First, let me say that I am not in favor of terrorism. I am forever grateful to sacrifice of life and family that has been made by our brave armed forces. I am not a strict pacifist. Nor am I muslim.
However, I can't help but notice how many people are rejoicing in his death. Yes, I am glad that he will no longer be encouraging or leading others to kill and terrorize our country, yet to rejoice blindly in the justice of anyone's death seems morbid to me and grotesque, especially knowing he got what we all deserve. I am saddened that he didn't know the Lord, that the gospel wasn't where he had put his trust.
"And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,"-Hebrews9:27
And foremost in my mind is where Mr. Bin Laden is right now. I know he's in hell. I know that he was misled by a lie from Satan into believing a false religion for his salvation, and that hell is not only where he is, but where he belongs, where the justice of God demands he be.
"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind."-Ephesians 2:1-3
Still, I know that I deserve such justice just as much as he, and that my nature is no different than his. Apart from the grace of God, I, too, would be just as destructive and have as much propensity for evil in my own selfish and dark heart and mind. I can't help but be reminded that but for the blood of the blessed Son of God, Jesus Christ, I would and should be in hell myself, and that should be the shared fate of all mankind.
""The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. AGod of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he."-Dueteronomy 32:4
I cannot help but think that this does not fix the problem of terrorism. Yes, justice was served, but there are many, many, others following the lie of Islam ready and willing to take his place as a leader. So many ready to plan the death and destruction of all who will not submit to Islam and it's perversion of a god.
"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."-Ephesians 2:4-7
The answer to terrorism is the answer to sin, the answer to death, the answer to guilt, the answer to peace, the answer to illness, the answer to Satan, and the answer to man's inability to reconcile himself to God from whom we are forever separated from in our sin. The only answer to all of our problems is alone salvation in Jesus Christ, and submitting our lives to His Lordship and Sovereignty above all else.
The only way the muslim world will stop following the quaran's orders to kill all those who do not convert to Islam is for them to be saved by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
So, I am glad that justice was served in the case of Osama Bin Laden, and I know that this brings glory to God Almighty. I cannot rejoice in the fact that so many have died to affect this, nor that so many have been deceived in the falseness and perversity of Islam, and I cannot rejoice in death, period.
But I rejoice in the eternal life found only in the Lord Jesus. I rejoice that such life is abundant and meant to more than just myself, that such life is a gift and can illuminate the pagan darkness that the muslim world and surely all the world with the glorious light of the gospel. I rejoice that death has been overcome by Christ for all that are His redeemed!
And I hope this man's death and the reality of his eternal death in hell can and will be a reminder to my own heart of it's own propensity to evil. That this will remind me of my own hardness towards those who are lost when I won't or don't agonizingly take them to my God in prayer, when I won't or don't go our of my way for the sake of His gospel.
"Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory."-Matthew 24:30
And may I rejoice in the hope of the end of all terrorism when my Lord returns in all His glory!
"And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe andlanguage and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth."-Revelation 5:9-10
May we reach out to those lost about us, and especially to those in bondage to the lie of Islam. Only this will put an end to terrorism and bring about the ultimate justice, either in hell or in the blood of Jesus Christ at Calvary.
