God and the Nations

The Judgment of the Nations

Isaiah 14.22-23; Ezekiel 28.6-10; Revelation 20.7-10

In the last installment I affirmed that God is sovereign over the nations. Nations come into being and prosper by the decree of the heavenly King. And it logically follows that God also decrees the demise of these same nations. God can bless nations and cause their prosperity. God can also judge a nation and cause its humiliation or total destruction. When God looks at humanity He does not just focus on individuals, but also on groups of people, like nations. Groups of people take on certain characteristics and God scrutinizes these group characteristics just as He does individuals.

In this article I will consider what God said in judgment of two nations: Babylon and Tyre. Both of these prophetic texts contain language that Bible students have always associated with the Devil and his fall from heaven. These nations had taken on Satanic qualities that brought them down just like Satan’s rebellion caused his fall from heaven. The book of Revelation takes us all the way to the end of history when Satan’s final judgment will come and the end of his wicked influence over the nations of the world. Satan has deceived the nations and caused them to follow in his footsteps of rebellion against God and opposition to the people of God.

Many people live as if God does not exist. There are many more practical atheists than there are intellectual or philosophical atheists! Nations also tend to ignore God and think that He can’t see or intervene in the affairs of men. Only a fool lives as if there is no God. The nations of the world are foolish indeed and this is the first step in their downfall. God is very much involved in the world and in the governance of the nations, though men fail to see or acknowledge this fact.

In this article we need to think about WHY nations become corrupt and thus worthy of Divine judgement. All nations tend to degenerate over time, even those nations that might have had a good start. What are the forces involved in this degeneration? Then we need to examine how God responds to the wickedness and corruption of the nations. What does God do when nations rebel against His will?

The Corruption of a Nation

There are several ways a nation can become corrupt and vulnerable to Divine judgment. The Scripture texts chosen for this message give us some reasons for God’s displeasure with those historical nations.

Acquiring Possessions

The first reason for corruption has to do with acquiring possessions or wealth. The city-state of Tyre was located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and had grown wealthy through its trade. Their wealth is mentioned as a part of the judgment of God because it caused them to be proud, greedy, and wicked. Every nation has to have resources in order to survive. And there may be a baseline of what is necessary for human life and survival. Everything above this line could be considered wealth, or what is in excess. The nations typically are not simply interested in survival but in prosperity. All nations seek wealth and to have some kind of economic advantage, perhaps at the expense of other nations. There is always competition for resources in the world. But making it in this world and getting those resources we need to survive is difficult. The Bible tells us that this is because God has put a curse on the earth, which does not submit to man and easily yield up its fruit. We may plant wheat and actually get thorns and thistles in return! The nations of the world are always seeking ways to mitigate this curse and reduce the frustration of life as much as possible. In other words, every nation is looking for ways to get more and more stuff! Unfortunately, the nations are subject to greed and the desire to hoard and protect their wealth. Greed does not share resources and so wealth is never equally distributed among the nations and this becomes a source of tension, jealousy, conflict, and oppression as the wealthy and powerful seek to subjugate the poor and the weak.

Nations want to have an excess of wealth because this is seen as a kind of safety, security, or stability in an uncertain world. The rich man who has a lot of extra stuff stored up in his barns thinks he can take life easy and that he has nothing to worry about in the future. Nations tend to trust in their wealth and rely on it to deliver them from crisis. Underneath the surface of every nation is a certain level of anxiety about the future. In order to keep this latent anxiety in check, the nations of the world are always trying to increase their wealth and secure their economic advantage. 

Unfortunately, wealth does not provide the security the nations believe it to be. It is one of the great illusions of life. Wealth is inherently unstable and can fly away like a bird on the wing. Economic advantages can change. And wealth can also be taken away, even while we take steps to protect it.

Some people think that great wealth is actually a sign of Divine favor. God made Abraham rich. And others would point out that wealth can be used for good purposes and to help people have better lives. A certain level of resources is needed to sustain life, but what happens when we find that we have more than what we need? When we have what we need and are free to pursue other interests, does this mean we will desire and pursue what is good and right? The freedom to pursue what we want is a great temptation to evil. People who have great wealth often fall into the most despicable lifestyles because they can have whatever they want. Having spare time from not having to work for a living can be a dangerous thing if that time is spent pursuing selfish or base desires. Many people who have the spare time will fill it by finding more ways to be wicked. Historians have documented that opulent nations quickly descended into moral depravity. There is a direct connection between increased wealth and increased wickedness in a society. Nations tend to use their wealth as a way of pursuing more and more pleasures. The whole point of life becomes the satisfaction of whatever desires come along at the moment, with little reflection on the true meaning or goal of life. Wealth often makes people lovers and pursuers of pleasure rather than lovers and pursuers of God.

An over-abundance of wealth and material possessions leads to a feeling of self-sufficiency, which is also called the “pride of life” (1 John 2.15-17). This is a form of idolatry where a person replaces dependence on God with a proud, self-reliance. Rather than thanking God for His good gifts, which He distributes graciously to humanity, the individuals thinks that he has provided everything for himself and takes no thought of God at all. This kind of sin is why God warned the Israelites about the wealth that awaited them when they entered the Promises Land: “Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth’” (Deuteronomy 8:17 ESV). This is why Paul warned Christians who had wealth “not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17 ESV). Christians are not to be like the pagan nations, who run after material wealth, but should instead seek the Kingdom of God above everything else in the world (Matt. 6.32-33).

Abusing Power

God will judge nations when they abuse their power. We understand that all power comes from God. If men have any power at all it really can be traced back to God who has simply lent some power to men. God is the source of everything and no man can claim independence from God. This means that every man and every nation is accountable to God and will have to answer for how they used what God has given them. All nations are God’s stewards upon the earth. Nothing really belongs to us but everything belongs to God and is merely on loan to the nations of the world. The problem with the nations of the world is that they tend to think they are self-made. That is, they think they have what they have because of their own work and ingenuity, failing to acknowledge the God who is the source of their strength.

Nebuchadnezzar was one of the great kings of Babylon who is mentioned by name in the Bible. This ruler perfectly articulated the attitude that every nation has about its power and success: “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty” (Daniel 4:30 ESV)? Nebuchadnezzar’s belief was that he had built Babylon by his own power! This is a delusion shared by many nations and leaders who take credit for what is really from God.

Since all power comes from God, there is no nation or ruler who is free to do whatever they want. We often hear people talk about the free-will of man, as if men can do just anything they choose to do. This is an illusion. But we can be thankful that wicked men who are hungry for power and wealth are not free to do what they want to do in the world! Unfortunately, the nations do not acknowledge their limitations or their appropriate boundaries. In an attempt to increase their power and their wealth, the nations are always reaching, grasping, and grabbing for more and more of what they want in the world, without any thought of God or the other nations. No nation ever seems to be content with what it has. Enough is never enough. God sets boundaries for the nations and determines the extent of their habitation in the earth (See Acts 17.26). But the nations are like the restless sea, always churning and raging, always seeking to enlarge itself and extend its reach. The nations constantly struggle with each other for more power.

The acquisition of power may contribute to its corruption. It has been famously observed that “absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Some nations have adopted the policy that their might makes them right and that the struggle of one nation against the other is subject to the natural law of “survival of the fittest.” Many nations have lived by the rule that power justifies their agenda. Ultimately, all power on earth comes from God in heaven who rules over all nations and who can take back the power that He gave to them. And so the balance of power among the nations of the world can shift almost overnight.

Ascending Pride

The danger of acquiring wealth and power is that it leads to pride. This is the primary sin of the nations. Many Christian thinkers would list pride as the deadliest of sins. If individual men are proud, then we would also expect this to be expressed in the nations. In fact, the feeling of pride that comes from men working together to accomplish common goals, many of which are opposed to the will of God, makes for an even greater temptation to pride.

Pride is actually increased when men are successful. When men are successful they begin to think that they are strong and wise and maybe even invincible. “Nothing can stop us now!” “We can do or be anything we set our minds to accomplish.” This is a great delusion. This feeling of invincibility may be the thing that actually leads to a great fall. Nations are often at their most vulnerable point, ironically, when they are at the zenith of their power and accomplishments.

Pride is expressed by nationalism. Nationalism is a misguided and over-inflated view of the nation, perhaps fueled by a distorted patriotism, that makes the nation and its goals the most important thing in the world. Every other nation is inferior to OUR nation. What the other nations want or need does not matter. Only OUR national agenda is important. Our way is the only way and everyone else should bow to our wishes. It is common for every group, even small groups like families or tribes, to believe that their way of life, or culture, is the best. This kind of thinking is pride and it is destructive to every group infected by it.

Each of the passages on which this message is based have some connection to Satan and his history of rebellion against God. Many Christian expositors have recognized that the two prophetic passages concerning Babylon and Tyre contain language that seems to go far beyond those two nations. It is as if God were talking to the Devil in these passages and not just the nations of Babylon and Tyre! The sin of pride was originally manifested in Satan and this is what caused his fall from heaven. Satan exalted himself in rebellion and opposition to God and incited some of the other heavenly beings to follow him. Having been bound to the earth, Satan has continued to incite rebellion and has successfully deceived the nations, according to the book of Revelation. Satan rules over a Kingdom of Darkness in this world. He rules over spiritual Principalities and Powers who exercise influence over the nations and their rulers. Satan is the god of this world, which means he rules and exercises power and even receives worship. The nations are really not free to do what they want, but are unwittingly serving Satan. Satan opposes God and he has infected the world and all the nations with his spirit of rebellion. His primary purpose is to attack the people of God in the world and he incites the nations to do the same.

The Divine Response

In the ancient world the people believed there were many gods. And each nation usually had its own gods or patron deity. Polytheism was really nothing more than either an exalted worship of nature and nationalism in disguise. The worship of a patron deity who favored and fought for a particular nation was a way of endorsing and advancing the national agenda. There are still people who think God has a favorite nation, and of course it is always THEIR OWN nation! But God does not underwrite the agenda of any particular nation. He has His own agenda and any nation who fights against it will find themselves opposing God. This was even true of the nation of Israel that God DID call His own nation! When they rebelled they were also judged. God does not play favorites!

Divine Scrutiny

When God looks at a nation He is always just and fair in His assessment. But men are rarely honest or truthful about themselves. People tend to justify themselves and their actions and to believe that they are in the right. Each nation always has a reason or a rationalization for its agenda while condemning the other nations. Every nation is inherently self-righteous.

God is able to consider the true thoughts, desires, intentions, motivations and actions of the nations. The nations are seldom honest with themselves and it is even rarer to see a nation that is honest with another nation. What people say and what they are actually thinking may be two different things. But God knows the hearts of men. We must remember that God gives credit for INTENTIONALITY and not just for the deed that is actually done. In other words, God will judge men based on what they WANT to do or what they WOULD do if they could and not just what they can accomplish.

Sometimes God seems to be focusing on a particular leader, such as the King of Babylon or of Tyre. Rulers of nations often seem to receive special attention from God because these rulers represent the nations and they also tend to lead them astray. It was the kings of Israel that introduced more and more idolatry and neglected the Law of Moses, which caused Israel’s downfall. Perhaps it is hard for us to identify with the despotic rulers of the ancient world, but all leaders have influence and must make decisions. The leaders of a nation can either encourage righteousness or wickedness. The agenda of a leader can turn a whole nation in a particular direction. The desire to go to war can usually be traced directly to the ambitions of a leader. Even with the advent of democratically elected leaders, a very small group of people can have an inordinate amount of influence on the world. Leaders often embody the character of a nation. A leader who is ambitious and wants to extend his influence, power, or wealth is often reflecting the ambitions of his nation. No leader enjoys universal support. But those who are in power must have a willing coalition of supporters in order to succeed. In other words, for every power-hungry, immoral leader there are thousands or even millions of people behind him, supporting his agenda and enabling him to stay in power. Of course, leaders can make serious errors and even cause the demise or destruction of their nation. Leaders often manage to cause their own destruction through their pride, greed, and failure to listen to good advice. Many people have had to watch helplessly while a foolish leader or group of leaders led their nation into ruin.

While God does scrutinize the nations and judge them for their sins, we should not think that God is harsh or looking for any reason to destroy people. While God sees their faults, He has always been kind and gracious to the nations, even while they continue to ignore God. But the fact is that God is kind to sinful people who do not deserve His consideration and He blesses even the wicked with good things. This explains why some of the most wicked nations are often successful and prosperous, gaining both wealth and power, even though it is obvious they do not deserve it. We deserve nothing from God yet He gives good gifts to us. However, this fact is also taken into consideration by God when it comes time for judgment. God holds people responsible for what He has given. A nation that has been richly blessed may be judged more strictly when they sin.

The wrath of God fills up slowly, like a vessel gradually being filled, and then it overflows. There does come a point when there is no point of return and the wrath of God is coming down. Eventually the time of judgement for the whole world and for all the nations will come and no one will be able to escape it. The great mistake that people make is assuming that the judgement of God will never come. Some believe that God will be infinitely patient or that He is too kind and loving to send judgment. Others are quite confident in their own righteousness and believe that God would never judge them. When people refuse to repent of their wickedness they are taking a huge risk and exposing themselves to Divine wrath.

Divine Opposition

We might think of God’s wrath as something like the burning fire that came down on Sodom and Gomorrah. While God can do this kind of thing, there are some other ways that He judges the nations.

God can frustrate the plans and aspirations of the nations. God can simply make it impossible for a nation to carry out its plans. Ultimately, the nations must serve the purpose of God, even in their wickedness. Everything will glorify God. The world is not for the nations but for God. God is working out His purpose in the earth and this purpose will overcome the plans of the nations.

God can allow enemies to harass or even destroy nations. God illustrates this principle with His own nation of Israel. Because they disobeyed God and broke His covenant, God allowed the Assyrians and then the Babylonians to conquer Israel. God manages the other nations in the same way, giving their enemies victory over them. God removed Babylon in this way, by giving their kingdom to the Medes and Persians. God uses men to judge other men, even though both the men being judged and the men being used to bring the judgement may not recognize God.

God may not allow a nation to be completely destroyed, but simply harassed by enemies until the power and reach of that nation is reduced and that nation is humbled. The safety or success of a nation does not depend on the size of its army or its wealth. A nation rises to power and then falls by the decree of God.

God can also judge nations by judging their leaders. He can frustrate the plans of leaders or remove them entirely. God has access to the hearts and minds of world leaders and can influence them to make certain decisions. Some of these decisions may actually be a kind of judgment, like Pharaoh ordering his army into the Red Sea crossing. God can simply remove the leader like He did with King Herod in the book of Acts. Alexander the Great was the pupil of Aristotle and put together one of the greatest empires in history while still in his twenties, yet he died because of a drinking binge at age 32 and his great empire was divided up among his servants. We must remember that leaders are mortal men, no matter how powerful they might be presently, and are therefore subject to all the weaknesses and frailties of human nature, including death. This is why we are never to fear mortal men but should always fear God, the true ruler of the nations.

God and the Nations

God’s Sovereignty Over the Nations

 And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever, just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.” (Daniel 2:44-45 ESV)

“Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.” (Isaiah 40:15-17 ESV)

Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” (Revelation 11:15 ESV)

The central teaching of the Old Testament is that there is only one, true God. This God created everything and continues to rule over the world that He made. The sovereignty of God is a theme that comes up over and over again. The Bible wants to emphasize this point: God rules over everything! This fact is one of the central facts of all Scripture.

Sovereignty simply means power. Power is the ability to get your way. But for many Christians the subject of God’s sovereignty poses some intellectual problems. If we have a free will to choose, even to rebel against the will of God, then how can God be completely sovereign? And if God is completely sovereign, then how can we have free will? But God remains sovereign no matter what choices we make! God’s sovereignty will be displayed in His judgement of those who rebel and the blessing of those who obey Him. Others have wondered if we can have a God who is sovereign AND who is also good. The skeptical philosopher David Hume was famous for saying that if God is all-powerful, yet allows evil, then He is not good. And if He is good, yet still there is evil, then He is not all-powerful. But God has committed Himself to defeating all evil and opposition to His rule and yet He still reserves the right to choose how and when to judge men’s actions. If God were not sovereign, then He would not be God and He could not provide for man, save man, or judge the nations of the world.

But sometimes it does not seem like God is ruling the world. The nations of the world are in a constant state of chaos and turmoil. The Bible compares the world to a storm-tossed sea. And we are like mariners who are trying to ride out the storm and survive! The nations are like a restless sea because of their wickedness and rebellion against God. The nations are raging against the authority of God. What will God do about this? Sometimes it seems like He does precious little and the wickedness of the world goes unchecked and unchallenged. Evil sometimes seems to be the stronger Power. It usually looks like everything is going badly in the world. Just listen to the daily news reports, if you can stand it for long! It looks hopeless and this can drive us to depression or even to despair.

A Higher Perspective

We need to get a different perspective on what is happening in the world. There is more to reality than what we can see with our physical eyes. No matter what is happening in the world at any given point in time, we know that above it all God is seated on His throne and is executing His eternal purpose. The only way we get this perspective is through Divine revelation. God gave Nebuchadnezzar a dream and revealed something to him he would never have known any other way. While God is perfectly capable of giving dreams and visions today, we do not need such revelations under normal circumstances since we have the Scriptures.

Human wisdom is severely limited. Philosophy or science can only tell us what is apparent to our own senses or thought process. Unless God were to reveal Himself to us and tell us what He is like and what He wants, we could never discover these things on our own.

Men have often been interested in knowing the future and have even utilized the occult to unlock these mysteries that are hidden from our philosophy and science. But when God tells us the future He is not just reporting what He sees. God does not predict the future, like someone who is prognosticating. God DETERMINES the future! What God revealed to the King and to Daniel is what God had already foreordained would happen in the earth, regardless of what men would plan and do. God is not reacting to what men do but is revealing what He is going to do in the world. And nothing can stop God’s plan from being executed!

When God does have something to reveal to men He has almost always made it known through His chosen messengers. The dream came to the King but he did not understand it and he had to call on Daniel for the interpretation. Ultimately, this revelation was not for Nebuchadnezzar but was for the people of God. This dream was a word of prophecy, which is always given for the benefit of God’s people. The people of Israel, who were under the thumb of these pagan nations, needed to know that God was the true ruler of the nations.

The King of Babylon was a polytheist who did not know the one, true God. But you will notice that he did not doubt that he had received a Divine revelation. It seems to me that this kind of revelation could not come to a modern man. Modern man has rejected the very idea of a spiritual realm and so a revelation like this would immediately be discounted, possibly written off as some kind of mental illness. Modern man has also questioned the veracity of the written Word of God and attempted to discredit it. Yet the revelation of God remains a fixed and certain thing that men reject to their own destruction.

The revelation of God always begins with God as the starting point. That is, God is the central fact of all Biblical revelation. God is on His throne, ruling and reigning over the earth and all the nations. So when the Bible interprets history and events it always starts with a sovereign God who is the unmoved mover of everything else. Without God as our starting point all other reasoning is inherently flawed. The universe does not revolve around man and his needs or desires. The center of all reality is the Throne of God. What God wants is what really matters. Everything else takes on significance, or insignificance, relative to the will of God.

The big lesson for Nebuchadnezzar in the book of Daniel is humility. Unfortunately, like many people today who have great power and wealth, the King was proud and stubborn being unable to learn the lessons God was teaching. If you accept the truth revealed in the dream Nebuchadnezzar received, you should become humbled by the fact that your “kingdom” is insignificant compared to the Kingdom that God will establish. Nebuchadnezzar was the head of gold, Babylon being the first empire depicted, but all of the Kingdoms depicted were inferior to what God was going to do. All men must acknowledge that God is greater and that His Kingdom is superior to all of our little projects. To be proud is to be puffed-up, or to have self-image that is way beyond its proper size. This is one of the fundamental sins of the nations of the world and of men individually. Man’s greatest need is to be humbled. God has a way of humbling nations and men. God exalts the humble and humbles the proud. If we are going to be exalted, we should let God do that to us. It is dangerous to try to exalt yourself.

People often overestimate the value and security of what they have. The fact is that all worldly position and material goods can vanish in an instant, like a puff of smoke! Nothing is certain in this world except uncertainty. Kingdoms can be lost in an instant. Empires fall. Stock markets crash. Wealth is stolen. The things people trust in are really not that stable. Every nation values security and power along with the ability to create its own destiny. When a nation is successful, the people, especially the rulers, tend to think that this success will be sustainable. It is like an army who has never lost a battle coming to think that it is actually invincible! A person who trusts in his wealth comes to believe that this wealth will always be there. But the things that the world values are NOT inherently stable or reliable and trusting in them is a risky business.

The King’s dream shows us something that IS completely reliable: The Kingdom of God! Only the Kingdom of God will last when everything else in this world turns to dust and blows away. The people of this world are always anxious because everyone senses that nothing is really stable. But God’s people do not have to be anxious like this because they have placed their trust in the living God.

A Purposeful Perspective

No one would get on a bus without knowing the destination and feeling somewhat secure in the driver. But here we are “riding” through space on planet earth. Where are we going? And who is driving this thing? Imagine being on an airplane at 30,000 feet when the door to the cockpit opens and there is no one there flying the plane! As terrifying as that would be, there are many people who believe there is no ultimate purpose or plan to the world: no one is in the cockpit of planet earth! The human race and all our history is just a meaningless journey through time and space that just happened to come about by chance and will eventually cease to be through some unknown cataclysm. That is the secular view of the world that many have embraced today. The Bible presents a radically different view. History has meaning because of the purpose of God. God is doing something in the world! This purpose is described in the Bible as the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God is not easily defined. The word “Kingdom” simply means rule, reign, power, or authority. This rule is expressed through an agent, like a king. So a Kingdom is literally “the rule of a king.” Earthly Kingdoms are defined by physical boundaries or the control of geographic areas of the earth: in that place this king rules over everyone who is there. In the world there are multiple kingdoms and they often compete with each other for power and for control over larger areas and more subjects. It should be obvious that God is the ultimate ruler of the world whose Kingship can never be successfully challenged. But God is invisible. Most of the people in the world do not acknowledge God’s rule. In fact, the world goes to great lengths to obscure the reality of God and His authority.

Most Christians would agree that the Kingdom of God is “not of this world.” And most Christians interpret that to mean either that the Kingdom of God is not like earthly Kingdoms or that the Kingdom of God is not located on the earth but is in heaven and something “spiritual.” But these conclusions miss the point. “Not of this world” is saying something about the origin of the Kingdom: it comes from God, not from men. The Kingdom of God is God’s purpose, not the agenda of men. All earthly kingdoms represent what comes from men: their desires, goals and agendas. The Kingdom of God refers to God’s plans, desires, and agenda. In some sense the Kingdom of God has always been a reality and always will be. God is God and that means He reigns and rules everywhere and at all times. But that is not the point here. The point is that God is going to do something or make something known ON THE EARTH. God’s kingdom is always evident in Heaven. It will now be manifested on the earth.

This will not be some display of brute force or power, although God obviously has the kind of power to do what He will. But God’s power is not going to be manifested in the destruction of men. The Kingdom of God will mean the reconciliation or salvation of men and the spread of the knowledge of the true God throughout the earth.

The Kingdom of God will be established ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN. That is the point of Daniel’s dream. God is going to do something on earth that had not previously been seen. The Bible tells us there are two realms: heaven and earth. Heaven is the realm of God while the earth is the realm of men. The Kingdom coming means that the Kingdom of God is going to come to the earth and will be manifested here among men. Heaven is going to invade the earth. During WWII the Allies invaded Europe on the beaches of Normandy. A beachhead was established through which the invasion could then advance all the way to Berlin, Germany. In a similar way, God “landed” on planet earth and has established a beachhead. The Kingdom of God will continue to advance and spread throughout the earth. The vision of Daniel was a prophecy of the establishment of this beachhead and the eventual spread of the Kingdom of God. We are now looking back at the beginning of the fulfillment of this vision. The Kingdom has come and is growing. And there is more to come in the future before the End!

God was revealing to Daniel a little glimpse of His eternal purpose. The world is really a stage upon which God is working out His purpose, even though men often cannot see what is happening. Daniel was basically a prisoner of war in Babylon. He was a stranger in a foreign land. Yet, he is the one who is called upon to declare the Word of God and give the meaning of the dream for the King. The People of God were captive in Babylon yet God had not forgotten His people and He was with them working out His plans for them. The nation of Israel was nothing in the eyes of Babylon. And yet they were the focus of God’s plan. The nations of the world and their prosperity is not the focus of God’s plan. God’s plan has always been to have a People for Himself. This was first depicted in Israel and now includes even those Gentiles who believe. God’s people often seem small or insignificant and are usually overlooked by the world. But they are the focus of the Divine purpose. If God is going to work in the world among the nations, He is going to do it through His people just as He did with Daniel in Babylon. Eventually, the people of God are going to be the ones who will possess the Kingdom of God and reign forever, judging all the nations of the world.

The people of God have to take comfort in the fact that the purpose of God will always be successful and it is always futile to oppose it. No earthly Kingdom can successfully oppose the Kingdom of God. Of course, we know that behind all the opposition to God in the world is the great Enemy, Satan, who has been in opposition to God from the beginning. But Satan’s Kingdom of darkness is also unable to successfully oppose the advance of the Kingdom of God. So we must align ourselves with God’s Kingdom and purpose because it will be successful. Every other Kingdom will fail and fall.

A Stabilizing Perspective

Life in the world is always uncertain and this fills us with anxiety. Most people are either filled with anxiety or trying to find a way to keep fear from ruling their lives by making themselves secure. What can we trust? What security and stability can we find in life? This search for stability and security explains a lot about the world and what makes people do the things they do. Political systems exist largely to try to provide this security and stability. But these systems often fail and the chaos returns like a sudden squall at sea.

God’s people are supposed to be different from pagan people. We are not to have anxiety about the things of life but are to trust in God. This does not mean that we don’t work to provide for our needs. But we do so without the anxiety that characterizes people who have no faith in God. In this world God’s people are living like exiles. Daniel and the rest of the people of Judah were exiles in Babylon. They were not at home. This is the same situation for the people of God today. This world is not our true home. We live in a pagan world that has a completely different value system and worships different gods. The world is hostile to God’s people because we are different. We are never to love the world and anchor our affections to it. And we are not to conform to its values. This makes perfect sense when we consider the fact that the world is hostile to God and is also temporal. We can’t love a world that hates God and we will not put our hopes in a sinking ship.

God is able to make His people prosper even in a state of exile. We use the things of this world and our position in it for God because we are His servants and stewards while we are here. But we never cease to live by faith. We do not by what we see in the world. Faith means living by unseen realities and orienting our lives to those things rather than to what is all around us. We live by faith, not by our physical senses. What we see does not dominate us. Whatever gain and success we might have in this world we hold on to loosely. Any worldly circumstance can change instantly.

God has established earthly authority or government and He raises up rulers and gives them power. God’s people are to respect the God-ordained rulers and kingdoms. But God’s people do not assign ultimate value to the kingdoms of men nor do we worship men as the ultimate authority. We respect men but we fear God. We obey the laws of men unless those laws conflict with God’s law and then we must obey God rather than men. When there is a conflict between God and men we always prefer God to men. This makes perfect sense because men are inherently weak and are always coming and going like the grass of the field. But God remains the same. God can simply blow men away like the wind blows away the withered grass. It is a mistake to put all of our hope in a man who is nothing but grass that withers and blows away in the wind. Trusting in men will always be disappointing. Men will fail us. They will make promises and then break those promises. But God will never fail us and He always keeps His word!

One of the many false gods that the people of this world worship is the idol of government. Men have always worshiped their rulers and looked to earthly power to make their lives secure in this world. God ordained government to keep peace and order, but He never meant for us to trust in other men. We are to trust in the Lord. Christian people may participate in political systems. Daniel himself served the kings of Babylon and Persia. But it was clear that Daniel was really serving God. God’s people do not expect the world to be perfect or provide us with ultimate peace, security, or satisfaction. We are not living for this world or investing our ultimate hope in the kingdoms of men. The world we live in now is an evil Age. The kingdoms of men are in rebellion against God’s rule. We are waiting for another Age to come. Actually, this New Age has already begun to dawn.

A Hopeful Perspective

These prophetic texts were given to oppressed people. The dreams Daniel interpreted for the King defy what seems to be the reality of the world. Those who seem to be on top are really not in charge! What seems to be solid and immovable is not as strong as it appears to be. The problem is that we are limited in our knowledge by time. We cannot see the future or the end. But God can because He is working out the future according to His purpose. With God there is hope! Things will change for the better if we are with God and are actively participating in His purpose. God is not ultimately underwriting any nation’s agenda. God has His own agenda and our hope is in Him, not in any earthly nation’s success.

Every earthly Kingdom is doomed to fail and to fall with the passing of time. It may seem like these Kingdoms will last forever, but they will fall and be replaced by other Kingdoms, all under the rule of God. God raises up nations and rulers and He disposes of them when He is done with them.

There is an inherent flaw in every Kingdom of men: sin. Not only is sin rebellion against God, it is also inherently destructive to human society. The Kingdoms of the world are their own worst enemies! Every Kingdom becomes weak from the inside because human nature always tends toward destruction. The Flesh always degenerates. A Kingdom may have a good and a powerful beginning, but it cannot be sustained. Only what God does will increase and get stronger. Men always fade away.

A nation may become so wicked that it suffers the wrath of God. God eventually has enough of man’s rebellion and the cup of His wrath becomes full and must be emptied. Every nation of the world is “on the clock,” awaiting the judgement of God. God may give a nation time to repent and He might withhold His judgement for a season. But wrath eventually comes, like a dam that finally breaks. God is patient, but not infinitely so. But even when the nations are wicked and in rebellion against God, and all of them are to one degree or another, God still uses them as He pleases and for His own purposes. Even the wicked must eventually serve the purpose of God, leading up to their eventual destruction and judgment. God may raise up a nation, allow it to prosper for a time, use it for His own purposes, and then bring it down to destruction or humiliation.

God’s purpose was always to exalt His Son over the nations. The Kingdom of God is administered by an exalted Christ who has entered into heaven and is reigning over the earth. Jesus ascended into heaven as a glorified man and received the Kingdom from the Father. (This is the theme of the book of Revelation.) Christ’s reign over the earth is from heaven, which is the control-room for the earth. God has exalted His Christ in spite of the world’s hostility and objections (Psalm 2). Christ is reigning NOW, even in the midst of His enemies upon the earth (Psalm 110). Jesus rules the nations and He will eventually destroy all of them like a man smashes a piece of pottery for which he has no more use. The Kingdom of God has come to this earth and the King has been exalted into heaven where He is currently ruling over the world and all the Kingdoms of men. The objective of the reign of Christ is to bring people into His Kingdom, which results in salvation. Rather than being in rebellion against God and His Christ, and being His enemies, we are reconciled. Then we willingly bow the knee to His reign. Eventually every knee will bow.

The reign of Christ is not visible to the eyes of men. So the Kingdom of God is all mixed in with the Kingdoms of men. This situation is explained in one of Jesus’ parables as a field where there are both wheat and tares (weeds). The sons of the Kingdom and the sons of the Wicked One are both together, growing in the same field. But the field belongs to God. The whole point of the world is to “grow” the Sons of God. The world is not for the Kingdoms of men, to do as they will. The tares are actually intruders, having been planted there by an enemy. At this stage in the project it is not wise to try to pull up the tares because the wheat is not ready. But eventually the harvest will be mature and a great separation is coming. At the end of all things everything that does not conform to the Kingdom of Christ will be uprooted and destroyed. All the Kingdoms of men will be destroyed and the Kingdom of Christ will be all that is left, like the wheat that is gathered into the barn at the harvest.

The End will come when the King appears. He is reigning in heaven now and His reign is not visible to men upon the earth. But He will come out of heaven and He will appear to judge the world and consummate His Kingdom, uprooting and destroying all of His enemies in this world. When He appears every knee must bow and every tongue must confess that He is Lord. It is better to do this now and be reconciled to Him!

The people of God are in the world now because they are charged with the task of being witnesses and preaching the Gospel to every nation before the End comes. This Gospel must be preached to all the nations of the world. This is why the Church is in the world. Through the preaching of the Gospel this Kingdom continues to permeate the world. The Kingdom will continue to grow, even though it started out small, and the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth before the End. The Kingdom is like a mustard seed that begins small and grows large in the end. It is like a small stone that grows into a mountain that fills the earth. And it is like a little yeast that is mixed into dough and then has a powerful effect on the whole batch. The Truth must triumph in the world. The Kingdom of God will continue to grow and have an effect upon the world. It will even overcome all other Kingdoms, proving to be the superior Power. It is absolutely necessary that the Kingdom of God be shown to be superior in the earth before the End comes. The Kingdoms of this World, as well as the Kingdom of Darkness that is behind all worldly powers, will NOT have the last word!

Series: God and the Nations

The Idols of the Nations

Rom. 1.21-25; Acts 17.29-31

Introduction

In modern, Western culture it is taboo to be intolerant of other people’s beliefs or lifestyles. People today want to emphasize acceptance and diversity. And so Christians are often hesitant to speak in ways that make us seem intolerant or judgmental. This is unfortunate because we cannot understand or appreciate the good news about Jesus unless we first understand the tragedy of sin and the terrifying wrath of God.

The entire book of Romans is an exposition of the Gospel. But Paul first shows that there is a universal need for what God has done in Christ. Without understanding the need, the good news would perhaps not seem so good. The Gospel declares that there is a righteousness from God that comes through faith in Christ. But why do people need to be righteous? That is Paul’s first order of business. The Apostle will prove that the entire human race is unrighteous. The analysis of the unrighteousness of humanity is thorough and detailed so that there are no loopholes allowing any person to escape this conclusion. There is no one who is righteous. No, not even one. In other words, not even you!

Paul’s argument indicts both Jews and Gentiles. The Jews had special revelation from God and had received His Law. But they broke the Law and turned away from God. Even though God began to work with Abraham and his descendants and revealed Himself in special ways to the people of Israel, this did not mean that the rest of the nations were free from all responsibility. The Gentiles did not have special revelation from God, but they did have some knowledge of God through the natural world. Unfortunately, the Gentiles failed to acknowledge the true God and turned instead to idols. The Gentile nations are in Paul’s mind in the first part of the argument. And Paul wants to point out the cause for the unrighteousness of the Gentiles. There is a specific sin that marked the Gentiles nations: the sin of idolatry.

From the beginning of the world the entire human race knew there was one God who created everything. The created order stands as a witness to the existence and the power of God. Even though God did not speak directly to the Gentile nations, the Creation itself was speaking to them about God. But from a very early period in human history, the nations of the world turned their backs on the one true God and began to worship idols.

In the modern world there is a tendency to think of idolatry as something belonging to man’s ignorant past. We believe in science now and not all that ancient superstition about gods and goddesses. Modern man believes that what the ancient peoples attributed to the gods is really just the natural powers of the world operating according to scientific laws. But idolatry was more than man’s lack of scientific knowledge about the world. This is one of the great errors of evolutionary theory: the ancients were primitive fools and modern man is intellectually superior, which is something C.S. Lewis called “chronological snobbery.” We must understand is what idolatry really is; both the idolatry of the ancients and the idolatry of the modern world. The modern world is no less idolatrous than the ancient world, if we know how to identify idolatry. The Apostle Paul gives us a very clear definition of idolatry that can still apply to the modern world in which we live. Modern, scientific man is idolatrous but his idolatry is dressed up in different clothes. When we know what idolatry is we will be able to spot it everywhere, perhaps even in surprising places where we had not noticed it before. Many of the sins that we do notice on a daily basis in our society are actually manifestations of idolatry, which is the deeper transgression.

We need to understand the roots of idolatry so that we can see how it is practiced even in our modern world. Modern man is really not all that different from the Ancients, in spite of how we think about ourselves. Then we should also see the results of idolatry, or what it produces in people’s lives and in society. The things we see people doing can be traced to a deeper, spiritual problem. We should be getting down to the real issue. Christians may even find bits and pieces of idolatry lingering in their own lives! We will also then come to understand how God responds to idolatry or how He feels about it when He sees it happening in the world. It would be a mistake to think that God is neutral and unaffected by the idolatry of the nations. And then we must see how people might be redeemed from the clutches of idolatry. This whole discussion leads to despair unless there is a way out of this trap.

The Roots of Idolatry

Intentional Rejection

The roots of idolatry run deep beneath the human family tree. This particular sin is at the root of many other sins that have always plagued the human race. The ultimate sin is turning away from God: refusing to acknowledge Him as God, putting Him out of our thoughts, acting as if He does not even exist. This is the root of idolatry.

There is no explicit mentioning of idolatry at the building of the Tower of Babel. But there was no thought of God at Babel. The spirit of Babel endured and has infected all the nations. The nations originally knew there was one God who created everything, yet they intentionally rejected that knowledge and chose to worship idols. This was an intentional rejection, even suppression, not just an innocent ignorance. Think of what a serious crime it is in a court of law to suppress evidence so that the truth cannot be known. But this is what mankind has done with the truth about God! The truth has been suppressed, not merely forgotten.

God would not hold people responsible for what cannot be known. But willful ignorance is another matter. A student who is not aware of an assignment would not be punished for not completing it. But a student who knows when the essay is due and then does not complete the assignment is going to be penalized. No excuses will be accepted. It would not matter if the student were simply careless and forgot when the assignment was due. Carelessness in this case would be just as bad as open rebellion.

There is no excuse for humanity’s rejection of God. Whatever else we do in life, how we respond to the knowledge of God is the central issue. We can turn to God or we can turn away from God. And we are doing one or the other every day of our lives. Each day we come to a fork in the road and we must make a decision. In each decision a destiny is being formed.

Insidious Rebellion

But this turning from God to idols was not simple carelessness. There was something more insidious behind humanity’s rejection of God. Idolatry is rebellion. Mankind is not like a well-meaning but absent-minded child who forgot to do his homework because he was busy playing ball. Mankind is more like a rebel who wants to make God go away. This explains a lot about the world today. In the heart of every person is a little Rebel who wants more than anything else to have his way. Mankind has declared war on God. God has seen this kind of rebellion before. The Devil and his angels once started a rebellion in Heaven itself. They were cast out of heaven but have continued to incite rebellion on the earth. And the human race has joined the Rebellion. Sin is cosmic rebellion.

We desire to have mastery, independence, and autonomy. We want to chart our own course, make our own decisions, and determine our own destiny without any interference from a demanding Deity. The world wants to be free from God and people are actually willing to die in order to have that freedom. That was the original choice made in Eden. Death is exactly what we got for our rebellion against God: “the wages of sin are death.”

The human race has always wanted all of the benefits of fellowship with God without actually having to deal with God. We want a perfect world in which no one gets hurt or dies. We want a world where there is love. God is love. But the world does not want God. How can we ever hope to have happiness or enjoy anything good when the Source of all happiness and goodness is rejected? We want the gifts without the Giver. The human race has been like a surly, ungrateful teenager who takes all his parent’s good gifts, rolls his eyes at their loving admonishment, and locks the door to his room to play video games. Ingratitude towards God and His good gifts, that He has given even to rebels, is a much more serious sin than we would like to admit.

Inadequate Religion

Man rejected God but did not cease to be religious. We must worship. Instead of worshiping the living God, man began to worship the creation. Idolatry is the worship of creation rather than the Creator. Mankind exchanged the worship of the Creator for the worship of the creation. The ancient pagans worshiped the creation quite literally and intentionally. They worshiped the sun, moon, and stars. They worshiped the earth itself. They deified the various forces of nature. Nearly all of the ancient gods and goddesses of the ancient world had some connection to nature. The ancient peoples also deified their own passions so that the various gods and goddesses seemed a lot like mortal men and women. All pagan religion was based on fear and alienation. The gods had to be propitiated. The worship of creation does not lead to peace and security for the worshipers. The idols do not care for men. The old pagan gods were takers, not givers.

The old paganism seems strange to modern men and women. Our science has taught us to control nature rather than to fear its power. Modern man has even rejected the very idea of a spiritual reality. The modern, scientific worldview is based on materialism. Modern people believe that the human race has outgrown religion. Some modern thinkers even predicted the end of all religion. But that never happened! Modern people have been very wrong about religion. We may not worship all the old pagan deities but modern man is still very religious. Most modern people do not consider themselves to be religious. But religion simply means “devotion” and worship is just “service.” For some people it is another person who is the object of their devotion. It may be a job and a career that is dutifully and faithfully served. Religion is whatever gives our life ultimate meaning and purpose. Worship is what we value and give ourselves to. Modern man is still very religious. He worships with as much energy and devotion as his ancient ancestors, though the names of our modern gods are different. But it is still idolatry because the things modern man worships are aspects of creation rather than the Creator.

The Results of Idolatry

Darkness of Mind

We should not think that God was indifferent about the idolatry of the nations. Sometimes we tend to think of God as less than a person. We think of Him as a Force or just a Mind. While we should not make God out to be like fallen man we should also remember that we are made in His image. God is not subject to passions like men are, but God does have a heart. God is not unaffected by what men do and He does respond to us and the decisions we make. God is not indifferent to men.

If men and women are made to worship, but we focus that worship on false gods rather than our Creator, we can expect to see and experience some bad consequences. The consequences or the results of idolatry are a large part of Paul’s argument in this section of Romans. The ancient peoples rejected the knowledge of God and began to worship the creation instead. What happened as a result? How did God manage the rest of the nations, even when they departed from Him and fell deeper and deeper into idolatry? God obviously did not destroy them. But God did not speak to them directly like He did to the nation of Israel. So what happened to these idolatrous nations?

Because they did not keep God in their minds, their minds became darkened. They did not know God. The Bible speaks about a spiritual kind of darkness that is the result of being alienated from God. Darkness is ignorance of God. God is light. There is no darkness with God. When we walk with God everything else is illuminated by His light. But what happens if we do not walk with God? We are then walking in the darkness. The nations became like a person who is stumbling around in the darkness. A secular historian might object to this characterization of the ancient world. What about all of the great civilizations? What about the glories of Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome? It is interesting that a little Jewish man like Paul, who was the leader of a pitifully small sect called the Christians, should summarize the histories and accomplishments of all the great civilizations of the ancient world by saying that they were all in the dark! But Paul was talking about man’s relationship with God, not all of the earthly things that man can accomplish. Because we are made in the image of God we are capable of doing some great things, even when alienated from God. Monkeys don’t build pyramids or towers or produce works of art. But these accomplishments were still done in the darkness because they were done without God. All of the accomplishments of men that are done without God are done in vain. Even the very best of the works men do in darkness are ultimately just dust in the wind. Today there are millions of people who are devoting their lives to all kinds of pursuits, some of which are noble, but are vain things apart from God and cannot bring satisfaction or eternal life. What if we have the whole world and lose our souls?

The Departure of God

The darkness of the mind was perhaps a natural and logical result of turning from God. If man refuses to keep God in his mind, then it makes sense that man will not know God and will be in the dark in that respect. Man turned away from God. How did God respond? God expressed His wrath against the idolatry of the nations. But the expression of that wrath is not what we might expect. We think of wrath as fire and brimstone. But there is another way that God expresses wrath and this is what Paul alludes to here in Romans. In His wrath against the idolatry of the nations, God simply let them go their own way and departed from them just as they had already departed from Him. In other words, this wrath was expressed as Divine abandonment. God did not intervene but left them to their own decision and to their own devices. God did not destroy the nations. He simply let them go.

There is a sense in which none of us can literally escape from God’s presence completely. And God did not abandon the nations for all time. But when people turn away from Him God may just give them what they want and let them go. Remember the story of the Prodigal Son? When the son wanted to leave the father gave him his inheritance and let him go. This is an aspect of God’s nature we need to know. This does not make God unloving or uncaring. God does not reject people who are earnestly seeking Him. But those who reject Him may get exactly what they want: God will leave them alone. In the end this is what Hell will be. There will be some people God will abandon forever.

The Degeneration of Society

But even in this world there may be times when God abandons people and lets them go their own way. We should be clear about this: God does not abandon people who are seeking Him! The people who are abandoned are those who have rejected the knowledge of God and turned from Him. What happens to people who have been abandoned by God? When people turn away from God there is no longer anything restraining them from pursuing their passions. In other words, when people turn away from God and His authority the only thing that rules their lives is their desire. The whole point of life then becomes the gratification of desires, whatever those cravings might be. Apart from God there is no way to determine if a certain desire is good or not. With God as the object of our desire, everything else is good. But without God nothing is good. When God’s hands are on the reigns of our desires we enjoy some protection and guidance. But if God were to take His hands away and let us run like wild horses we are in danger. Our desires can consume us and drive us to the point of destruction.

I am not here referring to eternal destruction in Hell, although that is also a reality, but to the destruction of our earthly lives as well. Picture being dragged helplessly behind a team of wild horses who are running directly for a cliff. Or, picture a powerful locomotive that is running at top speed and then goes off the track. This is what happened to human society apart from God. Anyone who has studied history can easily see a pattern of degeneration and self-destruction in every society and civilization that has come into existence. Eventually every nation, kingdom, society, or civilization burns itself out and implodes through greed, corruption, oppression, violence, and death. Idolatry is destructive to human life and community.

The Redemption of Idolaters

Declare the Glory of God

This entire first section of Romans is designed by the Apostle Paul to get us to a point where we are asking ourselves “is there any hope at all?” Now we are right where we need to be! Now we can be ready to hear the good news about salvation through Christ. But we could not hear the Gospel until we were at a point where we saw the need. And we saw that we ourselves could not find the solution. It was man’s actions that caused all the trouble. Are we to put our hope in man to reverse everything? The solution must come from God, not from man. God has a plan to redeem the nations from their slavery to idolatry. Paul’s letter to the Romans is an exposition of that plan of redemption and the message that declares that Divine plan.

But it might be better to see the Apostle Paul in action as he actually preaches that Gospel to some idolaters. We have an account of Paul doing exactly that in the book of Acts. While on one of his missionary journeys Paul found himself in the city of Athens. Athens was the cultural center of the ancient Greco-Roman world and it was filled with idolatry. Paul could not let this go without doing some preaching. He preached in the marketplace and was then invited to Mars Hill, which was a gathering of intellectuals. Luke records Paul’s sermon to these Athenian philosophers. How does the great Apostle speak to them? How do you speak to people who worship idols?

Paul declares the glory of God. In order for idolaters to be redeemed they must hear about the one, true God. This is the God who created the world. He is not some aspect of creation but is the source of everything. This God cannot be contained in a temple and He does not need anything from us. Rather, He gives everything to us and we depend on Him for our very lives. Idolaters need to know that they are fundamentally wrong about God, even if this message is unpopular. The truth about who God is has to be declared. This is what the Church has been called by God to do in the world: declare the glory of the one, true God.

 

Clarify the Duty of Man

This is the God who created mankind. And He cares for us and is involved in human history. God has so arranged the world and all its people in such a way that every nation has the opportunity to know about the one, true God. In fact, God put man on this earth so that we can seek after God and find Him. Life is about knowing God. Anyone who wants this knowledge can have it, if he seeks after God. God is not playing some kind of cruel game with humanity. God is not hiding from us and then waiting to strike us down. God is not hard to find or far away. God is everywhere! He is right here under our noses, if we care to see Him.

Paul even quotes some of the pagan poets who knew that God surrounds us and upholds us. Some of the old pagans knew that human beings are the offspring of Deity. In other words, some of the wise pagans knew that idolatry was wrong and illogical. Why should we worship inanimate things when we ourselves obviously came from something beyond nature? It is beneath human dignity to worship creation rather than the Creator. In this respect some of the old pagan thinkers were closer to the truth than modern thinkers. Modern thinkers say that mankind simply evolved from the natural world. Some of the old pagans knew better. The Bible says we are made in the image of God. So why should we worship that which is inferior to us? Should we not seek to worship something that is higher than we are?

Our one duty in life is to seek God. That is the fact that Paul was declaring to the Athenians. But here we must merge Paul’s sermon with Paul’s doctrine in Romans. The reality is that no nation has ever done its duty to God. No nation has ever sought after God. So here is the great tragedy of sin: God made us to seek Him and no one has been doing what he or she was made to do! We have all turned away from God. That fact may not be surprising. What might be surprising is the patience, kindness, and grace of God. In ancient times God was merciful to the nations that turned away from Him. He overlooked their idolatry because He was preparing a way of salvation and blessing for the nations.

 

Anticipate the Day of Judgement

But God no longer overlooks the idolatry of the nations. The plan of God has reached a point of fulfillment. All the centuries of preparation, in which God let the nations go their way and worked exclusively with the nation of Israel, have reached a point of fulfillment. The true God has appeared and revealed Himself to the whole world. This message is going to be preached to every nation before the End comes. Every nation will hear the Gospel of Christ and will be given an opportunity to repent of their idolatry and turn to the true and living God. Paul’s message in Athens to the idolaters on Mars Hill was concluded by a call to repentance. Repentance simply means to turn to God. Turning to God means turning away from every false god. A day of judgment is coming when God will hold all men accountable. This Judgment will be executed through a man whom God raised from the dead. Paul preaches the resurrection of Jesus because he wants to anchor his message in historical fact. The Christian message is not some mythology or philosophy. God has entered into human history and has acted decisively, which is a fact that calls for a decision.

The Gospel contradicted the Athenian’s worldview. They had no place for a resurrection. The Gospel will always dismantle the cultural idols that men worship. In every culture there are idols, usually in the form of ideas, that must be broken down. Men are called by the Gospel to forsake all of their false ideas and embrace the truth as it has been revealed in Jesus. When we preach Jesus we are not just preaching another idea. We are not saying that our philosophy or religion is better than other philosophies and religions. We are telling men to turn from all of their philosophies and religions, none of which can save, forgive sin, or give eternal life.

God has given the nations an opportunity for repentance. The Church is supposed to preach this message, even it is unpopular. Preaching repentance is a part of preaching the Gospel. The good news is that God has made a way for us to be saved from His wrath. God is both Judge and Savior. His wrath is being revealed against all of man’s suppression of the truth. But God’s grace has also been revealed in providing a way to escape His wrath.

Conclusion

Identifying Modern Idols

When we talk about idolatry most people think we are just giving a history lesson in ancient culture. We don’t worship the gods and goddesses of ancient Greece and Rome. You probably won’t see many people bowing down to graven images. So it is easy to think that idolatry is a thing of the past. Modern man has outgrown idolatry, right? We have advanced beyond those ancient superstitions.

It is true that modern man is not as outwardly religious as the old pagans were. But this does not mean that modern people are not religious and that they don’t still worship. Modern man still worships creation rather than the Creator. Idolatry means to be devoted and to serve anything, or anyone, other than the Creator. If we accept this definition of idolatry, it is clear that modern men and women still worship idols. The ancient Romans worshiped Mars, the god of strength and power. Do modern people still worship strength and power? Of course. The old pagans worshiped Venus, the goddess of beauty and pleasure. Do modern people worship beauty and pleasure? Religiously!

Modern people worship not only power and pleasure but also money, success, fame, and knowledge. People today have in some cases religiously devoted themselves to saving the planet, perhaps a noble cause, but without any thoughts of the God who created the planet in the first place. There are hundreds of pursuits that people devote themselves to rather than to the God who created them and all of these pursuits are modern idols.

These modern idols are perhaps even more insidious than their ancient counterparts. The modern idols disguise themselves and sneak into our lives through the relentless barrage of cultural values. Every day we are told by our culture what we must do and what we must accomplish in order to be happy and to feel fulfilled. And if we are not able to obtain the things that culture tells us we must have, then we feel miserable and consider life meaningless. Whatever gives us ultimate meaning and happiness is our god. For some people this is money and all the things money can buy. For some people it is physical strength and beauty. For other people it is the love and adoration of other people. But if anything other than the Creator gives us meaning and happiness, we are also guilty of idolatry. Our modern idols are idols of the heart and of the mind. But these idols are just as powerless, impersonal, and merciless as the ancient pantheon of gods and goddesses once were.

 

Staying Free from Idols

Our modern, Western culture is still a lot like the city of Athens that the Apostle Paul visited. There are idols everywhere, though perhaps not so obviously. Christians need to be able to spot the idols underneath nearly everything in our culture and society. Almost everything people do, the things that motivate them, are idols. But because Christians are still in the world we must be aware of the fact that we are still vulnerable to the seduction of the idols. This is why we are warned not to love the world (1 John 2.15-17). Christians are also warned not to believe the doctrines of false teachers who cause people to devote themselves to intellectual idols, or ideas about God or Christ that are false. Any false god is an idol, even false ideas about God. It is crucial that Christians take their knowledge about God directly from Scripture so that we believe in and worship the one, true, living God and not some false god that has been invented by men or even by the doctrines of demons.

Christians are tempted by modern idols because culture is constantly trying to make us conform. It is natural to want to be accepted by other men and even praised by them. This is itself an idol. Christians are supposed to be different and separate from the world. This creates otherness and potential ridicule and rejection. And many so-called Christians modify and compromise their beliefs and their teachings to fit the spirit of the Age and so avoid being cultural outcasts. The Church has always felt the pressure of the world to conform and this will continue until the world passes away.

But in an even deeper and more personal way, the idols seduce Christians to seek their meaning, purpose, and security in something other than the living God. Christians are tempted to seek meaning in the praise of other people rather than the praise of God. We are tempted to seek purpose in a career rather than in serving God. And we are tempted to seek security in worldly wealth rather than trusting in God to provide. It is even possible for a Christian to be tempted to put his or her confidence in a particular Church, theological system, or denominational tradition and heritage rather than in personal faith in the living God. This is also a form of idolatry, even if the idol wears the name of “Christian.” But all of the idols will disappoint us and leave us with broken hearts. Our faith and hope are in the living God, the maker of heaven and earth.