God’s VE Day
Many of us will have enjoyed last weekend’s commemoration of the 70th anniversary of VE Day, marking the end of the second world war in Europe on 8th May 1945 (VE standing for ‘Victory in Europe’). Some of those reading this may even be able to remember VE Day itself. If so, they can no doubt recall exactly where they were and what they were doing.
It is a fact of history that VE Day was only possible because of D-Day almost a year earlier, on 6th June 1944, when the allied forces landed in Normandy with such overwhelming strength that the defeat of the German army was all but certain; it was just a matter of time. You could say that D-Day guaranteed VE Day.
Something like that has happened with what God has done through his Son. Once God had ‘landed’ on earth as a man – to pay for our sins through his death on the cross and to rise triumphant over death and the devil – victory was guaranteed. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ was ‘God’s D-Day’. God also has his own VE Day (his ‘Victory over Everything Day’), when Jesus returns and everything and everyone is put under him, and he is subject to his Father. What a day that will be! On that day, it will be the greatest disaster ever to be found on the losing side – and the greatest joy imaginable to be found in him.