D Day 6th June 04
1. Perhaps you have seen something of the D Day anniversary celebrations on TV, or maybe you are planning to watch something later on today.
Maybe you can remember D Day from the first time round. Certainly in the last 48 hours there has been a lot of stuff on the TV and radio about this TV anniversary… but I am sure that in just a few days time, once the European cup starts, the TV will be full of that.. and people will not be talking anymore about D Day. Maybe people who really know what 6th June meant do not need any special celebrations to remind them, and I suppose that people who were there, who were part of it will never forget.
2. What does the D in D day stand for?
D-Day is a general military term for the day on which an operation or exercise is planned to commence. The choice of the letter D has no significance, and any other letter could equally be used. Its only purpose is to provide a point of reference from which all other dates can be reckoned. D+1, for example, would be the day after D-Day, or the second day of the operation. This allows all aspects of the plan to be worked out in advance, even though the actual date of D-Day might remain to be decided.
The article goes on to say… The most famous D-Day was 6 June 1944, the beginning of the Allied invasion of France, though there were many other D-Days throughout the war.
That’s clear then.. the D has no particular significance. A military term. A way of identifying the start of a military operation.
3. Today people are standing on the beaches in Normandy 60 years after a day when the air was full or the noise of battle. On that D day 400,000 troops landed in a massive military operation to take back what the enemy had conquered.
And that D day was just the beginning.
After June 6th 1944 there were still many battles to be fought, many other victories that needed to be won. And after all the destruction, after all the fighting had come to an end… there was an even tougher challenge, the challenge of rebuilding, the challenge of finding new hop for the future, the long hard work of making peace between nations, rebuilding unity and trust.. that is a work that still continues today. D-Day was just the beginning.
4. Remind you again what the article said about the term D day… Its only purpose is to provide a point of reference from which all other dates can be reckoned.
There is another D day that was more significant that the one that took place on 6th June 1944.
It is a day that we celebrate every year… not just every ten years. It was a day that had been planned well in advance… and it is truly a point of reference from which all other dates can be reckoned.
That D day took place in a country that was occupied. But instead of sending 400,000 troops to deal with problem, the commander in chief sent just one.
Just one - baby. The baby who according to the bible would be called our DELIVERER.
That D Day marked the beginning of an operation.
The Deliverer had to grow up, had to grow in knowledge and understanding, he had to face and defeat temptations, he had to learn to be obedient, he had to commit himself wholly to fulfilling the mission and purpose for which he had been sent. He even had to face a horrific death… death on a cross.
The Deliverer won a battle for us all.
This Deliverer took back all that our enemy had stolen from us, he conquered death and gave us back the gift of eternal life which we can receive when we commit ourselves to live in love and obedience to him as our Lord.
When the Deliverer faced death on the cross he won a great victory as he showed that nothing that could happen would ever stop him loving us. He loved us to death. And the victory was made plain for all to see on the day he was raised again to new life. The Day of the resurrection.
But the operation began on that first D-Day when the deliverer was born did not stop there.
After the ascension of Jesus, God gave the gift of his Holy Spirit, his presence and power to each and everyone who has welcomed Jesus the Deliverer into their lives. And the operation which began on that first D day continues today.. through the lives of all those who belong to Jesus.
5. D Day June 6th… was a critical and decisive moment in the history of the last war in Europe.
But D- Day.. the day when our deliverer was born… was a critical moment in the history of the whole world.
And the operation that God began when he gave Jesus to be our deliverer.. is still continuing.. and it will continue until the day when he comes again.
You may or may not feel that were involved in some way in the D day operation of 6th June 1944. It happened five years before I was born.
But if you are a follower of Jesus, if you have committed yourself to him as your deliverer, if you have committed yourself to live with him as your Lord.. then you are part of that great operation that God began on that Day when he sent his Son into the world.
6. It is not a military operation… although it is one in which all the hosts of heaven are engaged.
It is not an operation not to bring destruction, but to bring healing to a broken world.
It is an operation to rebuild…
rebuild broken relationships between God and his children
rebuild broken relationships between people and between nations
It is an operation to bring forgiveness and freedom from past mistakes and failures
An operation to bring new hope for the future
It is an operation where God is at work to restore in each one of his children that image of himself that is spoiled whenever we choose to turn away from his love.
The work that God began on his D Day… is a work that will continue… until the day when Jesus, our Deliverer comes again.