Throughout history, any time a nation or group of people falls into deep sin, its destruction inevitably follows. It seems to be God's law of moral judgment that His wrath falls on those who refuse to listen to His voice.
This law is evident throughout the Bible as the Israelites, God's own chosen people, always found an enemy coming against them or some tragic event in nature taking place whenever they failed to worship their Jehovah and obey the laws which He had given them. The prophets always foretold destruction and doom if the people failed to repent, and it always happened as predicted. Even the New Testament agrees with this moral law when the Apostle Paul writes: "God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient" (Eph.5:6 NIV).
God's wrath was displayed when Jesus threw the money-changers out of the temple and told them they had turned His Father's house into a den of thieves (Matt.21:15). Jesus condemned the self-righteous, religious Jewish leaders who appeared outwardly good but inside were full of hypocrisy and wickedness (Matt.23:28 NIV). These glimpses into the nature of God show that while He is filled with mercy and long-suffering in infinite love toward all His created creatures, if our hearts become hardened beyond repentance and we refuse to acknowledge our sin, His judgment falls in one form or another. When King Josiah found an ancient scroll of Moses in the temple, he said to his people: "The reason the Lord's great anger has been poured out upon us is that our ancestors have not obeyed these laws written here" (II Cron.34:21 LB).
Our generation has dwelt upon the love of God and His great kindness, but little has been spoken about what inevitably happens to a nation or group of people who continue to reject Him.
The Bible predicts that in the last times many will fall away from God and will be lovers of selves, following false teachers and false doctrines. False prophets will arise, and many will be deceived. We are warned to watch and pray in case we, too, fall into the deceptive traps of Satan (I Tim.4:1-2). Sin will be rampant in a way unparalleled in the past.
The good news is that the Bible also tells us Jesus is coming to remove His church before the most evil seven-year period in history begins. While theologians argue about the time of this "rapture", let us get ourselves ready because the Bible says nobody will know the exact time (Matt.24:40-42 LB). This seven-year period of evil will immediately precede the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth when King Jesus will return to reign forever.
Let us, as individuals and a nation, turn our eyes back to God and learn of His ways. We have already forgotten that, while He is a just God, full of mercy and always more than ready to forgive, He is also a God of judgment who can tolerate sin only for a season. Let us watch and pray that we be ready when the Lord of the harvest, the final Reaper, returns to clear out the fields and sift the wheat from the chaff as He said He would.
"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit with me" (Psalm 51:10). I want to belong to the glorious church without a single spot or wrinkle or any other blemish, being holy and without a single fault (Eph.5:27 LB).
Jesus has not planned that His true church suffer the wrath of God (I Thess.5:9)!
© 1999, Doreen Palmer