Luna was a young killer whale, an orca, who first appeared near the mouth of the Gold River in Nootka Sound, British Columbia, nearly four years ago. Somehow he had been separated from his pod of orcas by a distance of several hundred miles. In his isolation he turned to boaters and fishermen for company. He would swim near boats and do antics such as “spy hopping,” fanning his tail or rolling over to attract attention. Often he would let boaters touch him with an oar or a broom. Nootka Sound had plenty of salmon for the lone orca, and he grew to the adult size of over two thousand pounds.
Treating a highly intelligent wild orca almost as a pet posed serious problems. One day Luna swam too close to a moving boat and got a deep cut over his eye. Many people in the region realized that it was only a matter of time before close contact with humanity would cause the animal serious injury or even death.
They were right. A day came in the spring of 2006 when a 104-foot-long tugboat named General Jackson, towing a heavily loaded barge, plowed its way across Nootka Sound. Luna, looking for attention, swam near the giant tug and started doing his antics. Soon all the sailors aboard the tug were at the railing watching and snapping photographs of the friendly “killer whale.” Luna had a habit of swimming under moving boats. However, he had never been under a boat as powerful as General Jackson. The sailors watched him go under their ship, but he never came up alive. The 1700-horsepower engine turning the big propeller caused an enormous suction, and he was drawn into the churning blades and killed.
Orcas are highly social animals, and they need others of their own kind to make them happy. When Luna didn’t have any others of his own kind, he turned to man for company. They are a lot like people in the sense that they need others like themselves. They are also different in an important sense: Only man of all the creatures on earth was made a “living soul.” This means he was given a soul which shall continue to exist for all eternity. It also means he has a heart that can come to know and love his Creator. His heart is made in such a way that he needs to know and love God to be truly happy.
Luna got separated from his pod and turned to human beings for company. Man has gotten separated from God through sin and has turned to all sorts of things to take God’s place.
None of those things will ever fill the vacuum in man’s heart. No one can ever be truly happy without coming to know God. And no one can truly know God without being justified by faith. “[Happy] are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin” (Rom. 4:7-87Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. 8Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. (Romans 4:7‑8)).
This blessedness—or happiness—is the portion of all those who put their faith in God’s Son. At the cross He (Jesus) gave His life in the one sacrifice for sin that God will ever accept. All the good of that sacrifice has been placed to the account of those who believe on Jesus Christ as Savior. The sins which kept them separated from God are paid for and forever done away with. “To him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Rom. 4:55But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. (Romans 4:5)).
Some of the people in Gold River saw the handwriting on the wall concerning Luna. They knew he would come to grief if he continued to live near men and wasn’t returned to his pod. Luna’s place in life was with his kind, but he became habituated to the company of men—and died an early death because of it. People have become habituated to sin and will certainly die an eternal death if they don’t find the Savior.
Will you pass through life trying to fill the void in your heart with created things when God offers you the immense gifts of eternal life, forgiveness and justification from sin through faith in Christ? Then, the handwriting is on the wall as regards your life. You may live a number of years, maybe more and maybe less, but eventually God will bring you into judgment for your sins in the horrible place called hell. There is no lasting happiness apart from Christ; sin has made that an impossibility.
Come to Christ today and find the blessedness of knowing your sins are forgiven and your iniquities are covered by His atoning work on the cross. Come to Christ and know the one true lasting happiness man, the sinner, can ever find. “Through this Man [Christ Jesus] is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins” (Acts 13:3838Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: (Acts 13:38)).