Clifford Denton asks: is there something special about the year 2015? What should we make of the large number of anniversaries celebrated this year? Are they just 'coincidences' - or is Almighty God speaking to us through them?

Looking back while going forward

It is a biblical principle to constantly look back and remember what God has done for his people. This is the basis of the Passover when, once a year, the families of Israel were to gather round the meal table and recount their deliverance from Egypt so many years ago. This was also the opportunity for the baton of remembrance to be passed on to each new generation, as the youngest child asked the father, "Why is this night different from other nights?"

If we do not take steps to remember then we easily forget.

More positively, to look back and remember God's faithfulness helps us to step forward in faith into an otherwise uncertain future.

To look back and remember God's faithfulness helps us to step forward into an otherwise uncertain future.

History is littered with metaphorical ebenezars – our stones of remembrance (see 1 Samuel 7:12). So, in 2015 it is good for us to pause and consider where we have come from and how God has helped us. The United Kingdom, despite all its faults, has much that is good to remember this year.

A Long List of Anniversaries

Earlier this year the Daily Telegraph published English Heritage's 'Top Ten Anniversaries for 2015'. Each has brought with it some form of significant celebration across the nation, including:

1. 800 years since the signing of Magna Carta
2. 200 years since the Battle of Waterloo
3. 600 years since the Battle of Agincourt
4. 100 years since the beginning of trench warfare of the First World War
5. 70 years since VE Day marked the ending of the War in Europe
6. 50 Years since the death of Sir Winston Churchill
7. 750 years since the first English Parliament
8. 700 years since the Siege of Carlisle by Robert the Bruce
9. 1000 years since the Viking invasion of England by Cnut
10. 75 years since the Evacuation of Dunkirk in the Second World War

It is difficult to know where to draw the line on our celebrations of the past. An extreme example is a list of '4000 newsworthy items' occurring in 2015, many less well-known than others but some of major significance to add to our list of 10 (or 20, or 30) or so anniversaries already noted in the news and elsewhere.

Celebrating Major National Landmarks

Every week this year seems to bring a memorial or celebration of yet another major milestone in our history.

For example, on the day that I drafted this article (15 September) there was a memorial flight of a large gathering of Spitfires and Hurricanes across the south of England - perhaps the greatest number seen over our shores since the Battle of Britain, which began on this date 75 years ago. Millions watched the television coverage of this event.

Just over a fortnight ago, amidst much national and international jubilation, the Queen became the longest serving monarch in British history.

Around the same time, in the regular yearly celebration at the BBC's Last Night of the Proms the promenaders burst forth in song with 'Land of Hope and Glory', 'Rule Brittania' and even 'Jerusalem', with keen nationalistic fervour (perhaps the stronger this year because of its many historic reminders). Perhaps this is over-enthusiastic - and yet there is much in our history to stir such sentiments.

All this in a world which is beginning to shake in fulfilment of biblical prophecies pointing to the soon return of Jesus the Messiah.

Rejoice, Repent...or Both?

Could it be that it is no casual coincidence that our nation is remembering so much in one year – but that it is of God? Are we reaching a point where such reflection should lead us to repentance and trust in God for the last few years of this era of human history? This may seem a bleak sort of question to ask of a nation that is celebrating good things, but could this be God's purpose for us (the opposite of what some might think)?

Any one of the major celebrations tugs at the heart. World conflicts where millions of men and women once struggled for survival; major landmarks of the formation of Britain's constitutional principles settling a balance of freedom in which we could be a nation under God; our long-living monarch who made a solemn vow to God to maintain his laws and the true profession of the Gospel.

If we examine the dates closely we find not only political and military milestones but also significant dates of the formation of missionary movements, reminding us how our nation was used by God to send the Gospel to many Gentile nations. Layer upon layer of wide-ranging history is before us this year. It is time to pause and think – and to pray.

Man's Point of ViewFlypast for Battle of Britain anniversary, 2015. See Photo Credits.

Many of the celebrations this year have been accompanied by Church services. This, on the face of it, brings some encouragement. Yet, if we dig a bit beneath the surface there is a tendency for two points of concern. One is that services are increasingly multi-faith – a heritage of Empire perhaps, when we failed to sufficiently emphasise the Gospel at the time of our greatest opportunity, majoring instead on trade and political influence. Now we reap some repercussions as our nation struggles for identity, when biblical principles are gradually compromised in a multi-cultural, multi-faith society.

Secondly, there is a growing tendency to remember what men and women did, rather than what God did for us. Of course there has been much human effort to bring our nation through its developing history, and much human sacrifice in the cause of freedom. Yet we did not do this alone and we must balance our view of man's contribution with a clear understanding of how God has helped us – perhaps more than we think.

God's Point of View

Has God sent us a clear word during this year of celebration that draws our attention to his own perspective and his own call to our nation? Surely this is the opportunity for us to seek him and ask him. Throughout our history the hand of God has been on our affairs. If there is anything good then it is he who brought it about. At our best we realised this, but the memory soon fades.

For example, in the hours of our greatest need in the Second World War, the King called the nation to prayer. When victory finally came, after many a miraculous deliverance, the first thing that Prime Minister Winston Churchill did was lead the entire body of Parliament to St Margaret's Church in Westminster to give thanks to Almighty God.

We are in a different war now. It is more in the spiritual domain. This is the time of rising deception, false prophecy and false messiahs (among other things), as foretold by Jesus himself (Matthew 24, Luke 21, Mark 13). Is this why we are looking back so significantly to the ebenezars (stones of remembrance) of our history?

Is God himself wanting us to pause and consider our history from his perspective and not our own? How much time do we have? Perhaps this year, perhaps the duration of our Queen's reign, who knows? Is this why there is so much emphasis on looking back all in one year – to make the point most strongly?

Days of Prophetic Fulfilment

It is interesting that there was another year of significant memories not long ago - the year was 1988. Then, we recalled such things as:

• 450 years of the availability of the English Bible in every parish
• 400 years since the defeat of the Spanish Armada
• 350 years since the National Covenant in Scotland
• 300 years since the 'Glorious Revolution'
• 250 years since the conversion of the Wesleys
• 150 years since the abolition of slavery in the British Empire;
• and - still of great and central importance - 300 years since the Coronation Oath Act.

1988 was another significant year to reflect as a nation.

Around that time a number of Christian ministries came to prominence; among them was the Prophecy Today. Having been launched in its print magazine format in 1985, in 1988 the Prophecy Today team undertook a national tour with large meetings around the country, declaring the word of the Lord for our times.

Now, at the time of this second wave of significant memorials, Prophecy Today has been re-launched. The first editions of the earlier magazine brought warning. Now we are at a time of fulfilment. Perhaps 2015 marks a decision point for our nation in greater ways than most of us have realised.

It is time for us to pause and consider so that we might, in a meaningful way, turn to prayer. It is a poignant, God-given moment in our history where, in the context of present crises among the nations and with weak international leadership, we can recall what God has done for us in the past, and ask him what he has to say to us today. This is true for both the Christian Church and the nation as a whole.

This year is an opportunity for both church and nation to pause and consider what God has done for us in the past, and to ask him what he has to say to us today.