An atomic bomb known as “Fat Man” was dropped by a United States B-29 bomber this day in history, 1945. The target was Nagasaki. The number dead – 39,000.
For 12 months prior to the nuclear attack, Nagasaki had experienced five small-scale air attacks by an aggregate of 136 planes which dropped a total of 270 tons of high explosive bombs, 53 tons of incendiary bombs, and 20 tons of fragmentation bombs.
But none of these compared to the utter devastation of the atomic bomb.
Within less than a second after the detonation, the north side of the city was destroyed. At least 39,000 were dead – possibly as many as 80,000. About half died immediately, some after days and even weeks. This second atomic bomb was more powerful than the “Little Boy” bomb that had been dropped over Hiroshima.
There are many lessons to be learned from the atomic bombs that ushered a close to WWII. I will leave the political and military analysis to those qualified to address such issues. But we do know one thing. The Japanese had prior warning of both atomic drops. Even after Hiroshima, they did not surrender. It was only after the horror of Nagasaki, 72 years ago today, that they surrendered.
We are still like that today. It takes more to get our attention than it should. And most of us, like Japan, are unwilling to surrender until after the devastation of non-surrender becomes too real.
The key to peace and victorious living is to surrender to God through Jesus Christ. There is no need to wait. There is no need to suffer the carnage of sin first. Jesus already did that for us on the cross.