Biblical Perspectives on the Twin Towers (sermon 9/16/01)

In this part of the sermon: Martin opens by acknowledging the horrifying images of the Twin Towers tragedy and the universal question, 'Where was God?' He asserts that the Bible provides solid ground for…

The collapse of the majestic buildings is compared to sand castles dashed by a wave, conveying the sudden and overwhelming destruction witnessed on 9/11.

For most of us, the images will be forever etched upon the walls of our minds. It's not every day that we see airplanes slamming into massive structures of steel and glass, huge fireballs leaping upward to the sky, majestic buildings collapsing like castles built in the sand when dashed by an incoming wave, screaming masses of humanity running for safety amidst billows of choking smoke and clouds of pulverized debris.

0:04 - 0:49 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He clarifies that 'Twin Towers' is shorthand for all acts of terrorism on 9/11, and 'some biblical perspectives' acknowledges human limitations in fully comprehending God's…

Martin uses the analogy of holding up fingers, some hidden, to explain that a true 'perspective' requires seeing events in their proper relationship, especially to God's Word, not just a limited human view.

If I were to ask you now, how many fingers do I have held up before you? You might guess that I had ten. On the other hand, one of them might be folded behind one and you can't see. You can't see.

5:23 - 5:35 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He recounts the story of King Nebuchadnezzar from Daniel 4, whose humbling experience led him to confess that God 'does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the…

Martin shares an anecdote about people confessing struggles with pride, prompting him to question what they have to be proud about, contrasting it with Nebuchadnezzar's actual worldly power.

Whatever the Lord pleased, that has He done. In the heavens, in the earth, in the seas, and in all deeps. Many of you will remember the incident recorded in the book of Daniel when the proud king, Nebuchadnezzar, who from the human standpoint had a lot to be proud about. Sometimes I have people come to me and say, Pastor Martin, I'm really struggling with pride.

20:11 - 20:36 Read in full sermon

Driving home: And none can stay His hand or say unto Him, what are you doing?

The Twin Towers are described as 'twin sentinels over the financial markets of the world,' highlighting their perceived strength and importance before their sudden destruction, drawing a parallel to Nebuchadnezzar's pride in Babylon.

Sound like the tour guides for Manhattan?

23:07 - 23:10 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He recounts the story of King Nebuchadnezzar from Daniel 4, whose humbling experience led him to confess that God 'does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the…

He contrasts the failure of million-dollar military hardware to hit specific targets with the success of terrorists using plastic knives and box cutters, illustrating God's ability to use any means to accomplish His will and humble human pride.

But it doesn't change the fact that He does. And not one piece of steel or gold, or glass could have fallen from those buildings had not a sovereign God said, it's time. And you see, God's not at all fastidious about the means He uses to demonstrate to any individual or any nation that He is God. Here we are with our million dollar military hardware and we arm our smart bombs and try to take out a specific target and we miss and get into international hot water.

23:57 - 24:35 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin references Isaiah 46, where God declares the end from the beginning and accomplishes all His pleasure, and Romans 11:33-36, where Paul exclaims that 'of Him, and through…

Martin uses the rhetorical question of God needing counsel from Gabriel to emphasize God's infinite wisdom and self-sufficiency, reinforcing that no one has known His mind or been His counselor.

Or who has been His counselor? When did God ever call up one of His archangels and say, Can I have an appointment? I need some counsel. I see something that I need to do here and something that I ought to do there, but I cannot.

27:56 - 28:10 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Addressing the question of God's control over wicked acts, Martin uses the crucifixion of Christ (Acts 4) as the ultimate example, showing that even this most cruel act was…

He asks the rhetorical question of what was the most cruel, heartless, unjustifiable brutality ending in murder, leading to the answer: the murder of the Son of God, to set up the argument that God was sovereign even over this ultimate evil.

Well, there are many ways we could approach that question, but I find the most compelling, for me, is what I want to preach to you now. I asked the kids in the Trinity Christian School Chapel a few days ago this question. What was the most cruel, heartless, unjustifiable brutality ending in murder ever perpetrated on the face of God's earth? Most cruel, the most unjust act of murder ever perpetrated on God's earth.

32:45 - 33:24 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Addressing the question of God's control over wicked acts, Martin uses the crucifixion of Christ (Acts 4) as the ultimate example, showing that even this most cruel act was…

The Roman soldiers' treatment of Jesus is likened to a cat playing with a crippled mouse, emphasizing the heartless cruelty and mockery Jesus endured before His crucifixion.

When they think of what happened, and they were eyewitnesses to much of it, but they said, God, it was your hand and your counsel behind the ropes with which they bound him in the garden of Gethsemane, behind the puppet court, the high priest and then at the Sanhedrin, behind the heartless, cruel, military, treatment at the hands of the Roman soldiers when they took him aside and played with him a while like a cat plays with a crippled mouse and tosses it in the air to have a little fun. In the cold, we-morning hours of that fateful day, but they understood that every event in conjunction

36:54 - 37:38 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Addressing the question of God's control over wicked acts, Martin uses the crucifixion of Christ (Acts 4) as the ultimate example, showing that even this most cruel act was…

Martin shares the story of his father-in-law attempting suicide but failing, illustrating the biblical truth that people cannot find death when God has not appointed their time, even when they seek it.

The book of the Revelation says there's a time coming when God's judgments will be poured out, and these are fascinating words, I don't understand them, but it says they shall seek death and shall not be able to find it. I had a sampling of that with my own father-in-law. He made a bona fide attempt to take his life, had his shoes and his suit for the funeral laid out, swallowed a whole bottle of pills, and by a strange providence, that I won't go into, three days later he woke up in a hospital bed cursing that he had failed. He sought death,

39:38 - 40:17 Read in full sermon

The point: Find comfort in Romans 8:28, knowing that 'all things work together for good' because God is on His throne and in control of all events.

He quotes Henry Law: 'Every event flies to us on the wings of eternal decree,' to succinctly capture the idea that all events are predetermined by God's sovereign will.

To bring good to save many alive as we are this day. That's bringing this whole complex of events into the perspective of the Bible. And the tragedy of the twin towers is a manifestation of the absolute sovereignty of God. In our devotions last night, in reading through Henry Law's lovely little volumes of devotional commentary, on the Psalms, Henry Law said this, every event flies to us on the wings of eternal decree.

44:57 - 45:41 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second perspective is that the tragedy of the Twin Towers is a 'prefiguration' or 'adumbration' of the coming Day of the Lord, a shadowy outline of a greater reality of…

Martin describes the televised images of people running from the billowing dust cloud after the towers collapsed, using it as a setup for an imaginative scenario to illustrate the greater terror of the Day of the Lord.

our retinas and registered on our brains and in our psyches, and in our emotions, the tragedy of the twin towers. God is mercifully saying, I'm going to give you a prefiguration and adumbration of that which I have told you is surely to come. I want you to use your imagination with me as I try to demonstrate in what way this is true. I doubt there's anyone here except perhaps the most young among us who has not seen that particular clip again and again, when as you looked at your television screen you saw high on the screen and in the background

51:38 - 52:22 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second perspective is that the tragedy of the Twin Towers is a 'prefiguration' or 'adumbration' of the coming Day of the Lord, a shadowy outline of a greater reality of…

He asks the audience to imagine people suddenly turning and running *towards* the destructive dust cloud, suggesting they would either be mad or fleeing an even greater terror, which he then applies to the Day of Christ.

They knew that that was indeed a tidal wave of choking smoke and of overwhelming pulverized debris that would bury them and kill them unless they fled for their lives. Now I want you to imagine with me you're sitting there glued to your television. You're watching this scene live and suddenly that whole mass of humanity stops as though frozen, turn around 180 degrees and they start not walking and gingerly mincing, but running in the direction of the tidal wave of destruction.

53:10 - 53:54 Read in full sermon