Eighty years ago, the Second World War ended with allied victory, first in Europe and later in the Far East. As a nation we had been delivered from tyranny and our essential freedoms were preserved.
But as the Duke of Wellington once said, “Only a battle lost is worse than a battle won.” The conflict hadn’t just redrawn political maps. It had cost the lives of over 450,000 Britons and caused an estimated 70 to 85 million deaths worldwide.
During the war our king, George VI, called for National Days of Prayer no less than seven times. The first occasion was May 24, 1940, after our forces had been trapped at Dunkirk. In a broadcast to the nation the king urged, “Let us with one heart and soul humbly but confidently commit our cause to God and ask his aid.” Millions of people responded both publicly and privately. Almost immediately a storm arose over Dunkirk which prevented enemy planes from massacring completely our soldiers on the beach. Then calm descended on the English Channel so that a fleet of little boats was able to rescue over 335,000 men.
A second call to prayer came in August the same year as the aerial Battle of Britain began. As before, God graciously answered and through, for example, the brave pilots of Spitfires and Hurricanes, the enemy was held back. The final occasion came just before the D-Day landings in the spring of 1944 when once again a sea that had been rough fell calm, greatly facilitating that crucial counter-invasion.
I used to teach World War II as a primary school topic and every time I did so I was struck by the resilience that ordinary people were given to face extraordinary daily horrors, but also by the remarkable way in which an utterly hopeless situation turned miraculously into eventual deliverance. Truly God was merciful to our nation and to others.
Although we enjoy relative peace and stability today we can’t forget that a British soldier has died somewhere on active service in almost every calendar year since 1945. Conflict seems to be part of the human condition.
The New Testament asks, “Where do wars and fights come from?” And then gives the sobering answer, “From your desires for pleasure that battle within you.” Jesus himself said something similar, that evil acts like murder come from the human heart. That doesn’t mean that we’re all murderers – let alone all Hitlers or Stalins – but Jesus went on to explain that even if we’ve been angry towards someone without good reason, then we’ve committed murder in our hearts. So our thoughts, as well as our words and actions, fall far short of the holy standard of our Maker God.
The good news is that Jesus was in the world to fight sin and death for us. He lived a perfect life in which he taught yet more radical things like “Love your enemies” and “Do good to those who hate you.” His first recorded words in public were, “Repent and believe the gospel!” That is, turnaround from going your own sinful way and head God’s way. Jesus even said that he was that only way to God.
Yet Jesus suffered and died when he was nailed to a cross, punished in fact by God the Father in the place of all sinful people who would humbly believe that he had done that for them – that he had to if they were to go free. And having paid for sin, Jesus rose again and defeated death once and for all so that we could have eternal life! That’s why the Bible can also say, “Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
It is right that we thank God for historic deliverances and for freedom, and that we remember those whose lives were lost, and acknowledge the sacrifice of so many – that we commemorate this victory. But it would be futile if we didn’t also come to know the greater victory over sin and death that the perfect sacrifice, Jesus Christ – and he alone – has won for us, when we turn from our own sin and trust him.
Used with permission (c) Matthew Pickhaver (Matthew is a Minister in Norwich).
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