Days of infamy and honor

Dec. 7, 1941, was described by President Franklin Roosevelt as “a day that would live in infamy” because of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. While most Americans have come to peace with Japan since then, the term “day of infamy” became associated with any day of such tragedy and disgrace. We’ve had a few more of those days since then, but each day of infamy has united our nation making us stronger and eventually resulted in a day of honor, such as V-J Day.

The Bible describes many days of infamy followed by days of honor and glory that lead to celebrations due to victory over the infamy. All of these pertain to sin, obviously, because sin is what leads to the ultimate shame and disgrace in God’s eyes (Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-10). That initial sin was the first day of infamy and every sin since then renews the disgrace that had to take place to overcome the first sin, which is why Christians are not to continue living a sinful lifestyle, although we cannot keep from sinning (Hebrews 12:2-3; Romans 6:1-5; 7:14-25; 1 John 3:7-9; 1:5-9). Public disgrace because of Christians’ sin ultimately leads to infamy (disgrace) or honor (victory) for Jesus (Hebrews 6:4-6; 1 Peter 2:11-12, 15, 19).

Because of our sin, Jesus was the only one who could meet the requirement for a perfect sacrifice to reconcile us with God (Romans 3:10-12, 23; 6:23; 8:1-4; Ephesians 2:13-18; Hebrews 9:22; 10:1-10; 4:14-15; 1 Peter 2:22-25). Jesus’ death began with a day of infamy, but three days later he arose victorious (Matthew 12:40; 28:1-7; Hebrews 2:14-18). Although his sacrifice was God’s plan from before creation and was fulfilled by God’s will, the actual fulfillment was Satan’s work based on God’s prophesy in Genesis 3:14-15 (Ephesians 1:3-14; Luke 22:1-6, 42; Acts 2:22-24). Because of his obedient submission to God, Jesus was honored with restoration to his rightful place in heaven (Philippians 2:5-11). Through his resurrection, Jesus also provided the opportunity for everyone to also have victory if they obey God, which really isn’t all that difficult because God does all the work and shields those who are faithfully obedient (1 Corinthians 15:56-57; 1 John 5:1-5; Galatians 3:26-4:7; Acts 2:38-39; 19:1-5; Mark 16:16; Colossians 2:9-15).

Having obeyed God by being united with Jesus in his death, every Christian should know God has taken them into his family, and we’ll arise victorious in the end, not because of some “feeling” but because of knowledge based on the teaching that led us to obey the word of truth (1 John 5:6-13; Acts 5:30-32; Romans 10:17; 8:9-17, 28-37; 6:3-5).

Are you looking forward to your day of ultimate honor when Jesus returns to receive unto himself for eternity those who’ve lived victoriously through faith on earth (John 14:1-6; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 2 Timothy 4:6-8; Matthew 24:36-41; 25:14-30)? If not, you can have that victory simply by obeying God’s simple commands to begin a great victory celebration in heaven (Luke 15:3-7)!

Leonard Lauriault is a member of the Church of Christ in Logan who writes about faith for the Quay County Sun. Contact him at [email protected].