It was a score of years ago plus one that the "Great Communicator," Ronald Reagan, stood on the windswept cliffs of Normandy and offered meaning to the long-ago sacrifice of an aging breed of warriors. June 6, 1984, was the 40th anniversary of the D-Day landing of World War II.

On that day, the greatest amphibious assault in history commenced. The Allied forces were to throw all their might against the Fortress Europe, to seize and secure a beachhead that would open a hole for the armies of liberty to begin their long march toward the capital of an evil regime to crush it.

On that day, all was on the line. They would determine whether millions would begin to taste freedom or remain enslaved by the Nazi regime.

A story to be told

Now 40 years later a man of that generation spoke on behalf of its remaining survivors in a speech that has come to be known as "The Boys of Pointe du Hoc" address in honor of the 2nd Ranger Battalion that volunteered to scale the 100-foot-high cliffs of Pointe du Hoc and take out the German gunnery. Of the 225 men who began the arduous task, only 99 would survive. Now, yesterday's boys were old men and their story was to be told.

President Reagan, with that famous shock of black hair blowing in the breeze, began: "We're here to mark that day in history when the allied armies joined in battle to reclaim this continent to liberty. For four long years, much of Europe had been under a terrible shadow. Free nations had fallen, Jews cried out in the camps, millions cried out for liberation. Europe was enslaved, and the world prayed for its rescue. Here in Normandy the rescue began. Here the allies stood and fought against tyranny in a giant undertaking unparalleled in human history."

They began to climb

The master storyteller continued to weave his spell on the audience: "The air is soft, but 40 years ago at this moment, the air was dense with smoke and the cries of men and the air was filled with the crack of rifle fire and the roar of cannon...

"The rangers looked up and saw the enemy soldiers on the edge of the cliffs shooting down at them with machine guns and throwing grenades. And the American Rangers began to climb. They shot rope ladders over the face of these cliffs and began to pull themselves up. When one ranger would fall, another would take his place. When one rope was cut, a ranger would grab another and begin his climb again. They climbed, shot back, and held their footing.

"Soon, one by one, the rangers pulled themselves over the top, and in seizing the firm land at the top of these cliffs, they began to seize the continent of Europe."

Then, the president shifted his message from times past and centered on the audience in front of him by honoring the assembled survivors: "These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war."

Why did you do it?

"Forty summers have passed since the battle that you fought here. You were young the day you took these cliffs; some of you were hardly more than boys, with the deepest joys of life before you. You risked everything here. Why? Why did you do it? What impelled you to put aside the instinct of self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs? What inspired all the men of the armies that met here? We look at you and somehow we know the answer. It was faith, and belief; it was loyalty and love. The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next."

President Reagan then introduced real people and their prayers. The president spoke of Colonel Wolverton, who, when he asked his troops to kneel in prayer, told them, "Do not bow your heads, but look up so you can see God and ask His blessing in what we're about to do." And he spoke of "General Matthew Ridgeway on his cot listening in the darkness for the promise of God made to another warrior named Joshua [Joshua 1:5]: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee."

Reminding a people

Historian Douglas Brinkley, in an article appearing in U.S. News and World Report June 6, 2005, titled "Remembering Reagan," comments: "With the timing of a maestro, Reagan galvanized that generation into performing one last task; reminding a nation cynical after Vietnam and Watergate that America truly was still that shining city on the hill... What Reagan was trying to engineer was a combustible patriotism, one that would spread like wildfire" (emphasis added).

The thematic simplicity and elegance of Ronald Reagan's speeches about champions, heroes and courage were not something he had to go searching for, but, rather, they were close to his heart. His words of hope were like the steady beat of the blacksmith's hammer on the anvil drumming a message to all who might listen: There is sacrifice, but it is worth it, for indeed you are a part of a greater purpose than yourself. You have been blessed to be a citizen of a city shining on a hill.

With this story vividly in our mind, I want to remind you that there is an ultimate Great Communicator who shares a message of vision, courage and sacrifice to those who will listen. And He, too, reminds us of words of hope to shake us from our personal world of malaise and create in us a combustible faith that will not only lift us, but also elevate and guide those around us. Yes, He, too, speaks of a world at war, a world of darkness, held captive by a spiritual dictator of darkness, none other than Satan the devil.

He also speaks of the "captain of our salvation" whose job is to "destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8).

And He speaks of those who go up against the ramparts of Satan's defenses, calling them "firstfruits" (James 1:18; Revelation 14:4). In other words, those who go ahead of everyone else, not out of conscription, but out of heartfelt desire, just as the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men and women who in the spirit of Isaiah 6:8 respond to the ageless call of God, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" With Isaiah, they say, "Here am I! Send me."

Consider for a moment that in another time and place, another beachhead against this present spiritual bulwark of evil was established. Not on a beach, but in a manger! Just like the events of Pointe du Hoc, not everyone was aware of what was going on. The beginning of the end had started. A foothold in Satan's kingdom was established as "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14).

They did not love their lives to the death

From that rough and tough start in the hills of the Holy Land others have followed and fallen, each thinking beyond himself, beyond the momentary pain or setbacks, all the while advancing the cause in striving to break the grip of Satan on a world held captive.

Well, the beachhead has held. Prophecy indicates a climactic assault on the forces of evil that will even overshadow the valor of those heroic moments of Normandy. Revelation 12:9-10 gives us the detail:

"So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, 'Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.'"

And then in Revelation 12:11, notice the prophetic commendation of God about these spiritual warriors: "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death."

People who are seizing a beachhead for God's Kingdom will be called upon to give their all as they move forward with a combustible faith, knowing that "nothing restrains the LORD from saving by many or by few" (1 Samuel 14:6). In the highest of all compliments, the author of the book of Hebrews lifts their sacrifice up before each of us by proclaiming, "...of whom the world was not worthy" (Hebrews 11:38).

God's words, "This is the way, walk in it," as stated in Isaiah 30:21, are exemplified for us in Colonel Wolverton's words offered on bended knee as his men were about to confront the forces of darkness: "Do not bow your heads, but look up so you can see God and ask His blessing in what we're about to do."

Their day of accomplishment is past. Seizing and maintaining a beachhead for God's Kingdom is a calling and work still in motion. Thus, we must maintain the rhythm of combustible faith by thinking beyond ourselves, looking up and climbing!