On September 11, 2001, I was inspecting a waterfront training facility in Brooklyn that I managed while working for the New York City Housing Authority. It was early morning, and the facility had been broken into the night before. As I was dialing the number of the local police station, I heard sirens that seemed to be coming from everywhere. While I was speaking to the officer on the phone, I heard a lot of commotion in the background. Then someone came into my office and said a plane had just crashed into one of the World Trade Center buildings. I asked the officer if that was true, and he told me it was—and that every police officer in the city was being dispatched to the scene.
I hung up the phone and stepped outside, where I could clearly see one of the towers on fire. I decided to go to the roof of the training facility so I could get a better view, and when I got there the second plane had just crashed into the other tower. Both towers were now burning.
When I was young, my father would often load all the kids in the neighborhood in his station wagon and drive to the construction site where the towers were being built. It was really exciting for all of us to watch these buildings being constructed—the largest in the United States at the time. Now I was watching them burn, knowing that the people who were alive above the floors where the planes had struck would probably not be alive much longer. As I watched, these incredible images were being burned into my mind—and, even now, I can remember them so clearly.
A few minutes later, I went down to my office and dropped to my knees to pray, wondering if this would be the beginning of end-time events. When I finished, I joined my fellow workers in watching the events unfold on television, watching both towers finally collapse into a pile of rubble. My eyes were glued to the screen—I was unable to pull myself away. Even when I returned home, the first thing I did was turn on the TV, continuing to watch the recovery, hoping that some would be found alive. After a while, I turned the TV off, only to turn it back on again a minute or two later. I couldn’t stop watching what was happening—the images were just too incredible, too shocking to turn away from. Many of you shared a similar experience.
A few days later, I had the opportunity to visit the World Trade Center site while the recovery was still going on, and what I saw when I arrived there was almost indescribable. Everything was covered with gray powder, the ash from the burning buildings and the construction material. The area was devastated, and there was nothing but destruction everywhere I looked. All the rescue workers had looks on their faces of complete despair and hopelessness. The smoke in the air was so thick that you could taste it. I couldn’t help but think that this was a foretaste of the Great Tribulation soon to come.
Strength Through Vision
I gave a sermonette on the Feast of Trumpets that year, comparing those powerful images to the vision that God wants us to have. Our ability to create and maintain vision is important—in fact, developing the right vision and maintaining that vision will be crucial for our spiritual survival in the days ahead.
The Feast of Trumpets pictures the time ahead of us when events will unfold that make what happened on September 11, 2001, seem like a picnic. And when they happen, what will our vision be? Will we be carried away in the moment, focused on the things that are happening before us, seeing nothing but despair? Or will we be focused on another vision, a vision of hope? This was my challenge 23 years ago, as I stood there and saw nothing but pain, destruction, and hopelessness.
Creating a vision of the Kingdom, using our imagination—an incredible gift God has given us—is hugely important. Abraham was an individual who had that kind of vision, and he was able to stay focused on that vision despite what he was seeing and hearing. “By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:9–10).
Abraham had the vision of the coming New Jerusalem that we read about in Revelation 21, and he kept that vision burning in his mind. He thought about that city—he envisioned how it would look. He likely talked to his family about it. It was real to him, perhaps more real to him than anything he saw or experienced. That vision fostered his faith, and it got him through the most difficult and challenging moments in his life.
How important it is for us to have and maintain the right kind of vision! The whole of Hebrews 11 is a testimony of faithful men and women who had that vision and maintained that vision in spite of what they saw right in front of them, no matter how intense it was. “And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them” (v. 15–16). They were willing to sacrifice, to endure hardship and challenges, because they had the right kind of vision—a vision of hope—and they were able to maintain that vision.
Hope Through Vision
What should our vision be? You know the verse: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). Our vision needs to be of the coming Kingdom of God. God has given each of us the wonderful gift of imagination to help us see and maintain that vision. He’s given us His Spirit to help that vision become clearer, more real to each and every one of us. Our vision of the Kingdom of God must be real and powerful to us, particularly when we face the incredible challenges that lie ahead. Having the right vision gives us hope, no matter what we face.
One way to strengthen that vision is by studying God’s word, reading about the coming Kingdom through which Jesus Christ will reestablish the government of God on this earth. We can also pray about it, asking God to open our minds, to inspire our imagination so we can see the reality of the coming Millennium more clearly. And perhaps the most important way in which we can foster and develop a more powerful vision of the Kingdom of God is by attending the Feast of Tabernacles. One of the reasons God gave us this Feast is to help us strengthen our vision of His Kingdom.
During the Feast, we’ll hear sermonettes and sermons describing what that time will be like when the world today becomes the world tomorrow. Those messages are designed to stretch our imagination and to help us burn that image, that vision, deeper into our minds. And if we go to the Feast with a will to take advantage of everything that the Feast has to offer us, then we can become active participants in “the Millennium experience” as we fellowship, develop friendships, and serve one another—getting a small taste of what it will be like when the Kingdom of God rules on earth. This experience helps us foster and develop the spiritual vision that we need to survive the days that lie ahead and the ultimate fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets.
Twenty-three years ago, I was challenged as I thought about the powerful images of the events before me. I asked myself an important question: Is what I am seeing more powerful and more real to me than my vision of the coming Kingdom of God ruling on earth? And what will we think in the coming days—when all around us the earth-shaking events the Feast of Trumpets pictures begin to unfold ? What vision will be the most powerful to us, the most impactful?
There’s only one vision that will help us get through those dark times. For Abraham and all the other heroes of Hebrews 11, their vision of the Kingdom of God was real and powerful, and it helped them to remain faithful through the intense challenges that they faced. And it can be so for us, too—if we take full advantage of the opportunity God has given us to develop and foster the vision of the coming Kingdom of God. If we do, nothing we see and nothing we experience, no matter how intense those images and challenges may be, will be as powerful to us as the reality of the coming Kingdom of God.