Biblical Audio Commentary – Changing gods

Biblical Audio Commentary – Changing gods

Transcript:

In past times, once a nation acknowledged the divine being that ruled it, that spiritual entity became an ironclad fixture in the existence of its people.  The nation might also have lesser gods to which it gave allegiance and oblations, but that primary god was always seen as the one that directed the course of its destinies.

The reason for this is one we’ve discussed many times.  Following the Tower of Babel, in which God Almighty came down to see what mankind was doing in response to the commands He had given after the Flood, He saw that men had disobediently gathered as one and were building a gateway tower, or portal, by which they intended to reach the heavens and attempt to exalt themselves through control of the heavenly host.

This flagrant disregard of God and Who He was (and is!), caused Him to punish men by scattering them and confusing their single language into many tongues.  In this process, God assigned His loyal divine sons to take on a new earthly duty, namely to rule over the recently formed nations, while at the same time pointing the people to Him as He made Israel His specific territory.  This is seen in Deuteronomy 32:8-9 (ESV):

When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,
when he divided mankind,
he fixed the borders of the peoples
according to the number of the sons of God.
But the Lord’s portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted heritage.

As a result of God assigning the geographical territory of what would become Israel to Himself, the default position of the Israelites, once they inhabited the land, should have been that I AM would be their God forever and rule over them accordingly.  At the same time, God’s sons that He placed over the nations were by no means to take their Father’s glory for themselves.  They did that, however, and set themselves up as these nation’s gods, demanding fealty and sacrifice, while keeping the people in bondage under them and certainly not allowing them any allegiance to the One true God.

God had a plan to deal with the nations, but its execution would take some time plus the manifestation of Jesus Christ in the flesh.  In the meantime, God had a (not unforeseen) problem with Israel itself.  The people – whom God called His children – had a nasty habit of straying from Him.  Inevitably, time and again, the Israelites became enchanted by the gods of the other nations, i.e. the rebellious sons of God, and decided their allure was greater than He who was supposed to be their only God by territorial rights as the One over Israel.

The priests of God, along with those who ruled as chieftains and later kings, seemed to be particularly susceptible to the charms of the gods of these other nations.  As a result of their apostasy, they led the common people into rebellion.  We see this dynamic first in Jeremiah 2:8:

“The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’
Those who handle the law did not know me;
the shepherds transgressed against me;
the prophets prophesied by Baal
and went after things that do not profit.”

 Generally, it’s from the top down that leadership exerts its power in a nation for better or for worse.  With too much of Israel’s history, it was definitely for the worse.  In the case of Israel, this problem was, in effect, far worse than that of any other nation.  The others never knew God to begin with.  They were basically birthed in darkness because of the deceit foisted upon them by those who became their gods.  Israel didn’t have this excuse.  The inhabitants of this nation were “My People Israel” (see 1 Samuel 2:28, 9:16, etc.), and that had a special meaning – a great privilege and responsibility.

Unfortunately, the people shirked their duty as they were led down the primrose path to apostasy by their priests and kings.  This caused God to ask the rhetorical question in Jeremiah 2:11-13:

“Has a nation changed its gods,
even though they are no gods?
But my people have changed their glory
for that which does not profit.
Be appalled, O heavens, at this;
be shocked, be utterly desolate,
declares the Lord,
for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
broken cisterns that can hold no water.”

Basically, God said: “Seriously, since when does this kind of thing happen?  It simply doesn’t, and for that you’re multiplying your sins.”  They abandoned the source of living water – life itself through God alone, and followed other gods that were completely useless.  For this, they would die of thirst; in effect experience soul death.

Why in the world would God’s children Israel do such a thing?  However it happened, they had no fear of the Lord, whereas apparently they did fear the pagan gods in their self-will.  God states this in Jeremiah 2:19-20:

“Your evil will chastise you,
and your apostasy will reprove you.
Know and see that it is evil and bitter
for you to forsake the Lord your God;
the fear of me is not in you,
declares the Lord God of hosts.

 For long ago I broke your yoke
and burst your bonds;
but you said, ‘I will not serve.’
Yes, on every high hill
and under every green tree
you bowed down like a whore.”

More than this, God promises that Israel would rue their decision to openly – flagrantly – commit adultery with these gods that are not gods.  Plus, it didn’t matter how much Israel attempted to excuse this abomination in God’s eyes, they could not cleanse themselves, just as Jeremiah 2:22 states:

Though you wash yourself with lye
and use much soap,
the stain of your guilt is still before me,
declares the Lord God.

This constant rebellion caused God to eventually turn His face from Israel.  She would pay for her sins.  In judgment the people of Israel would cry out to the Lord in realization that they were in trouble.  As Jeremiah 2:27-28 tells us, this was a problem for which they’d have to find their own solution:

“But in the time of their trouble they say,
‘Arise and save us!’

But where are your gods
that you made for yourself?
Let them arise, if they can save you,
in your time of trouble;
for as many as your cities
are your gods, O Judah.”

At this point, God’s position was: “Good luck with those useless gods with their idols of gold, silver, rock, and wood.  Let’s see what they can do.”  In other words: “Deal with it, kids.”

Because of God’s incredible patience and mercy, admittedly, it takes a while for His patience to sap until He gets to this point.  But inevitably, He does.

We know what the result of all this was: God put first Israel, then Judah under the sword of His condemnation until they were no more.  Once God’s judgment began, punishment was swift, certain, and deadly.

Fast forward to today.  America is a nation that committed itself to God in our birth pains.  In so doing, our Founding Fathers specifically stated that we must be and remain a Christian nation in order to continue as a nation.

Over the years there have been forces – both spiritual and in the natural – that have fought vigorously against this concept.  We are now to the point that they have almost succeeded.  Our leaders in the secular and religious realms have decided we no longer need the God of the Bible to remain viable, and so we have eradicated Him from every sphere within our society.  He is almost gone.  Only a very few points of light remain.

Some of us have called out: “Arise and save us”, but God through His prophetic Word, to paraphrase Jeremiah 2:28, has declared:

But where are your gods
that you made for yourself?
Let them arise, if they can save you,
in your time of trouble;
for as many as your cities
are your gods, O Judah [America].”

Can a nation change it gods and live?  If its gods are pagan and not the One true God – absolutely.  This is in process with Iran.  A time is coming that the old gods which ruled over them will be fully cast aside and the God of the Bible will rule and reign.

However, in our case, we’ve thrown out our only hope in favor of worthless and impotent saviors.  Just as in Isaiah 63:10 we learn a devastating lesson regarding Israel, so it is with America:

But they rebelled
and grieved his Holy Spirit;
therefore he turned to be their enemy,
and himself fought against them.

This should terrify us, but those who are leading us to destruction simply don’t care.  This will cause their destruction and that of our nation.

Judgment is near.  God has withdrawn His benevolent hand of protection from us.  Soon, our sin and depravity will reach its fill and God will bring down the final curtain on this land.

I’m thankful that the Lord has promised to deliver we, His people, from the disaster that is almost upon us.  Jesus Christ truly is our only hope.