God
Raises Up Kings or Nations and
Removes Them
Larry W. Wilson
“Before
Him all the nations are as
nothing; they are regarded by Him
as worthless and less than
nothing. To whom, then, will
you compare God? What image
will you compare Him to?” (Isaiah 40:17,18 )
Civilizations
come and go, and governments rise
and fall. Because our
Creator loves people, He also
blesses each nation with a span
of time so it might prosper and
do well, but this blessing ends
when a nation becomes degenerate,
rebellious, and unfit for
self-rule. When God
determines that extended mercy
for a nation has no redeeming
effect, He marginalizes or
destroys that nation.
Many
Christians understand that God
destroyed the world in
Noah’s day because it became
evil, but this is only part of
the picture! God drowned
all but eight people in
Noah’s day to free future
generations from the evil conduct
that belonged to their parents
and grandparents. The Lord
created the Earth and it belongs
to Him. He loves future
generations just as much as He
loves the present
generation. When it becomes
evident to Him that future
generations will be ruined by the
behaviors passed down by parents
and grandparents, He wipes out
the present generation. He did
this in Noah’s day. In
more recent times, He did this
with World Wars I and II.
Surprisingly, a God of love
imposed these wars during the
first half of the 20th century
so the world’s population
would grow and flourish 75 more
years before needing another
world war. “But
the Lord is the true God; He is
the living God, the eternal King.
When He is angry, the Earth
trembles; the nations cannot
endure His wrath.”(Jeremiah 10:10) ‘I
form the light and create
darkness, I bring prosperity and
create disaster; I, the Lord, do
all these things.’
” (Isaiah 45:7)
Many
Christians will not accept the
premise that a God of love
destroys nations when they become
decadent and degenerate. (Ezekiel 14:12-21)
Notice what the Lord said to
Ezekiel: “
‘Son of man, if a country
sins against me by being
unfaithful and I stretch out my
hand against it to cut off its
food supply and send famine upon
it and kill its men and their
animals, even if these three men
– Noah, Daniel and Job
– were in it, they could
save only themselves by their
righteousness,’ declares the
Sovereign Lord. . . . ‘Or if
I bring a sword against that
country and say, ‘Let the
sword pass throughout the
land,’ and I kill its men
and their animals, as surely as I
live,’ declares the
Sovereign Lord, ‘even if
these three men were in it, they
could not save their own sons or
daughters. They alone would be
saved.’ ” (Ezekiel 14:13-18)
World War
III is Coming!
Sooner
than later, the “sword”
is going to come again.
World War III will occur.
Tensions are mounting. Nations
are preparing for war.
Secret alliances are being
made. Military spending has
increased. And now, for the first
time since World War II, Japan
and South Korea are building
missiles for protection.
India is seeking to purchase
submarines that can carry
missiles. Iran is
developing its military prowess
as fast as possible. Israel
is perfecting its use of
drones. China, Russia, and
the United States are in an arms
race and North Korea is defying
the world’s nations.
Like it or not, World War III is
coming; and when it does,
millions of people will die.
Meanwhile
at home, the United States is
suffering from paralysis.
The leaders are fighting each
other. They are bogged down
with complex domestic problems
and cannot get anything done
because they cannot agree on a
solution. Partisanship has
created a do-nothing
legislature. The U.S. is
facing large, complex problems so
expensive that no one can offer a
good solution. Many
governments in the world are in a
similar or worse situation.
According
to the Bible, the longevity of a
government is determined by its
commitment to moral principles
God has dictated. When a
majority of people abide by these
principles, God blesses that
nation with prosperity and
longevity. He sends the
Holy Spirit to prompt honest
hearted citizens to be good
neighbors. The Holy Spirit
helps people make good decisions
because good decisions bring good
results for individuals,
families, and ultimately, the
nation. To ensure
continuity for oncoming
generations, God also raises up
good leaders and the result is a
good government that prospers and
endures. This is why King David
wrote: “Blessed
is the nation whose God is the
Lord, the people He chose for His
inheritance. From Heaven
the Lord looks down and sees all
mankind; from His dwelling place
He watches all who live on
Earth– He who forms the
hearts of all, who considers
everything they do. No king
is saved by the size of his army;
no warrior escapes by his great
strength. A horse [a
symbol of military might] is
a vain hope for deliverance;
despite all its great strength it
cannot save. But the eyes of the
Lord are on those who fear Him,
on those whose hope is in his
unfailing love, to deliver them
from death and keep them alive in
famine.” (Psalm 33:12-19,
insertion mine)
Governments
are very complex
organizations. In fact,
they are so complicated that men
cannot manage a government on
their own. Of course, a man
or woman can rise to the position
of a king, queen, dictator, or
president, but only with
God’s approval. God
sets kings up and takes them down
according to His higher
purposes. Sometimes God
will raise up a king to serve as
a destroyer of other nations only
to destroy that king and his
nation when they pass the point
of no return. (Jeremiah 25:9-12)
Because we cannot know or
understand God’s higher
purposes until He reveals them,
we have to trust Him. We have to
accept that He is carefully and
thoughtfully managing the
political processes on Earth to
benefit the world. Daniel
told king
Nebuchadnezzar, “He [the
Most High God] changes
times and seasons; He sets up
kings and deposes them. He gives
wisdom to the wise and knowledge
to the discerning. He reveals
deep and hidden things; He knows
what lies in darkness, and light
dwells with Him.” (Daniel 2:21,22,
insertion mine)
God Does
Not Guarantee a Nation Will Be
Successful
History
indicates that prosperity and
longevity is not a guaranteed
right for any nation. A
nation will flourish or disappear
depending on the behavior of its
people and the wisdom of its
leaders. God enables a
nation to prosper for as long as
the majority of its people are
honorable, living right, and
making wise choices. Think
of the billions of decisions, the
actions and consequences that
occur every day within every
nation. If a million
immoral decisions are made each
day, a million evil consequences
will follow, because the law of
“cause and effect”
cannot be broken. Whatever
we sow, we reap. (Galatians 6:7,8)
This axiom is true for
individuals and governments.
For
example, when Dictator Mao Zedong
implemented “The Great Leap
Forward” program in 1958, he
did not anticipate that his
efforts to transform China from
an agricultural economy into a
communist society would cause
mass starvation within five
years. We now know that His
decision resulted in the death of
some eighteen to fifty-five
million people! A God of
love allowed Mao to make such a
decision even though God foreknew
the outcome and He allowed Mao to
rule over China for twenty five
years as dictator. This is
because Mao’s choices fit
within God’s plans for the
future of China and the
world. This is a hard
concept to accept because we
cannot see the end from the
beginning as God does. In
fact, a time is coming when God
will allow the devil himself to
rule over the whole world!
(Revelation
13:11-18)
Jesus
understood the curse of
sin. He knew that evil
things happen to innocent people,
and He made it clear that those
who cause others harm will be
repaid: “Things
that cause people to sin are
bound to come, but woe to that
person through whom they
come. It would be better
for him to be thrown into the sea
with a millstone tied around his
neck than for him to cause one of
these little ones to sin.” (Luke 17:1,2) “Do
not take revenge, my friends, but
leave room for God’s wrath,
for it is written: ‘It is
mine to avenge; I will
repay,’ says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19)
Because
adults have free will and a
sinful nature a nation always has
the possibility of rebellion and
chaos. This is why law
enforcement is necessary.
To help offset man’s
propensity for rebellion, and to
help nations grow and improve,
God has given adults the ability
to recognize and appreciate a
need for law and order. He
has also given us a “natural
desire” to live in peace
with one another and in harmony
with the laws of the
country. Paul was aware of
this phenomenon when he wrote
Romans 13. As you read his
remarks, keep in mind that Paul
was a prisoner in Rome when he
wrote this: “Everyone
must submit himself to the
governing authorities, for there
is no authority except that which
God has established. The
authorities that exist have been
established by God.
Consequently, he who rebels
against the authority is
rebelling against what God has
instituted, and those who do so
will bring judgment on
themselves. For rulers hold
no terror for those who do right,
but for those who do wrong. Do
you want to be free from fear of
the one in authority? Then do
what is right and he will commend
you. For
he is God’s servant to do
you good. But
if you do wrong, be afraid, for
he does not bear the sword for
nothing. He is God’s
servant, an agent of wrath to
bring punishment on the
wrongdoer. Therefore, it is
necessary to submit to the
authorities, not only because of
possible punishment but also
because of conscience. This
is also why you pay taxes, for
the authorities are God’s
servants, who give their full
time to governing.”
(Romans 13:1-6, italics
mine)
When a
nation advocates and exalts evil,
a patient God removes His
blessings from that nation in
small steps, hoping that
repentance and correction will
occur. If there is no
change in behavior, problems soon
begin to sprout like dandelions
after a spring rain. The
nation’s economy
flounders. Poverty
increases. Sexual
misconduct ruins relationships,
and families and children are
abused by predators.
Political problems escalate until
finally, war engulfs that
weakened nation. One of the
tell-tale signs of a
nation’s imminent downfall
is the arrival of poor
managers. When people are
put in positions of power that
are self-seeking and immoral, we
know the end is near because they
only make matters worse.
When lies and suspicion replace
truth and trust, government is
doomed. God is no respecter of
persons. He will destroy
nations that He once blessed when
they become unfit for His
purposes because He owns and
rules over the Earth.
God
Permits Rebellion Against a Cruel
Government
The Bible
teaches that man’s first and
highest duty is to obey God.
(This is why church/state
governments are so
dangerous.) When man’s
laws run contrary to God’s
laws, civil disobedience is
warranted. When Jewish
leaders forbade the disciples
from speaking about a resurrected
Jesus, “Peter
and the other apostles replied:
‘We must obey God rather
than men!’ ” (Acts 5:29) Jesus
highlighted the concept of
“God first” when He
repeated the first and greatest
commandment. He said we
must love God with all of our
heart, mind and soul and the
second commandment is that we
must love our neighbors as
ourselves. (Matthew 22:37-39)
Given the order presented in
these two commandments,
Paul’s counsel in Romans
13 could be considered a
third commandment, “Everyone
must submit himself to the
governing authorities, for there
is no authority except that which
God has established.”
When a
government becomes cruel and
oppressive, tyranny occurs and
under such circumstances, God
permits revolt, civil
disobedience, and war. In
fact, the United States came to
be a nation through acts of civil
disobedience and the
revolutionary war. Then,
about seventy-five years later, a
civil war broke out between the
north and the south and 620,000
people perished. In spite of all
the blood that was shed in both
wars, consider the results.
A great nation arose, greater
than England by far! A
nation having fifty united states
where no man is permitted to own
another as a slave.
Many
people have argued through the
centuries (using Paul’s
comments in Romans 13:1-6 and
a concept called “the divine
right of kings”) that
revolting against government
leaders is forbidden by
Scripture. But Paul
included an important qualifier
in his remarks. Paul said,
“For he is
God’s servant to do you
good.” When a
government violates God’s
laws and when leaders become
dishonest, cruel, and oppressive
to maintain their power, they are
doing no good. God warns
all government rulers that they
will have to give an account for
their actions. (Psalm 2:10-12)
Citizens
of the U.S. are blessed to live
in a country that has the finest
constitution ever created, but
the nation is falling apart
because people have abandoned the
moral principles which God
requires to receive His
blessings. Corruption is
replacing confidence and there is
no shortage of liars and
predators in politics.
Forty million of 360 million U.S.
citizens need assistance to buy
food and the median price of a
home is beyond the reach of
three-fourths of the
population. The number of
people in poverty is swelling
because the middle class is
disappearing. Wages are
stagnant and student loans are
proving to be ruinous for
millions of young people.
More than ever, fellow Americans
do not like or trust each other;
and more and more, we carry guns
because we are increasingly
afraid of each other.
America has fallen so fast!
God Has a
Solution to National Degeneracy
There is
no human solution to the
world’s problems, but there
is a divine solution for
both. The downfall of all
nations is near! During the
Great Tribulation a stern-faced
king will arise; he will take
control and utterly ruin
everything on Earth – a
fitting end for a world that
insists on evil behavior.
Larry
Wilson
