December 7 and September 11 are important dates in our nation’s history, but they will pale in comparison to another day – one that will be international and one that will truly change history.  The Second Coming of the Lord will be experienced by all who are alive and will be felt by all who have ever lived because it will set in motion the final judgment and usher in the last eternal day.  I don’t know how that will look, but one thing I suspect is that two questions might be on the minds of many who face eternal destruction:   Should we have known what to expect and could we have been better prepared to deal with the event?  In all honesty, the answer to both questions is “Yes”.  The Bible teaches us, “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.  Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 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! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.” (II Peter 3:10-13).  We don’t know when the day will come, but we all must make one of two choices:  we can gamble our eternity that it won’t happen or we can invest our lives in an assurance that it will.
As the old spiritual song asks, “Are We Ready For The Judgment Day?”  Everyone will have an eternity to reflect upon their preparedness.  Those in heaven will rejoice each and every moment we spend in the presence of God while those enduring eternal punishment will lament their inadequate preparation.  

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