“So nation was destroyed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with every adversity. – 2 Chronicles 15:6 NKJV
History from an eternal perspective
We have begun this year of our Lord, 2018, in consideration of eternal time. Time beyond years and measurement shows a perspective of man peering beyond the beginning and ending of our mortal history.
The Lord’s voice resounds through those God chooses in both spoken and written words. Therefore books of the Bible also relate stories of the Lord given to mortal men.
We occasionally hear God speaking through Prophets of events which the Lord will cause in the future. They speak of Israel and of nations familiar and forgotten. True prophets warn of the consequences of men and nations opposing the will of Almighty God.
A few Prophets like Ezekiel, Daniel and John reveal events beyond the mortal timeline of all mankind, even to an apocalypse of the heavens and earth!
Christ Jesus boldly proclaimed not only what was, but the unseen of time before man, now, and forever more.
This Nation (U.S.) – Looking Back
Without looking back Americans might not acknowledge some divergent views of actual history of our 17th century founding. (500 years, so long past; yet passes so quickly)
Notice a Pennsylvania only east of the Alleghenies. You likely haven’t read how a George Washington surrender to the French may have led to the French and Indian War.
At the time of the U.S. Constitution, Colonial states claimed lands for future expansion. America has always been a land of immigrants.
We the people, while opposing fading European empires, conquered a new world from native nations. Then we the new world people defended it against immigrants from foreign lands of origins other than our own.
Spain, England, France and other empires expanded then diminished, even to the point of America coming to their aid in the great wars of the twentieth century.
Yet who remembers the fall (or even existence) of empires besides Rome?
A Lesson for the Nations from Israel
What does all of this have to do with the Bible, you may ask?
Deuteronomy 9:
“Hear, O Israel: you are to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven..
4 “Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you.
Israel would not only ignore the voice of the LORD though its Prophets, God’s own chosen people would ignore the Law given for their own holiness. A people of tradition has rejected its own traditions of the Lord their God.
And empires to follow, including Spain, Great Britain and now the United States of America, which sometimes make claims to new lands of milk and honey, reject the rule of the Righteous One.
The Lord God brings nations to renewed hope and crushes wickedness in the wilderness of the unknown.
History beyond claims of conquerors & contentions of analysts
We the people of the Lord really must hear more than quick sound-bytes of this hour. Godly men and women should seek more than a 60 second headline to the crowds.
Even now, a boisterous tyrant or reasonable king may proclaim in an instant his partism message of good or evil. Will the world look beyond the agendas of mortals to the written word of Almighty God? Rarely, only the faithful.
The Lord will lead a remnant of all the nations to eternal life. God has revealed His plan and chronicled events of the past for our understanding.
Moses did not write the Books of the Law as the events unfolded. The LORD revealed the Beginning, the generations of Noah & Joseph, a great leader of Egypt. God gave instructions to priests, elders and common men and women. In addition to prophesies of the failings of Israel and other nations, the Bible records events for the discovery of God’s will in later generations. Yet will you read God’s word and claim its cautions?
Looking Back
“Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’…
This caution to a new conquering empire (Israel) might well serve as a lesson of history to many 21st century nations.
This series will continue with scripture written or chronicled as historic evidence of events for others to read later.
Stay tuned and read your Bible. It’s all there – history, that is; but we just give a headline glance to most of these pivotal events. For after all, it was a long time ago. What could that matter to a 21st century Christian?
To be continued..,
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty,