A middle-aged woman made her home in a town located on the northeast coast of Japan. From her window in front of the house, she could see the ocean and the rocky hills that mark the entrance to the harbor. She lived alone with Ban, her small brown dog. On the morning of March 11, before she left for work, she gave Ban a bowl of fresh water and a bowl of rice mixed with bits of meat for food. Then she rubbed the dog behind his ears and said good-bye. It was a morning routine that had been repeated every day since she had brought Ban home as a puppy. Ban had the run of the house and could go into the backyard as he wished through a little pet door.
In mid-morning the earth began to violently shake. One of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded anywhere on earth struck the region. For about half a minute the crust of the earth continued to rumble and roll. Items fell off shelves, cracks appeared in walls and streets, and glass broke in windows. Ban, confused by the shaking, ran out into the backyard. Moments later tsunami warning sirens erupted up and down the northeastern coast of Japan. People hurried into the streets and ran along tsunami escape routes. These routes led to places of higher ground where people might find a place of safety from the fury of the incoming wave. Ban heard the siren but didn’t know what it meant. He paced up and down the edge of the fence. He couldn’t have escaped the enclosure of the backyard if he had wanted to.
Minutes after the warning sirens started, the roaring of the approaching tsunami was heard. The wave grew to gigantic proportions as it entered shallower water. Ban couldn’t see it, but he heard it and felt its terror. He heard it as it crashed over sea walls, raced over streets, and toppled buildings, reducing them to rubbish and then swept them along. Ban heard the wave get horrifically loud, and he cowered in his yard. Then in utter pandemonium the wave swept his house off its foundation and swept through the backyard, covering him.
The wave surged inland nearly seven kilometers. Then, when the waters withdrew back into the ocean, they carried enormous amounts of debris and wreckage with them. Mounds of debris formed floating islands as they were sucked out to sea.
The woman was not allowed to return to the site where her home had been. The closest she could get was a hillside on the outskirts of town. In the evening of March 11, she looked down on what had been her hometown and wept. The entire town had been swept away. Everything she owned had disappeared. Looking at the awful scene of destruction before her, it didn’t seem possible for any living thing in the town to have survived, and she held out little hope her dog might be found alive.
Good news was a rarity for the weeks which followed the tsunami. Search and rescue teams combed through the wreckage on land and sea looking for survivors. Three weeks after the tsunami, when rescuers were about to give up hope of finding any more survivors, a Search and Rescue helicopter flew over an island of debris two miles out at sea and spotted something moving on what looked like a floating roof. They flew closer, and from the cockpit they saw a brown dog running nervously back and forth. A Coast Guard boat was directed to the spot and divers were transferred from the boat to the bunch of floating debris. The divers wore helmets, fins and cold water diving suits in case they fell through the wreckage and into the sea. At first the dog wouldn’t come to them, but after a few minutes of gentle coaxing, it changed its mind and let itself be picked up by the workers. They looked for any other signs of survivors among the floating wreckage. When they didn’t find any, they returned to the boat with the dog wrapped up in a blanket.
Videos of the dog that had survived for weeks out at sea were flashed around the world via the Internet and cable news. After spending three weeks on the island of debris with nothing to eat and only rainwater to drink, the dog was remarkably healthy. People liked the story because it brought a small ray of sunshine in an otherwise bleak time.
The woman could hardly believe her eyes when she saw pictures of her pet being broadcast during the evening news.
The reunion of the dog and its master was also filmed and shared with others. Ban left no doubt how he felt about his master when they were reunited. He wagged his tail joyously, and his eyes beamed with recognition and love when he saw her.
The entire population of Japan was deeply affected by the events of March 11. The vast extent of the wreckage left by the tsunami reminds us of another event that left long-lasting effects on many people. This event has brought more sorrow into the world than even the tsunami. It occurred when the first parents of the human race sinned and brought in the tidal wave of wreckage in its wake. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:1212Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (Romans 5:12)). Every gravestone, every mausoleum and every morgue gives mute testimony that “death [has] passed upon all men.” Everywhere you look in this world, you see evidence of the wreckage of sin. But the worst effects of sin cannot be seen in the land of the living. The worst effects take place after death. Souls who never repent and turn to God in faith will be cast into hell where they shall never experience a moment’s relief from their suffering. Because there is no end to the conscious suffering of souls in hell, someone once aptly called it “the death that never dies.”
God is good and full of love and doesn’t want anyone to pass into a lost eternity. He wants all to be saved. “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). In order for men and women to be saved, He sent His Son into the world. For three-and-a-half years, the Lord Jesus went about the countryside of Israel healing all the sick, working miracles and preaching the gospel. The works of mercy He did were truly amazing and should be proof enough to convince every heart that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Then He was taken by evil hands and nailed to a cross of wood. Men meant it for evil, but God overruled the act for good, for when Christ died, He provided the one sacrifice that can take away sin forever. “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:2929The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. (John 1:29)).
The Lord Jesus, going to the cross to rescue sinners from sin and death, demonstrated like nothing else ever could God’s great love for us. “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:88But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)).
Because Christ died and rose again, all who believe in Him will escape the power of sin and death. It is only by faith in Christ and the great work He did on the cross that we can be saved from the wreckage of sin. He alone can stop the surging of the waters of death that threatens to overtake sinners.
It was a happy chain of events when Ban was recovered from the wreckage of the tsunami and reunited with his master. It is also a happy chain of events when a sinner repents and believes on the Saviour. The last link in that blessed chain is to have part in the resurrection of the just and dwell in glory where death and sin can never again cast their dismal shadows.
“The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)). Will you believe in the Lord Jesus that you might receive the gift of eternal life?