Articles
God Rules The Nations
God Rules The Nations
As we read through Chronicles we see that the write continually makes moral judgments upon the lives of the kings. Actions have consequences even for kings (or perhaps, even MORE SO for kings). Notice in the life of Ahaz the king of Judah:
"Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done, but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He even made metal images for the Baals, and he made offerings in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom and burned his sons as an offering, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree" (2 Chron. 28:1-4).
The writer then states the moral consequences of such an ungodly life. "Therefore the Lord his God gave him into the hand of the king of Syria, who defeated him and took captive a great number of his people and brought them to Damascus. He was also given into the hand of the king of Israel, who struck him with great force. For Pekah the son of Remaliah killed 120,000 from Judah in one day, all of them men of valor, because they had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers" (vs. 5-6).
The writer continues showing the consequences by stating that "the Edomites had again invaded and defeated Judah and carried away captives. And the Philistines had made raids on the cities in the Shephelah and the Negeb of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco with its villages, Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages. And they settled there. For the Lord humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had made Judah act sinfully and had been very unfaithful to the Lord" (vs. 17-19).
These events happened because God brought them to pass. If we were reading this from a history book it would all appear as political intrigue. We could see that certain nations were flexing their new found power as other nations were becoming weak. We could discern the cause of such weakness - bad leadership, weakened economy, etc. What we would not know is that it was orchestrated by the LORD. In fact without a revelation from God to this affect we would never be able to see it.
God raised up nations, stirred up kings, sent armies and yet never violated the will of these people. They all thought it was just THEIR idea and THEIR power and THEIR plan. God never explained HOW He did it but He did proclaim THAT He did it. I do not have to know HOW in order to believe THAT He did it.
When nations like Assyria were 'raised up' BUT went too far in such aggression, God then held them accountable and brought judgment upon THEIR nation. Concerning the judgment on Assyria, Isaiah wrote: "The Lord of hosts has sworn: “As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand, that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and on my mountains trample him underfoot; and his yoke shall depart from them, and his burden from their shoulder" (Isa. 14:24-25).” Again this was by raising up kings and sending armies against them. God used nations to discipline and chastise nations. The list in Isaiah of nations that God punished is impressive and include Babylon, Assyria, Egypt, Moab, Philistia, Edom, etc. (read chapters 13 -30 of Isaiah).
We have no reason to think that all of this has changed except that God is no longer telling us WHEN HE does such things. The last revelation about such things was in the book of Revelation where God tells of His 'battle' with the persecuting element of the Roman government. God was able to bring all the forces of economics, politics, war, and internal corruption against Rome.
What we do know is that God did not do these things arbitrarily. He works with moral principles as a framework. When we read of the judgments of God against the non-Jewish nations it was always on the basis of moral failure on their part. He will judge America on the same moral principles.
We as God's people cannot change any moral fiber of any country except by influence of godly lives and godly teaching. We are the leavening that can work to prolong our nation's existence. We MUST live godly lives and we MUST speak up about morality. Of course the ungodly will not like it when we do. We will be persecuted for living such a godly life. But maybe, just maybe, we will influence some and that will be enough.
6/27/13 Reading Isaiah June/July
