Summary:
What can we learn from the devastating Earthquake on 11 Mar 2011?

1. We were all in a state of helplessness and devoid of hope. The Lord Jesus Himself reached out and through His blood, we have hope and salvation. Let us be thankful.
2. Don’t underestimate the coming destruction. While we’re alive, have the urgency to escape higher, escape further.
3. Let’s not live in regret when destruction comes and our family members are not with us. How can we preach to them? (1) Pray, (2) show them our lives have been transformed through Jesus Christ. Then, our words will be able to touch them too.

Hymn 343

Better to go to the house of mourning
Than to go to the house of feasting,
For that is the end of all men;
And the living will take it to heart.
Eccl 7:2

It’s often when one faces a crisis, sad or tragic events that one would start to reflect on the meaning of life. This is why the pandemic COVID-19 has caused people to start considering what their purpose in life is. What should a person do to have a meaningful life?

As the world and Singapore continue to face the pandemic, although we begin to see some light at the end of the tunnel due to the vaccines, this sermon will turn our attention to a major tragic event 10 years ago.

In 2011, there was a great earthquake off the eastern coast of Tohoku, Japan. It was on 11 Mar and measured 9.1 on the Richter scale. It was the most powerful earthquake recorded in the history of japan. And the fourth most powerful recorded since modern instruments were invented. The earthquake didn’t just stop at death and destruction caused by the earthquake itself. There later came warnings of tsunamis. It could reach heights of 44.5m. Their speed was 700km/h. The waters came more than 10km inland. Some residents in places like Sendai only heard the warnings for about 8min, and then the waters came. Ultimately, because of the earthquake and the tsunami, more than 16,000 people died. A lot more had to be evacuated; to leave their homes.

After this tsunami, a third disaster happened. A meltdown in the Fukushima power plant. Residents who lived within 20km of the power plant had to evacuate to other places in fear of radiation.

Triple disasters occurred. The great earthquake, the tsunami, the meltdown of the nuclear power plant.

About 16,000 people died. But if we consider other things that took place later (e.g. people who underwent depression because of the incidents and killed themselves), the death toll was much higher.

This is a somber reminder to all humans about the fragility of life. As human beings, we can’t do much against natural disasters.

The speaker watched a 15min documentary by NKH titled “March 11 - The Tsunami”. It was about what happened in the first 3 days. When we watch such documentaries or visit places where deaths have occurred, we can feel emotionally sad/drained and start to reflect upon life.

What stood out to the speaker was at the end of the documentary, they interviewed some survivors who wanted to pass on their words of regret, thanks, relief of being saved, to others. The words they shared are useful reminders to us as Christians. The sermon will cover their words and what we can take away from them.

Quote 1: “I got swept up and covered in mud. I couldn’t see anything but wreckage. I could only call out desperately for help.”

Because of this earthquake, buildings and debris were strewn all over. Then torrential waters swept everything in its path. Some were trapped in the mud/mire, helpless and unable to help themselves. The only thing they could do was cry out for help for someone to take them out of the mire.

The documentary showed a video of a helicopter lifting the person who said these words out. The speaker doesn’t know the real reason why the survivor wanted to leave these words for others. Was it to highlight the helplessness of humans and that we are in need of help? Or did he want to express his gratitude for being saved? Whatever the reason, the physical situation of being trapped in the mud and swept by the waters without having any control is a good imagery to what we used to be feeling in the past.

Humanity was without hope. Paul said we try to grope for God in blindness, but in truth God is not far from us (Acts 17:27). Paul continues this point to the believers in other places too.

O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
Rom 7:24-25

He had no hope. He was a wretched man. He couldn’t help himself.

Just like the helpless man trapped in the mud, we as human beings were helplessly condemned. We could only call out for help. It was Jesus Christ who saved us.

Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— 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. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Eph 2:11-13

For all of us today in the True Jesus Church who have been baptised, through the blood of Christ, we are brought near to Christ and given hope. He has delivered us from our bodies of death!

“Love lifted me” (Hymn 343)

Out of the mire, love lifted me. We were stuck, but God through Jesus Christ lifted us.

The survivor was thankful to his rescuers. We today also ought to be thankful to the Lord Jesus. We had no hope or way to help ourselves. We could only call out for help. And when Christ who wasn’t far from us reached out to us and pulled us out, we ought to be thankful to Him.

Quote 2a: “I wish I’d taken it more seriously. I was too careless. That was my greatest regret.”

Quote 2b: “Escape higher! Escape further!”

The speaker thought these 2 quotes were very apt. In the documentary, people on higher ground shouted to people below to quickly come to higher ground! “Don’t wait! Rush now! Just run!” Some still took their own sweet time to walk. Until they turned behind and saw the waters advancing at an incredibly fast rate, then they ran.

The tsunami came so quickly into the shore. The call to escape faster and higher was a very real call to those people then. It made the speaker think about Gen 19:12-17.

Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city—take them out of this place! For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it.”
So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, “Get up, get out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city!” But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking.
When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, “Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.” And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.”
Gen 19:12-17

We see the sense of urgency and mercy God had on Lot’s family. Because Lot continued to want to linger. But God being merciful led them out by hand. And even when they were out of the city, the instructions given to them was to escape higher and further to the mountains. Just as Sodom and Gomorrah were destined for destruction and Lot who remained in the city had to escape, God reminds us in Revelation that there’s a Great Babylon we must come out from because she is to be destroyed - the end of days and destruction of all things. We as Christians need to escape higher and further. In fact Jesus also used Lot as an example for what would happen in the Last Days.

but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
“In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife.
Luke 17:29-32

We know what will happen to Lot’s wife eventually. She not only lingered, she later turned back. During a time of destruction, we don’t take any goods with us. We just run and escape. Lot’s wife didn’t heed this warning. She didn’t escape faster and higher. Instead she tried to stay as close as possible so as not to leave Sodom. Therefore she turned back. But during the time of the tsunami; during the coming of the Lord, will we be prepared and have a sense of urgency? If we have a sense of urgency, then instead of just being scarcely/barely saved - most who just scarcely/barely make it often get swept away - we need to escape higher and further. We shouldn’t have a “do the minimum” attitude towards salvation.

But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
2 Pet 1:5-11

We must continually grow in our spirituality. After baptism, we can’t remain where we were before. We must have a sense this world is not our own and destruction is coming. What we must place our diligence in is our spiritual nurture to make our call and election sure. So when the day comes we will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Not being scarcely saved, but very sure we will be able to step into the Kingdom of Heaven. Do not have the regret of the man who said he underestimated the earthquake/tsunami. “Now I’m deep with regret.” Instead, take heed to the people who said to escape higher and faster. Go into the mountain of the Lord; to the true church, so we can have abundance and enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Quote 3a: “I reached out to my husband. I still have a sense of grabbing him. Images of the day still remain in my mind. I’ll never forget it. Never.”

The speaker is not sure if she managed to hold on to her husband or if he lost grip and she couldn’t feel his hand anymore. Her quote didn’t say more. But her quote did say she’d never forget this day.

Quote 3b: “I’m filled with regret. I wished I talked to my family on what to do when a tsunami is coming. Maybe they would have survived. I want to share what I’ve learnt so no one will die next time.”

We can really feel for the two people who said these words of sadness and regret. We feel: if only they had done some things differently, their family might have survived. So now they want to share so others can survive next time.

What thoughts come to your mind immediately when you hear/read this? The speaker thinks of what Jesus said.

I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left. Two women will be grinding together: the one will be taken and the other left. Two men will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left.”
Luke 17:34-36

When destruction comes, will our loved ones be taken from us? Who will be left with us?

The woman said she had a sense of grabbing onto her husband. We don’t know if she managed to continue grabbing on to him.

We think about family members who have yet to hear the gospel, or have heard and are now lost sheep thinking faith is secondary at this period of time - these are our loved ones. When destruction comes - and it can come out of the blue in the form of a natural disaster that hits many people, or upon the individual - and your loved one is taken away at a time when he’s not in the mountain of the Lord (the True Jesus Church), you won’t meet him/her in heaven.

This is why we really need to think about family members and friends who are not saved at this juncture. It may be true that they may seem to respond mockingly when we try to preach. Or they treat us like an irritant, our relationship with them may be soured. What will we do? Will we still try to preach or stop because we don’t want to worsen the relationship?

If we love our family members and don’t want to live with any regret, since we have knowledge of the great judgement because we know of the great warnings in the Bible and how to obtain salvation, if we don’t preach to them, then we would regret like the woman.

Practical Steps to Preach

What practical steps can we take to preach to our loved ones? Sometimes it’s hard to start a conversation.

1. Pray
One practical step is to start to pray for our family. Do we intercede for our family in our day to day prayers? To what extent do we feel the urgency to ask God to open the hearts of our father, mother, brother, sister?

We have heard testimonies of members who prayed long and hard for the salvation of their family. Even though their family members were obstinate, God opened a way. It requires us to really put this matter in our hearts and really pray for our family members.

2. Show our life is changed by God
Next, we need to show a life that is changed because of the fact we are Christians. Our family members know us the best. They see the real us. The one that gets angry easily. The one who gets irritated easily. That becomes a hindrance when we preach to them. “I’ve seen you become a Christian for so long already.” But when there’s no transformation/change in our life in terms of temperament or character, it becomes an obstacle to their salvation.

There’s still time for us to reach out to our family members. There’s still time for us to change and be transformed by the word of God, so that through our actions, we may be able to move our family members. There’s still time to constantly pray for our family members. Because if we truly care for them and don’t want to have any regret, this is what we must do while there is still a chance.

Summary

These people were survivors of the worst disaster on record the speaker could think of.

Reminders:

1. We were all in a state of helplessness and devoid of hope. All we could do was cry out for help. The Lord Jesus Himself is the one who reached out to us. Through His blood, we have hope and can be saved.
2. Don’t underestimate the coming destruction. Instead while we’re alive, have the urgency to escape higher, escape further.
3. Let’s not live in regret when the destruction comes, and our family members are not with us. If we don’t want to live in regret, let’s pray for them and preach to them through the transformation in our lives. Then our words will be able to touch them too.

Hymn 376