D-Day and Eternal Life: Taking On the Impossible
Submitted May 30, 2014
Source: freeimages.com/babykrul
Next week, on June 6 th is D-Day, the commemoration of Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of France on the Normandy coast in 1944. It was the largest coordinated invasion in history. It made the Spanish Armada look like toy-boats.
It’s been made into so many movies and included in so many storylines since the Second World War that those of us born in the interim think of it in those terms; Saving Private Ryan , Band of Brothers , The War by Ken Burns, or The Longest Day (for old movie buffs), among so many others. Countless books, interviews, and accounts of the experience have been recorded, but if we can step back to the months leading up to that day we’d realize that it was probably the most audacious military plan in modern history.
Who could have imagined that the armies and navies of multiple nations could coordinate with enough expertise and relative selflessness so as to uproot and push back a deeply entrenched enemy? The high ground is one of the most strategic elements in the history of warfare. If you have it, you will likely win with a modicum of competence. Yet the Allies had none of that, they were faced with a direct run onto a beach that would be scoured with gun fire. Their enemies had immense, concrete gun emplacements that still exist to this day.
In fairness, the German war machine was beginning to crumble, but after nearly six years of fighting they were by no means ready to give up. Yet, in the end, after the fighting that took place from village to village along the Normandy coast had begun to slow and as targets further inland were secured by the Allies, it became clear during the next twelve months that the Axis powers were failing and on May 8, 1945 Germany tendered unconditional surrender of its military.
What about us?
The Allies took on the impossible and accomplished a military miracle (undoubtedly with help from God). Is it possible for us to take on the impossible, too?
Let’s leave physical warfare behind and step up to consider the spiritual plane of existence. Can we go from our physical, human existence to a spirit existence, like God? According to many religious traditions this concept is blasphemous for the average person, only the truly gifted, beautiful or otherwise perfected individuals were fit for an upward shift to a “god-like” state. And by “god-like” I don’t mean the true God, but the likes of the Greek and Egyptian pantheons of gods and their ilk.
But the Bible, God’s revealed word, says something entirely different, “…we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality,” (1 Corinthians:15:51-53 [51] Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
[52] In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
[53] For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality., NKJV, emphasis added). God generously offers us eternal life through our repentance, baptism, receiving of the Holy Spirit, and above all, the value of the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, which covers all sins in the lives of all people who have ever lived and will ever live.
So, the impossible becomes possible. We can conquer the finite nature of our physical human lifetime and consciousness, and be resurrected into God’s spirit family. But it requires some commitment and action on our part—we have to move toward where God and His truth is by studying, praying, submitting to and obeying God and His laws. To learn more about this process, please read Transforming Your Life: The Process of Conversion and as you read, follow along in your Bible to understand just how God’s plan is revealed in His word.
Just like D-Day, the journey begins the moment we step into the water—in our case, the waters of baptism—and it ends with the resurrection to eternal life as Jesus Christ returns to the earth. And technically, that’s really just the beginning!
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