Another Memorial Day is upon us—a wonderful time to remember those who sacrificed to preserve our freedom, and to reflect upon all who have passed a spiritual legacy forward to us and blessed us—even in our own families.

During this patriotic season, it is also important to consider how God uses nations, and to meditate on the place that our nation occupies within the spectrum of Biblical teaching regarding the Lord’s dealings with the people groups of this world.

The first point that we must recognize is that God is the author of nations. I understand that Genesis 10—which is known as the table of nations—follows Genesis 11 chronologically and describes the outcome of God’s disbursement of humanity at the Tower of Babel. There all people had gathered in unified defiance against God and His post-flood commission to mankind: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” (Gen. 9:1).

God supernaturally dispersed these people into groups formed around newly created languages. The result is listed in Gen. 10:32: “From these the nations were divided on the earth after the flood.”

Why does God desire for people to organize themselves into nations? There are numerous reasons, but perhaps the most obvious is that there is significant danger with any system that unites all people—affected entirely, as they are, by the power of the sin nature—in a single alliance that has the potential to be profoundly corrupted, with no available alternative. Just as the branches of our government were designed to offer a check and balance on each other, so it is with the nations of the world—as Hitler himself profoundly discovered before the end of World War II.

Yet, just as everyone disobediently came together in one block, attempting to form the kingdom of man at Babel near the beginning of history, so it will be at the end of history. Once again, the world will unify around the city of Babylon to form a worldwide religion and government—combined under the Antichrist to oppose the one true God.

Secondly, we must recognize that God first created (see Isa. 43:1-15) and then chose the nation of Israel. His covenant with the father of the nation, Abram, in Gen. 12:1-3, is foundational to all of God’s work in all the rest of Scripture, and of history. God would use this man—taken from the very geographical area of Babylon—to build the kingdom of God in a new land that He would provide.

Implicit within the promises of this covenant is the provision of salvation to the whole world—through a Jewish Savior, who is revealed in the Jewish Scriptures (both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament), and who will bring a Jewish kingdom to the world. When we believe in Him, we become the spiritual children of Abraham (see Gal. 3:7, 29).

And this leads us into the next point: God blesses and curses nations. These actions are the most pronounced in the Old Testament—when God was working directly in the world through His chosen theocratic nation, the people of Israel.

Yet it also appears from passages such as Matt. 11:24 that national entities will still be held accountable to some degree at the final judgment. Scripture assures us, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, And all the nations that forget God” (Ps. 9:17).

Conversely, there is blessing for nations that repent when confronted with the “grace and truth” (John 1:17) of God. The great example of this, of course, is Nineveh in Jonah 3:1-10—after their king led them in national repentance. Certainly, God’s blessing and cursing of nations revolve largely around their blessing or cursing of His chosen nation of Israel (Gen. 12:3).

Does God curse nations in this New Testament age, in this day of grace, in which God is working directly through the church? The passage that provides a template to answer this question is Rom. 1:18-32. It demonstrates how God deals with a culture that chooses to “suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (v. 18). The penalty involves a descent into the quicksand of far greater sin (see vv. 24, 26 and 28).

Fourth, we realize that God has a plan for the nations. It is clear from 1 Cor. 10:32 that—for those outside of Christ—national boundaries still matter. This is significant for the prophetic future. Gentile nations will have a prominent place right up to the final return of Christ (see Luke 21:24). Until Jesus returns, there will be “wars and rumors of wars” (Matt. 24:6). In the meantime, Christ’s gospel is to be “[p]reached among the Gentiles” (1 Tim. 3:16).

We know, of course, that God also has a future for His beloved chosen nation of Israel. He will fulfill every promise He has ever made to them—and every prophecy He has ever given. As He has been with them in their Biblical past, so He is with them in the strategic present, and so He will be with them in the prophetic future.

All of this leaves us wondering about one specific question: What does the future hold for our beloved nation, the United States of America? It appears that, in the coming seven-year tribulation, she will simply be rolled into one of the 10 divisions of the global kingdom of the Antichrist (see Dan. 2:42; 7:24; Rev. 17:12). Of course, this will be precipitated by the rapture of the church—after which America will be all but incapacitated by the departure of the true church for heaven (see 2 Thess. 2:7).

Which leads us to our final point: God has limits for nations. This is clear from passages such as Gen. 15:16 and Dan. 8:23. Indeed, there will be a day when “the fullness of the Gentiles has come in” (Rom. 11:25). The church age will end, and with it God’s special outpouring of grace upon the Gentile nations, which has gone on now for two millennia. God’s work on the earth will again be focused on the nation of Israel.

Where does that leave America today? Certainly, many continue foolishly “treasuring up … wrath in the day of wrath” (Rom. 2:5).

We certainly desire God’s blessings, but do we return “the sacrifice of praise to God” (Heb. 13:15)? He has blessed us in innumerable ways since the days of the Pilgrim Fathers. I believe that a primary reason for such blessing has been our nation’s support of the Jewish people. He has stirred this country to become the missionary-sending nation for all continents, and made us the center of the Christian world.

But America will not last forever. It will neither produce nor host the kingdom of God upon the earth. And if we desire God’s blessings upon America to continue, we would do well to take some time this Memorial Day weekend to actively ponder “His wonderful works that He has done” (Ps. 78:4)—”[a]nd forget not all His benefits” (Ps. 103:2).

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Paul J. Scharf (M.A., M.Div., Faith Baptist Theological Seminary) is a church ministries representative for The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, based in Columbus, WI, and serving in the Midwest. For more information on his ministry, visit sermonaudio.com/pscharf or foi.org/scharf, or email pscharf@foi.org.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version.

Genesis 1:1-2, Genesis 2:3, Exodus 20:11, Isaiah 40:28, Isaiah 45:9, Psalm 33:6

Summary: In a foolish attempt to placate the world, some believers have devised alternative theories of how we came into existence apart from the supernatural and historical account presented in Genesis 1-2.

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always BE READY TO GIVE A DEFENSE to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed” (1 Peter 3:15-16, NKJV).

Over the centuries, brethren in Christ have gone to their deaths boldly proclaiming the truth of the Gospel, not caring what the world thought of them, nor did they bow to the threats of tyrants and terror that lasted for but a moment, only to enter into the joy of their LORD (Matthew 25:21, 23; Acts 4:12, 20; 2 Timothy 4:6-8). Compare the bravery of past saints to the tepidness of the modern “believer,” who proclaims that they “follow” Jesus yet are biblically ignorant and easily intimidated by the pressures of an unbelieving, hostile world that hates and reviles anything to do with the God of the Bible.

Young people who are not grounded in the defense of the Christian faith will lose what “faith” they claim to have the first year of entering the secular universities and by professors who do everything possible to destroy whatever belief these young people might have in God. Christian apologists such as Dr. Frank Turek, Josh McDowell, J. Warner Wallace, Ken Ham, and others testify to this fact on their websites and in their respective books and articles.

Two areas that skeptics tend to focus upon in their goal of attempting to rid the world of faith and belief are the existence of God and the reliability of the Bible, especially when it comes to the account of creation as presented in Genesis.

As skepticism against the Bible accelerated over the past two hundred or more years, Christians had few viable defenses for creation apart from Scripture. When Darwin published his “Origin of the Species” in 1859 that introduced the evolutionary theory, the Christian church was caught “off guard.” Instead of challenging it and defining science as “thinking God’s thoughts after Him,” the church decided to withdraw from science altogether along with studies in related fields of interest and decided instead to “circle the wagons,” damning anything that reeked of progress or scientific advancement that, in turn, could have been used for the glory of God.

The motion picture industry, medicine, astronomy, biology, chemistry, and other scientific fields were left open for the world to obtain and frequently use for less than noble purposes. Only recently has the Christian world seen the error of its ways and attempted to reclaim what should have been in our possession in the first place. Our attempts to “correct the course” has almost degenerated into a scene of “too little, too late.”

One problem in playing scientific “catch-up” over the years has been the attempt of some believers in the field of science to placate the world and compromise on what the Bible clearly teaches about our origins. We are letting the world dictate to us the terms on which they “might be open” to another theory other than mere evolutionary biology to explain why we are here. But for some reason, we “shake in our boots” and cower away from the truth that is posted in the first chapters of Genesis.

Are we soldiers of the LORD or deserters from the ranks of true belief and faith in God?

There are believers who are still not afraid to run into the smoke of battle and rescue the perishing in spite of education, ideology, or degrees. Two of these “fighters for the faith” are Dr. Ergun Caner and the late Dr. Ed Hindson, who wrote the book The Popular Encyclopedia of Apologetics (Harvest House, 2008). One section of the book deals with “Theories of Creation” as alternatives to what is recorded in Genesis. These “theories” are: (1) Theistic Evolution; (2) The “Gap” Theory; (3) The “Day/Age” Theory, and (4) Progressive Creation.

Although each theory is different enough to warrant individual attention, all four alternatives share a fundamental point of agreement. Each one teaches that the biblical record in Genesis 1 should not be interpreted literally, but rather they attempt to reconcile supernatural revelation with materialistic naturalism (evolution).

Each of these theories will be defined and examined in the area of science and Scripture, and each theory has problems with both. This is part of the ammunition needed to fight the darkness of the world and the devil that envelops it, and to bring the light of the Gospel and its absolute truth to the hearts and minds of those around us before it is too late.

We will start next time with a look at the theory of theistic evolution. Have your armor on and your sword sharpened (Ephesians 6:10-18).

donaldwhitchard@outlook.com

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