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Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
This is Memorial Day Weekend.
Many will be on the roads traveling this weekend, taking advantage of the time off to get together with family and friends, or to enjoy a few days in the mountains or take to the beach.
A chance to get away from the stress and strain of the work routine, and find peace and quiet outside the city...
And, in truth, the very liberty and the freedom to do these very things comes about because of the ultimate sacrifice of those that we pay tribute to today!
I am thankful for men and women, living and dead, that sacrificed in time of war.
Many have given their lives for the cause of Freedom.
4,435 American lives were lost in the Revolutionary War.
Measured in terms of material devastation and loss of human life, the American Civil War was the costliest war in the experience of the American people. When the war ended, 620,000 men (in a nation of 35 million people) had been killed and at least that many more, wounded.
The North lost a total of 364,000 (nearly
one of every five Union soldiers)
The South lost 258,000 (nearly one of every
four Confederate soldiers lost his life).
More men died of disease and sickness than on the battlefield during the Civil War; the ratio was about four to one.
So the Civil War’s total American dead was over 620,000.
126,000 were killed in the First World War.
400,000 in the II World War.
33,000 in
Almost 58,000 lost their lives in the Vietnam War!
148 perished in the Gulf War.
And today, in the War on Terrorism, 806 Americans have lost their lives, and the war goes on.
Man has been warring with man for millennia.
And the victor of each war, for a moment, may enjoy peace, but too soon another challenge will arise, another war be fought, and more lives will be lost!
World War I was supposed to be the War to End All Wars. But it didn’t!
The Bible tells us that, until Christ comes, there will be “wars and rumors of war”
And James tells us that warring comes from within man’s own heart! (James 4:1)
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
The human heart is the reason for wars in the world today!
And down through the ages man has developed more efficient and sophisticated ways to kill one another.
Every new war
introduces new weapons, and new methods
for killing!
With the Revolutionary War, swords and cross-bows were replaced with smooth-bore musket rifles. They were powerful new weapons, but of low velocity, and poor accuracy!
The Tactics. Get 500 men on line and shoot straight across an open field and hope that at least a few of the musketballs would find a few enemy targets. The majority of the musketballs went high over the head of the enemy, or impacted into the ground before they could even reach the enemy.
In the Civil War, the more modern Springfield rifle was available. It, too, was cap-and-ball, but the velocity was greater and the accuracy was more deadly!
The Tactics: The soldiers fought each other using Revolutionary war tactics, but died by the thousands in seconds because the modern Springfield rifle was so superior to the old musket. Each well-aimed round found its mark.
And, of course, there were cannons.
Each war has brought
with it new and more deadly weapons.
o Tanks and chemical weapons in World War I.
o More modern tanks, chemical weapons, aircraft carriers, and aviation in World War II. And the Atom bomb.
o The Korean War introduced the Saber Jet! While back home, scientists were continuing to improve on nuclear fusion.
o The Vietnam War introduced the unique and powerful strength and killing power of the helicopter, and the F4 Phantom aircraft!
Today we have an even more deadly arsenal of weapons capable of destroying not only a city, but the world itself, if man’s evil heart so chooses.
Can you imagine a nuclear weapon in the hands of a madman?
Every new war brings
with it man’s ingenuity to out-smart, out-maneuver, and out-kill one another
wholesale!
And Jesus said,
And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved
Ironically, all the time, these wars and these weapons were designed for the very purpose of trying to bring about world PEACE!
And yet, the Bible says of the wicked heart:
Their feet are swift to shed blood:
Destruction and misery are in their ways:
And the way of peace have they not known:
Man will never know TRUE PEACE until he sees the face of the Lord Jesus Christ!
For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
And when Christ comes, HE WILL BE the only warrior to raise a sword, and the wicked of this earth will be slain by the thousands!
… he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
War has been a learning process over the life of man.
He has been trying to find peace and satisfaction in this world by improving his fighting skills, fighting tactics, and warring machines.
But only the Lordship of Christ will bring perfect peace and perfect satisfaction to this world!
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
When Christ comes,
warring and death will come to an end!
1. Death will be a villain of the past, never to raise its ugly head again.
2. The earth will be gloriously delivered from the original curse of sin.
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine,
Dr. W. E. Vine writes of this time, “at the close of the great tribulation...the manufacture of weapons of war will cease and agriculture shall flourish.”
Dr. J. Dwight Penetcost writes that the original curse placed upon creation will be removed, “so that there will be abundant productivity on the earth.”
26. And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.
27. And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the LORD...”
THE CURSE OF THE GROUND WILL BE LIFTED
When Christ comes,
the four seasons of the year will still be on schedule!
Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall will still be enjoyed year-round.
While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.
When Christ comes,
the wolf and the lion will lie down in peace with the lamb.
The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
When Christ comes,
there will be no more sickness.
And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.
And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.
(our bodies will be without sin, without sorrow, without sickness, and without death)
And when Christ
comes, will Christians will rule with the Lord Jesus Christ?
It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: If we suffer, we shall also reign with him:
And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
Christians will reign
with the Lord Jesus!
And finally…
The millennial reign
of Christ will be accented by unprecedented
JUSTICE, PEACE AND JOY.
And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end,
For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
WHAT A WONDERFUL
FUTURE TO LOOK FORWARD TO.
I’M LOOKING FORWARD
TO THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH.
I’M LOOKING FORWARD
TO THE MILLENIAL REIGN OF CHRIST.
I’M LOOKING FORWARD
TO THAT GREAT HOMECOMING.
I HOPE YOU’RE LOOKING
FORWARD TO IT TOO!
Psalm 24 asks the question, and gives the answer: WHO SHALL ASCEND INTO THE HILL OF THE LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? THE ANSWER: He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart;... He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
HOW DO WE GET CLEAN
HANDS AND CLEAN HEARTS?
WE GIVE OUR LIVES TO
JESUS,
WE ACKNOWEDGE HIM AS
OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR,
WE ASK HIS
FORGIVENESS FOR OUR SINS,
AND WE WALK IN HIS
LIGHT...
… if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
“...they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”
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