God Does Care About Sin and Righteousness in a Nation
“Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people”
(Proverbs 14:34).
DOES SCRIPTURE MENTION THE FATE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA? “Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward” (Isaiah 1:4). Yes, America is mentioned in Scripture as certainly as the names of the godly are written in the Word of God. “And whosoever was not found written in the Book Of Life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15).
In offering a promised benefit to all, the surest possible way for God to include you, is to address the benefit to “whosoever will”– “let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17). When you volunteer yourself as a willing recipient– “Here am I; send me” (Isaiah 6:8), then you uncontestably qualify to receive the benefit. “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it” (Isaiah 1:19-20). Of course, only Someone With Unlimited Resources– “according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19)– could afford to make your claim so sure, and still have enough left for any other eager volunteers.
In a similar fashion, the United States of America is a nation of “whosoever wills” that has turned its back on God. “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Psalm 9:17). When the Divine Judge of America has determined that not enough righteousness exists in the people of America, then the Judgment must be executed against the nation. “And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto Me; and if not, I will know” (Genesis 18:20-21).
America has led the world in teaching the culture of materialism, self-seeking, and self-love. “For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s” (Philippians 2:21). America has cunningly guided the world in spiritual fornication. “For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies” (Revelation 18:3). The question is not if God will judge the United States of America, only when. “Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting” (Daniel 5:27).
Many of the Saints have cried out to God to spare the United States of America, just as Abraham interceded to Jehovah for the righteous in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. “And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?” (Genesis 18:23). Beginning with the possibility of 50 righteous found within the city (18:24), Abraham persuaded the LORD to hold back the prophesied destruction, if as few as 10 righteous could be found (18:32). After all, “That be far from Thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from Thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25).
God has been pleased with those who haved begged for revival and the sparing of America, even as He was pleased with Abraham’s intercession. “And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God” (James 2:23). Still, Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, but Lot was spared. God will likewise judge the United States of America, and deliver the Godly by the Pre-Tribulational Rapture of the Church. “And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) The LORD knoweth how to deliver the Godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished” (2 Peter 2:7-9).
When the god of materialism stalks the United States of America, the LORD Jesus Christ is no longer honoured before the world as the Source and Power of America’s Greatness. “Ye pollute yourselves with all your idols, even unto this day: and shall I be enquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the LORD GOD, I will not be enquired of by you” (Ezekiel 20:31). God’s people understand that He will no longer hear the petition to prevent America’s execution. The sins of the United States of America “have reached unto Heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities” (Revelation 18:5).
America’s existence as a nation has been a blessing of God’s Providence. “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof” (Leviticus 25:10). It has been no accident that the United States of America has experienced an abundance that has attracted the attention of the world. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom He hath chosen for His own inheritance” (Psalm 33:12). Only God can make a nation rich. “The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and He addeth no sorrow with it” (Proverbs 10:22).
At one time, the United States of America had a leader, President Abraham Lincoln, who understood the justice of Almighty God. The closing words of his second inaugural address of March 4,1865, demonstrate his faith in the Living God, as the American Civil War was only a month from its conclusion. “Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s 250 years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn by the lash be paid by another drawn by the sword, as was said 3,000 years ago, so still it must be said: The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether [Psalm 19:9].” 133 years have changed America into a nation that cannot even pay lip service to the justice of Almighty God. “How are the mighty fallen!” (2 Samuel 1:19).
God commands America to repent. “If My people, which are called by My Name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14). However, God has a limit to how long He will tolerate the arrogance of America’s sin. “The LORD said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man” (Genesis 6:3).
God would spare America, if only the professed Christians of the land would repent. “For the time is come that Judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17). The stubborn confidence of the professed Church in the power of its own hands has brought God’s curse upon it. “Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD” (Jeremiah 17:5).
America’s churches have lost their pilgrim character. “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul” (1Peter 2:11). At home in the world, is the unfortunate description of the churches of America. “Woe to them that are at ease in Zion” (Amos 6:1). Without a clear-cut separation from sin and the world, America’s churches have lost their distinctive platform to call the nation to repentance. Her ministers and leaders have brought great reproach upon the Name of God in front of the unconverted. “Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them” (Ezekiel 22:26).
America’s church members have imitated the immoral character of the pulpit. “Like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings” (Hosea 4:9). The sin of the pulpit has emboldened the people to new levels of debauchery. “Who knowing the Judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them” (Romans 1:32). So low have the American churches descended, that the LORD Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church (Ephesians 5:23), stands outside, knocking on the door for admission. “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My Voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20).
No longer is it a question of nationwide repentance or churchwide repentance, but individual repentance. “And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son” (Luke 15:21). Attempting to rescue America is no longer an option. “Save yourselves from this untoward generation” (Acts 2:40). Individual repentance and faith is all that remains. “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8).
Only the truly “peculiar” are marked to participate in the Pre-Tribulational Rapture of the Church. “Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:14). By God’s grace, He will preserve for Himself a holy people. “Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O Thou my God, save Thy servant that trusteth in Thee” (Psalm 86:2).
American Christians, like their brethren scattered throughout the world, need to be clinging to the Promises until our Saviour comes for us. The Promises make us holy like our Master, and enable us to escape. “Whereby are given unto us Exceeding Great And Precious Promises: that by These ye might be partakers of the Divine Nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2Peter 1:4). Especially now, those who are truly watching and waiting for their LORD are a Little Flock. However, “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom” (Luke 12:32).
The remnant of True Believers in America are sure of God’s grace to make a way to escape from the coming wrath. “And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape” (Ezra 9:8). Christians in the United States of America, like all Christians who are watching and praying, are more than glad to reach out for the Promised Rapture as a way of escape from the coming Tribulation. “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” (Luke 21:36).
The Pre-Tribulational Rapture of the Church is like a lifeboat launched from a sinking Titanic. “Looking for that Blessed Hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). The LORD Jesus is our Lifeboat Of Hope, delivering us from the wrath to come. “And to wait for His Son from Heaven, Whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, whichdelivered us from the wrath to come” (1Thessalonians 1:10).
In the end, the United States of America will not be saved. America will worship the Antichrist with the rest of the world. “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the Book Of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). If America has ever symbolized good or right, then the very rocks of this once blessed land would cry out for joy to find an American Christian “worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass” (Luke 21:36) at the Pre-Tribulational Rapture of the Church. And, the joy of every American Christian is the joy of meeting the LORD in the air along with the brethren of all nations.
“Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy” (Jude 24),
Maranatha!