It was August 6, 1945 as the B-29 bomber, Enola Gay, approached Hiroshima, Japan. In its payload was “Littleboy” the first atomic bomb ever to be dropped in war time.
At 4 1/2 tons, 10’6″ in length and 29″ in diameter, no one could begin to imagine what was about to occur.
At approximately 0815 hours, the bomb bay doors opened and the point of no return had come. The bomb exploded at 1200 feet above the ground.
The amount of energy generated by the blast was the equivalent of a 15 kiloton TNT explosion.
On the ground beneath the explosion the wind velocity reached 980 MPH and exhibited 8600 pounds of pressure per square inch and the temperature at the center of the blast reached 7000 degrees.
From the center of the blast and up to 1 1/2 miles away, all things were completely vaporized, the very rocks of the buildings burned and glassed over, roof tiles melted, steel warped and human bodies instantaneously ignited and burned.
4 square miles of the city were laid to complete waste. 68% of the buildings were completely destroyed and another 24% were damaged.
At the time, it was reported that 129,558 people perished and ultimately the death toll would reach over 200,000 due to radioactive fallout and it’s complications. 176,987 were left homeless. (These statistics vary in some cases).
The destructive force of just one bomb……
May 18, 1980, a beautiful northwestern American spring day, the ground rumbled and then with one large explosion, Mount Saint Helen unleashed a fury of destruction and death upon the serene forests and communities of Washington state.
A cloud of ash, rock and gases were sent 12 miles into the atmosphere at speeds up to 670 MPH and at temperatures of 600 degrees.
All life was completely destroyed for approximately 70 square miles surrounding the mountain. The snow melted from the mountain causing flooding and massive mud slides. Towns 310 miles away were covered in ash.
The blast decreased the mountain’s elevation from 9,677 feet, to 8,364 feet.
57 people were killed and scores left homeless and the land forever changed.
The destructive force of just one volcano…
We are in the middle of another destructive force, the Coronavirus.
Whether you think the numbers are exaggerated or the governments are responsible for it, one thing is certain at this point, there are people dying from it. Lots of people. The Coronavirus is real. The potential for many more deaths is definitely there and we should be concerned. I said “Concerned” not “PANICKING”.
In light of this, what do we see, PANIC!!! People out panic buying, panic hoarding, treating others as if the zombie apocalypse is upon us. People are going to great measures to ensure their safety and health. They are out wearing masks and gloves and in some cases, complete body protection.
People are taking every measure possible to keep themselves from getting this “Flu-like” disease.
But here’s the puzzling thing to me. Why are they going to such extreme measures?
And you’re thinking “What are you some kind of idiot? They don’t want to get sick and die!!!!” And also “I may be carrier of it and I don’t want to make anyone else sick and possibly jeopardize their life.”
Now wait for a second, didn’t they wash their hands before? Didn’t they cover their mouths when coughing or sneezing before? Didn’t they just stay home when they were sick before?
Didn’t living in Florida (Using this as an example because it’s where I live) get you to understand to store up certain items; toilet paper, cleaning products, water, canned good, and other non-perishable food items, for the normal hurricane season?
Oh, the measure of precautions being taken now, so that they may live!!!
But, unbeknownst to the vast majority of people, another plague has been unleashed on this world that is more eternally devastating than a million nuclear weapons, sucking the life out of more men and women and children than a billion upon billion of bacteria’s or viruses ever could.
See, back in the book of Genesis, it tells us that a most devastating plague came upon mankind due to our first parents, Adam and Eve, disobedience to a holy and righteous God. It is the plague of “Sin”. Each man and woman born with it, it comes naturally to us. We are sinners through and through.
And no one is preparing for it. No one is treating it. Many are just turning a blind eye to it and refusing to believe that they have it.
The Bible tells us two things:
“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned….for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” – Romans 5:12; 3:23 (ESV)
And because of this, scripture tells us several things:
I. Because of our sin, we are separated from God.
“But your iniquities have made a separation
Isaiah 59:2
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
so that he does not hear.”
The plague of sin that we have in us and through us has separated us from a holy and righteous God. There is a wall of partition between us, a chasm for which we can never pass over to get to Him even if we had the resources of a million worlds and the strength of trillions of men.
II. Because of our sin we have been sentenced to death.
“For the wages of sin is death…” – Romans 6:23a
Not only are we separated from God, but we are sentenced to eternal separation from Him because of our sinful condition. And this separation and judgment is not pleasant, for it will be our lot after we die here to be cast into hell fires where the worm never dies and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
We are dead in our trespasses and sins. The plague is fatal without a cure.
So, is there a cure? Absolutely, but to the natural man the medicine is very bitter, even intolerable to some so that they never can take even a dose.
You must take two pills:
I. You must swallow the pill of confession of sins.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” – I John 1:9 (ESV)
You must confess that you have sinned against a holy God, that you are a sinner and deserving of the wrath of God and you are in need of His forgiveness.
II. You must trust and believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
“Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” – Romans 10:9-10 (ESV)
Let’s go back to the second half of Romans 6:23, it says, “But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.“
Checkmate! Plague is stopped…..
The only way to be free of the sin problem that we have is through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came and went to Calvary’s cross to pay the penalty for your sins. And it is a work of God. Salvation is of the Lord!
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Ephesians 2:4-9 (ESV)
Worried about Coronavirus? Well let me tell you, it can separate you from this world through death, sure. But, death by Coronavirus without having your sins confessed and repented, without having made Jesus Christ Lord and Savior, that my friend can bring an eternity in hell separated from the love and grace and mercies of the God of all creation.
Worry about your soul first. Worry about what would happen if you were to die right now. Would you be cast into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth or would you be found in the arms of Jesus, who died upon Calvary’s cross for the sin’s of the sinner?
I plead with you, run now, right this moment to Jesus. Look at the empty cross and the empty tomb and place your eternity and your faith in the Lord Jesus…
Soli Deo Gloria
Great message!