Deliverance in National Discipline
When the Father’s Holiness and Justice are no longer tempered by His Patience, and His discipline falls upon a nation, is there any hope for the individual? Barring the rare national repentance exhibited by Nineveh at Jonahs reluctant preaching there is hope for the individual, but in a way we likely won't expect nor would necessarily be glad to have.
“[Art] thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.” Habakkuk 1:12
The prophet Habakkuk was distraught at the unrighteousness of his own people; it appeared God was absent, not doing anything about the heart of the people. Wickedness defined the condition of things Habakkuk did see around him. Things had definitely gone downhill after the reign of the good King Josiah. In verse 5 of this first chapter God answers Habakkuk with this statement “Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvelously: for [I] will work a work in your days, [which] ye will not believe, though it be told [you]." I must say I would not have been encouraged by this or verse 12 for that matter; God was about to work a work they wouldn’t believe even after He told them plainly what was about to happen: Israel would be overrun by the Chaldeans, scoffers and a violent people, and it was all in order to discipline the errant People of God, the people of Judah.
I know there are faithful Christians in America today, people who are grieved over sin and the disobedience around them, but looking at the nation as a whole we are a wicked lot. You see the headlines, studies and surveys the same as I do. We both know our nation has strayed so very far from God, His Commandments and the founding principles of the nation. In 1967 it is reported Billy Graham said "If God doesn't soon bring judgment upon America, He'll have to go back and apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah!" Can there be any other conclusion that our nation deserves to be disciplined since we are not living up to Biblical principles? Our national disobedience and sin is far worse now and yet for some reason His judgment is withheld.
What is our hope and what then is the Christian to do? Does God have a plan, a future and a hope, for His child in the midst Him disciplining the group you are a part of?
Be prepared for a deliverance that does not look like deliverance, for a provision that looks like discipline but isn’t. While Habakkuk was writing prior to Judah being taken captive by Babylon, Ezekiel was writing from captivity in Babylon. See how God speaks to the prophet Ezekiel with particular notice of the underlined portion.
“Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have [some] that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries. And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall lothe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations. And they shall know that I [am] the LORD, [and that] I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them. Thus saith the Lord GOD; Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence. He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my fury upon them.” Ezekiel 6:8-12
God had already sent many into captivity; Ezekiel was by the River Chebar with those of the captivity at Telabib. It likely appeared to those who remained in Judah that they were the ones safe, spared discipline. But the opposite is true. God made it clear to Ezekiel there would be a remnant to remember Him among those carried captive. The captives are the ones who escaped judgment. It was those who remained in Judah or who tried to flee on their own who would be disciplined with pestilence and famine and sword. God made it clear it was His will to save a remnant in the midst of captivity and discipline would fall upon those who would not submit to this captivity, whether in Babylon or under Babylonian rule in Judah. Don't miss the purpose of this captivity and discipline that "they shall now that I am the Lord."
This message is confirmed in Jeremiah as well. In chapter 42 all the people in Jerusalem came to Jeremiah to find out what to do, they asked Jeremiah to seek God and they would obey whatever He commanded. In verse 5 through 40 Jeremiah brings the answer, God said to stay in Jerusalem under the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. If they obeyed and remained God would take care of them “If ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull [you] down, and I will plant you, and not pluck [you] up:.” Sounds simple but how many of us have refused similar simple instructions? God also makes it very clear that leaving for Egypt will result in their utter destruction. In verse 17 He clearly states that by fleeing their oppressor and disobeying God the very thing they are afraid of will catch them and destroy them. “Then it shall come to pass, [that] the sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die.”
But what for us today, are there any similarities for us as Christians to trust in? YES, God still desires for us to know Him. Remember that phrase from Ezekiel, "they shall now that I am the Lord," a similar one appears in the New Testament. In Revelation 9:20-21 it says "And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts." Even the great Tribulation is designed to get people to repent and turn to God. So if God disciplined His chosen people so they would know He is the Lord and if He disciplines the unbelieving world in the Great Tribulation to bring about repentance, won't He in love do the same for us, discipline so we turn to Him? And in discipline provide deliverance? And yet in more love and patience since we have already been sealed by the blood of His own Son!
What about our nation, should we expect discipline or victory? I fear it is not victory. Are we to expect a foreign country to invade and oppress? Or is it more subtle? I don’t know. It is possible that our current economic condition will result in the loss of sovereignty either monetarily or politically or it could be our own government so strays from our founding that we are fundamentally transformed into a nation which suppresses freedom, that we are taken over from the inside. I speak as one who has enjoyed many years of freedom in a country free for centuries, but our brothers and sisters in many nations already feel and face this every day. They already know what may befall us.
I do not speak as a prophet, only as one who is encouraging you to think about our situation and be prepared for God to move without preconceived notions of how that will look or where it will take you. I pray that the path for us to choose is as clear as it was to Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
Posted November 27, 2011
“[Art] thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.” Habakkuk 1:12
The prophet Habakkuk was distraught at the unrighteousness of his own people; it appeared God was absent, not doing anything about the heart of the people. Wickedness defined the condition of things Habakkuk did see around him. Things had definitely gone downhill after the reign of the good King Josiah. In verse 5 of this first chapter God answers Habakkuk with this statement “Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvelously: for [I] will work a work in your days, [which] ye will not believe, though it be told [you]." I must say I would not have been encouraged by this or verse 12 for that matter; God was about to work a work they wouldn’t believe even after He told them plainly what was about to happen: Israel would be overrun by the Chaldeans, scoffers and a violent people, and it was all in order to discipline the errant People of God, the people of Judah.
I know there are faithful Christians in America today, people who are grieved over sin and the disobedience around them, but looking at the nation as a whole we are a wicked lot. You see the headlines, studies and surveys the same as I do. We both know our nation has strayed so very far from God, His Commandments and the founding principles of the nation. In 1967 it is reported Billy Graham said "If God doesn't soon bring judgment upon America, He'll have to go back and apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah!" Can there be any other conclusion that our nation deserves to be disciplined since we are not living up to Biblical principles? Our national disobedience and sin is far worse now and yet for some reason His judgment is withheld.
What is our hope and what then is the Christian to do? Does God have a plan, a future and a hope, for His child in the midst Him disciplining the group you are a part of?
Be prepared for a deliverance that does not look like deliverance, for a provision that looks like discipline but isn’t. While Habakkuk was writing prior to Judah being taken captive by Babylon, Ezekiel was writing from captivity in Babylon. See how God speaks to the prophet Ezekiel with particular notice of the underlined portion.
“Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have [some] that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries. And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall lothe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations. And they shall know that I [am] the LORD, [and that] I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them. Thus saith the Lord GOD; Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence. He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my fury upon them.” Ezekiel 6:8-12
God had already sent many into captivity; Ezekiel was by the River Chebar with those of the captivity at Telabib. It likely appeared to those who remained in Judah that they were the ones safe, spared discipline. But the opposite is true. God made it clear to Ezekiel there would be a remnant to remember Him among those carried captive. The captives are the ones who escaped judgment. It was those who remained in Judah or who tried to flee on their own who would be disciplined with pestilence and famine and sword. God made it clear it was His will to save a remnant in the midst of captivity and discipline would fall upon those who would not submit to this captivity, whether in Babylon or under Babylonian rule in Judah. Don't miss the purpose of this captivity and discipline that "they shall now that I am the Lord."
This message is confirmed in Jeremiah as well. In chapter 42 all the people in Jerusalem came to Jeremiah to find out what to do, they asked Jeremiah to seek God and they would obey whatever He commanded. In verse 5 through 40 Jeremiah brings the answer, God said to stay in Jerusalem under the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. If they obeyed and remained God would take care of them “If ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull [you] down, and I will plant you, and not pluck [you] up:.” Sounds simple but how many of us have refused similar simple instructions? God also makes it very clear that leaving for Egypt will result in their utter destruction. In verse 17 He clearly states that by fleeing their oppressor and disobeying God the very thing they are afraid of will catch them and destroy them. “Then it shall come to pass, [that] the sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die.”
But what for us today, are there any similarities for us as Christians to trust in? YES, God still desires for us to know Him. Remember that phrase from Ezekiel, "they shall now that I am the Lord," a similar one appears in the New Testament. In Revelation 9:20-21 it says "And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts." Even the great Tribulation is designed to get people to repent and turn to God. So if God disciplined His chosen people so they would know He is the Lord and if He disciplines the unbelieving world in the Great Tribulation to bring about repentance, won't He in love do the same for us, discipline so we turn to Him? And in discipline provide deliverance? And yet in more love and patience since we have already been sealed by the blood of His own Son!
What about our nation, should we expect discipline or victory? I fear it is not victory. Are we to expect a foreign country to invade and oppress? Or is it more subtle? I don’t know. It is possible that our current economic condition will result in the loss of sovereignty either monetarily or politically or it could be our own government so strays from our founding that we are fundamentally transformed into a nation which suppresses freedom, that we are taken over from the inside. I speak as one who has enjoyed many years of freedom in a country free for centuries, but our brothers and sisters in many nations already feel and face this every day. They already know what may befall us.
I do not speak as a prophet, only as one who is encouraging you to think about our situation and be prepared for God to move without preconceived notions of how that will look or where it will take you. I pray that the path for us to choose is as clear as it was to Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
Posted November 27, 2011
