A contemplation on the fate of our country on the eve of the 2020 election. This has been called the most momentous election in our history. At least, to this point in our history, it is. While the choice between individual men is not overly attractive, the divide between world views, as exposed by the respective party platforms, could not be more stark. And, regardless of the side that, one chooses, the question arises, “Is America too far gone? Can its downward course be halted and even reversed?”
I have been reading both Jeremiah and Lamentations recently. That haunting question occurred to the prophet, Jeremiah, in the 15th chapter of his prophecy. Had Judah gone too far? (V. 1-4) Indeed it had. He spent an entire book lamenting the fate of his beloved country. (Pun intended. Lamentations)
Jeremiah 15 Then the Lord said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before Me, My heart would not be with this people. Send them away from My presence and have them go! 2 And it shall be that when they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you are to tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Those destined for death, to death; And those destined for the sword, to the sword; And those destined for famine, to famine; And those destined for captivity, to captivity.”’ 3 And I will appoint over them four kinds of doom,” declares the Lord: “the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, and the birds of the sky and the animals of the earth to devour and destroy.
And why did God seemingly turn His back on His chosen people? We find the answer in verse 4.
I will make them an object of terror among all the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.
And who was Manasseh, other than the son of Hezekiah? 2 Chronicles 32:33
So Hezekiah lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in the upper section of the tombs of the sons of David; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him at his death. And his son Manasseh became king in his place.
What follows is a summary of Manasseh’s activities for 55 years. (And we thought one term of a poor President was trying! But I digress.) We will not hit this, point by point, but we can get an overview of the wickedness of Manasseh. 2 Kings 21 (also 2 Chronicles 33:1)
Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Hephzibah. 2 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, in accordance with the abominations of the nations whom the Lord dispossessed before the sons of Israel. 3 For he rebuilt the high places which his father Hezekiah had destroyed; and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, just as Ahab king of Israel had done, and he worshiped all the heavenly lights and served them. 4 And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem I will put My name.” 5 He built altars for all the heavenly lights in the two courtyards of the house of the Lord. 6 And he made his son pass through the fire, interpreted signs, practiced divination, and used mediums and spiritists. He did great evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger. 7 Then he put the carved image of Asherah that he had made in the house of which the Lord had said to David and to his son Solomon, “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever.” (Ed Note: This is a precursor to the defiling of the Lord’s sanctuary by Antiochus IV in 168 or 167 BC, and later in the Tribulation by the anti-Christ.) ...9 But they did not listen, and Manasseh encouraged them to do evil, more than the nations whom the Lord eliminated from the presence of the sons of Israel.
First we find a catalog of Manasseh’s sins, just about hitting every button to provoke the Lord that was possible. And that included the Asherah pole in the Temple itself. “Fortunately” for him, the Glory of the Lord had left the Temple (Ezekiel 10:18) years before, or he might have been incinerated on the spot like Nabab and Abhiu were. (Leviticus 10:1-2)
And look at verse 9. Manasseh not only did all of these vile things, he encouraged the people to do the same. (Also 2 Chronicles 33:9) And, to our chagrin as we observe, they not only “reluctantly” acquiesced, but they seemed to join in exuberantly. “Finally that old ‘spoil sport’ Hezekiah is out of the way. Now we can have some real fun! Whoopee!”
It was not as if the Lord abandoned them to do evil, as He did, and does. (Romans 1:24 “Therefore God gave them up to vile impurity in the lusts of their hearts...26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions...28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a depraved mind, to do those things that are not proper....” Three specific times He “gave them up.”) He did not abandon them, but here in 2 Kings, the Lord continued to plead with them.
10 Now the Lord spoke through His servants the prophets, saying, 11 “Since Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations, having done more evil than all that the Amorites did who were before him, and has also misled Judah into sin with his idols...”
And here we find an implicit plea for reconciliation. Turn back to God to avoid...
12 “therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘Behold, I am bringing such a disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that whoever hears about it, both of his ears will ring. 14 And I will abandon the remnant of My inheritance and hand them over to their enemies, and they will become as plunder and spoils to all their enemies, 15 because they have done evil in My sight, and have been provoking Me to anger since the day their fathers came from Egypt, even to this day.’”
Was I imagining the plea? 2 Chronicles 33:10 “So the Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention.” This was not a unilateral plunge into idolatry and abominations. It was a whole-hearted, multi-lateral, rush into depravity by the whole nation. They all, or at least most of them, were part and parcel to the events. And that led to the irreversible descent into destruction that we read about in Jeremiah 15. Can, or did that happen to other nations? We can turn to a more contemporary prophet in our own country. Benjamin Franklin said, “The longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: 'that God governs in the affairs of men.' And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?”
America most assuredly rose with the aid of Almighty God. And we, like Judah, have strayed from our foundation. The chances are very good that we can insert “USA” for the people in the above passages. And the following seems to apply to us a much as to ancient Judah.
And then, just to top things off, it seemed like Manasseh began to emulate Cain and spill innocent blood. So much, in fact, that...well, read it.
16 Furthermore, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides his sin into which he misled Judah, in doing evil in the sight of the Lord.
That chilling scenario is just as apropos to now, as it was to Judah. Since 1973 the estimated total of abortions is 61.6 million and about 250 million more have been chemically aborted. As Jeremiah pointed out, it difficult to see anything more “innocent” than an unborn baby.
And what is our conclusion? Zechariah 8:14
“For this is what the Lord of armies says: ‘Just as I determined to do harm to you when your fathers provoked Me to anger,’ says the Lord of armies, ‘and I have not relented...”
God made good on His threat. He did not relent. But after that was complete, He spoke again. We love to quote Jeremiah 29:11 where God declares that He has planned good, and not evil–for Israel, and hopefully, by extension, to any God-fearing nation. But in light of their history and ours, we are in the way of harm. Unless we repent, that is. Read on in Zechariah 8:15
...so I have again determined in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Do not fear! 16 These are the things which you shall do: speak the truth to one another; judge with truth and judgment for peace at your gates.
Repentance and restoration was available to Judah, and then the whole nation of Israel. We can petition for that same relief to be provided to our country, and hopefully without a season of “captivity.”. We do not “placate” God by doing the things He listed. We repent and then our behavior will be such that it pleases the Lord.
It may not be too late. It was for Judah, and they went into 70 years of captivity. But the Lord brought them out. Let’s hope and pray that we will repent before we are brought under judgment.
