It’s Memorial Day (celebrated holiday in the not-so-united States).
Flags for freedom flown for feasting leaders of the free world or drawn to half staff for some politically offensive act of violence by an ungodly man.
Hardly a memorial to any who have died for the freedom of any man or woman who suffers the ravages of war and injustice in an evil world of the year of our Lord 2022.
Therefore, claimer of Christ, communicant of the Church, Evangelical Patriot who claims the crusade of christian UNDER GOD, it must be US who have failed in our pursuit of freedom, liberty and most of all righteousness as an example to our fellow man (that is, creating being in the image of the Lord God).
Paul speaks to the Jews of his day, but his question about freedom applies to US, WE THE PEOPLE who use GOD and claim CHRIST in those times when it is most politically expedient to claim TRUTH.
The Truth of Freedom
Although men and women may fight for it, be maimed by it, flee from it and even die for it; liberty and freedom have little to do with ever-changing currents of political action in places of providential blessing or demonic deference to rule of some despot.
God in Christ Jesus calls any who would run this race of mortal – yes MORTAL, not immortal LIFE – to not again be yoked in the slavery of sin.
For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love.
Galatians 5:13 Christian Standard Bible
For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement:
Love your neighbor as yourself.
But if you bite and devour one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another.
Are WE THE PEOPLE truly ‘ONE NATION under god’ in the Common Era of error led by sinful man recreating US in the image of resconstructed truth?
Roger@TalkofJESUS.com
Do WE THE PEOPLE truly believe, in A.D. [the year of our Lord] 2022:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident,
all men are created..
that certain ‘rights’ are endowed by their Creator
That the ‘Bill of Rights’ forbids Congress from both promoting one religion over others NOT promoting FREEDOM FROM RELIGION?
The basis of law is the LAW of God.
A CLAIM under GOD.
WE THE PEOPLE may not memorialize evil as we no longer as a NATION stand faithful anymore than ISRAEL could still claim covenant which they broke long before the REDEMPTION by CHRIST JESUS, the Son of GOD WHO was and IS and will judge all men.
Orthodox? Catholic? Evangelical?
As in Galatia, our CLAIM to Christ is not enough.
Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar.
I am warning you about these things — as I warned you before — that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers who rule this people…
Have you ever wanted to say that to those who claim to represent you in this government of the people?
I have and suspect that most do as we helplessly watch the unraveling of rule which makes much sense or holds hope for our future.
As lessons of history repeatedly remind us, the rise and fall of nations comes and goes with providential frequency throughout centuries of man’s devouring from the tree of knowledge.
We’ll look further into the author of this indictment from the LORD and the people who he warns shortly, but first the gist of our controversy.
“The overwhelming punishment of the nation cannot touch US.
“We have made untruth our refuge.
“Carefully hidden are our deceitful fraudswhich we have ourselves concealed.
Familiar, but not contemporary
Who has heard such lies and uncovered truths carefully concealed?
For these are proclaimed against the leaders by a man close to the Source of all truth.
We know him only from ancient writings, but the evil he exposes cannot be hidden even in this day hundreds of years later.
He is the Lord’s Prophet Isaiah.
You may find it helpful to contemporize application of Isaiah’s warnings to leading characters of our own contemporary theatre of the absurd. For as then, even now we ought to see the futility of hiding our sin on a bed too short, under covers too small to wrap up in.
So who is this guy accusing many leaders of his day?
The authors of the Baker Bible Commentary offer a few quick facts about Isaiah which may help.
Isaiah meahs: “Yahweh is salvation”
He is married and has two sons;
Shear-Jashub means: “a remnant will return”
Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz means: “quickly to the plunder, swift to the spoil”
(We cannot hear take time to dig into how many times the LORD gives names for the children of faithful servants, but later John and Jesus are among these.)
The Prophet is respected by Ahaz and Hezekiah shows that he easily moves into and out of the palace and has access to the king. (Perhaps he holds an appointed position serving the leaders of Judah.)
Isaiah ministers from 742-700 BC.
Israel, Rome & other passing Empires
For those of you not up on chronologies of history this is not, of course, warnings to the US, a young Empire founded in AD 1776 and coming to age in the 20th century as a nation fully escaping devastation.
Nor is it about a predecessor power which once claimed, “Rule, Britannia! rule the waves” in AD 1740 as they progressed since AD 1066.
Who is sovereign over these nations today?
Some purveyors of power idolize Rome, a Roman republic which overthrew a kingdom in 509 BC, only to be taken by force in 27 BC.
We both know and some leaders admire the Caesars of this era, overlooking their inevitable ends, as well as tyranny over their own people. Rome as an empire divided in AD 180, which marked the descent “from a kingdom of gold to one of rust and iron”
Rome’s division into east and west impacted the early church, but Isaiah speaks of Israel’s division into north and south – a once United Kingdom of Israel under David which has not returned yet to this day.
Israel then to Israel now
I don’t want to make too much of parallels between the time of the prophecies of Isaiah and instability in contemporary world empires.
Note however, these comparisons of time between the woes of Israel and her neighboring nations and more current woes of worldpolitics (and religion or lack thereof, to some extent).
931 BC – United Kingdom of Israel divided after Solomon’s death
AD 1585 – English colonize Roanoke in the new world to the west
722 BC – Israel destroyed by Assyria (from the east) [ ~200 years later]
AD 1783 – English colonies granted independence after the American Revolution succeeds [~200 years after Roanoke]
701 BC – Assyria attacks Judah [just 21 years after destruction of Samaria, capital of Israel.]
AD 1929 FDR elected Governor of New York, then as America’s only 4-term President, 1933- April, 1945 [~21 yrs]
United States emerges as the dominant world power
In 1947, the United Nations (UN) adopted a Partition Plan for Palestine recommending the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states and an internationalized Jerusalem.[source]
Returning to the Jerusalem of Isaiah
Truly the scene is not Jerusalem; nor Judah then and later a Judea, Samaria and Galilee of Jesus. Israel is not the land defeated or Jacob from their seed.
The scene Isaiah, son of Amoz, son of Abraham presents emanates from the Throne of the Lord God.
Here we find an indictment which the Prophet Isaiah must read before leaders of the lands. He begins:
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! For the LORD has spoken:
You will not likely hear this read today or indeed at any time in a temple or synagogue of jewish cultural worship. Yet it is “the word of the LORD!”
יְהֹוָה
“I have nourished and brought up children, And they have rebelled against Me;
Isa 1:3 The ox knows its owner And the donkey its master’s crib; But Israel does not know, My people do not consider.”
Isa 1:4 Alas, sinful nation, A people laden with iniquity, A brood of evildoers, Children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the LORD, They have provoked to anger The Holy One of Israel, They have turned away backward.
We hear all-too-frequent accusation and condemnation of opposing leaders of men and women. Yet you will not hear these harsh words of the LORD in the halls of your nation, temples of worship or message in the palm of your hand.
Isaiah rebukes them:
9 Unless the Lord of hosts
Had left to us a very small remnant,
We would have become like Sodom,
We would have been made like Gomorrah.
10 Hear the word of the Lord, You rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the law of our God, You people of Gomorrah:
But if you refuse and rebel, You shall be devoured by the sword”; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Isaiah 1:20 Masoretic Text; NKJV
And while we consider our more contemporary dilemmas of the nations, let us consider the word of the LORD, through His Prophet Isaiah.
Do the leaders of the nations listen to the Lord God?
Why, they don’t even listen to their own advisors, let alone a godly advisor like Isaiah.
Isa 2:2 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the Lord’s house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it.
For the day will come unexpectedly, even as a contemporary remnant found temporary solace in this from a “United Nations.”
3 Many people shall come and say,
“Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths.”
Yet do those who stop up their ears against the word of the Lord and dim their eyes to scripture spoken through the Prophets even realize the long-standing prediction of Isaiah?
For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4 He shall judge between the nations, And rebuke many people; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war anymore.
Picture the priest Ezra speaking to the builders and worshipers in Jerusalem:
You know well how we have come to this place and the work which is before us.
In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:
“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
Our focus in Ezra’s story today begins in ‘the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam.’ Ezra chronicles time beginning with genealogies from Adam to the tribes of Israel. Then he proceeds to the united kingdom of David and Solomon. Finally he reveals a story fromabout five hundred years before the construction of the second Temple.
If today you and I looked back 500 years we would record important events of the 16th century. From our contemporary perspective it would compare to chronicling the turbulent times of Martin Luther.
Our forefathers fled wars in Europe which had caused the deaths of 10-20% of the population. Therefore colonies of the new world became a promised land for those persecuted for varying religious beliefs.
Return now to Ezra’s perspective of history looking back as if you were telling the story of the US in the 1600’s. Once again, imagine Ezra telling the story.
A Story from Israel’s Past
While we rebuild the Temple of the Lord let me tell you a story from the chronicles of our history.
2 Chronicles 13:
Now there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam… 9 Have you not driven out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made priests for yourselves like the peoples of other lands? Whoever comes for ordination with a young bull or seven rams becomes a priest of what are not gods… so there fell slain of Israel 500,000 chosen men.
Imagine: a half million men chosen by God fell on the battlefield due to the sins of Israel.
2 Chronicles 14:
Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David.
And Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days the land had rest for ten years. 2 And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. 3 He took away the foreign altars and the high places and broke down the pillars and cut down the Asherim 4 and commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to keep the law and the commandment…
Do we 'Seek the LORD..and keep the law and commandment?'
9 Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots, and came as far as Mareshah.
Many of their fathers had been slain on the battlefield and now a defeated army of Israel must face a million mighty warriors.
10 And Asa went out to meet him, and they drew up their lines of battle in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. 11 And Asa cried to the Lord his God,
“O Lord, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O Lord, you are our God; let not man prevail against you.”
12 So the Lord defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. 13 Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as Gerar, and the Ethiopians fell until none remained alive, for they were broken before the Lord and his army.
The Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded, 2 and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin:
The Lord is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.
3 For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law, 4 but when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them.
Do we do that? In our current distress will we turn to the Lord?
5 In those times there was no peace to him who went out or to him who came in, for great disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands. 6 They were broken in pieces. Nation was crushed by nation and city by city, for God troubled them with every sort of distress.
7 But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.”
Asa Takes Action
8 As soon as Asa heard these words, the prophecy of Azariah the son of Oded:
he took courage
and put away the detestable idols..
and he repaired the altar of the Lord..
9 And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin..
10 They were gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. 11 They sacrificed to the Lord on that day..
12 And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul,
13 but that whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman. 14 They swore an oath to the Lord with a loud voice and with shouting and with trumpets and with horns.
15 And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them, and the Lord gave them rest all around.
16 Even Maacah, his mother, King Asa removed from being queen mother because she had made a detestable image for Asherah. Asa cut down her image, crushed it, and burned it at the brook Kidron. 17 But the high places were not taken out of Israel.
Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true all his days. 18 And he brought into the house of God the sacred gifts of his father and his own sacred gifts, silver, and gold, and vessels. 19 And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.
Looking Back – Ezra’s lessons for US
Americans and others tend to look back only briefly at historywith eyes that will not see. And any mention of Christ Jesus or the Lord God will quickly repulse those with ears which refuse to hear.
We evaluate our present dilemma in terms of who we think has wronged US.
Justice and righteousness fail in our palaces of partisan politics where mention of the Lord is anathema to reelection.
A cynical nation cries out to the masses without one plea to Almighty God. Do we not justify our ungodly actions and inattentive inactions by a tolerant accomodation of our own self-righteousness?
Why do we not cry out to the God of our founders? (That is what King Asa did when he faced certain defeat.)
WE THE PEOPLE have forgotten the Lord. Surely the decline of our nation will outpace the fall of forgotten mighty empires.
As Lesson for US from Ezra Looking Back
Will it take a leader of another nation to lead US back to the Lord? That was the history behind the story Ezra tells here.
And I, even I Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers which are beyond the river, that whatsoever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, it be done speedily.. – Ezra 7:21
Ezra was living in Babylon when in the seventh year ( c. 457 BCE) of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, the king sent him to Jerusalem to teach the laws of God to any who did not know them. source
In the 20th year of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, (445/444 BC), Nehemiah was cup-bearer to the king. Learning that the remnant of Jews in Judah were in distress and that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down, he asked the king for permission to return and rebuild the city.
Ezra tells of a King Asa, five centuries earlier, who the Lord used to restore Jerusalem (for a time). Then Nehemiah follows with the proclamation from Artaxerxes, king of Persia, to rebuild Jerusalem.
Yet Israel will again turn from the Lord and captive Israel will await a Messiah to save them from evil.
When will the nations of these last days remember the love of the Lord?
For the Messiah Jesus has come to us. He was sacrificed for our sins and rose from the grave in victory! And our Lord will return on the clouds in victory over sin and death. Jesus calls out to the downtrodden souls of humble sinners.
God rules over the nations and loves our worship and praise. He came to us in Person in Christ Jesus.
