Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But My people have exchanged their Glory for worthless idols.

Be appalled at this, O heavens, and shudder with great horror, declares the LORD.

My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken Me, the spring of living water,

and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

Jeremiah 2:11-13, NIV (1978)

 

Towards Israel's end, the period of time when they had simply gone too far to be redeemed without punishment, God began to send them prophets to warn them of what was to come. While it was true that they could postpone this punishment should they turn away from their evil conduct, admitting that they had been wrong and turning back to the LORD in full obedience, the likelihood of their doing so was somewhere between slim and none.

 

At the time of Jeremiah's warning, God has already been issuing His warning about their impending judgment for over 100 years. It is true that Israel (specifically, Judah) would have an occasional period of repentance, the turning back to God was almost always only part of what He commanded. This type of a lukewarm repentance resulted in a kind of "one step forward and two steps back" situation in which Judah would continue their march towards wickedness, even though it was true that they would slow their descent from time to time.

 

Eventually there came the point where no amount of repentance would do. The nation had taken part to such a large extent in their sins of sexual immorality and the shedding of innocent blood in the worshipping of their idols that God let them know that their punishment as a nation was sealed. But of course, it was not only the Israelites who were sinning - the surrounding nations were immersed in idol worship of their own, so God began to have the prophets warn of a purge that would essentially be worldwide. He would leave a remnant, heavily weighted with those who had repented, but the punishment would be massive.

 

One nation would wipe out another, and then God would rise up still another to punish those who had previously been the victors. It would be a terrible time on earth, but it was deemed necessary in God's eyes. Just as He had eventually brought destruction upon the world during the time of Noah, and just as He had wiped out the entire region of Sodom and Gomorrah, the punishment of the nations was about to begin for the people of this era. 

 

The wickedness reached its peak, at least for Judah, during the time of King Manasseh. Their adulterous worship of multiple, detestable idols had reduced the nation to a people saturated by their own filth. They were fornicators, adulterers, and even had the "qadash" (a group of men whose sin focused on sexual sin with other men. They engaged in infanticide, killing countless children by burning them alive in a perverse worship of their false gods).  

 

Then came along a king named Josiah, the grandson of Manasseh. He was horrified at what had happened and led the people of Judah in a repentance that has rarely been seen among any people. And though they did turn back to the LORD in ways that were remarkable, the time of their doom was still sealed. King Josiah did a wonderful thing for the people: he helped prepare a remnant that would be worthy of saving. They and their descendants would still have to live in captivity for seventy years after God's punishment on Judah began, but they would be spared. It would be their children and grandchildren whom God would eventually bring back to Jerusalem to start again, but the interim would be terrible. Close to 90% of their fellow Israelites would be wiped out in God's promised punishment.

 

Well, if you are still with me, you are likely wondering what all of this has to do with us today. I believe it is this: America is experiencing a type of reformation. We have elected a new set of leaders who are making great strides in trying to get our nation back on a proper path. It is a wonderful thing and long overdue in my opinion, but I don't think it will be enough. The reason is two-fold, at least in my observation. The first is that we have shed a terrible amount of innocent blood through the wicked practice of abortion. When Judah was wiped out and even the temple was razed to the ground, the prophets explained why: It was for the sins that Manasseh had caused the people to commit, including the shedding of innocent blood which the LORD was unwilling to forgive (II Kings 24:3-4).

 

The second reason that I believe we are destined for a punishment is this: We have only partially repented! Much of our change has been precipitated by a change of leadership, and has largely been centered around vengeance, and not repentance. Many of us are quite pleased with the reversal of policies that encouraged everything from illegal immigration and the covering up of real crimes, to a stepping back from certain types of sexual immorality. But the change, though nothing short of amazing, I fear will not be nearly enough.

 

Here is why: While God has always reserved the final punishment for individuals for the final Judgment, He has always dealt with nations here on earth. I believe it would be good for everyone to become familiar with the Old Testament, and especially the warnings of the prophets, in order that they might have a clear view of what awaits us if we do not fully repent in our time. You don't have to be a prophet (and that is good, for I certainly am not) to see that we are doing the same things that eventually brought countless nations to brutal ends throughout history. The particulars may vary, but the pattern is the same. People enjoy God's blessings when they live according to His commands, and they suffer penalties when they do not. Again, while the individual's punishment often waits until Judgment, nations are always taken care of here on earth.

 

And, it appears to me, that America's punishment is long overdue. 

 

So, what can we do? First and foremost, we can repent of our own shortcomings - this is always a wise thing to do. Second, we can prepare ourselves and those we love for a much different world. We need to have our primary focus upon Christ and His church, so this is our starting point - we must return! Third, we must be praying for our leaders, warning those who are going in a wrong direction that we will no longer tolerate their evil conduct, but also encouraging those who are going in the right direction. The bottom line is that we need to be active participants in turning away from our past sins and turning towards God and His ways.

 

What we are doing right now is a long overdue attempt at a good start, but we are far from finished. Don't stop now in your own turning back to God, and don't stop now in your insistence to our leaders that they do the same. What we are doing is not enough. Sexual sins and the killing of the unborn is still rampant in our nation (and sometimes even in the Lord's church). We accept illegal drug use as a matter of course. We accept pornography and vulgar language as a matter of fact. Many of our churches have embraced the sinner (something we all must do) but at the same time they have done so by accepting the idea that the sinner can continue to sin (something that God absolutely forbids). We need to clean up our own lives, we need to clean up the church, and then we can go on to the important task of restoring a lost nation before it is too late. 

 

Monumental tasks, all, but doable if we will turn our lives back over to God and pray for His help. Who knows, perhaps it is not too late for Him to relent in bringing a punishment upon the nations in our times. But whether He should choose to or not, our duty is the same: We must serve God and trust Him to take care of the rest. Whatever God decides, we must be determined to be part of the remnant of those who are determined to follow God with all of their heart!