At what point does a thinking person become concerned with nuclear proliferation in the Middle East? This Tuesday both Israel and Syria announced their intentions to produce atomic power plants, ostensibly for peaceful energy-generating purposes in their nations. And of course the world has been warily keeping an eye on Iran as it proceeds with its own nuclear power program. And now word on the street is that Egypt, Jordan and United Arab Emirates are also eager to develop their own nuclear power. And who’s to blame any of them? After all, nuclear fission is environmentally cleaner than coal-burning, avoiding the belching of fossil fuels into our atmosphere, thus theoretically reducing global warming and its effects. The small matter of nuclear waste storage, of course, is a perplexing down-side to atomic power. But viva nuclear fission—and a brave new world precariously balanced on the edge between peaceful energy and nuclear weaponry.

Will our civilization eventually destroy itself in a nuclear holocaust? I had a gentleman once explain to me that Jesus was hinting at nuclear destruction when he spoke the words of Luke 21:26—“‘Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’” Does Christ warn of apocalyptic nuclear proliferation? That isn’t how I read his somber words.

But while Holy Scripture is silent on the reality of nuclear fission, it is not a stranger to unbridled divine power. In fact the word it uses is the Greek dunamis, from whence comes our word “dynamite.” And it is not a coincidence that Paul seizes that word to describe the spiritual nuclear fission at Calvary: “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the [explosive] power [dunamis--dynamite] of God” (I Corinthians 1:18). All the explosive spiritual-moral power of divinity was concentrated in the split-second fission at the cross—wherein the spotless and pure life of the incarnated God, Jesus Christ, became the moral receptacle for every sin every sinner like you and me has ever committed. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us” (II Corinthians 5:21). Or as the ancient prophet described that explosive Calvary exchange: “And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6).

Truth is, there is no greater power in the universe than that unleashed by God for sinners at the foot of the cross, where the darkest guilt and the foulest sin are obliterated. “O let us contemplate the amazing sacrifice that has been made for us! Let us try to appreciate the labor and energy [nuclear fission] that Heaven is expending to reclaim the lost, and bring them back to the Father’s house. Motives stronger, and agencies more powerful, could never be brought into operation” (Steps to Christ 21—if you would like a free copy of this classic, see the offer at this website).

No wonder my friend Roger Morneau taught me to read the story of the cross (Matthew 27:24-54) every new morning. What better way to ensure spiritual nuclear proliferation? And who more powerful to enlist as your Savior, Protector and Friend than the Jesus of Calvary?