Posts Tagged ‘sin’

Fulfilled prophecy: 146,000,000,000,000,000 sins

Saturday, April 9th, 2011

(April 9, 2011) “4 Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:4-5)

With His first coming Jesus Christ fulfilled hundreds of Old Testament prophecies concerning God’s promise to send a suffering Messiah to die for the sins of the world. Likewise, Jesus will fulfill all the prophecies concerning the coming of the victorious Messiah in the End-Times. I believe this passage in Isaiah is the most important prophecy God gave to humanity because it promises that humankind will be reconciled to the Him through His Messiah.  A few years ago I wrote an article titled “Did Jesus only suffer physically during His crucifixion?” for my original website at iesouschristos.com (I have recently changed the content of this site). With this article I was hoping to illustrate the enormity of what actually occurred to Jesus while He was on the cross. As you will see, I calculated the number of sins in a very unscientific manner (albeit a mathematical one) and the result is staggering. It helped me understand why only the incarnate God of the universe was able to accomplish the salvation of humankind. He had to take every sin ever committed or that will be committed by human beings onto Himself. Mel Gibson  illustrates this truth at the beginning of his movie The Passion of the Christ where Satan is tempting Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Satan says to Him, “Do you really believe that one man can bear the full burden of sin? No one man can carry this burden, I tell you. It is far too heavy. Saving their souls is too costly. No-one. Ever. No. Never.” Thankfully the Devil was wrong and Jesus did accomplish God’s will for Him by bearing  our sins on the cross and reconciling humankind to their Heavenly Father and Creator. In a couple of weeks Christians will be observing Good Friday, the day Jesus was crucified. Hopefully this article will help you to observe this Day with a more spiritual understanding of what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross.

Did Jesus only suffer physically during His crucifixion?

Several years ago I was talking with a friend of mine who was an agnostic. It wasn’t until I explained to him the true significance of Jesus’ death on the cross did he have a better understanding of it. My friend thought that other humans had suffered worse physically in history than did Jesus. He was correct in that assessment. I then pointed out to him the two aspects of Jesus’ crucifixion that set Him apart from all other human beings that have ever lived.

The first is that Jesus is the only sinless human being to ever walk the earth. He was tempted in all ways yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus is the spotless Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Jesus came to earth to save people from their sins so that they may be with God for eternity (John 3:16). That humans would crucify a sinless man was indeed a unique event in history. There is a difference between being innocent of a particular sin and being innocent of all sins.

The second is that for the first time in eternity Jesus would not experience the presence of God the Father. Jesus became sin for us when God laid all the sins of the human race on Jesus at His sacrificial death (II Corinthians 5:17-21). This means that the Father treated and punished Jesus on the cross as a murderer, a thief, a rapist, a child molester, a drunkard, a liar, a blasphemer, an idolater, a sexually immoral person, and every other sin that humans have ever committed. As a human being I know the guilt feeling I’ve had when I committed a sin. I cannot imagine what Jesus felt when every sin that has been or will be committed was laid upon Him. Since Jesus had never committed a sin this feeling was something He had never experienced before. Just as our sins separate us from God, our sins separated Jesus from His Father (Isaiah 59:2). In the garden of Gethsemane did Jesus dread the physical suffering He knew He was about to endure or was there more to it than that? While Jesus was totally God he was also totally a human being and therefore suffered physical pain (John 1:1-3,14). However, I believe the reason Jesus asked His Father to use His will to find another way to save mankind was not because Jesus was afraid of the flogging and the excruciating pain of the crucifixion He was about to experience. Rather it was because Jesus knew that for the first time in eternity He would not feel the Father’s presence. What I really find amazing about this is that Jesus knew after three days the presence of His Father would be restored to Him. Yet Jesus did not want to be away from His Father’s presence for even that short period of time. But we know that on the cross Jesus could not sense the presence of His Father because He said, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46).

This says a lot to me about what heaven is going to be like. Heaven is not going to be about playing harps, being in the most beautiful places in the universe, speaking with the great men of God who lived on earth, or even being with family and friends for eternity. All of these things will be part of our eternal lives but they will not be the zenith of our heavenly experience. No, the supreme experience we will have will most definitely be the feeling of love, safety, serenity, ecstasy, joy, peace, rest, and security that can only come when we are in the immediate presence of God!

Conversely Hell will be a terrifying, nightmarish experience but just as the best part about dwelling in heaven is being in the presence of God, the worst part about dwelling in Hell will be not experiencing the presence of God.

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146 Quadrillion Sins: [With the understanding that all the numbers in this section are unverifiable estimates because of the nature of the data, I have endeavored to give a quantification to the suffering of Jesus on the cross] – According to the Population Reference Bureau website , there have been more than 100 billion human beings who have lived on the earth. The average lifespan throughout history would be close to 40 years (taking into account that the greatest number of human beings in history have lived on earth in the last 200 years):

Neolithic – 20 yrs
Bronze Age – 18 yrs
Classical Greece – 28 yrs
Classical Rome – 28 yrs
Medieval England – 33 yrs
End of 19th Century – 37 yrs
Early 20th Century – 50 yrs
Circa 1940 – 65 yrs
Current – 77-81 yrs

source: answers.com

The number of thoughts a human being has per day ranges from 2,000 to 55,000 according to various sources. Taking the lowest number on the thoughts spectrum (2000 per day) would mean that a human would have 730,000 thoughts a year. If only 100 of these thoughts per day (whether they led to negative actions or not) are of a sinful nature, that would mean that the average human throughout history would commit 36,500 sins a year. Taking the average lifespan of 40 years means that a single human being commits a total of 1,460,000 sins in their lifetime. With the total number of human beings consisting of more than 100 billion souls (not including future sins committed by those who come along until Jesus Christ returns and judges the world) means that Jesus took the judgment for over 146 quadrillion (146,000,000,000,000,000) sins committed by His human creations. Only a God of love come in the form of a human being could have made such a sacrifice.

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Obviously the numbers listed above are pure speculation but the real number of sins is probably much higher. Only God come in the form of His Son could endure the punishment for billions and billions of people and their sins. The important thing is that God fulfilled Bible prophecy by sending His Son to die for our sins and save us. This means that He will also be faithful in fulfilling all the prophecies about the second coming of Jesus and as the apostle Paul said in I Thessalonians 4:18, “Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

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The Kinsman-Redeemer and the Avenger of Blood

Sunday, March 13th, 2011

(March 13, 2011) In certain segments of the modern Church there is a misunderstanding and sometimes a denial of the biblical revelation of God’s nature. Some of those segments believe that traditional evangelicalism is ineffective or at least falls short in meeting the needs of the modern world. I suppose a case could be made that this is true of every generation since the Church’s formation two thousand years ago. It is true that Christians should be living the gospel of Jesus Christ and not just preaching it. The Books of James and 1 John among others talk about showing your faith to others by helping those in physical need as well as spiritual need. The problem as I see it is that experience, sentimentality, and relativity triumph over the truth of God’s word within areas of the modern Church: We are to love our neighbors by not offending them with the truth about complete salvation in Jesus Christ. If they are of a different religion, who are we to tell them their beliefs are wrong? Why not worship and pray together with them regardless of their religions? And certainly we have to stress only the love of God and never His judgment of sin or sinners!

Of course the Bible reveals God’s love for His human creations. He loved the world so much that He sent His Son to die for it. He wants His love to spread throughout the world among His human creations and makes it clear that this is accomplished by His children loving one another, “34 A new commandment I give unto you, That you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13:34-35) (Incidentally, disagreeing with someone is not necessarily unloving them). I could quote hundreds if not thousands of scriptures which speak of God’s love. However, that isn’t the problem within these segments of the modern Church. They apparently overwhelm their listeners with the subject of love and tolerance. It seems though that they neglect to talk very much, if at all, about the consequences of sin and a sinful lifestyle nor of a righteous God who is unable to tolerate sin in His Holy Presence (Hebrews 12:29). The purpose of this post is to illustrate two aspects of the nature of God.

End-Times prophecy, which this blog discusses, is full of both God’s love and His judgment. I realize that most of my articles deal with the coming judgment of God on all the world (I do have a few articles on the prophetic meaning of Easter, Christmas, and Palm Sunday which illustrate God’s love for the world). My purpose in making God’s judgment the focus of this blog is to warn people of what God says is in store for them if they continue in their rebellious attitude towards Him and His Son Jesus Christ. I’m sure there are plenty of blogs which focus purely on the love of God and I commend them for that as long as they are presenting God’s love in a biblical and truthful way. God is not the author of confusion (I Corinthians 14:33) but has ordained all existence: “4 For the word of the LORD is right and true; He is faithful in all He does. 5 The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of His unfailing love. 6 By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of His mouth. 7 He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; He puts the deep into storehouses. 8 Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the people of the world revere Him. 9 For He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm. 10 The LORD foils the plans of the nations; He thwarts the purposes of the peoples. 11 But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through all generations.” (Psalm 33:4-11) Likewise, the Bible is orderly and reveals the nature and purposes of God and His Son. The Old Testament sacrifices He commanded the Jews to offer point to the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. The feast days and holy days also had a purpose which was to teach us something about God’s plans as the apostle Paul wrote, “16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: 17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” (Colossians 2:16-17) The great men of the Bible such as Joseph, Moses and prophets were types of Christ through their behavior and circumstances. The Bible is comprised of 66 Books written over a period of 1400 years by many human authors yet it presents an orderly account of the purposes of God because His Holy Spirit is the true Author of it. However, there is one Messianic type given by God in the Old Testament that I want to focus on which also has an End-Times prophetic aspect to it. It is an example of both the love of God for His people and also of His judgment which is coming upon the whole world.

The Kinsman Redeemer

One of the laws God told Moses to issue to the people was the law of the kinsman-redeemer or goel in the Hebrew language. The kinsman referred to a person’s relative who was to act on behalf of that relative. The first law is found in Leviticus:

“25 If a fellow countryman of yours becomes so poor he has to sell part of his property, then his nearest kinsman is to come and buy back what his relative has sold.” (Leviticus 25:25)

The kinsman of a poor relative was to buy back any land this relative sold. The second law is:

“47 Now if the means of a stranger or of a sojourner with you becomes sufficient, and a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to him as to sell himself to a stranger who is sojourning with you, or to the descendants of a stranger’s family, 48 then he shall have redemption right after he has been sold. One of his brothers may redeem him, 49 or his uncle, or his uncle’s son, may redeem him, or one of his blood relatives from his family may redeem him; or if he prospers, he may redeem himself.” (Leviticus 25:47-49)

If a poor relative’s circumstances became so dire that he sold himself into slavery then his kinsman was to redeem or purchase back his freedom. The third law is:

“5 When brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her to himself as wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her.” (Deuteronomy 25:5)

Here the brother is to marry his brother’s widow. In the Book of Ruth we see that the kinsman who could marry a relative who is widowed is not restricted to just the deceased husband’s brother. Other eligible relatives could fulfill the role of kinsman-redeemer. The fourth law is:

“11 But if there is a man who hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and rises up against him and strikes him so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, 12 then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. 13 You shall not pity him, but you shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel, that it may go well with you.” (Deuteronomy 19:11-13)

The Hebrew words for the name avenger of blood is goel haddam. Goel is the same word translated as kinsman in the above verses. This law meant that if a person murdered your relative, then you as his kinsman had to avenge his death by hunting down and killing the murderer.

Jesus Our Kinsman-Redeemer

Each of these kinsman-redeemer laws have either been fulfilled or will be fulfilled by Jesus Christ. His atoning death gave Him all rights to purchase back humanity and the earth. The first three laws speak of God’s love in caring for the poor and the widowed. The fourth law speaks of God’s coming judgment.

1) Redeeming the land – When Adam and Eve sinned by listening to Satan rather than obeying God they forfeited the right to till and cultivate the lush land of the Garden of Eden. They gave up humanity’s title deed to live on an uncursed earth to Satan. The apostle Paul acknowledges Satan’s current authority over the world, “3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (II Corinthians 4:3-4) Jesus said concerning Satan, “30 I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me; 31 but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded.” (John 14:29-31) Jesus will redeem the land of the earth which His children sold with their sins to Satan during the End-Times and will reign over it:

“1 I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals.2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?’ 3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it. 4 Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it; 5 and one of the elders said to me, ‘Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.’ 6 And I saw between the throne with the four living creatures and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. 7 And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. 8 When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. 10 ‘You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.’” (Revelation 5:1-10)

2) Redeeming the slave – By sinning, humanity sold themselves as slaves to sin and death but Jesus has redeemed us from our slavery to sin:

“You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.” (I Corinthians 7:23)

“5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” (Romans 6:5-14)

3) Marrying a widowed relative – Through our sin we joined ourselves with Satan in an unholy bond, “8 The one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.” (I John 3:8) When the world system and Satan are destroyed during the End-Times, Jesus will take His Church to be His bride:

“7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. 8 It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. 9 Then he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb’ And he said to me, ‘These are true words of God.’” (Revelation 19:7-9)

4) Avenging His relative’s blood – God is our Father: “12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12-13) Until the very end when Jesus returns, Satan and those who reject Jesus Christ will continue to kill God’s children. As our kinsman, Jesus will avenge the blood of His children and destroy the world during the End-Times:

“9 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; 10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also. 12 I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. 14 The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 15 Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; 16 and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” (Revelation 6:9-17)

The Love of God and the Judgment of God

As you have just read God is both Love and Holy Judgment as those in Heaven attest to, “7 And I heard the altar saying, “Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.” (Revelation 16:7) No matter how hard those in the modern Church try to deny or explain away God’s judgment they cannot do it without erasing large portions of the Bible. They need to be faithful to all aspects of God’s nature. Although it is God’s desire that everyone be saved it’s not going to happen no matter how sentimental or watered down our teaching is. The truth is that there are those who will receive God and those who will reject Him, “1 See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. 4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. 7 Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; 8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning; The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. 10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.” (I John 3:1-10) Christians are to love others including their enemies, but denying the truth about God’s complete nature is not loving Him or loving those to whom you misrepresent Him. It always bothers me when I hear someone say “my Jesus” did this or “my Jesus” wouldn’t do that. He is not your Jesus nor is He my Jesus. Jesus is who He is. He is not who you want Him to be. You either receive Him on His terms or you don’t, but you cannot make Him into your image, He made you in His image. Be a loving witness to the world but also be a truthful witness to the world according to His Word!

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Is God judging America?

Saturday, March 7th, 2009

americaeatenaway(March 6, 2009)  Recently I read the following headlines on the same day:

On The Road To Socialism? We’ve Arrived!

Bair Says Insurance Fund Could Be Insolvent This Year 

What Are the Odds of a Depression?

Everyday you can read headlines as bad as this or worse. My immediate thought was, Is God judging America? 

Ascribing God’s judgment to a person, event, or country can be a precarious endeavor. We live in a fallen world and therefore bad things sometimes happen just because of sinful human nature. However, nothing happens unless God allows it or He causes it to occur.

In biblical times a prophet made it clear that God’s judgment was coming. He gave the Canaanites 400 years to repent (they didn’t). He gave the city of Nineveh 40 days to repent (they did). He told Abraham that if He could find just ten tighteous men in Sodom and Gomorrah He wouldn’t destroy it (He couldn’t). He used the Babylonian Empire to carry out His judgment against a rebellious Israel who wasn’t obeying His land Sabbath laws (Leviticus 25:1-8; Jeremiah 25:8-9,11,29:10; II Chronicles 36:20-21). This judgment resulted in the destruction of the Jews’ first temple and led to their seventy-year captivity by the Babylonians. Of course the biggest judgment (aside from judging His Son Jesus Christ for our sins) God wrought was when He destroyed the earth with a flood.

Are there biblical principles we can use to discern as to when events may be a judgment of God?

Sodom and Gomorrah

Why was Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed? The prophet Ezekiel gives us some reasons:

“49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 50 And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.” (Ezekiel 16:49-50)

According to this passage those cities were proud, gluttonous, lazy, and uncaring towards the poor. The other reason God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah was because of the abomination of their homosexual activity:

“22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. 23 Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion. 24 Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: 25 And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.” (Leviticus 18:22-25)

The Book of Jude confirms their sexual immorality by going after “strange flesh”:

“7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. 8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.” (Jude vss.7-8)

In the Leviticus passage God declared that these sins defiled the land the people were living on and thus removed them through His judgment from heaven. Therefore we could say that if a country is committing these types of behavior God will one day judge it.

Nineveh

The Bible doesn’t specify why God was going to judge the city of Nineveh except to say they had committed wickedness:

“1 Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.” (Jonah 1:1-2)

God was going to judge the Ninevites because of their wicked behavior but withheld it when they repented.

Canaanites

In the case of the Canaanites mentioned above, God told Abraham that his descendants would be captives in the land of Egypt until the Canaanites’ sins had crossed the line of His judgment:

“13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not their’s, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; 14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. 15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. 16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.” (Genesis 15:13-16)

This passage illustrates another principle of God’s timing when it comes to judging a nation. He allowed the Canaanites to commit a certain amount of sins before He judged them. It would take another four hundred years before the people met that requirement. 

Israel’s Captivity

Israel had disregarded God’s laws concerning the physical land of Israel. He had instructed the Jews to plant and harvest their crops for six straight years on the land but on the seventh year they were not to plant or harvest anything. They were to give the land a rest. The Jews did not obey this law for 490 years which meant that seventy land Sabbaths occurred without the land getting a rest. He told the Israelites that because they did not obey His laws they would be taken captive for seventy years as punishment for the seventy land Sabbaths they had ignored:

“7 Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the LORD; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt. 8 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Because ye have not heard my words, 9 Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations. 10 Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle. 11 And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.” (Jeremiah 25:7-11)

 The Babylonians destroyed their first temple and took the Jews as captive for seventy years. This story reveals at least two principles of God’s judgment upon a nation: The first is that if a country ignores His laws then they will be judged at some point. The second is that sometimes God’s judgments have a time frame. In this case His judgment lasted seventy years after which He brought the Jews back to their land.

The Flood

Lastly, God judged the world:

“5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.” (Genesis 6:5-7)

Again, God’s judgment will come when the wickedness of a nation’s behavior (or the world’s behavior in this case) and the evilness of its reasoning crosses the line of God’s tolerance.

Flaunting Sin

I want to mention one last biblical principle concerning the judgment of God. This has to do with flaunted or public sin. There are different attitudes people can have when they sin. Some are ashamed of their sins and try to hide them. Others flaunt their sins before man and God because they have no shame in committing them. All sin is destructive but God looks at the heart (I Samuel 16:7). There are some examples of people who committed public, flaunted sins. One is found in the Book of Numbers:

“28 And the priest shall make an atonement for the soul that sinneth ignorantly, when he sinneth by ignorance before the LORD, to make an atonement for him; and it shall be forgiven him. 29 Ye shall have one law for him that sinneth through ignorance, both for him that is born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them. 30 But the soul that doeth ought presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people. 31 Because he hath despised the word of the LORD, and hath broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him. 32 And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day. 33 And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation. 34 And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him. 35 And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. 36 And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the LORD commanded Moses.” (Numbers 15:28-36)

God had just given His laws to the children of Israel. In verse 31 of this passage God stated that those who despise His word are to be cut off from the land. One of the main laws He commanded them to observe was that they rest on the Sabbath and do no work. Here a man was out picking up firewood on the Sabbath in front of the whole camp of Israel. He was despising the word and laws of God in a very public manner. To stop this type of rebellious attitude God had the Israelites judge him immediately.

Another example of public sin occurred very early in the Church’s history. The first Christians were eagerly bringing their donations to the disciples to help finance their ministry. However, one couple decided they were going to try to deceive their fellow Christians:

“33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all. 34 Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, 35 And laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need…1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, 2 And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? 4 Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. 5 And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things. 6 And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him. 7 And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. 8 And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much. 9 Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. 10 Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. 11 And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.” (Acts 4:33-35; 5:1-11)

This couple wanted to look righteous in the eyes of their fellow believers so they lied to God and the Holy Spirit. God judged them and they both died. They had publicly flaunted their sin before their fellow Christians with a complete disregard for the truths of God.

I believe the principle that judgment will result if we despise God’s word and thereby flaunt our sins before Him can be applied to nations as well. America has legalized the killing of unborn babies and is in the process of legally sanctioning homosexual marriages. Sexual immorality and divorce are quite pervasive in our culture. Shame is no longer part of the fabric of our society. We are flaunting our sins before the face of God and have been doing so for some time. How much longer will it be before God judges our public sins?

Is God Judging America?

Has America met any of the criteria for receiving God’s judgment that is mentioned above? It has been four hundred years since the first English settlement was established at Jamestown Virginia in 1607. From that time God has prospered America immensely. However, America’s behavior throughout its “young” history has not always been godly. American Indians were massacred and their lands confiscated. Blacks were treated inhumanely during slavery. One could make the case that the Civil War was God’s judgment upon America because more than 600,000 Americans died. The population at that time was 31 million Americans so nearly one out of every fifty Americans died. The result of this war was the abolition of slavery although not racism. At the same time America became a leading propagator of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Christian hospitals, colleges, and missions were built to help people in need. Americans fought in foreign wars to defeat governments bent on spreading evil in the world. Something changed in the 1960s. Authority was being challenged and rebellion in the areas of sexuality and gender roles began taking place. In 1962 the Supreme Court ruled that prayer in schools was unconstitutional. In 1969 a homosexual uprising took place in New York and began an era of normalizing homosexual relationships in the American culture. In 1973 the Supreme Court legalized abortion in America. It is estimated that more than 40 million unborn babies have been aborted since that ruling. That is equivalent to nearly one-seventh of the current American population. The courts have consistently protected pornography as a freedom of speech issue while at the same time removing religion from the sphere of public discourse. Mainline churches have quit teaching the literalness of the Bible in favor of a watered-down social gospel. Although churches are still reaching out to the poor and needy, people are starting to look to the government to feed and clothe them rather than God. All these things would give God the justification He needed to judge America. In the 1960s Ruth Graham, wife of Billy Graham, commented to her husband that if God didn’t judge America soon He was going to have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah. How much worse has America grown since she spoke these words. I believe there is one factor that has stayed God’s hand from judging America until now.

Israel

Israel became a nation again in 1948. The United States of America became the first nation in the world to recognize the legitimacy of Israel and its right to exist. Since then we have been its friend and protector. I believe the rebirth of Israel was the beginning of the fulfillment of a prophecy God gave to His prophet Amos:

“13 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. 14 And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. 15 And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.” (Amos 9:13-15)

God made a covenant with the patriarch Abraham:

“1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-3)

God promised to give the land of Israel to Abraham and his descendants. He also declared that those who bless or help Abraham’s nation of Israel will be blessed. Conversely, those who curse or oppose the nation of Israel will be cursed. As long as America protects Israel I believe God will allow America to escape His judgments. The day we turn our backs on Israel will be the day God will remove His protection from America. Are we at that point now? Just recently our new secretary of State has made disturbing proclamations towards the state of Israel:

Clinton condemns Israel’s demolition of Arab East Jerusalem homes

Jewish Leaders Blast Clinton Over Israel Criticism

I wrote an article on my website explaining why I think America does have to turn away from Israel at some point:  The Decline and Fall of America. Only time will tell if America stands by Israel or if we turn our backs on it because of military, economic, or policy reasons.

The Great Depression

Although we are currently going through tough financial times, economic crises are not unprecedented in our history. In the 1930s the Great Depression occurred after a decade of greed, crime, and prosperity led to financial collapse. Whether or not this was a judgment of God is not clear. It took the rise of an evil dictator and a world war to solve the Depression. I do believe that as a result of World War II the modern state of Israel came into existence. This was a fulfillment of biblical prophecy and therefore God was involved in some way with the events of the mid-twentieth century. It may be that the current economic collapse going on in the world could result in more biblical prophecy being fulfilled. This of course is God’s domain and only He knows the exact timing when His End-Times plans will be fulfilled.

Dangers of declaring God’s judgment

At the beginning of this article I stated that ascribing God’s judgment can be a precarious endeavor. One example of this occurred after 9/11. Some prominent Christian leaders proclaimed that the terrorist attack on New York City was God’s judgment on America because of its tolerance for homosexuality. They were predictably criticized in the media for these statements. You have just read that God will judge a nation because of its sins sexual or otherwise.  However, these Christian leaders had no proof that this is why God allowed terrorists to attack America. Therein lies the danger. We have no prophets today that are authorized by God to declare judgment on America. We do have His word which as we have seen declares why He does judge countries. America has met the criteria God requires to bring down His judgment on it and so it may very well be that we are at the start of the downfall of America. Only time will tell whether He is still restraining His judgment or just beginning it.

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Posted in America, Archives 2009, Website Articles: evenatthedoors.com | 4 Comments »


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