AS WE have been considering VE Day and ultimate victory over Nazi Germany this past week, it is important to emphasise that it is the Trinitarian God who governs the nations, and who determines whether they experience peace or war.
In 1940, the nation being invaded and overrun was a distinct possibility and the most likely outcome, but a humbled people prayed. In fact, during World War Two, there were 12 national days of prayer. We can only properly understand our nation’s deliverance in the context of the word of God, the Bible, and its teachings on the providence of God.
In the Old Testament book of 2 Chronicles, we read of King Asa of Judah. When he came to the throne, he began a period of national reformation, endeavouring to bring the people back to faith in the one true God. During the 16th year of his reign, Judah experienced hostile military incursions from the neighbouring northern kingdom of Israel. Here is a test for King Asa. Will he continue to trust the Lord for help with this sudden danger afflicting the nation?
Asa in fact becomes overwhelmed with anxiety, and this erstwhile faithful king takes his eyes off the sovereignty of God. Instead, in his panic he looks around for mere human solutions to the threat. He resorts to the worldly expedient of financial inducements to gain the help of the King of Syria against Israel. In an especially profane and sinful act, he uses the riches of the Temple dedicated to the Lord to support this political bribery. So, he temporarily buys Syria’s help, but the Syrians were no real friends. The reality was that his diplomatic scheming was a faithless substitute for turning to the Lord, who is now is angry with him, and who sends a prophet to rebuke him.
The prophet’s words included the following:
‘Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars’ (2 Chronicles 16:9).The King was being told that his failure to seek the Lord’s help was grave faithlessness on his part, and would not lead to the security which he sought.
The lesson for us is thatGod is watching the nations. He is observing the heart motivation behind the actions of nations’ leaders. He knows whether they honour Him or not. Asa thought that by resorting to human scheming he could secure peace for Judah, but God tells him, ‘Thou shalt have wars’.
Here we have a statement about the sovereignty of God and how a nation fares: nations which defy God risk losing peace and stability in their land. Why should He bless with security a land which defies Him?
On March 23, 1945, as British troops were about to cross into Germany itself, General Montgomery sent the following personal message as Commander-in-Chief to be read out to all the troops,
‘Over the Rhine then let us go, and good hunting on the other side. May the Lord mighty in battle give us the victory in this our latest undertaking.’ Montgomery rightly ascribes the outworking of events to the providence of God.
On May 8 of the same year, Prime Minister Winston Churchill addressed the House of Commons concerning the final victory which had been accomplished in Europe. His statement included the following:
‘I recollect well at the end of the last war, more than a quarter of a century ago, that the House, when it heard the long list of surrender terms […] which had been imposed upon the Germans did not feel inclined for debate or business, but desired to offer thanks to Almighty God [who] seems to shape and design the fortunes of nations and the destiny of man; and I therefore beg, Sir [addressing the Speaker], that this house do now attend at the Church of St. Margaret, Westminster, to give humble and reverent thanks to Almighty God for our deliverance from the threat of German domination.’
We might add to this appropriate statement, in the interest of theological precision, that the God who manifests Himself in Jesus Christ does not only ‘seem to shape and design the fortunes of nations’, but actually and continually does so.
Also on May 8, a thanksgiving service took place at St. Paul’s Cathedral, and there were packed services at churches up and down the land. The St. Paul’s service was held at noon and was so full of people that all the aisles were crammed with standing worshippers, and many who could not gain entrance also tried their best to join in from the Cathedral steps.
In this same spirit of thanking the Lord for deliverance on the evening of VE Day, the King addressed the nation, and concluded his speech by stating, ‘In the hour of danger we humbly committed our cause into the hand of God and He has been our strength and shield. Let us thank Him for His mercies and in this hour of victory commit ourselves and our new task to the guidance of that same strong hand.’
Both the Head of State and the most senior politician in the land acknowledged publicly the providence of God in bringing victory, and in this acknowledgement, we are not thinking of some vague notion of the divine so as to embrace all faiths, but explicitly to the Trinitarian God who manifests Himself in Jesus Christ.
Britain had been delivered from a powerful invader and from the mighty Nazi war machine. It was now severely weakened in many ways. Nevertheless, the deliverance was an opportunity to rebuild the country as a people humbled before, yet thankful to, the King of Kings, the Lord Jesus Christ, He who determines the outcome of wars and the destiny of nations.
We sadly no longer live in a nation trusting in Christ the King for its wellbeing. The only solution for true national recovery is for many individuals within the nation to repent of their sin, and turn to the only Saviour, the Son of God, for mercy and eternal life. The Bible makes it clear that it is only righteousness before the Lord which can ever exalt a nation and cause it to prosper (Proverbs 14:34). This must be the abiding message behind all commemoration of VE Day.
