About Jesus  -  Steve Sweetman

A Nation Split In Half

Isaiah 3 describes what a nation suffering under God's judgment can expect to experience.  Verses 4 and 5 provide a couple of examples.  "I (God) will make mere youths their officials; children will rule over them.  People will oppose each other - man against man, neighbour against neighbour.  The young will rise up against the old, the nobody against the honoured" (NIV © 2011).   

Just last week, on June 14, 2017, a 66 year old man shot and attempted to kill a number of U.S. congressmen while they were practicing for a charity baseball game in a Washington D.C. suburb.  You might say, as Isaiah did, "the nobody against the honoured." 

While commenting on this tragedy I could hardly believe my ears when another congressman said that such violence is not American, but it is American.  Statistics show that on average 93 people in America are murdered every day by a gun.  Over the last 9 years there has been one mass murder (4 or more killed) every day in the United States.  From my perspective as one living across America's northern border, this sad tragedy is what America  has become.  Whether it's political, racial, cultural, religious, or whatever, the divide between people is becoming more violent than ever in the United States.  According to Isaiah 3, that's one piece of evidence of a nation suffering under God's judgment.        

According to multiple news sources, violence in America, including politically motivated violence, has increased in recent months.  As the divide between the political right and political left grows angrier, as we saw in the 2016 election campaign, violence is becoming routine.  Childish leadership that Isaiah says accompanies God's judgment is doing little to slow the pace of this cultural chaos. 

In Luke 11:17 Jesus said that a divided nation will fall in ruins.  That doesn't have to be.  God gives a nation ample time to repent.  If it doesn't repent, He decrees judgment, and, once He does, He does not change His mind.  I can't say for certain that America is beginning to experience judgment, but from my study of Scripture, it looks like it is.   

God's judgment on a nation often has a two-fold purpose.  It brings the offending nation down and in the process it purifies God's people, and in our case that's the church.  The process of purification occurs when the anti-Christ nation under judgment persecutes God's people as is now beginning to happen in America and throughout the West.  The so-called nominal Christian will not survive the pressure and will disassociate himself from the church, leaving the true believers standing strong in the midst of national judgment. 

In Luke 21:36 Jesus told us to watch and pray for signs that point to the end of this age.  As we watch for these signs we pray about how we should respond.  We also secure our supportive relationships with Jesus and those to whom He has joined us in the Body of Christ.  Beyond that we devour every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4) as seen in the Bible.  We will not survive without this nourishment.   

God's judgment is not a popular topic of discussion in some Christian circles but it's a Biblical reality.  One way to recognize a nation under judgment as seen in Isaiah 3 is when childish leaders lead a divided nation.  If I were you, I'd take Isaiah 3 seriously so that you are caught unaware when judgment falls on your nation.