Reading the Bible through again this year, in September, I’m still in the Old Testament, now in Ezekiel. As I read the prophets, I take note of several sections I used to read over too lightly. The prophets include sections–sometimes long sections–condemning Gentile nations. I used to dismiss this as somewhat irrelevant. Who thinks about Moab, Edom, and the Chaldeans today? Isn’t it all passe–ancient and irrelevant? But further reflection makes me realize how important these passages are for us today. These prophetic messages teach us:
1. God judges all nations–not just the covenant nation, Israel. Of course he chastises Israel, his covenant people; he judges because of their covenant-breaking disobedience to his Law. But the fact that so many prophets address surrounding nations teaches us that God holds all nations accountable. (Gentiles have the law of God written on their hearts–Romans 2:14-15).
2. The Judge of all the earth condemns sin in Gentile nations. God condemns pride, idolatry, oppression of the poor, violence and greed. He condemns militarism, materialism, human trafficking, and the defiance of God. The words of the prophets are simple:
“Moab will be destroyed as a nation because she defied the Lord.” (Jer. 48:42)
Substitute any nation for Moab. Fill in the blank.
3. God has not changed; he is the Judge of all the earth (Genesis 18:25). I look at my country–and I see the sin so frequently condemned by the prophets. We too are proud: “We are number one! We are the greatest nation of the world!” We worship possessions and money: materialism. We pour untold billions into war-making machinery. “We have a military second to none!” “Make America great again!” We do not fear God; we defy God, neglecting the poor, ravaging the creation, aborting the unborn, sanctioning sexual deviance, living for today as if God is unimportant.
From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind;
14 from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth—
15 he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do. (Psalm 33:13-15 NIV)
As we read prophetic passages, we learn that God gives one nation power–then judges that nation when it misuses its power. God used Assyria and Babylon to chastise his own defiant and disobedient people. Then he brought judgment down on Assyria, and on Babylon in turn. God rules the nations.
4. We who are followers of Christ in our nation must pray for our country. We can pray for a spirit of the fear of the Lord to fall on our nation, and our nation’s leaders. We can pray for the churches of the nation, that they preach Christ energetically and faithfully–even as they live for Christ, stand for justice, for the poor, the needy, the foreigners, for the rule of law, as the Lord instructs.
5. We certainly need to fear God ourselves, and fear his judgment. Remember that Jeremiah, in his letter to the exiles, urged the people of God to seek the good of pagan Babylon: “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” (Jer. 29:7 NIV). The lives of God’s people are intertwined with the nation in which they live. God says this to them, even as he instructs them to repent, and seek the Lord with all their hearts.
6. This is no time to compromise the gospel, or the teaching of Scripture. We must, on our knees, live in the fear of God, not man. Cultural developments pressure us to relativize the gospel, as if Christ were only one of many ways to know God. But we remember that the prophets condemned spiritual leaders who failed Israel. They led the people into sin, away from God, and by leading the nation into apostasy, assured God’s judgment. “A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?” (Jer 5:30-31 NIV).We who are called to be spiritual leaders must lead people to God and his truth, never away from him and his word!
7. All nations / peoples have hope–if they will humble themselves and turn to God. Listen to the heart cry of God, as Ezekiel expressed it:
‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O people?’ (Ezekiel 33:11 NIV)
As Jeremiah puts it:
“Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. (Jer. 6:16 NIV)
The ancient prophets speak with great power and relevance to us today! We must listen to them on our knees and seek God with all our hearts.