Memorial Day

Part 1

Tim Moore: Well, how about it, Nathan? How can we assert that Memorial Day, or remembering and commemorating in general, is uniquely Judeo-Christian in terms of its function?

Nathan Jones: Well, you could go throughout the Bible and see that whenever the Lord did something amazing, that He would want the Jewish people then to commemorate it, either through setting up some kind of memorial stones or have a holiday or a feast or something, so that as the generations came and went, they could look back to that time and remember what the Lord had done for him.

And you read it throughout the Old Testament. The Lord says, “Do you remember when I did this?” And yeah, 1,000 years earlier or 2,000 years earlier, they always remembered, because the Lord wanted to set up commemorations to help us remember things.

Tim Moore: He certainly did. You know, I think back to the very first commemoration, and that being the rainbow.

Nathan Jones: Oh, yeah.

Tim Moore: He set a rainbow in the sky so that mankind would remember that God promised, He gave a covenant that He would never again destroy the Earth with a flood. I mean, it would make us seem to need to praise Him and worship Him every time we see a rainbow, but instead anymore, the rainbow has been hijacked by Satan to have a different meaning, and yet for a Christian, it should point us back to the promise of God and to His covenant.

Nathan Jones: When you think about it, that was 4,000 years ago, and to this day, when we look at a rainbow, we remember that covenant promise. And so that’s what the Lord calls general revelation. It’s the Gospel in the rainbow to the entire world.

Tim Moore: It certainly is. And you mentioned other commemorations. I always think of Passover. And faithfully, the Jews have been commemorating God’s providence to protect them, even as the angel of death came, visiting the Egyptian firstborn, he passed over those who, by faith, smeared the blood of a sacrificed lamb on their doorposts. And so to this day, they are commemorating, they’re remembering, and really, celebrating God’s providence. And of course, I love the story of the 12 stones.

Nathan Jones: Oh, yeah.

Tim Moore: Joshua led the people into Israel. So what happened there?

Nathan Jones: Well, when I went in to baptize in the Jordan River, which was quite an experience, I wondered if I’d find those stones somewhere in the water there. But when the Lord separated the Jordan River so the Israelites could go into the Promise Land, the Lord ordered Joshua to leave 12 stones in a pile there. I don’t think anyone has ever found them since. But for hundreds of years, people would go to the Jordan, say, “That’s where the Lord separated the waters,” and they’d remember the Lord, they remember the Lord’s goodness, and that’s the purpose of commemoration.

Tim Moore: It is, you know, we’re told in Deuteronomy chapter four, and again in chapter six, the great and famous Shema verse, that Israel should remember the Ten Commandments, remember the law that was handed down, they should teach them to their children. So, even the reflection and remembrance, there’s an element of instruction and teaching to younger generations so that this collective memory on behalf of the nation is never evaporated or erased.

You think of Esther and the provision of God to protect the people because she was willing to put herself in harm’s way by approaching the king in such a time as this, and therefore, Haman’s plot to destroy the Jews was thwarted. But to this day, they celebrate Esther and that moment of being faithful with a celebration of Purim.

Nathan Jones: Isn’t that amazing? 2,500 years, they’re celebrating Purim, just like in Hanukkah, when the Jewish people came back and the Maccabees got the Temple back, and they only had one day’s worth of oil, but it lasted eight days, and so they celebrate Hanukkah to remember the Lord’s goodness in the Temple.

Tim Moore: Exactly right. I actually love the account of Jephthah’s bad and tragic vow, remember?

Nathan Jones: Oh, that was…yeah.

Tim Moore: In Judges chapter 11. This man made a foolish vow that he would sacrifice whoever walked out of his home when he arrived back, if God would give certain blessing. Well, tragically, his own daughter emerged, and Jephthah had to keep that vow, but it says that the women in Israel remembered and commemorated the daughter for the sacrifice that she represented. And even in that tragedy, the idea of remembering the memory of this young woman, this young virgin woman, I have great appreciation for it.

We think about Joseph’s bones being carried back to the Promised Land because there was a memory of the way God worked through his life to preserve and protect his brothers, wayward though they were, and so again, this idea of commemorating, remembering, and honoring those who have sacrificed.

I think that’s why there are so many genealogies. Even Christians sometimes roll their eyes to read genealogies. But I think the Lord is demonstrating that He wants us to honor and respect those who have come before in this lineage of faith to bring us to where we are today.

Nathan Jones: Yeah, the fact that we have Rachel’s Tomb or so many other sites throughout Israel that you can go to, things that substantiate the Bible. I mean, the Bible isn’t just a book that was passed down. There’s so much archeology that supports the fact that the Bible is the Word of God, because the Lord wanted it all there to prove that He is God, and His Word, we can trust it.

Tim Moore: Amen. You know, when you apply this to the American experience, I think we have a unique habit of trying to commemorate things that have happened in the past so that we keep them preserved in our memory.

So, you have Daughters of the American Revolution or Sons of the American Revolution, their headquarters, believe it or not, is in Louisville, Kentucky, for the Sons of the American Revolution, and they will remember the sacrifice made by, really, a very small minority of colonials, colonists, who were determined to help establish a new nation, America, free from the oversight of King George and the Parliament far, far away in England.

And yet those men, and some of them very bedraggled, shall we say, you can think about Valley Forge and how they didn’t even have blankets and shoes, they fought courageously and sacrificially to establish American independence.

Nathan Jones: Yeah, a buddy of mine and I went to Valley Forge in the wintertime, and it was so cold, we could barely stand there for an hour, to think that they were there for months. Or just 10 miles north of Trenton, which when I lived in Pennsylvania at the time, we went to Washington’s Crossing.

Tim Moore: Wow.

Nathan Jones: And there’s a wonderful museum there, and to think that they gave up their Christmas to bring liberty, and that was the thing that turned the tide of the Revolutionary War was Washington overthrowing the Hessians.

And so there’s so much commemorative that our troops have done, that they’ve sacrificed and given their lives for, and I’m so glad that because our Founding Fathers and many Americans have a Judeo-Christian background and love the Lord, they understood what the Old Testament was teaching about the purpose of commemorating, not just the lives of the people, but what the Lord did through their lives.

Tim Moore: You know, you think back, and we’ve talked about Israel and its wars many times, so many wars just in the last 70 years, but America has had a long string of wars. We think of ourselves as a peaceful people, and I believe that we are, but yet we have been willing to step into the gap, and so there have been a number of conflicts, whether it comes from the Revolutionary War we’ve talked about, the Northwest Indian War, the First and Second Barbary War.

Yes, that was the first war of America against Muslim pirates in the Mediterranean. The War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, where North and South pitted brother against brother, the Indian Wars of the Great West, the Spanish-American War, the Boxer Rebellion, yes, a war in China back at the turn of the last century. World War I, World War II, or what Ilhan Omar recently referred to as World War 11 in her ignorance. The Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the Iran-Afghanistan War, those were where I fought and served, and now today, the Iran War.

Over and over again, Americans who really just wanted to go about their lives have stepped forward and volunteered and served to defend our constitution, our way of life, indeed, our homeland.

Nathan Jones: You know, we don’t really understand, and I think we live in a generation too that particularly has lived and benefited off the backs of the death. 1.3 million Americans have died defending freedom, both in the country and out of the country, in other countries. The fact that we stepped into Vietnam, that most people didn’t care about in the United States, but we wanted to protect them and provide them freedom. All the nations, the fact that we freed Iraq, and now we’re trying to free the people in Iran, it shows that the Lord uses America and other nations that call Him Lord to serve Him, and fortunately though, it’s a big price that people give their lives for it.

Tim Moore: It certainly is. When I was serving the Kentucky legislature, we had a special moment of commemoration for the Korean War, because it was known as the Forgotten War. Vietnam, of course, is the war were so many veterans were spit upon and despised when they came home, thinking they would come home to a grateful nation, but instead, so many rejected, even the servicemen and women who were over there in harm’s way. But the Korean War having been forgotten, and I made it clear, even as I hosted several events, that we had not forgotten, at least in Kentucky, officially, those who had served, whether in Korea, whether Vietnam, or in the war since.

Nathan Jones: We’ve even got TV shows like “M*A*S*H” that almost act as a commemorative, because the fact that even though it’s a drama or a comedy points and helps us remember… People watch “M*A*S*H” for years and never know what the Korean War is, but it keeps it going. And so I like to think that Hollywood has also played a part in helping us remember. You and I, before, we were talking about Saving Private Ryan. What an amazing movie that was. I mean, who would know the story of all these men who gave up their lives to rescue one person?

Tim Moore: Well, it is a great testimony, again, and I think our own heritage is based on biblical principles and, really, biblical examples. So, you think of some of the biblical examples of honoring the fallen dead, David’s respect for the fallen dead, those who had died in battle, to include King Saul, the very man who had tried to kill David and was so resentful of this young, anointed king to succeed him. You think of Jonathan, and even the seven sons of Saul. David at one point agreed to the Gibeonites’ request, that they be given some descendants of Saul to exact justice upon, but he said, “We will honor the bodies, even of those dead.”

You think of the martyrs in Heaven, they’ve been looking forward into Revelation, and God clearly is honoring those who have fallen because of their faith in Christ. Even in the tribulation time, we think about the primacy of the dead in Christ. Even as you and I are looking forward to the Rapture and our home going as we all are swept up to Heaven, the dead in Christ get to rise first. They get to meet Him in the air first. And so there’s this recognition of the primacy of honoring the dead.

Nathan Jones: Even the ultimate sacrifice, Jesus Christ on the cross, the very fact that the Son of God, perfect and holy, without blemish, would come down as a human, willingly give His life, fighting that ultimate spiritual battle and having victory over sin and evil and death, so that at the end of time, He can throw death and Hades into Hell, and that Heaven is filled with people who want to be with Him, all because He gave His life for us.

Tim Moore: All because He gave His life. And you’d think, well, when do we commemorate Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection? We do so in a special way, on Resurrection Sunday, what traditionally has been called Easter, but I think you and I typically now refer to it as Resurrection Sunday.

But in fact, every week that we go and worship on the Lord’s day, we are marking a special day of the week to commemorate not only Christ’s death, yes, His sacrifice, but His resurrection, and the two are tied intricately together. And so we celebrate, we commemorate, and we praise the Lord God Almighty, for Jesus’ perfect life, for His perfect sacrifice, and for His power over death, which gives us the Blessed Hope that we too will have eternal life through faith in Him.

Nathan Jones: And that’s why He set up a ceremony, which we call communion, to remember His death, burial, and resurrection. So, the very fact that we celebrate that, not just we got, of course, got Easter and Christmas, you know, two things a year, but for communion, some churches do it every month…some every week. And the fact is that Jesus set it up so that we would always remember it until the day He joins us in person.

Tim Moore: Exactly, we can’t forget that. I think so many churches, they read in 1 Corinthians Paul’s instructions for communion, and they’re accurate and true, but they leave out verse 26, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death,” that’s backward looking, “Until he comes,” that’s forward looking. That’s the great, glorious promise of His return, and really, our homegoing.

Jesus. People will say, “Well, what do you think about a Christian who serves in the military? Is that really appropriate?” And I’ve been asked that question very directly by young people. And I would only point back to Jesus Christ, who said, “Greater love has no one than this, that a person will lay down his life for his friends.” Now, we can point to that being a prophetic premonition of Jesus’ own sacrifice and death, but I think He applied it to others. And so in the chronicles of the New Testament, there is seldom any derogatory or disrespect given to those who serve in uniform.

So, Jesus Christ interacted with military men, those who were faithful. We know that the centurion at the cross recognized this must have been the son of God. We know that Paul had interaction with Cornelius. And so those who were serving and were willing to lay down their lives even in service, not just to Rome, but really, for their fellow man, I think Christ honored even in His word.

Nathan Jones: Yeah, and it’s interesting that the Lord honors not just a soldier, but a soldier of an occupying force. If you go to Matthew 8:5-13, we read about the centurion who, when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him and he pleaded with Him and he said, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented,” and Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”

And this is the amazing thing here, it says, “But the centurion said, ‘Lord, I am not good enough for you to come under my roof, but just say the word and my servant will be healed.’” And he explains why he’s a man of authority, and he tells people to come and go, and the Lord, you know, is like, “Truly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith in anyone in Israel.” And so He goes on and says, “Go and it shall be done for you as you have believed.”

Tim Moore: Wow.

Nathan Jones: You know, it’s amazing to see the faith of people who weren’t even Jewish. This centurion could very well have been maybe the first Gentile convert to Christianity.

Tim Moore: You know, that’s a great point. And I agree, Jesus was so impressed by his faith and by his willingness to be subservient to the Lord. And He said, “In all of Israel.”

I think some of the greatest faith that I have seen witnessed in terms of action and words have been by some military folks, even in harm’s way, who were willing to step into, you know, the fray in spite of all the dangers to themselves because of their deep abiding faith in Jesus Christ. And this has been true throughout the ages, down through the Church Age.

Well, we see another biblical model of this kind of selfless love in Jonathan, as expressed toward David and his own father. So, by rights, in the ancient world, Jonathan or one of his brothers would’ve been the rightful successor to King Saul. But Jonathan recognized that the Lord had selected David. And Jonathan had such great love for David. And indeed, I believe for the Lord God and His anointing, that he was a best friend with David. And yet he also loved his own father.

And so you see this tension between David and Saul, but Jonathan determined not to be caught in the middle, but just to show sacrificial love to them both.

Nathan Jones: Yeah, Jonathan’s amazing, because you think about it, he grew up underneath the king, so he knew all the courtiers. He was probably professionally trained in combat. He was a true warrior. And then here comes David. He’s a shepherd. He’s a musician. You know, he goes into battle with a slingshot. And you know, Jonathan also was going to be king of all Israel. And yet this shepherd guy’s anointed.

The selflessness of Jonathan has always shocked me, because he could have been really like David, and he’s just some low guy. He doesn’t know really how to fight. He doesn’t know how to lead. “I’ve been taught how to lead.” And yet you don’t see a jealous bone in Jonathan’s body. He was a true soldier and a true stateman. He put Israel first before his own ambitions.

Tim Moore: You know, I think of that attitude with the best of the best who serve among us. You think of a pastor who puts his own self-interest, ideally, aside. Many pastors could make more money in another profession, another realm, but they want to serve the Lord and the flock that He provides to them.

You think of a mother or father who makes tremendous sacrifices on behalf of their children and even would lay down their life for their child. And of course, you think of the military folks who are willing to lay down their lives or to be in harm’s way on behalf of all of us. And that’s not to say that every person has that kind of elevated motivation, but I think that by and large, we always should honor those who serve and who sacrifice on our behalf.

And so Memorial Day should be much more than about mattress sales or, you know, sales at our local retailer, it really should be about commemorating. I’ve been involved in a number of Memorial Day commemorations, I’ve been the guest speaker at several in Kentucky, and I’m always appreciative that some take the time to mark this day and to have special moments of commemoration.

Nathan Jones: Yeah, and speaking of which, we commemorate mothers on Mother’s Day, so we even have a commemoration date for those who are fighting in the front lines of family values.

But I remember my son was in Cub Scouts and then Boy Scouts all the way up to Eagle, and so we went to many Memorial Day things, and I just loved how it instilled into those scouts the values of remembering those left behind. It made such an impression that he then ended up joining the Coast Guard because he wanted to honor those who came before him and defend our country.

He felt particularly burdened to defend our borders and to defend our nation in-house. And that, to me, you know, touched me. If he’s watching, you know, it makes a father cry, like your son, you know, out there fighting on our behalf. It’s those models of people that came ahead that sacrificed so much and even gave up their lives ultimately that makes such an impression on our soldiers today.

Tim Moore: Well, my son indeed could have been deployed in this current war with Iran, because the aircraft he used to fly would’ve been right in the fray. He had transitioned to another aircraft, and so he was in training.

But I told him several months ago, we were talking about the risk that he takes, and sometimes they’re very, very great, and the type of missions that he would fly, and I said, “Son, I never worry about you, because, A, you’ve had tremendous training. The Air Force gives you great training in all of the skills that you’re required to exert. You also have a maturity.” He has now three children. And so he is cautious with some of the risks that he would take unnecessarily, mindful of his children.

But I said, “And God has a purpose for you. And so however you fulfill that purpose, whether it is serving in combat, whether it is serving as father, whether it’s something else that the Lord has in store for you, meet that purpose, and however the Lord decides to call you home, whenever it is, I will celebrate your service, but I will honor and worship the Lord for His calling on your life.” And I think that’s true for all of us.

I think of one personal experience that stands out to me. When I was deployed to Afghanistan, and I was the chief of tactics for all the airlift and airdrop missions, we would drop very high value cargo, usually bullets and other weapons, even to special forces and Army units that were in the midst of a firefight, and we had the technology to have parachute drops that would literally steer themselves down to a pinpoint location, so that we had steerable, GPS guided parachutes. And we could launch a mission on a moment’s notice to go into harm’s way.

I tended to work the night shift, which kept me on the same schedule as I would’ve had back home, so I was usually up all night and then slept during the day in Afghanistan. And one night, in the middle of my duty shift, an announcement came across the base loudspeaker. This was at Bagram Air Base, which has now been taken back over by the Taliban.

But they announced that we all had to stop our work unless it was literally in the midst of some kind of combat action and come out for what they called a quiet moment or quiet hour to honor a fallen soldier. And so everybody came out of their barracks, the place where we were sleeping, the places we were working, and lined the various streets of that base, and it ended up that two fallen soldiers were being escorted. They were on Humvees, with their caskets going toward an aircraft that would take them home.

And instead of one, it was two. And I just stood there and wondered, “Who could that be? What is the life circumstance of that young man or woman,” and it was two young men in this case, who had died. Only a few hours later did I learn that one of them was Dan Miller, a man from my own home county.

Nathan Jones: Oh, wow.

Tim Moore: And I knew Dan and his family, my kids had played with his children, he had several children, and he had given life’s last full measure of devotion, serving the country there in Afghanistan, leaving behind a wife, children.

And to think that this man would never see his children grow up, would never see his wife again, but had willingly laid down his life, it really hit home, because there I was, in a similar circumstance, not typically involved in firefights, we flew into some areas that were very dangerous, but every man and woman who puts on the uniform, let’s face it, firefighters, police officers, day to day here even at home, are willing to step into the fray and put themselves in harm’s way on behalf of all of us.

And so I think often of Dan and the sacrifice he made, and the family that has grown up and has gone about their life, but I honor his memory, because indeed, he made a sacrifice that many of us can’t even contemplate.

Nathan Jones: That’s quite a story. Some of my favorite stories of Christian soldiers, like that old song, “Onward, Christian Soldier,” is also those who have given up their lives on behalf of Jesus Christ on the mission field.

I’ve got a Foxe’s Book of Martyrs which is this thick, and I made it a point that want to read through and read that all the people who’ve given up their lives in the cause of Jesus Christ, bringing the Gospel all over the world, giving the Gospel in very hostile places, Islamic or Buddhist or Hindu places where they’ll kill you, people who’d fly to islands and face headhunters. I mean, the stories are so prolific out there of people who have given their lives for Jesus Christ. And so like you said earlier about the martyrs in Heaven, you know, the thought that the ultimate sacrifice we might be called on one day is to give our life for Jesus Christ.

Tim Moore: You know, as we celebrate Memorial Day, one of the ways, every service I’ve ever been to commemorates, is to have poppies. And that’s pointing back to World War I. In World War I, a poem by John McCrae called “In Flanders Fields” captured the essence of serving and falling there in defense of freedom. He wrote:

“In Flanders fields the poppies blow,
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky,
The larks still bravely singing, fly,
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead, short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.”

McCrae went on to encourage that we take up the torch and pass on to even the next generation the meaning behind these fallen dead and their dedication. One unique way to memorialize someone is to build a monument, or erect a poignant gravestone, or even name a baby after a dearly departed family member. But another way is to live in a way that honors the memory of someone who loved and sacrificed for you. And an important way to pass down your own legacy of sacrificial love is to ensure that the biblical truth you embrace will be heard by future generations.

That is what our Prophecy Partners do through their monthly support, and what others do as they invest, even through their own estate planning, in ministries like Lamb & Lion Ministries. With that in mind, listen to an opportunity we would offer to you.

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Closing

Nathan Jones: Well, we pray that our reflection on Memorial Day has been a blessing to you, and we also hope it has inspired you to be very intentional about reflecting on the great blessings handed down to you by those who’ve laid down their lives on the altar of freedom.

Tim Moore: I’ve known several men who have given the last full measure of devotion. And for many years, I was surrounded by men and women who were willing to go into harm’s way to defend their fellow countrymen.

Every service man or woman swears an oath to the Constitution, but every soldier, airman, sailor, and Marine will tell you that they fight for loved ones and friends and for their buddies serving alongside them. When the battle is raging, our motivation becomes very personal and close at hand.

I think of all the young men who are cut down in the prime of their life, leaving behind parents, wives, or girlfriends, and often, small children. These days, young women are as likely to find themselves caught up in battle, as they serve in every branch.

What do you say to someone who serves that selflessly? What do you say to someone who has fallen and could no longer hear your words of appreciation?

In the movie Saving Private Ryan, a much older James Francis Ryan stands at the grave site of Captain John Miller and says, “Every day, I think about what you said to me that day on the bridge. I’ve tried to live my life the best that I could. I hope that was enough. I hope that at least in your eyes, I’ve earned what all of you have done for me.”

The movie was based on the true story of Frederick Fritz Niland, who was sent back to the United States when it was learned that his three brothers had been killed.

For one day a year, every American should contemplate whether we have lived in a manner worthy of the sacrifices made by so many on our behalf. Given the small fraction of our population who have ever served in uniform, to cite Winston Churchill, we should at least recognize that so much is owed by so many to so few.

And if we can grasp the debt of gratitude we owe to those who can never hear our words of thanks and appreciation, how much more should we realize our own indebtedness to a savior who laid down His perfect life so that we could live free, free from sin and forevermore? As Paul wrote, “We proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”

Nathan Jones: And in great anticipation of that day, we say, “Maranatha!”

Tim Moore: Godspeed!

End of Program