Sermon Transcript — August 18, 2007
Eric Lomax was born in Scotland in 1919. He became an employee of the British Postal System, in the end of the 1930's, and he learned a functioning of the rudimentary radios of the time as part of his work. His passion was the British rail systems between the two world wars. He loved the old steam engine trains and he knew them intimately - he loved to watch them as the roared by. Out of fear of conscription, which was starting to fill the ranks of the British Army for the conflict that was already appearing on the horizon, he enlisted in the Army Reserves as a transmission officer, a radio operator. And in August of 1939, as many other thousands of men were, he was mobilized. In march of 1941 he left with his battalion for Asia to defend the Asian part of the British Empire, and he was stationed in Malaysia in December of 1941 when news arrived that Japan had attacked the U.S. Fleet at Pearl Harbor, and a number of British installations as well.
Japanese ground forces went on the offensive and kept pushing forward, down from the North of Malaysia toward the South, toward Singapore, which was an important British fortification, and through a series of poor judgments, mistakes, errors, in February 100,000 British soldiers surrendered to the Japanese without a fight. It was the worst defeat that the British Empire had ever known to this day. 100,000 men became prisoners, and Eric Lomax was one of them.
The conditions in which these prisoners were kept were terrible. The prisoners were forced to work, they were forced to do hard labor, there were forced marches, over-crowded camps, insufficient and poor quality food - everything contributed to break the spirit and the health of the prisoners. Summary execution was applied for the least infraction of any order. In February of 1942 Eric Lomax was sent to work on a vast rail construction project that was going to unite newly conquered territories of the Japanese Empire: Burma, Siam (what we call Thailand now), and Malaysia. He had to work building this railroad, which meant that the railroad that had been his greatest joy now became his worst nightmare, because conditions were so atrocious.
Prisoners of War were forced to work under conditions and at such speed that thousands of them died from exhaustion. To keep some semblance of mental balance, some of the prisoners made small radio receivers out of pieces of junk that they found so that they could tune in and listen to some news of the war, to remind them of why they were there, to give some meaning to their captivity. But several months after they built some, they were found by the Japanese guards. The backward guards didn't understand the difference between a receiver and a transmitter, and they thought perhaps the prisoners were going to radio out for help, which of course was impossible. So the guards began bringing the prisoners in one by one to interrogate them, to find out everything that was going on.
To start with, several of the guards would beat each man individually with pick handles. Several of the prisoners died from these beatings. Eric Lomax had just been assigned to take off his glasses and hand them to a fellow next to him before his beating began. Both his wrists were broken, his lower back and his pelvis were particular targets; Several of his teeth were broken out by the pick handle. And that continued until he lost consciousness, with others that had been beaten, and they were left where they fell, there on the ground, for two days and two nights before any help was allowed to come from other prisoners who would come and help them as they were able to.
A week later, the interrogations began. Every night the men were locked in cages and during the day they faced eighteen hour days of interrogation, during which the interrogators tried to find out all they could about what had gone on in the camps. He was told, early on, in a matter of fact sort of way, that he was going to be killed shortly in any event, but that his last moments would be less unpleasant if he would cooperate. So, hour after hour he had to sit, balancing his two broken arms on his legs, answering questions.
A series of Sergeants came to direct the questioning, but it was always the same interpreter, a young Japanese man who had learned English with an American accent. The voice of the interpreter never stopped, pushing the prisoner, trying to trap him in a lie, and after several days the torture began again. His head was pushed down into basins full of water, he was beaten on the chest and the head with wooden sticks, water was continually poured on his face until he couldn't breathe and nearly drowned, but it always stopped just before he would lose consciousness. And through the whole process he always heard the voice of the interpreter: "Eric Lomax, you will tell us, tell us the truth and all this will stop."
Of course, Eric Lomax, and the other prisoners, hated the guards. But he most hated the interpreter, the one he could understand, who talked and talked, and gave him no rest. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, he and several other prisoners were finally transferred to another camp. They went through a mock trial, were sentenced to five to ten years of hard labor, (which was what they were doing anyway), and he spent the rest of the war working on work gangs. But he survived.
When he came home after the war, it was a very difficult return. No one understood what he'd been through: He had nightmares, he'd suffered so much he couldn't forget the things that had been done to him, and he developed a cold, hard, desire for vengeance, which is quite understandable. He wanted vengeance especially on that interpreter, whose face more than any other, haunted his nightmares. And finally after a few years, Eric Lomax decided to mount a campaign to track down that interpreter and make him pay for all the suffering that he'd gone through. It took a number of years, and some luck, but he finally found him.
He came across an article in a Japan Times of August 15 th, 1989, about a man named Nagase Takashi. He was a Japanese who helped the families of missing Allied soldiers who had died, and whose remains had been lost - he would go and help them try to locate the remains of their loved ones. And in the Article there was a photo of Nagase - he was now 71 years old - but the face hadn't changed enough that he couldn't recognize him. It was the interpreter.
This man had decided to dedicate his life to the memory of the soldiers who had died during the construction of that horrible bloody rail line. The Article explained that Nagase was now in poor health, that he had a heart condition, that he'd suffered several heart attacks, and that every time he had a heart attack he had a vivid vision of a prisoner who'd been tortured by having water poured onto his face until he couldn't breathe, and nearly drowned.
Nagase Takashi had written a book about his experiences during the war. He explained how eighteen years after the war was over, he and his wife returned to Thailand. They came to Kanburi, where the torture and the interrogation of the prisoners had occurred, and he stood in the middle of 7,000 graves in the Allied War cemetery, joined his hands to pray, and as he did, he suddenly felt a sense of relief - this is what he explained in his book. It was as if a voice told him, "This is it, you have been pardoned", and that was written in the Article. After that he made several trips to Thailand and he helped a lot of Asian workers, and did what good that he could.
But, Eric Lomax and his wife were indignant when they read what he had written. She was openly angry: "How dare he suddenly feel forgiven for all the things that he had done when her husband was still suffering from nightmares?" - the aftermath of what he had suffered from those beatings; He had health problems all his life. Mrs. Lomax wrote Nagase Takashi an indignant letter - polite, but indignant. She said, among other things: "My husband is the man you describe on page fifteen of your book. He would like to have contact with you - he has lived with many unanswered questions all these years, to which perhaps, only you can help him find the answer. How can you feel forgiven, Mr.Nagase, if this prisoner has not forgiven you?" Eric Lomax finally had his man.
Why am I telling you a story like that today in the sermon? The Sabbath is a happy time - we're coming up to wonderful Holy Day time in the fall, and that's a kind of depressing story, isn't it? - torture, a desire for revenge, people suffering all their lives because of events that occurred to them decades earlier. Could there be a tie-in between the example of Eric Lomax and some of the lessons that we're supposed to review and refresh in our minds as we come along to the Fall Holy Day Season? Searching for desire to right wrongs, to find justice, to find peace.
When we think of the Fall Holy Days and the end-time event that they illustrate for us, we find that it's a time when God is going to finally take control of the destiny of human kind: Trumpets, the return of Jesus Christ, a time of war, a time of trouble; Atonement represents the reconciliation of human kind to its Creator; The Feast of Tabernacles, a time of rebuilding - but as we heard, even at the beginning of the Millennium there is still going to be conflict until things finally settle down. And, of course, at the time of the Last Great Day, the second resurrection, when all of humanity that's ever lived and died without knowing Christ, rises - what are some of the things that are going to be going through their mind?
Ezekiel, Chapter 37, Verse 11 is one of the verses that we read, (usually read this) - someone will read it on the Last Great Day - because it is an illustration of what that resurrection is going to be like.
Ezekiel 37:11 (It speaks specifically here of the house of Israel, but it's really talking about something that is going to happen for all humanity). He said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say 'Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off !'
Now, the bones didn't actually say that, but it's possible that those are some of the last thoughts of people as they died, because a lot of Israelites died in war, just as Eric Lomax suffered, and there were probably times when he said, "You know, this is it - I'm not going to make it - there is no more hope." They're going to come up in this resurrection and their last memories may have been of something really horrible that happened to them, when some invading army, or other, came through and so many thousands died. Many who will be resurrected will have been killed - mistreated by other people, and they'll have terrible memories, and they'll be grappling with that as they come up and live again.
Since the time of Cain and Abel, until wars that are prophesied but have not yet occurred, and including the infinite number of pogroms, and holocausts, and genocides in between, millions of people, possibly billions of people, in this resurrection are going to come face to face with their sworn enemies, with people who did terrible things to them. And they are going to feel in their heart the desire for vengeance, just like Eric Lomax did. Think of all the wars that have occurred down through human history - at least the ones we know about. There are probably others that we've never even heard of - they've been lost to human memory.
There were conquests by the Great Empires of Ancient times: Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome - thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of people were killed in those campaigns. There were the invasions of Genghis Khan. There were wars in the middle ages, in Europe: They were the wars of religion, where Christian killed Christian throughout much of Europe. There was the reign of terror in France, the Guillotine; The Civil War in this United States. The first World War; The Jews who perished in the death camps of Nazi Germany; The Hutus and the Tutsis in Rhonda who killed each other with machetes.
And as I talk to you today, there are no doubt Iraqis who are either trying to get payback for something that some other extremist group did to their family members, or their plotting to continue the cycle of violence, one way or the other.
How many people died? How much suffering has there been? And how are we going to assist Jesus Christ to help these people reconcile with each other - to turn away from the desire for vengeance and payback, and to forgive, and to learn to live together. Because in this resurrection and these times to come, during the Millennium, during the second resurrection, we're going to assist Jesus Christ, to show all these resurrected billions of people, to show them the way to reconciliation. The Bible shows us, He's not going to start with a reconciliation between people - the reconciliation that the world will finally know at that time is going to start with another, more important, reconciliation.
Isaiah, Chapter 59 talks about the state of human kind in relation to its Creator, right now, as things stand now. (Isaiah Chapter 59, Verses 1 and 2)
Isaiah 59:1 Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that He cannot save, nor His ear heavy, that He cannot hear,
Verse 2: But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.
Humanity, as a whole, is cut off from god because of sin, and that sin, we know, brought about even finally the death of the Son of God, who came and gave his life so that reconciliation would be possible. And it is that reconciliation that is going to be the starting point; Humanity needs to be reconciled to God, and that is part of what is portrayed by the Day of Atonement, that we'll be celebrating once again in a couple of weeks.
Jeremiah, Chapter 5 and Verse 25, (I won't turn there - I'll just quote it to you, you can note it if you like), says:
Jeremiah 5:25 Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have withheld good from you.
Sin withholds good - it causes bad things to happen, and as we look at all of the suffering and the violence in human history, that's where it all started - it all started with sin. One of the first Proverbs that I memorized was Proverbs 14 and Verse 12, and it's repeated in 16, Verse 25 as well. It says:
There is a way which seems right to a man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death.
When we do what comes naturally, when we just do what seems right to us, what seems normal, what seems like a logical way to proceed, it ends up causing suffering and death, and that's what's happened to all humanity. Mankind, starting with Adam and Eve, has followed that path of going the way that seems right, but ending up with the ways of death. Even the people, the small nation to whom God revealed Himself, and laws which explained the right way of life, even they didn't keep it. Look at Acts, Chapter 7 if you would. Even with the people of Israel to whom God revealed Himself and to which He gave His laws, even that nation turned against God.
Acts, Chapter 7, Verse 51 - We have Stephen's sermon here. It was quite an effective sermon - you could call this a "Stir to Action" speech; It stirred the whole crowd to action, but probably not the action he had in mind. They killed him after it because it bothered them so much, they felt so convicted by what he said.
Acts 7:51 (This is kind of a conclusion) "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.
He's talking to the nation of Israel. Even Israelites to whom God revealed Himself and His law, even they turned against their Creator.
Verse 52: "Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers,
Verse 53: "Who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it."
That's the whole story of humanity. Most never knew God. But even those who did, even the few who did, refused to go that way of life. And it came to the point that human beings killed the Son of God who came, very precisely, to get them out of the dead-end street that they'd started going down in the Garden of Eden. But the good news is - and that's the good news that we see in the Fall Holy Days that's repeated year after year - the Creator still loves His creation - every bit of it. The Fall Holy Days represent that for us. God loves all His creation - every man and woman and every child who ever lived. God loves them, and He has a plan for them to become part of His family.
Ephesians, Chapter 2 , if you would. Start reading in Verse 11:
Ephesians 2:11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh - (he was writing to people who were not Jewish, of Jewish birth, or Israelite birth - they had been Gentiles, were of Gentile birth, although by this time they were members of the Church of God) Remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh - who are called Un-circumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands (that is what Jews or Israelites called them)
Verse 12: remember that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
And that's the state of most of the population in the world today, and it has been all down through history.
Verse 13: But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been made near by the blood of Christ.
When God calls someone, and reveals the truth to him, then there is reconciliation possible with God, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Jesus reconciled all human beings with God the Father, and then, once that reconciliation is in operation, then other reconciliation's can flow from it. When peace is made with God, then we can make peace with other people.
To get people to live together in peace, people have to understand that human problems come from disobedience to God's way of life. That's such a simple thing to say, and yet it's so profound, and it's had such incredible impact on the history of humanity.
Let's continue in:
Verse 14: He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, (Jews and Gentiles), and has broken down the middle wall of division between us,
Verse 15: Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,
There will be a great reconciliation! The whole population of the earth will become one people, spiritually speaking. And that's something the world has never seen.
Verse 16: And that He might - (here's the word were looking at: reconcile) that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.
See, when people get reconciled to God, when that relationship is healthy and as it should be, then they can get along with each other; Then there can be reconciliation between nations, and between individuals.
Verse 17: And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near.
Verse 18: For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
Verse 19: Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.
That's going to be true for all humanity. That is the wonderful lesson of hope that runs like a light motif through the Fall Holy Days that we'll be celebrating very shortly.
Turn over a few more pages, please, to Hebrews, Chapter 2. Hebrews, Chapter 2, Verse 17, we read there:
Hebrews 2:17 Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
That has to do with reconciliation, to reconcile human beings, to take away their sins so that reconciliation is possible with God the Father. And He suffered terribly to be able to do that. Jesus Christ understands deeply how it feels to be horribly mistreated, unfairly mistreated, tortured and finally murdered. He went through all of that voluntarily, suffering in a horrible way, and finally, as I said, dying on a cross. He, more than anyone else, can help people understand and follow the way of reconciliation - the way of life which allows for reconciliation, and peace between people.
John, Chapter 7 is also a verse that will probably be read on the Last Great Day, at whatever Feast Site you attend. John, Chapter 7, Verse 37 - Right now God's Holy Spirit is only available to the small number that He calls out of the world, but we look forward to a time when that access will be open and available to every living human being.
John 7:37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood, and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
Verse 38: He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."
People will be filled to overflowing with God's Holy Spirit: The healing, and the understanding, and the knowledge that that brings.
Verse 39: This He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him should receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
It hadn't yet come time even to give the Holy Spirit to the few hundreds and then thousands that would make up the early church - that was going to happen on the Day of Pentecost and thereafter, after Christ's resurrection. But on this Last Day of the feast, picturing that time in the future, He said, "If anyone thirst, let him come." This is looking forward to a time when access to the Holy Spirit will be available to anyone - all human kind will know its Creator. Then mankind will fully understand the importance of the privilege that it has to receive the marvelous gift of reconciliation with our God and our Father - the immensity of what the Father is willing to forgive His human creation - what He's willing to forgive them because of the sacrifice of His Son, that weighty, worthy gift, that Jesus Christ laid down of His own will.
How would human beings not be reconciled to each other when they realize what God was willing to forgive them? How could they dare do anything else but be reconciled to each other when they had an understanding of their own personal guilt, and what God forgave to them? How would we dare do otherwise, either, brethren? How would we not want to be reconciled with others around us when we understand the great gift of forgiveness that God has given to us? And I'm not thinking of anyone in particular when I say this, I'm just saying that whenever we get a group of people together of this size, the chances are that there are some folks who need to be reconciled to other folks. Like I said, I don't know, I'm not thinking of anybody in particular, but probably somebody - one or two or more of us here - needs to be reconciled with somebody else. We need to remind ourselves of that. Maybe some of us still need to be reconciled to God in our own minds. And I'll explain a little bit more what I mean about that in a moment.
When we understand the depth, to the very depth of our being, the magnitude and the importance of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, then we can be reconciled with other human beings. It is a responsibility for us to do that, and that's what humanity is going to do in a greater scale once the Kingdom of God is established on the earth. In the meanwhile, those of us who are called now as first fruits, we must learn, we must understand, and we must practice the way of reconciliation now. We must practice it toward our Creator, be reconciled to Him, and walk with Him, and we need to learn to be reconciled with each other.
So, please allow me this general question, (each of us have to think of it for himself) - with whom are you not reconciled? Is there anyone with whom you're not reconciled? And if there is, what are you going to do about it?
Matthew, Chapter 5, Verse 23 - Matthew 5, 6 and 7, what we sometimes call "The Sermon on the Mount", lays out the fundamentals of Christianity. How was Christ's teaching going to be different from what we find in the Old Testament? Now this is kind of the founding principles of how Christianity would be different from Judaism: He was magnifying the law, giving it its full weight, its full intent. And in Matthew, Chapter 5 and Verse 23 He said this:
Matthew 5:23 "Therefore if you bring your gifts to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you,
Verse 24: "leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift." And He goes on to say:
Verse 25: "Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you are thrown into prison.
Verse 26: Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny."
Not being reconciled has penalties to pay, both physical and spiritual. It seems to indicate here that if we let a difficulty drag on with someone else, another human being, it will get in the way of our relationship with God. We're not supposed to give our gift at the altar until we've taken care of whatever human relationship difficulties that we have awareness of - we need to go and work at that reconciliation. That's a first step for Christians: Go and be reconciled to your brother, then go and worship God. Because once we've learned how to do that ourselves, then we'll be able to teach it to other people.
II Corinthians, Chapter 5 please - Verse 18 to start with. We read here:
II Corinthians 5:18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, - (that's how it worked, that's how spiritual reconciliation works, we do it through Jesus Christ) - and He has given us the ministry of reconciliation,
That is a responsibility that the church has, and it's a responsibility that individual Christians have. We have a ministry, we have a service to perform of reconciliation.
Verse 20: We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.
The first part of that ministry of reconciliation that we have, collectively and individually, is to help people be reconciled to God - that is, preach the gospel, help people understand the spiritual state they're in, and how they can escape from what's coming, through Christ's sacrifice - to have this reconciliation with the Father. That's what the message that the church preaches to the world opens the door for people to do. And those who are called by God, after hearing the message, can be reconciled to God. So that's the first part of the ministry of reconciliation that we have, though we've also seen that Jesus said it was part of the responsibility of the individual Christian also, to go and be reconciled to our brother, to be reconciled with each other.
Romans, Chapter 12 , and Verse 18 is a verse, or passage that we sometimes read in this context, because it tells us that there may be some situations where reconciliation is going to be extremely difficult because somebody else just doesn't want it. Now that can happen at times. Romans Chapter 12, and Verse 18, Paul writes:
Romans 12:18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.
So, Paul at least acknowledges that there are some situations that we're not really going to reach a full understanding, because some people, sometimes, just don't want to go down that road - they would rather stay at odds with us. But as much as it depends on us, (and we should never underestimate our part in that), we should always be asking ourselves, "Is there something more I can do?" Sometimes we may pretend to ourselves, and to others, that it doesn't really depend on us - it's all the other persons fault, whoever the person might be, when in reality there can still be a great deal more that we could do. So, we shouldn't use Romans 12:18 as an excuse - we should understand that there are, kind of "no win situations" sometimes. But, our responsibility is to try to do the very most and the very best that we can.
Are you reconciled with everyone? Am I? This is a question we should ask ourselves as we approach the Fall Holy Days, that talks so much about reconciliation. Are you reconciled with your brethren, with members of your family, your parents, your children - are you reconciled with the Church? Some people aren't entirely reconciled with the Church. Some people never quite make peace with whatever injustices they feel they suffered within the Church, because that happens. As we heard in the first message, the Church is composed of sinners! That's what we are, and so we're going to bother each other - sometimes we're going to hurt each other, and reconciliation will be necessary.
Are you still reconciled with God? Some people, even Christians - Christians for years - are not entirely at peace with God. They're angry with Him because of the things that He's allowed, because of the way He's decided to do things, because He didn't do something that they wanted done in their life, and they start feeling that God isn't fair. And when we're not reconciled with God, that's a terrible weight that we carry around with us. The source of solace, and the source of strength that we should have becomes something of a burden to us, and we need to cast that burden off and be reconciled fully in our own minds to God, and to one another.
If we want to teach this way later on, this way of life, we have to learn it now. In fact, that's why we've been called in advance, so we can learn the lessons ahead of time and then we'll be prepared to teach them to other people. And God wants us to go through it, and live it, and learn how it works, the "nitty gritty" of it, by fulfilling it, by putting it into practice, by living it all our lives.
I sometimes use the example to try to illustrate this - probably most of you have flown on an airplane before - some people are more nervous about it than others. I've been on one more than I ever thought I would in my life. But I thought, what would happen if I got on a plane one day, and you know, the Pilot always comes on and makes some welcoming remarks. What if he said, "I hope you enjoy your flight today - I'm certainly going to enjoy mine, because this is the first time I've ever flown an airplane! But don't worry, I know the manual backwards and forwards. I've studied it intently; I have every confidence that I can fly this airplane to wherever you're going."
Some of you probably had an operation before - hopefully nothing too serious. But you've gone under the knife, under anesthetic - what if just as they were about to put that mask over your nose and mouth the doctor said: "Well, this is the first time I've ever operated before, but the manuals in Medical School had these great pictures - I'm sure I'll find my way around in there just fine." If you're like me, you'd find another flight, and another doctor immediately - don't put that mask over my nose! You're not practicing on me!
God doesn't want us practicing on people in the world tomorrow either. He wants us experienced, He wants us knowledgeable, He wants us committed, He wants us dedicated. That's why there's a concept that returns frequently in the New Testament, where God says something like: He that overcomes and keeps my works to the end, to him I will give authority over the nations."
You can't just study the manual and sort of, you know, prepare for a test - the written test that we're going to have in some point in the future. We've got to be doing "a practice" side of the course. Right now we're getting the theory - we're opening the book, we're studying it, we're seeing what we need to do, and as soon as the final Amen happens, that's when the practical starts - the practicalpartof the course starts that we're going through. We're supposed to be putting it all into practice.
Because of the hurts and things that happen in this human life, some it absolutely horrible, like what Eric Lomax went through, people desire "payback." They want to right wrong, but they don't know how to do it in the right way. Man's desire to set things right usually doesn't end in reconciliation. Most of the time, man's desire to set things right, to make things right, ends up with more strife and more bitterness and more anger, and more hatred. The Holy Days, however, point us to a time when reconciliation will be the rule - not the exception, like it is today.
I started you with the story of Eric Lomax, which is kind of a downer - let me go back to that story. The reason I chose that, actually, is because it has such an inspiring ending to it. Several weeks after Mrs. Lomax sent her letter to Nagase, a response arrived from him. Mr. Nagase said that her letter had, I quote, "Beaten me down wholly. But, that if he could be of any small help, he was at their service." The P.S. of his letter finished with these words: "The dagger of your letter thrusted me into my heart, to the bottom." When he read that letter, the pent-up anger of Eric Lomax evaporated. In its place was a growing compassion for Nagase, and for himself. The hard armor that he'd worn for years fell off, and he understood that he might actually be able to forgive this man. They began exchanging letters, at first with some difficulty, but always with an open heart.
Some while later they arranged to meet in Thailand, in Kanburi, where all the suffering had taken place. Eric Lomax arrived first by train, at the bridge over the River Quai - that's where the bridge, that you maybe seen in that old movie, was one that was part of that rail system. And a short while later he saw Nagase arrive, he saw him coming at a distance, and they walked toward each other. Eric Lomax greeted him with a phrase he had learned in Japanese, and Nagase replied, trembling and in tears, "I am very, very sorry." It was Eric who comforted him.
They talked about many things; They laughed together. Leaving their wives together at Kanburi the two men went by car, along with the Japanese friend of a driver, to see the Allied War cemetery, a short distance away. As they came back in a car, he glanced out the window and his wife caught his eye - she was looking at him, and he knew what she was thinking - there he was, seated in the backseat of a car between two Japanese men and he was laughing! A few days later they arrived together in Japan for a visit. During all this time in Japan Eric Lomax never felt a single moment of anger - never a desire for revenge. And finally one evening he asked to see Nagase in private. Mrs. Nagase was worried about her husband's heart, because he'd had several heart attacks, but she finally left to go next door.
When they were alone, Eric Lomax read a formal letter of forgiveness to Nagase, granting him the reconciliation that he so desired. After each paragraph he stopped and asked if Nagase understood everything, and he said that he did. Eric Lomax felt that his friend deserved this kind of formality - they had become friends.
The last words in the book written by Eric Lomax about his life story - it's called "The Railway Man", are these, the last works that he wrote: "Sometime the hating has to stop."
The Holy Days point us toward a time in God's marvelous plan when the hating will stop, once and for all - always and forever. This story of two extraordinary men is going to be lived out on an even higher level, on a much larger magnitude. It will be the reconciliation of all humanity with God, and of men and women among themselves, for everything that they experienced and underwent during this life.
John, Chapter 17 - a couple of Scriptures before we close:
John 17:20 Jesus said, in His intercessory prayer for His disciples - "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;
Verse 21: that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.
Verse 22: "And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: >
Verse 23: "I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me .
Verse 24: "Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
Verse 25: "O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me.
Verse 26: "And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."
Could there be a more wonderful picture of reconciliation - of all humankind transformed into the family of God, that we'll live together perfectly in peace - the ultimate story of reconciliation. And finally, I Corinthians 15:28 sums it up - this will be our last passage that we'll read:
I Corinthians 15:28 Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.
End of the story, that's all that's going to be left - the family of God, which will live in peace and harmony, completely reconciled for all eternity. Are we living the way of reconciliation now? Are we learning how to do it on a daily basis, with God and with each other? Is it important for us? It must be important for us, brethren, because we are to have the incredible privilege of teaching this way of life, this way of reconciliation to all humanity. God expects us to be learning it now