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The Day the Son Wouldn't Stand Still Just before 9:00am on October 28, 2001, it must have seemed as if time stood still. In that moment, three Pakistani Muslims burst through the door of the church, armed with Kalishnikov automatic weapons. The Christian pastor, Emmanuel Atta, had just concluded his sermon on the importance of prayer in the tumultuous times ahead. A gunman stormed up to the pulpit and demanded that Emmanuel throw down his Bible. “I will not!” the pastor declared. And in that frozen moment, he turned to pick up his Bible from the pulpit, and clutched it to his heart. It was then that the gunman shouted, “Allah Ahkbar!” meaning “Allah is great,” and opened fire on the pastor. Shot in the back, and a bullet having pierced his heart, his body fell to the floor. Over 500 bullets were fired in the next six minutes. Fifteen of the 75 church members were killed, including 11 in one family. The body of a two year old girl was found riddled with 40 bullets. Miraculously, a woman survived the massacre, even though 13 bullets pierced her arm and abdomen. Little four year old Kinza, the youngest daughter of the pastor, says that she saw her daddy look lovingly at her as he fell to the ground and “fell asleep.” Later, Kinza declared concerning her father, “He’s in Heaven with Jesus.” If you could see the pictures I have seen of this massacre, you might think, “Oh, how terrible!” But think about this—it is far more terrible for the Muslims who did this, than it is for those who were murdered. Every one of these who were killed, if they were truly born-again, were ushered immediately into the presence of Jesus forever. Those who killed them are on the road to Hell, and unless they come to Jesus and truly repent of their sins, they will spend eternity in torment apart from God. Each one in that church that day, made his or her own choice—close to the Lord in this life, close to the Lord in the next…apart from the Lord now, apart from the Lord later. Pastor Emmanuel’s wife, Sarapheen, grieves over the abrupt end to her 28 year marriage, but she still feels honored that she lost her husband while he was preaching in his white robe. She says, “Our Lord told us that in His name we would suffer—it is an honor and privilege that my husband is a martyr for Jesus.” You see, her hope is not in her circumstances, but in the resurrection of Jesus. Her own daughter had said it—“He is in Heaven!” Understand that this resurrection is not just a matter of going to Heaven when we die, but it is also a life lived today—dead to self and sin, and alive in Him. We see the same thing very clearly even way back in the Old Testament. As the people of Israel were led out of bondage in Egypt, it presented to them, and to us, a spiritual picture of salvation. But they weren’t just saved out of something; they were also saved unto something—the Promised Land, a spiritual picture of being baptized in Holy Spirit and fire, and, of course, sanctification. Due to the first generation’s disobedience, the next generation was the one to cross the Jordan River and enter in. Some people today think that it was not right for Israel to march in and take the land. Some people even suggest that God was wrong to order such violence. No, the fact is, these other people had had centuries to repent and turn to the Lord, but they consistently refused to do so. Judgment doesn’t just go away just because it seems like that would be the nicer thing. After several cities were taken, Adonizedec, the pagan King of Jerusalem, became worried that his town was next. Gathering four other kings and their armies together, Adonizedec took on Gibeon, which had entered into a league with Israel. Even though Israel had made a serious mistake in entering into this covenant, God would use their faithlessness to get His people to see His utter faithfulness. Joshua 10:11 tells the story rather graphically: “And it came to pass, as they fled from Israel…that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.” And that wasn’t the only miracle that day—Joshua had prayed, “Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is it not written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.” (10:12b-13) We don’t know exactly how He did it—He could have slowed the earth’s rotation; He could have tilted the earth on its axis, as in the north where the sun does not set; or He could have caused a refraction of the sun’s rays. Whatever He chose to do, it was certainly a powerful answer to prayer. The God who created the universe and all of its heavenly bodies, can also suspend their natural movements for His own purposes. Praise God! Some, of course, would argue this and try to suggest that it is only a story, not based in reality. Tell that to Harold Hill, former president of the Curtis Engine Company in Baltimore, Maryland, and a consultant with NASA. Several years ago, a group of researchers in Green Belt, Maryland, were using computers to check the position of everything in space, in order to avoid future collisions of satellites. As the computers ran the measurements back and forth over the centuries, all of a sudden it came to a screeching halt. After the service department checked out the computers and found them to be OK, it was declared that there was a missing day in space. While nobody knew what to think, one man remembered his Bible—this text before us today—“The sun stood still.” They ran their measurements back to that time, and lo and behold, the elapsed time missing in Joshua’s day was 23 hours and 20 minutes. But wait—this was not accurate enough—it was only “about a whole day.” So they went back to the Scriptures and found the story in 2 Kings 20 about the sun going backwards ten degrees. Ten degrees is exactly 40 minutes—23 hours and 20 minutes in Joshua, and 40 minutes in 2 Kings, make the 24 hours that were coming up “missing” in the computer. That miraculous incident would give God’s people time to utterly defeat the enemy. In the meantime, it was discovered that the five kings had run away and hid in a cave. Joshua ordered huge stones to be rolled in front of the opening in order to trap them, while the armies of God finished the total destruction of the enemy. Once that was complete, Joshua ordered that the stones be rolled away and the kings be brought to him. He then called for some of his men of war and captains to, “Come near, put your feet upon the necks of these kings,” (vs. 24b) a powerful symbol of total subjugation and defeat. Joshua then told all of Israel, “Fear not, nor be dismayed, be strong and of good courage: for thus shall the Lord do to all your enemies against whom ye fight. And afterward, Joshua smote them, and slew them, and hanged them on five trees: and they were hanging upon the trees until the evening. They were then taken down and thrown into the very cave in which they had been hiding, and great stones were then rolled to seal the entrance forever. Oh, what an incredible thing! Oh, what a powerful picture of judgment against sin—a picture we would see lived out centuries later. Our enemy is Satan himself and the sin he brought into this world through Adam and Eve. Jesus Christ, in the power of the love of God, became that sin in order to take it away. God being perfectly just, must be angry at sin and destroy it—and that He did at the cross of Calvary. Sin hung on a tree, and during those six hours, it must have seemed as though time stood still. It was then he declared the plan of God to be complete—“It is finished.” After He had given His life, he was placed in a cave-like grave and a huge stone was rolled over the entrance. Satan, our enemy, intended the stone to stay there forever, but God had a different plan—a very different plan! Time was not standing still; the Son was not “stayed.” The huge stone was rolled away, and lo and behold, the cave was empty. Hallelujah—Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. He has paid the just price for sin and now it is possible for us to live in the light of a glorious new day. When we finally repent of our sin, hate it, and turn from it, He resurrects us out of death and into new life; out of bondage and into salvation and sanctification Then, with His resurrected life living in us, time can move on His way—all of the way into eternity! Copyright (c)
2005 Christ Our Rock Bible Church. |
