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For our nation to lay hold of the only truths that can comfort, things must change. But how does a nation humble itself and turn from wickedness? What is a nation but a collection of individual people, and how does a nation repent if the individuals who make it up will not? Why did all these innocent people die? Answer: They didn’t. Not a single one of them was in fact innocent. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). It is appointed once for a man to die and then face judgment (Hebrews 9:27). Nothing happened to the victims of this tragedy, which wouldn’t have happened to them anyway. In fact, in the ten days since the attacks, 64,000 Americans have died (plus 40,000 unborn Americans), and we will all follow suit.
So where does that leave us? Jesus was once approached under similar circumstances in Luke 13, amidst a national tragedy of his own. After a tower collapsed and killed those in and near it, Jesus asked those with whom He was conversing, “do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you no, but unless you repent you will all likewise perish” (vs. 4, 5). Let me personalize this. I deserved to be in the Trade Towers when they went down. I deserved to be in those planes when they exploded into a ball of flames, and worse yet, I deserve to be in hell. Sadly (though not unjustly) many of those who were victimized by this violence, found themselves shoulder to shoulder with those who perpetrated the violence, standing before God on the threshold of eternal damnation. The difference between law-abiding citizens and mass-murdering terrorists is one of degree, not substance. We are all sinners.
The shocking (and glorious!) mercy of God’s justice is that the road to restoration is the same for George W. Bush as it is for Osama Bin Laden. Those who are connected to Adam will be condemned (which is our default condition); those who are connected to Christ will be restored. The U.S. has no special claim to God’s grace, and Jesus Christ remains the only sufficient Savior for the West and the East. All races, colors, and tongues were condemned through one common ancestor, and all races, colors and tongues can be saved through one common Savior. The death of these thousands is not an indication of a God who does not love. The life of we billions is indication of a God who loves passionately, who has offered grace at the infinite cost of His Son, and who is willing to save no matter how much sin has piled up in our life.
Tragically, so many of the messages being offered today by national Christian leaders are serving to give security to those who ought to have none. It’s as if they do not realize that there can be no comfort this side of salvation because salvation alone can guarantee against the sinful powers of this world, and the sinful powers of our own heart. Billy Graham’s National Cathedral address is one such example. He came close, but he missed it. He was too broad, too sweeping and too vague. He didn’t present the gospel in specific terms. He spoke as if the cross took the sins of us all, offering the theologically confusing statement, “the cross shows us that God understands our sin.” Understands our sin? What does that mean? Does God somehow excuse us because He knows life is hard and we’re trying our best? The cross doesn’t show that God “understands” our sin. It shows that there is a real point in history where God’s justice and God’s love are perfectly mingled. It is at the cross where God justifies Himself for thousands of years of common grace (Romans 3:26) and where He provides an absolutely just foundation for a love which calls the wicked righteous (Romans 4:5).
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