Hebrews 12:9-11

9 Furthermore, we had [e]earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of [f]spirits, and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. 11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Ever since I was a child there was a kind of revival that people would talk about and hope for that was like a sudden religious national mood swing—a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit all at once, unannounced, and sweeps a nation to spiritual life. But Scripture gives us a more realistic and sobering pattern: before there is renewal, there is often judgment. Before a people return to God, God often first hands them over to the consequences of the rebellion they have chosen. This, of course, is not a cheerful thought, but it is a biblical one. The Lord is not indifferent to national sin. He is patient, but He is not mocked. He does not endlessly tolerate a people that hardens itself against His ways. In the Old Testament, when Israel and Judah repeatedly rejected the Lord’s covenant, God raised up foreign powers as instruments of discipline. Assyria came against the northern kingdom. Babylon came against Judah. But God did not lose control when these empires rose; He used them. He judged His people, but even in judgment He was merciful, because He was driving them away from false trust and back toward Himself. That pattern should sober us. A nation that celebrates what God calls evil and mocks what God calls good is not drifting harmlessly. It is under God’s judgment already. When a culture persists in abortion, sexual perversion (pornography, homosexuality, premarital sex to name a few), feminism, perversion and rejection of the biological reality of male and female, corruption in leadership, idolatry in our churches, and the public normalization of wickedness in general, it should not be surprising when God allows the consequences of that rebellion to spill over from the cup we have filled. Judgment is not always thunder from the sky; most often it is God giving a people what they have insisted on until they finally taste its fruit. History bears this out. In Israel, the people wanted a king like the nations around them, and God gave them the monarchy they demanded. In the end, the same people who wanted to be like the world were carried away by the very powers they had trusted in. In Judah, repeated idolatry, injustice, and covenant unfaithfulness eventually led to exile. God did not stop loving His people when He disciplined them. He was purifying them. He was stripping away illusions. He was teaching them that no nation, no political class, and no military strength can save a people that will not fear the Lord.

The same principle can be seen in the current world climate as God uses enemies of the truth to bring judgement. Europe is ready to fall at the hands of the murderous Muslim hoards and America may not be far behind.  France is already facing a reckoning of God’s judgment. And this is no surprise, great moral and spiritual decline has often been followed by national upheaval. Cultures that pride themselves on autonomy, sensuality, and power eventually discover that the things they worship cannot sustain them. The collapse is not random; it is the fruit of rebellion. And yet even that collapse can become mercy, because it can wake people up. It can shake people out of their false confidence. It can drive them to ask the only question that matters: “What must we do to be saved?” That is why judgment and mercy are not opposites in God’s hands. They are often joined together. The Lord wounds in order to heal. He disciplines in order to restore. He tears down false foundations so that He can build again on truth. If He leaves a nation alone in its rebellion, that would be terrifying. But if He judges in order to awaken, then even hard things can become instruments of grace. This is where the encouragement is introduced into our story. God has not lost control of America, or of any nation. The world is not spinning beyond His reach. The chaos we see is not evidence of divine weakness; it is evidence that human sin remains as serious as Scripture says it is. But the Lord who reigns over history can use even the judgments we deserve to bring people to their knees. He can use national disorder to awaken personal repentance. He can use the collapse of false hopes to point people to the only true refuge. So, even in the current climate in which I believe God’s judgement of America has begun, the call is not to despair. The call is humility. If judgment is beginning, then the proper response is not panic over politics, nor anger at the chaos, nor nostalgia for a more comfortable past. The proper response is repentance. It is prayer. It is returning to the Lord with an honest heart. God may indeed humble a nation before He revives it. But if He does, it will be because He loves His people too much to leave them in delusion. The great hope for any land is not better leaders, better institutions, or better public relations. The great hope is mercy from God. And the God who judges is also the God who saves. He still hears the cry of the humble. He still forgives the repentant. He still raises up witnesses in dark days. He still calls His people to be faithful when the world is falling apart. If our nation is being given over to the consequences of its rebellion, that is not the end of the story. It may be the beginning of awakening. It may be the harsh mercy that brings us to repentance. The same God who allowed Israel to taste exile also brought a remnant home. The same God who disciplined His people through foreign powers also restored them. And the same God who reigns today has not changed. He is still sovereign. He is still holy. He is still merciful. And He is still able to bring life out of judgment. So let us not waste the warning. Let us take it seriously. Let us search our own hearts. Let us ask the Lord to begin with us. If revival comes, it will not begin with national slogans or a public spectacle. It will begin where judgment has done its holy work and repentance has opened the door to mercy. Then the people of God will once again say with confidence: the Lord is in control, even when the world is not.

Yours in Christ, 

Pastor John