WHOLE NATIONS FALL UNDER THE TEMPORAL JUDGMENT OF GOD

WHOLE NATIONS FALL UNDER THE TEMPORAL JUDGMENT OF GOD

• The course of God's Movements among men is to Control sin in order that he may Accomplish His Purpose

Gen. 6:3 My spirit will not always strive with men. "And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years."
This climax of depravity brought God's longsuffering to an end. Only 120 years of opportunity for repentance remained, while Noah constructed the ark that would save his family. Noah, the "preacher of righteousness'' (2 Pet. 2:5) warned those who were "disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited . . . while the ark was a preparing" (1 Pet. 3:20), and by his unique faith in God's prophecy of "things not seen as yet . . . he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith" (Heb. 11:7).

 

Ps. 76:10 The measure of wrath He will restrain. "Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain."
The phrase, "The wrath of man," here stands for all that is evil. It refers to the fierce passion of revolt, expressing itself in definite rebellion. Its appalling power has been seen in all the small conflicts, inspired by evil desire, and unrighteous lust. This singer of the olden time had seen the wrath of man working havoc in human affairs, as we also have seen it. But he had watched closely and he had seen God, surrounding all its activity by His Own presence and holding it within His Own, grasp, and so compelling it at last to work out His Own purpose, and thus to work towards His praise. Then he had seen God, when the limit was reached, restrain this wrath, in the pictorial language of the singer, girding it upon Himself, and so preventing its further action under the will of man. The declaration of this Hebrew singer, from what he saw in his own day, may be applied to all human history. Thus God has always compelled the wrath of man to praise Him; and this will He do until He finally gird it upon Himself, a trophy of His victory, a sure sign at once of His power and His love.

 

Gen. 15:16 Iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. "But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full."
God has the destiny of all the nations pre-determined.

• The Cause of Judgment upon Nations lies in the fact that Wickedness has Reached that Point where Divine Intervention is Necessary

Hab. 1:2-4; 1:5-11 "O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! Why dost thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold  grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth." "Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvelously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you. For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs. They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it. Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god."

• The Correction Through Judgment Arrests the tide of sin for a Time that God's Work may go on

Isa. 26:9 Nations learn righteousness. "With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness."

Hab. 1:12-17 More wicked used to judge the less wicked. "Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction. Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he? And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad. Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous. Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?"

 

Dan. 5:22-31 Babylon brought to an end. Final result is the release from captivity and return to Jerusalem. "And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified: Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written. And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old."

 In these words the sin of Belshazzar was stated in its deepest meaning. The scene represents him in the midst of a thousand of his lords, drinking wine out of vessels taken from the Temple of Jehovah, and offering worship in the act to gods of gold, of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone This man was the son of Nebuchadnezzar. He was familiar with the things that had happened to him. He knew through what experiences his father had been brought to acknowledgment of the Kingdom of the Most High. This, then, in itself, was an occasion and an act of defiant rebellion against that Kingdom. For that final act his doom was sealed. In that night he was slain. Daniel, now an old man, interpreted the mystic writing on the wall, and in these words revealed the true nature of Belshazzar's sin. There is tremendous force in the statement. It recognized the relation of the man to God. his breath-foul then with obscenity and profanity-was in the hand of God; his ways-crooked and perverse and rebellious-were yet under the Divine control. Yet this man had used his breath for blasphemy rather than for praise, and his ways had been those of self-indulgence, rather than those of fulfilling the will of God. Therefore he lost his pleasure, his power, and his life. With many different manifestations, this is the one sin which brings about human ruin. The breath of every man is in the hands of God, and so also are the ways of each. Let life respond to that fact, rather than rebel against it. This helps to understand the meaning of the omnipresence of God.