 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
The Soon Coming Judgment Of God Upon America and How To Escape It 32
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 7:13-14).
At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a
kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; If that nation, against
whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I
thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation,
and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; If it do evil in my sight, that it
obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would
benefit them (Jeremiah 18:7-10).
In the book of Jonah we learn that God sent Johan to Nineveh to warn them that God
would destroy the city in 40 days. The evil people of Nineveh believed God’s prophet. The king
made a proclamation that everyone should fast, repent, put on sackcloth and pray. The people did
as their king commanded and God heard their prayers and saw their repentance and he repented
of the destruction that he had determined to do to the city (Jonah 3).
When Israel’s sins caused God to judge them, he sent prophet after prophet to warn them
but they refused to repent. They even killed God’s prophets. As a result Israel suffered God’s
judgment over and over at the hands of the Philistines, Syrians, Assyrians, Babylonians, and
Romans among others.
29
Even when a nation refuses to repent, God protects his own. What purpose would it serve
God to judge his faithful followers? It would serve no purpose. God’s judgments are true and
righteous.
30
Therefore these judgments are not intended for his faithful followers. In Proverbs,
King Solomon writes: “It is not good…to overthrow the righteous in judgment” (Proverbs 18:5).
During the flood God preserved Noah and his family in the ark.
31
When God destroyed Sodom
and Gomorrah, he sent Angels to deliver Lot and his family.
32
Each time that God judged Israel
he left a remnant.
33
In Ezekiel God specifically marked his remnant in the forehead and ordered
that they should be preserved. This remnant was sorrowful concerning the sin that was being
done by their countrymen:
And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through
the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh
and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. And to the
others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not
your eye spare, neither have ye pity: Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and
little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark;
and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before
the house (Ezekiel 9:4-6).
The Example of Israel
Israel was heir to the promises that God made to Abraham. God gave the land of Israel to
 |