Days of Infamy

Exactly sixty-seven years ago today, the Empire of Japan suddenly and deliberately attacked our naval and military forces at Pearl Harbor in Oahu, Hawaii. On the next day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his speech to Congress, referred to December 7, 1941, as “a date which will live in infamy.” Some who read this remember exactly what they were doing when the news broke. As a result of that unprovoked and dastardly attack, our nation came together with such great unity in working together that was never before or since seen. Because God is able to make good come out of bad situations (Rom. 8:28), days of infamy often result in unprecedented blessings. Let us examine two such Biblical days of infamy.

The Day Sin Entered the World

Shortly after creation week, Eve was deceived by the devil (Gen. 3:1-5). She then “saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise,” and “she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat” (Gen. 3:6). Paul later referred to this event, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Rom. 5:12). Paul made clear that at that precise point in human history, sin became a reality among humanity. Note, though, that we are not lost in sin because of Adam’s sin, but because “all have sinned” (cf. Ezk. 18:20)! However, even though that day lives in infamy, there was some good that came from it. As God pronounced punishment upon the serpent, the instrument through which Satan worked, He said, “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Gen. 3:15). This was the first explicit promise of the coming Messiah, who is Jesus Christ (cf. Gal. 3:16). His coming would change the world!

The Day Christ Was Crucified

God did come in the flesh as predicted centuries before (Isa. 7:14 cf. Mt. 1:21-23), in fulfillment of that seed promise (Gen. 3:15). However, Jesus was not as accepted by His peers as we might have thought He should. John wrote, “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not” (Jn. 1:10-11). Even though He taught the will of the Father (Jn. 12:49-50), and always “went about doing good” (Acts 10:38), “the Jews sought to kill him” (Jn. 7:1). Jesus was ultimately betrayed by one of His own, Judas Iscariot (Mt. 10:4). After enduring cruel mistreatment and a mockery of a “trial,” Pilate delivered Jesus “unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away. And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst” (Jn. 19:16-18). This was the darkest day of infamy in human history. However, as with other days of infamy, this also had a silver lining. Because of Jesus’ death on the cross, we can be saved from our sin (cf. Isa. 53:4-6). Jesus “was made...for the suffering of death...that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (Heb. 2:9).

Although both of these days of infamy were very tragic, they are significant to our salvation because God’s gracious answer to them resulted in the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, who “became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him” (Heb. 5:9). Let us love and serve God!