Most of us remember where we were twenty years ago on that Tuesday morning in 2001 at about 9:00 a.m. We remember the first images of the American Airlines Flight 11 crashing into the North Tower at 8:46. The ninety-two people on board the Boeing 767 instantly died. At first, we did not know for sure what was happening.
A few minutes later United Flight 175 struck the South Tower at 9:02. Sixty-two passengers and flight crew members were killed onboard another Boeing 767. Now we are almost certain this is a terrorist attack on America.
Next, we hear of another attack on the Pentagon. Flight 77, a Boeing 757 with sixty-four on board, goes up in flames as well as 125 Pentagon workers.
Finally, Todd Beamer and some other passengers on United Flight 93 help bring down their hijacked airliner in the fields of Shanksville, PA less than twenty minutes away from the last terrorist target: the Capital building. Another forty-five people are murdered by Jihadists.
9/11 should be properly being remembered by our nation. The National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center displays the names on bronze plates of the nearly 3000 people who were killed on 9/11 and also names of those killed in the February 1993 attack on the Trade Center.
Why should Christians remember 9/11?
The Bible puts a great emphasis on remembering. The book of Deuteronomy develops a theology of remembering.
God says, “Remember you were slaves when I delivered you” (Dt 5:15; 15:15; 16:12; 24:18; 24:22). Also, remember that you rebelled against me just as soon as I delivered you (Dt 9:7). Jesus said, “Remember Lot’s wife.” Jesus also said to the Rich Man in Hell, “Remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and you are tormented.” In other words, we will never stop remembering. The unsaved in Hell will only remember the bad and believers in Heaven will only remember the good.
What should Christians remember about 9/11?
1. We Should Remember Just How Depraved We Are
9/11 reminds us just how totally depraved we sinners are. Nineteen hijackers turned four airliners loaded with jet fuel into terrorist weapons and murdered 2977 human beings made in the image of God. The 2977 killed include civilians from thirty-eight states, the District of Columbia, and over seventy countries. The dead also includes 343 firefighters, sixty police officers, and fifty-five U. S. military personnel. In addition to the nearly 3000 who died on 9/11, are the 3000 children whose parents died on that day. The average age of the 3000 children whose parents died was nine years old. Then there were the scores of children born after 9/11 to grieving widows including one widow who went into labor during her husband’s memorial service.
In Romans 3:9-23, Paul gives us an X-ray picture of how wicked every person is.
2. We Should Remember Just How Deceived Some Religionists Are
The nineteen hijackers led by Osama ben Laden were Islamic Jihadists who in their perverted thinking were serving their god Allah. They thought they were martyrs who sealed their eternal destiny with Allah. They were deceived. Just like all religions who base salvation on works are deceived. The Koran teaches works for salvation. The Quran teaches evangelism by murder. Convert or be killed.
Christianity is not perfect, but we have a perfect Savior and a perfect holy Book. Christianity converts not by hatred but by love. Listen to John make this point in 1 John 3:11-17.
3. We Should Remember Just How Patient God Is
Why does God not wipe radical jihadists off the face of the earth? Listen to Peter in 2 Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” There is a future day of reckoning, however, for all who reject Christ.
We usually don’t read the next verse in 2 Peter 3:10: “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night: in the which, the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”
4. We Should Remember Just How Holy God Is
Sometimes people ask, “Was God punishing America on 9/11?” Jesus addressed current tragedies and disasters in Luke 12:1-5 and concluded that the people who died in those two current events were not greater sinners than the ones who were spared.
The people who died on 9/11, did not die because of their sin but because of Adam’s sin. The curse on Adam’s sin was a curse on earth and every succeeding generation.
Sometimes people question, “Why did not God stop such a tragedy?” God allows people to choose their actions. God does not force us to love Him and serve Him or He would have created robots. We will not only have to answer to God one day for our sins but also the consequences of our sins on others.
5. We Should Remember Just How Merciful God Is
Not only should we remember the tragedy of 9/11 but the heroism of 9/11. Bruno Dellinger, who worked on the 47th floor of the North Tower, headed down an overheated stairwell. He discovered "regular people, like me, and people from upper floors who were badly burned—no skin, no hair, just burned—they were coming down, walking or carried down and helped by people." He met firefighters and security personnel: "In some of those eyes you could see that they knew something, it was dangerous, they knew something... and while there was no panic whatsoever in the stairwell, those people were concentrated, focused on doing their job... and while I was walking down they were going up to their death, and I was walking down to live."
The greatest act of love and sacrifice for others happened over 2000 years ago when Christ died for our sins so we could live eternally with Him. On the night before His death, Christ instituted the Lord’s Supper and commanded, “This do in remembrance of me.” We need to remember that when we trust Christ as our Savior, that God said, “Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 10:17).