God's Interventions In Secular History. Kenneth B. Alexander BSL, JD, Deacon
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Название: God's Interventions In Secular History
Автор: Kenneth B. Alexander BSL, JD, Deacon
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Религия: прочее
isbn: 9781456612153
isbn:
God’s purpose at all times during earthly history has been to set up a righteous nation set aside for Himself alone. Israel is and was to be His special people He could rule, love and bless. Although ancient Israel failed to live up to that calling, spiritual Israel under Christ’s New Covenant will be those who will walk perfectly in His word (Hebrews 8:7-13; Jeremiah 31:33 et seq). This spiritual nation will be called the Kingdom of God and will be an eternal Kingdom (2 Peter 1:11). As Christ told us to pray: “[The Father’s] Kingdom come, His will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven” (Matthew 6:10). Some believers are reaching into that even now.
The twelve Biblical books stretching from Joshua to Esther are conventionally designated “The History Books.” But the word “history”, used in the colloquial sense, doesn’t tell the whole story, for Biblical history is attentive to what God is doing in the earth in order to accomplish His purpose. The History of the “world”, at least how it’s written in the history books, seems largely indifferent to God. Current secular history primarily describes the works and glorification of man. The countless temples and pyramids of the Egyptians, the wonders of the Babylonians, the knowledge and architectural accomplishments of the Greeks and the great societal, architectural and war machines of the Romans. Babylon and Chaldea had knew the sciences with great works in mathematics, astronomy (astrology) and temples as did the Persians, Mayans and Alexander the Macedonian. Humans are awed by these works dedicated to these false gods but God hardly gives them a passing glance. As to the nations He says: “Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales;…All the nations are as nothing before Him, They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless” (Is 40:15-17). This is God’s verdict of the works of man and the pagan nations which populated and populate the Earth.
This is evident in secular history as empires rise, rule and fall in regular intervals throughout history. Many nations conquered and ruled the known world (Sumeria, Babylon twice, Egypt, Persia, Greece/Macedonia, Rome and the Roman Church) only to fall from power for a variety of reasons. We are seeing this happen today as mighty empires seem to disintegrate before our eyes including the United States, Britain and the former Soviet Union. Without God no people can sustain itself over any extended period of time no matter the innovation and technical advances they obtain. God will let no nation take any glory from Him. His attitude concerning all mighty nations is quoted above. He is the Creator and only He knows the answers to nation sustainability.
Science and man regard the universe as an object of awe and look to it to find the “meaning of life” or how we “fit in”. To God, the vast, almost unending universe with all its mysteries seem to be an afterthought. “God made the two great lights, [Sun and Moon] the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also” (Gen 1:16). Most nations built their civilizations around observation and interpretation of the stars of the heavens calling them “gods”. The Egyptians orientated their pyramids in line with certain stars (constellations and stars Orion, Sirius and the Pleiades) who whey considered to be gods. The Mayans of Central America did the same thing. The Chaldeans and Babylonians were master astrologers, as were the Canaanites. On the other hand God told His people not to regard the stars. He left it to the Gentile nations to use the cosmos for instruments of worship, divining, idolatry and prediction. He said: “And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which the Lord your God has allotted to all [other] the peoples under the whole heaven” (Deut 4:19).
God’s Biblical history is single minded. If you base your faith in the Bible there are no real mysteries. He created the nation of Israel to be a special nation set aside for His use only. God’s special nation was to live outside secular history and create a small nation that was to be His own. He always treated them as His own, affording special privileges to them not given to other nations. He would allow Israel to be victorious inn battle. As long as they obeyed Him He would bless their lives in every area. All the nations belong to God, but Israel was to stand in a place of special privilege and enormous responsibility (See Deut 7:6; 14:2; 26:18; 28; Ps 135:4; and Mal 3:17). He would sovereignly protect Israel but the other surrounding nations would not enjoy that protection. The Hebrew noun is סְגֻלָּה (ségullah), which means a special possession. Israel was to be God’s special possession.
Deuteronomy put it very clear as Moses addressed the Israelites before entering the Promised Land: “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, [Abraham-Moses] the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt” (Deut 7:6-8, 14-2, 28:9).
Isaiah says:” And they will call them, “The holy people, The redeemed of the Lord”; And you will be called, “Sought out, a city not forsaken” (Is 62:12). They are also to be “a holy nation.” They are to be a nation separate and distinct from the rest of the nations. Here is another aspect of their duty. It was one thing to be God’s special possession, but to be that they had to be priestly and holy. The duties of the covenant God initiated with man will specify what it would mean to be a holy nation. In short, they had to keep themselves free from everything that characterized pagan people (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 171). So it is a bilateral covenant: they received special privileges but they must provide special services by the special discipline (See also H. Kruse, “Exodus 19:5 and the Mission of Israel,” North East Asian Journal of Theology 24/25 (1980).
Later however, after Israel began to sin with idols and foreign gods, the prophets narrowed the nation to a faithful remnant who had not sinned against God. Isaiah said: “The Lord has removed men far away, And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. “Yet there will be a tenth portion in it, And it will again be subject to burning, Like a terebinth or an oak Whose stump remains when it is felled. The holy seed [remnant] is its stump” (v. 6:12-13). Whereas there had been a nation there was left only a remnant, one-tenth left. “But I will leave among you A humble and lowly people, And they will take refuge in the name of the Lord. “The remnant of Israel will do no wrong And tell no lies, Nor will a deceitful tongue Be found in their mouths; For they will feed and lie down With no one to make them tremble” (Zep 3:12-13).
To clarify God sought a nation who would walk with Him and be His special family. However the great majority of Israel and Judah sinned against God to the point that He allowed Assyria and Babylon to conquer them. But He promised He would leave a remnant who had not sinned. A remnant is the portion left over after a part has been removed. In biblical thought, the remnant has been or will be saved and redeemed by God. This concept is frequently mentioned in prophetic writings since it is the obverse of the idea that God will punish the sinning people with near total destruction (cf. 1 Kings 19:15-18). Thus, Amos speaks of a nonviable or pitiful remnant in his prophecies of rebuke (3:12; 5:3; 6:9; 7:1-6; 9:1; cf. 1:8), although if the people repent, destruction of ‘the remnant of Joseph’ may be avoided (5:14-15). A remnant will return’ to both God in repentance and the land in redemption (Isa. 7:3; 10:20-22; 11:10-16; 17:5-8; 28:5; 30:17-19; 37:4, 31-32; cf. 6:13). In Micah, ‘remnant’ is already a term meaning ‘those who will be redeemed’ (4:6-7; 5:2-8; cf. 2:12; 7:18-20). This understanding is evident also in Joel 3:5 (cf. Obad. 17). In Zephaniah, the righteous remnant of Israel will be redeemed (3:11-20; cf. 2:3, 7, 9).
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