I am currently studying through the book of Ezekiel and teaching through the book of Revelation and also writing the Judgment Scene and Hell Scene for my church’s annual Fall drama, The Judgment Seat… so here’s your fair warning that for the current season my posts might be a little “harsh” for some… but nevertheless bathed in prayer and full of the Word.
I am an American. I am a southern girl, born and bred in the Heart of Dixie Alabama Bible belt. However I did not wrap the Bible around my own waste as the belt of truth until I was twenty-four years old.
So please know that I understand and offer and am bathed in the grace of my God first always and foremost… but I cannot ignore the wrath of God because it is just as much a part of Him and salvation as is His grace. If the wrath of God had not fallen on Christ it would have fallen on me… I am offered grace only because someone else took my fully deserved wrath.
That said…
We are in a political battle at the moment in our nation. Our nation to the reasoning of others is going to Hell in a hand-basket because of the choices of a political party… just pick one depending on which side your own. People who profess to know Christ point at the laws made and the “freedoms” given to certain individuals and we assure ourselves that the wrath of God is going to fall on our nation because of them.
I dare say that I disagree with you…
I believe God’s Word is clear and we who profess to know Christ need to stop pointing the finger at them.
Thus says the Lord God, ‘This is Jerusalem; I have set her at the center of the nations, with lands around her. But she has rebelled against My ordinances more wickedly than the nations and against My statutes more than the lands which surround her; for they have rejected My ordinances and have not walked in My statutes.’ Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Because you have more turmoil than the nations which surround you and have not walked in My statutes, nor observed My ordinances, nor observed the ordinances of the nations which surround you,’ therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I, even I, am against you, and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations.
Ezekiel 5:5-8
Now let’s read it again…
Thus says the Lord God, ‘This is the church; I have set her at the center of the world, with the lost around her. But she has rebelled against My ordinances more wickedly than the world and against My statutes more than the lost that surround her; for the believers have rejected My ordinances and have not walked in My statutes.’ Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Because you have more turmoil than the world which surround you and have not walked in My statutes, nor observed My ordinances, nor observed the ordinances of the world which surround you,’ therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I, even I, am against you, and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the lost.
We the church, are supposed to be the light on the hill. Yet we the church have spent the last fifty plus years more engaged in our American goods than our God. We have chosen sports over the spiritual. Money over the mass. Concession over conviction. Sin over sanctification. We the church have found ourselves right back at Romans 2-3. We are either legalistic fist pounders or we are so drunk on the idea of grace that we could care less about our sin grieving our God.
You see God is judging Israel not just because they “knew better but messed up, hey nobody is perfect right?”
He is judging them because He set them at the center of the nations to lead the nations to Him. They were commissioned to be the light of the nations, the salvation of the peoples, they were to show the nations watching them how to get to the One True Living God. So the whole world had their eyes on them for direction…
Now that Israel chose to worship their blessings instead of their Blesser. Now that they chose to point people to idol instead of to God, and now that they were leading people away from God instead of to Him… He had to judge them or all those watching them would be lost and follow their rebellion right into the pits of hell.
So here we are today in the American church.
This is what the lost see.
They see the church tell another person how they will go to hell without Jesus for their sin while they are having sex with whatever person they are dating at the moment, because, well, they are forgiven, so when they feel bad enough about what they are doing they will go to Jesus and pray a prayer and He will forgive them. Or they tell a person that they will go to hell for their one particular sin, because God said it was an abomination, so somehow that makes their sin worse than theirs.
In case you’re wondering what God calls abominations…
There are six things which the Lord hates,
Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him:
Haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
And hands that shed innocent blood,
A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that run rapidly to evil,
A false witness who utters lies,
And one who spreads strife among brothers.
Proverbs 6:16-19
For some reason it seems that male/female sex is the sin of choice in America, it’s apparently okay, after all look at all the temptation that surrounds us, God understands we can’t resist, and look how hard it is to say no…. right? Just preach no sex in one hand but stand their with condoms and Valtrex in the other hand.
It seems we will give up any sin but this one. We will love others, we’ll try not to lie, try not to steal, we won’t worship other “gods, we will honor our parents, we’ll go to church, we’ll teach Sunday school, we’ll tithe faithfully… just don’t make me give up my orgasm. Don’t make me resist him or her, after all they will find someone else if I say no, and then I will be alone… because God even though I tell others that You are enough and as long as I have You I am never alone… I really don’t believe that and I don’t really trust You to meet all my needs like Your word says You will.
We want to judge our nation and we want our nation to “act right” but we don’t want any of our individual actions to be judged by anyone and we don’t want anyone pointing out to us when we don’t “act right”. I have to wonder how many of the people who stood in line for an hour to buy a chicken sandwich were having an affair with a co-worker or neighbor or “friend” or shacking up with someone. These actions do not represent traditional marriage anymore than homosexual marriage does.
Go back and read Proverbs 6:16-19 and look at your plans for this week… check your calendar for the month… how many “plans” have you made that honor your God and how many plans have you made that are wicked, and setting your feet to run rapidly to evil… how many lies are you having to speak to make your plans work… and how many innocent eyes might perish if they are watching and follow the way that you go?
Precious one, it is not our political choices that will bring God’s anger upon our nation…
Thus My anger will be spent and I will satisfy My wrath on them, and I will be appeased; then they will know that I, the Lord, have spoken in My zeal when I have spent My wrath upon them. Moreover, I will make you a desolation and a reproach among the nations which surround you, in the sight of all who pass by. So it will be a reproach, a reviling, a warning and an object of horror to the nations who surround you when I execute judgments against you in anger, wrath and raging rebukes. I, the Lord, have spoken.
Ezekiel 5:13-15
God’s anger, wrath, and raging rebukes didn’t come because of Jerusalem’s political choices. It was the apathy, the arrogance, and the abominations of the priest. It was because of the defilement of His temple and His holy name.
Let’s read Ezekiel 5: 5-8 one more time in one more different way…
Thus says the Lord God, ‘This is Nicole; I have set her at the center of her home, family, and community, with the lost around her. But she has rebelled against My ordinances more wickedly than the world and against My statutes more than the lost that surround her; for she who professed to be a believer rejected My ordinances and has not walked in My statutes.’ Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Because you have more turmoil than the world which surround you and have not walked in My statutes, nor observed My ordinances, nor observed the ordinances of the world which surround you,’ therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I, even I, am against you, and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the lost.
You see that was me.
That is me.
I professed to know Christ… but I lived in great sin. I have fallen at the altar of my God and wept more times than I can count not just over my sin… but over the sin that I encouraged in others… some of those who went down a path much worse than mine… and I helped them get there.
I profess to know Christ now… and know Him I do… but I still sin. I would be a liar if I spoke otherwise and even worse I would make my God a liar (1 John 1:10) and my God doesn’t lie (Numbers 23:19).
The difference between then and now is that then I pursued sin.
Today I pursue Christ.
Then I sinned much.
Now I sin-less.
Precious one, our political leaders are who they are because our spiritual leaders have been who they have been. The choices of our nation are just a reflection of the choices in our church. The choices of our church are a reflection of the choices in our homes. The choices of our home are a reflection of the choices in our heart.
The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good;
and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil;
for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.
Luke 6:45
Stop pointing the finger at them and start pointing the finger at yourself.
Do you hate your own sin enough to go boldly before the throne of grace and seek God’s divine power to defeat it (2 Corinthians 10:3-5, 2 Peter 1:3)?
The true grace of God is the divine power to defeat sin and to live a godly life (Titus 2:11-14).
It’s not about self-condemnation… but Spirit-Conviction.
Don’t be the excuse that another has to brush off the call of Christ… be their reason to hear loud and clear (Acts 20:26-28).