Good morning on this Saturday, March 12th. This week Japan was hit with a massive earthquake which measured 8.9 on the Richter Scale. Trains disappeared, buildings collapsed, villages were devastated, and numbers of people were killed. People in the cities reported buildings swaying like hula dancers and one of Japan's main nuclear power plants became unstable and began leaking radiation. A Tsunami developed off the coast of northeastern Japan which produced waves as high as 12 feet that slammed into the coastal region. The destruction caused by this quake was extensive. When I was ministering in Japan many years ago, an earthquake struck in the middle of the night which shook the house where I was staying with a mighty force. The house rumbled, rattled, and swayed and I had the feeling that the house was going to collapse upon me. It was a very unsettling experience and the two aftershocks which followed perpetuated the anxiety. Earthquakes are mentioned 19 times in the Bible and are sometimes associated with the overthrowing of kingdoms. Haggai 2:6-7 predicts God using powerful quakes for such a purpose, and Daniel 2:44 teaches the ultimate replacement of earthly kingdoms with God's eternal kingdom, "And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever."
Jesus taught us in the model prayer that we should pray, "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven." This earthquake in Japan should remind us of what is and what is to come.
Tomorrow's sermon is about the sin of taking away from the sacrifice of Christ. I hope to see you there.
Mel Brown