Nations and Divine Judgment

Thoughts about God and international relations:

Christians today have plenty of questions as to what exactly is happening in the world and why God might be allowing different things to happen. This is true not just in our own personal lives, but in the affairs of nations. Events occurring around the globe can leave us perplexed and fearful.

The situation in the Middle East is just one case in point. But numerous other hotspots around the world certainly have many people – Christians included – concerned and wondering just what is going on. But the Christian at least must recall that over all this there is a God who exists and who is working out his purposes.

One thing we do know from the biblical record is that God does deal with the nations. He is clearly involved in them and takes an interest in them. This sometimes involves judgment and sometimes involves blessing. And these things can occur in various ways. Consider the issue of judgment. God can do this through different means.

Sometimes he can directly judge a nation, such as when he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. No intermediaries were involved – it was simply the direct work of God. But sometimes he will use one nation to judge another nation. This is quite common in the biblical record.

For example, we read often about how pagan nations were raised up by God to judge ancient Israel when it became so sinful, rebellious and idolatrous. Consider Isaiah 10 where God tells the prophet he is using the evil Assyrians to judge Israel (the northern kingdom). And in places like Jeremiah 21, 25, and 27 we read about how God tells the prophet that he is going to use Babylon to judge Judah (the southern kingdom).

But God in turn will also judge these nations. For example, Is. 10 also tells us about how God will judge Assyria, and in Jer. 50-51 we read about God’s judgment on Babylon. So even though God can use these pagan nations for his purposes, he does not let them off the hook. They too are judged for their evil.

Furthermore, God can also use one pagan nation as an instrument of judgment on another pagan nation. Thus Assyria eventually falls to the Babylonians, and Babylon eventually falls to the Persians, and so on. One interesting text on this is Jeremiah 43:8-13. There we read about how God will use the pagan Babylonians to judge the pagan Egyptians:

Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes: “Take in your hands large stones and hide them in the mortar in the pavement that is at the entrance to Pharaoh’s palace in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah, and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden, and he will spread his royal canopy over them. He shall come and strike the land of Egypt, giving over to the pestilence those who are doomed to the pestilence, to captivity those who are doomed to captivity, and to the sword those who are doomed to the sword. I shall kindle a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them and carry them away captive. And he shall clean the land of Egypt as a shepherd cleans his cloak of vermin, and he shall go away from there in peace. He shall break the obelisks of Heliopolis, which is in the land of Egypt, and the temples of the gods of Egypt he shall burn with fire.’”

Of interest here is how the idolatrous pagan Babylonians destroy the pagan idols of Egypt. Recall that during the exodus God used the ten plagues as a form of judgment on the Egyptian gods. Here we have Babylon doing more of the same.

Let me offer some commentary on this, and then draw together some concluding thoughts and applications. As to some helpful background information, Hetty Lalleman reminds us of a few points:

God’s presence and his word are not restricted to the Promised Land – even in Egypt there is a message, again via Jeremiah, who is to perform a symbolic action (v. 9) before the eyes of the Judeans with him (see 13:1-11; 19 for similar symbolic actions….

 

The gods of other nations were ‘conquered’ by taking their statues into exile. Taking them and exposing them to everyone in a procession in Babylon demonstrated the supreme power of the god of Babylon, who had ‘conquered’ those other gods and their countries (cf. Jer. 48:7; see also Isa. 46:1-2).

Michael Brown offers this commentary:

Rather than Egypt offering protection from Nebuchadnezzar, Egypt itself will become another one of his victims. Even the idol temples, representing the strength and might and wisdom of the deities of the land (cf. Ex. 12:12; 15:11; 18:11), will be burned (just as Jerusalem was burned) and their gods taken captive (v. 12). This speaks of utter humiliation and powerlessness on a national and, especially for Egypt, even cosmic level (cf. 46:25; for similar oracles against other nations, cf. Isa. 46:1-2; for the uniqueness of Israel’s God, contrast 1 Sa. 4-6).

Lastly, John Goldingay, speaking of Jeremiah’s symbolic action, says this:

The act is a sign that anticipates Yahweh’s fulfilling an intention he has formulated. Back in 25:9 and 27:6 he spoke of sending and getting kin-groups from the north, and specifically Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, my servant, to exercise authority and bring catastrophe upon Judah and upon other nations. Nebuchadnezzar is unwittingly Yahweh’s agent in doing so. It’s the first reference to his being Yahweh’s servant since 25:9 and 27:6; he has the same role as there….

 

What happens issues from Yahweh and his decisions; it also issues from Nebuchadnezzar and his decisions. Yahweh’s decisions are implemented through Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar is unwittingly doing Yahweh’s work. The link between the two emerges in another way in the juxtaposed references to Yahweh showing compassion and Nebuchadnezzar showing compassion (42:12). In the present text, “the alternatives have arisen, in part, because of the convergence of human and divine agency that is at the heart of this story. The politics of the nations is the politics of God; the divine sovereignty is manifest over and through human sovereigns.”

Application for today

As to how all this might be applied to believers today, a number of things can be said:

-There is no question that throughout Scripture God is portrayed as being sovereign, not only over individuals but over nations. That much is a given.

-But despite this realty, Scripture also demonstrates clearly that humans are responsible for their actions. So while God can use a pagan like Nebuchadnezzar for his purposes, he will also be judged by God for what he does. Divine sovereignty and human responsibility go together in the biblical storyline.

-Knowing that God is ultimately in control of the nations should give us some hope and reassurance today. God is not caught off guard by what rulers and nations do, and at the end of the day they will serve his purposes, even though it may not always seem that way at the time.

-As I have often said, one big difference between now and then is this: back in those days God raised up his servants the prophets to give inspired and inherent commentary on what he was doing. Today we do not have that same inspired and inerrant prophetic voice informing us as to what exactly God is up to.

-So we need to be a bit more cautious in saying ‘this is that.’ If for example an ambitious Indonesia decided to invade its neighbour to the south – Australia – would this be because of our sin and idolatry? All we can do is say ‘it might be.’ We do not have the same clear prophetic word about what is happening today like Israel of old had.

-It would be nice to have the same clarity and precise word from God about rulers, nations and current events, but we do not have what ancient Israel had. Thus we must proceed cautiously and try to discern what is going on and what is the best way forward.

-As such, we must run with other biblical principles when it comes to the politics, nations, rulers, and international relations. These include: God created nations and set up boundaries. There is a place for self-defence for both individuals and nations. Justice should be maintained, the innocent should be protected, and aggressors should be resisted. Generally speaking, evil can be stood against, without this being seen as standing against God.

-The Christian today will need to be very prayerful and careful while seeking to glean from Scripture general principles about how various particular contemporary situations should be understood and assessed. This applies not just to how we might vote in a particular election, but how we should look at various international conflicts.

-As with so much else, we ‘see through a glass darkly’ and therefore need to show a bit of humility and teachability as we seek to comprehend what is happening in our world and the role that God is playing in it. We know with certainty how the whole story ends, but in the meantime, we are left with plenty of questions and no small amount of uncertainty.

-Therefore, being in a steady state of prayer and Bible study will help us as we face a precarious and shaky world. This world may be all over the place, and seemingly on the brink, but the God we serve is steady as a rock and working out his wise and good purposes. So hang in there and keep the faith.

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