"But you would not listen to me," says the Lord. "You made me furious by worshiping idols you made with your own hands, bringing on yourselves all the disasters you now suffer."
—Jeremiah 25:7
Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were Jewish teenagers who ended up as captives in ancient Babylon. Through the years, their people had a propensity to turn to false gods. So the Lord raised up prophets again and again to warn them, but they didn’t listen. God even raised up the prophet Jeremiah to tell them that if they didn’t stop their idol worship, He would judge them and allow another nation to defeat them in battle and take them captive. Not only did God tell them this would happen, but He also told them which nation would defeat them.
The Israelites persisted in ignoring God’s warnings, however, and just as He predicted, King Nebuchadnezzar overtook them and hauled them off to Babylon as captives.
Speaking through Jeremiah, God said to them, “Because you have not listened to me, I will gather together all the armies of the north under King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, whom I have appointed as my deputy. I will bring them all against this land and its people and against the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy you and make you an object of horror and contempt and a ruin forever” (25:8–9).
I can’t help but think that God has been giving warnings to our own nation as well. How long will people in the United States continue to thumb their noses at God? How long will they continue to mock Christians and mock the Word of God? Do they not think that God could allow another nation to defeat us? Do they not think that we could reap the inevitable consequences of our sin?
We could. I believe the Lord is warning our nation. And I think we have two options before us in the United States: judgment or revival. I hope it’s the latter |
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