[Darris McNeely] It's Memorial Day. In the United States, it's the day when we remember the dead of war and also the dead from past generations.

You know, there's a wonderful Peanut's cartoon that they made into kind of a short movie a few years ago—the Peanut's gang were going through France and they were looking at the battlefields of World Wars I and II, they were on the cliff overlooking the beaches of Normandy from the invasion of June 6, 1944. They were in the Fields of Flanders. And they were memorializing and thinking about all the futility of war and the dead who lay in those graves. The catch line of that show—I still remember—"What have we learned Charlie Brown? Have we learned anything?"

When it comes to war, really, unfortunately mankind has yet to learn many lessons. We have not learned the way to peace. That's why we have Memorial Day—formerly known as Remembrance Day.

In the United States, Remembrance Day kind of became very popular after the Civil War as people remembered those who died during that great conflagration in American history and has come now into a regular holiday—the 4th Monday in May of every year. But it's a day when people remember the dead. There's a lot of other things that go on, but perhaps the most important thing is to certainly stop, reflect, and do remember  in many ways those who've gone before. 

My mother used to go out and put flowers on the graves of relatives on Memorial Day when I was child and I remember that very vividly. And I—over the years I've wondering and thought, who remembers the dead when the generations that knew them passed? Who remembers the dead from the Greek and Persian wars of the ancient world? Or the dead from the Roman conquests? Who remembers the dead from all of the plagues and diseases and wars of history that have long since passed?

You know, a few years ago I read a story where they can take satellite imagery and they can go over all parts of the earth and especially in Europe they've discovered places where whole villages once existed, but are no longer there. But they can only detect this through satellite imagery. And what they determined was those were places during the Middle Ages, during the times of the plagues like the Black Death, where whole villages were killed—where everyone died because of plague. And that generation abandoned and would not remember nor even go into those areas. They grew over. They were forgotten.

Who remembers the dead when one generation passes and all generations begin to be forgotten? Well, the answer to that question is God remembers the dead.

In Revelation 20:12-13, there's an important scripture that helps us to understand something regarding God's great purpose and God's ability to remember and to bring to life all who have ever lived at some point in the future in a resurrection. In chapter 20 and verse 12 of Revelation, it says as John records, "I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God and Books were opened. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it and death and the grave delivered up the dead who were in them," Revelation 20:12-13 excerpts from those two verses.

God remembers the dead. God has a plan for everyone who's ever lived. And the dead, small and great, will one day stand before God. God remembers in His own way and in His own time those who have lived.

And so as we keep Memorial Day in the United States and wherever you may be, that's fine. Remember those who've gone before. Remember the lessons from those that you've loved. And remember even those who did sacrifice their lives for their country.

But also remember that God has a plan for everyone, small and great. And even those who have been forgotten through the generations. And He will bring them to life in a resurrection. God's Holy Days, God's plan, is a greater plan than what man can imagine even as we remember and memorialize those who've gone before. 

That's BT Daily. Join us next time.