National Judgment

Chico Alliance Church

Divine Judgment

Introduction

History chronicles the rise and fall of nations and governments. Territory changed hands. Kingdoms arose. Borders shifted. People subjugated. Nation throws up and United. Families and ethnic groups united and grew. Biblical history records many nations who rose out of a single person. Edom, Ammon, Moab, Midian and of course Israel named after the patriarch Jacob.

The relationship between God and nations is indisputable.

Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust. Isaiah 40:15

It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. Scarcely have they been planted, scarcely have they been sown, scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, But He merely blows on them, and they wither, And the storm carries them away like stubble. Isaiah 40:22-24

Daniel said, "Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, For wisdom and power belong to Him. "It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding. Daniel 2:20-21

God directs the course of history through the rulers of the earth.

Thus says the LORD to Cyrus (Persian Ruler) His anointed, whom I have taken by the right hand, to subdue nations before him and to loose the loins of kings; To open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: Isaiah 45:1

Although it is not always clear, God has dealt with both individuals and nations.

Oftentimes we do not recognize God’s intervention and direction of human history.

Scripture makes it clear however, that God is intricately involved in the lives of individuals and the affairs of kingdoms and nations. That intervention includes temporal judgment for ungodly behaviors. I realize that tomorrow is the day to celebrate the formal organization of a group of people into a nation; the United States of America.

Our pledge declares that we are one nation under God. The move to strike the words “under God” demonstrate that such a notion is now more sentimental than actual. The government has come to a point of not only tolerating but promoting all kinds of biblically abhorrent behaviors. Just this week we have made a national monument out of the place where the LGBT movement began. The government not only tolerates but protects and promotes the slaughtering of babies before they can take their first breath.

Pastor Joe Wright’s prayer before the Kansas House sums it up well.

The prayer as delivered on January 23, 1996 by Pastor Joe Wright to the Kansas House of Representatives:

Heavenly Father, we come before You today to ask Your forgiveness and seek Your direction and guidance. Lord, we know Your Word says, "Woe to those who call evil good," but that's exactly what we've done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values.

We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it moral pluralism.

We have worshipped other gods and called it multi-culturalism.

We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.

We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.

We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation.

We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.

We have killed our unborn and called it choice.

We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.

We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building esteem.

We have abused power and called it political savvy.

We have coveted our neighbors' possessions and called it ambition.

We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.

We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our fore-fathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us oh God and know our hearts today; try us and see if there be some wicked way in us; cleanse us from every sin and set us free.

Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of Kansas, and who have been ordained by You, to govern this great state. Grant them Your wisdom to rule and may their decisions direct us to the center of Your will. I ask it in the name of Your Son, the Living Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

The list of atrocities condemned by Scripture but sanctioned by our current government grows by the day. I have regularly heard it said that America is due for judgment. I have been a patriot all my life. I love America. I have come to find it necessary however to differentiate between people groups and the rulers who govern them. I have difficulty supporting a government that becomes more and more anti-Christian by the day. Ultimately my citizenship is in a heavenly kingdom and I anxiously wait for a savior who will establish His kingdom of righteous rule here on earth.