Introduction
2 Kings 21
| 1 | Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hephzi-bah. |
| 2 | And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel. |
| 3 | For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. |
| 4 | And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD said, In Jerusalem will I put my name. |
| 5 | And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD. |
| 6 | And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. |
| 9 | But they hearkened not: and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel. |
| 16 | Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the LORD. |
2 Kings Chapter 24
| 1 | In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him. |
| 2 | And the LORD sent against him bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by his servants the prophets. |
| 3 | Surely at the commandment of the LORD came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did; |
| 4 | And also for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the LORD would not pardon. |
Now comes the judgment.
2 Kings 21:12-14
| 12 | Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle. |
| 13 | And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down. |
| 14 | And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies; |
Introduction
In the course of history of the nation of Israel (and later the split kingdoms of Israel and Judah), the nation cycled between serving the Lord, and following their own ways. They would serve God for a while, then slowly backslide and fall away, to serve their own lusts. God would then judge them. He would allow their enemies to conquer and enslave them. The tyranny would cause them to come begging to the Lord for mercy. The Lord would raise up a leader to overthrow the oppressors. But after a while, the people would return to their old sins, and the cycle would continue. But eventually, the Lord God decided that He’d had enough of their backsliding. He threw the book of the Law at them. He declared his judgment, and decided to kick them out of their land. They crossed the line of no-return.
When did this happen? The line was crossed in the reign of Manasseh, king of Judah. This wicked king seduced his people to do WORSE than the HEATHEN that had inhabited the land before Israel. He put idols in the temple of the Living God. He put pagan alters in the temple. But above all these abominations, Manesseh shed much innocent blood. HE led the people into shedding much blood through human sacrifice. They filled Jerusalem with innocent blood. And the Lord would not pardon this innocent blood! Horrific Judgment was coming, and there would be no turning it back!
The Case for Judgment
The question is: Has America crossed the line with God? And the answer is: We have sinned the same sins. Therefore, we deserve the same punishment. We have shed innocent blood, we have all gone our own way, we have done more wickedness than the heathen. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. What he hated 3000 years ago, he still hates today. How can God not judge this land? He wold have to apologize for punishing Israel!!!
Ps 9:17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.
America HAS crossed the line. The judgment is on it’s way. It is imminent, and there is no turning it back.
Shedding Innocent Blood
God is not tolerant. He does not tolerate sin. God especially does not tolerate the shedding of innocent blood. Shedding of innocent blood is on the top of the list of America’s sins. When Cain killed Able, the innocent blood cried to the Lord from the ground. How much louder in the Lord’s ear is the cry of the innocent blood of 50+ million from the ground of the once-Christian United States? How is it possible that we have NOT crossed the line? God does not tolerate abortion. He will not pardon a nation for shedding of innocent blood. He will pardon individuals. Many a murder have been saved through Jesus Christ. If you have been involved in an abortion, he can forgive you. Even wicked king Manasseh was brought to repentance and the Lord forgave him. But yet Israel was judged, and judged severely. God is patient and longsuffering, but he does NOT pardon nations for innocent blood.
More Wicked than the Heathen
Some reading this may be thinking: “Well, God’s not going to judge me! I’ve never had an abortion! I don’t support abortion!” The Lord is judging America for ALL her SINS. Abortion is just ONE of the sins. For the unsaved do wickedly, and the saved are not much better. Returning to Manasseh, not only did he entice the people to shed innocent blood, he led them to be more wicked THAN THE HEATHEN that they had forced out of the land. It is a dangerous thing indeed when the (so called) people of God behave worse than the children of the devil. This was another reason why God said “I’ve had enough!” Christians came to America to preach to the natives. Now, we have become worse then them!
America used to be known for sending missionaries around the world. But now we export pornography, homosexuality, and other wickedness. The mayor of Moscow, Yury Luzhkov, banned a gay pride parade, calling it satanic. His exact words were: “Last year, Moscow came under unprecedented pressure to sanction the gay parade, which can be described in no other way than as satanic. We did not let the parade take place then, and we are not going to allow it in the future.” It is not a good thing when your enemies are more righteous than you. The Islamic world refers to the United States as the “Great Satan.” Is it any wonder why?
But I have freedom in Christ! The Bible tells us to beware how we use this freedom. The Bible tells us not to use this freedom for an occasion for the flesh.
“For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.” Gal 5:13
In ancient Israel: Every man did what was right in HIS own eyes, gone after their own way, Isa 53:6.
The Self – Centered Lifestyle
The judgment of America has already been sealed. It is on it’s way, and there is no turning it back. America will be chastised. September 11th and Hurricane Katrina are nothing in comparison with the coming judgment. For if these disasters did not get the people’s attention, then what will? All they can think of is themselves. What will it take to get the attention of a very selfish, self-centered people?
For we have forsaken the Lord, to follow our own way. The whole of our society is centered around “you.” Just look at the advertisements. Everyone is living in their own little world, where they are the only reason why they exist. For the god of most Americans is themselves. “For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.” (Phil 2:21). This self-centered lifestyle is TOTALLY CONTRARY to the Scriptures.
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Matthew 22:37-40
These two commandments are a summary of the ENTIRE Bible. If the entire Bible with all it’s greatness could be condensed into two verses, this is it. These verses leave LITTLE room for yourself. If you love the Lord with ALL your HEART, and all your SOUL, and all your MIND, this means that HE would be FIRST in your life. NOT YOU, but Him. He must be FIRST in your life. This is the FIRST and greatest commandment. And if you love your neighbor as yourself, you treat him as if he were you.
But forget the lost outside world! The same wickedness is in our churches! We have no fear of the Lord. They have no knowledge of Christ. Why? Because we all seek our own, and not the things of Christ. No wonder the Bible says that when Christ returns, He will judge the church people first!
“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” 1 Peter 4:17
But Christians today are so self-centered that we have become apathetic to the things of the Lord. We have no knowledge of God, because we seek after our own. We do what we want to do, when we want to do it. “Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your SHAME” (1 Cor 15:34). We will not cast down those things in our life that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God (2 Cor 10:5). AND knowing God is the ONLY think that will protect us in the coming judgment. (See Psalms 91.)
The Bible says that “in the last days, perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous…” (2 Tim 3:1,2) Of the sins of the last days, this self-centered lifestyle is at the TOP of the list. And perilous times shall come. For if all people are concerned about is themselves, they will lose their natural affection for others. They do not care about others, and they certainly do not care about the things of God. All they think about is what they want, and what pleases them. Think about what society would be like if everyone did what was right in their own eyes? We are not that far off.
Conclusion
We have crossed the line with God. We have sinned, we have turn to our own ways, we have shed innocent blood. The judgment of America is coming. What do we face as a nation? Hillary Clinton as dictator? Hate crimes laws? Concentration camps? “You say, A holocaust could never happen here.” I say, 50 million are already dead! The Lord shall exact vengeance for the shedding of innocent blood. Will 50 million have to die to avenge for the 50 million aborted?
How would this happen? God uses three different types of judgments: man-made, natural, and supernatural. Sometimes God inspires evil men to judge a wayward nation. Man-made judgments include war, conquest, and oppression. Natural judgments include earthquakes, floods, famine, and the like. Supernatural judgments are events that cannot be explained with conventional knowledge. This includes darkness that can be felt (Exodus 10:21), Ballam’s speaking donkey (Numbers 22:28-30), and demons released on the earth during the Great Tribulation.
What could happen? A surprise nuclear attack in a major city, a tsunami wiping out the entire eastern seaboard, or a mega earthquake down the center of the nation. That could never happen, you say. Look up the “New Madrid” fault, and learn for yourselves. This fault runs parallel to the Mississippi River. In the early 1800’s, this fault had a series of earthquakes so strong that caused bells to ring as far away as Boston.
Eyewitness account:
On the 16th of December, 1811, about two o’clock, A.M., we were visited by a violent shock of an earthquake, accompanied by a very awful noise resembling loud but distant thunder, but more hoarse and vibrating, which was followed in a few minutes by the complete saturation of the atmosphere, with sulphurious vapor, causing total darkness. The screams of the affrighted inhabitants running to and fro, not knowing where to go, or what to do – the cries of the fowls and beasts of every species – the cracking of trees falling, and the roaring of the Mississippi – the current of which was retrogade for a few minutes, owing as is supposed, to an irruption in its bed – formed a scene truly horrible.
There were several shocks of a day, but lighter than those already mentioned until the 23d of January, 1812, when one occurred as violent as the severest of the former ones, accompanied by the same phenomena as the former. From this time until the 4th of February the earth was in continual agitation, visibly waving as a gentle sea. On that day there was another shock, nearly as hard as the proceeding ones. Next day four such, and on the 7th about 4 o’clock A.M., a concussion took place so much more violent than those that had proceeded it, that it was dominated the hard shock. The awful darkness of the atmosphere, which was formerly saturated with sulphurious vapor, and the violence of the tempestuous thundering noise that accompanied it, together with all of the other phenomena mentioned as attending the former ones, formed a scene, the description of which would require the most sublimely fanciful imagination.
Also, there is a volcano on an island in the Canaries, off the coast of Africa, which is slowly collapsing into the ocean. Scientists are concerned that this volcano, when it collapses, will generate a mega-tsunami. This tsunami, they say, would strike the entire eastern seaboard of the United States, possibly with a wave 150 feet high. See http://www.benfieldhrc.org/tsunamis/mega_tsunami_more
We need to be prepared for what is coming, spiritually prepared. Some will say “I’m prepared. I’m ready for this. I have food stockpiled. I have my arsenal. I’m ready for them.” But are you ready to meet your Creator? Are you prepared for eternity? It’s not wrong to want to defend your family and be patriotic, but no amount of food, firearms, and first-aid kits will help if you are not right with God. For if you are living in sin, you are part of the PROBLEM, and not part of the solution. If you are not saved, get saved. If you are backslidden, get right. Only THEN will you be part of the SOLUTION.
To be spiritually prepared means to be right with God, but it also means much more than this. It means abiding daily in the Lord. It means being as close to Him as possible. It means loving the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and all thy soul, and all thy mind.
America is likened to the Titanic. The Titanic was a ship of luxury and pleasure. It became a ship of disaster and death. The Titanic was boasted to be unsinkable. The arrogant cry was “God Himself could not sink this ship!” Last September (2006), I asked the Lord if America could be likened to the Titanic, in what stage of the sinking are we? How much of the ship is under water? The Lord replied that the water was up to the bottom of the first funnel or smokestack. This is a disturbing revelation. At this moment in the real Titanic’s sinking, the ship had only ten minutes left afloat! The Titanic took 2 hours and 40 minutes (160 minutes) to go down. At ten minutes left, their was precious little time left. At ten minutes left, the ship was going fast. And this is America today.
There were two groups of people on the Titanic. One group tried to do it their own way. They went down cursing God. The other group went down singing Nearer, My God to Thee. Which will you be? Will you ignore the warnings of coming judgment? Or will you seek to be as near to the Lord as you can.
(Views: 3931)