“Who gave Jacob for plunder, and Israel to the robbers?
Was it not the Lord, he against whom we have sinned?
For they would not walk in his ways,
nor were they obedient to his law.”
Isaiah 42:24

I’ve written a lot about the miracle of the restoration of the Jewish people back to the land of their fathers, this wondrous thing the Lord is continuing in our generation, right before our eyes. But I haven’t written much about the reason they lost their homeland and their Temple in the first place. The principle in this story is very applicable to us today, for we face the same wickedness for which Israel was condemned. This passage tells us clearly that their loss came after they rebelled against their God. Other passages reveal that the Lord sent many prophets to them to warn them terrible judgment was coming if they refused to repent. Finally, after years of warnings, judgment fell.

vs 25:
“Therefore he has poured on him the fury of his anger
and the strength of battle;
it has set him on fire all around,
yet he did not know; and it burned him,
yet he did not take it to heart.”

This happened twice. The first time was in 586 BC, in the days of Jeremiah the prophet who had cried out for repentance for a long time, and was scoffed at. Finally, Jerusalem was destroyed and the Jews were taken captive to Babylon for a period of 70 years. After their exile of 70 years, they returned and rebuilt Jerusalem and the Temple.

The second time Jerusalem was destroyed was in 70 AD. This time the Jews were disbursed throughout the world, where they remained for 2,000 years. This period came to an end when Israel was reborn in 1948.

We should see a pattern here. Scripture tells us that the Old Testament events have been written for our learning (Romans 15:4). Sometimes we are baffled when bad things happen to us. We don’t realize how rebellious and self-willed we are by nature. This is NOT to say that all bad things happening to us are the result of judgment, that’s certainly not the case. We have an enemy who comes “to steal, to kill, and to destroy” (John 10:10). But when you see a pattern of tragedy repeated in a family for example, that can sometimes be traced to sin that has brought judgment, especially when occult sin has been involved. In that case, oftentimes great judgments follow. Occult is the realm of the supernatural under the kingdom of Satan. It includes fortune telling, astrology, mediums, etc. I mention this kind of sin because the link to judgments in families is many times very obvious.

The principle can apply to a country as well. There are some stark examples. Contrast Haiti, for example, with America. Haiti is a country that has been repeatedly dedicated to Satan by its government. The deplorable conditions we see there show the results of that. America on the other hand, is a country that was officially dedicated to God by its first president, George Washington. America’s judicial system and the mores of her society were based on the Bible, and America has been blessed beyond any other country in the world from the beginning of time.

But America has turned against its roots. Men of God have brought stark warnings that judgment is coming to America, warning that if she continues to rebel against God, she will come under awful judgment. America has been spoiled by her prosperity, and America is greatly insulting the God who gave it to her. It is NOT ok to give government approval to murder babies, and it is NOT ok to endorse homosexual marriage. It is NOT ok to invest homosexual clergy. It is NOT ok to ban prayer and Bible reading in public places. And most of all, it is NOT ok to ban God from the public square. Unfortunately, the day will come when America will finally be taken down, just as Israel was when the judgment of God finally fell upon her.

In light of that, how important is it for believers to be about their Father’s business, and to do all they can to bring souls into the Kingdom while there is yet time. People’s eternities are hanging in the balance, and there isn’t a lot of time left. All the signs are there of the impending darkness and the time of the wrath of God. How crucial it is therefore, to do all we can to persuade people to turn to God and be spared the horrific judgments coming.

“Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men;”
2nd Corinthians 5:11

“Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ,
as though God were pleading through us:
we implore you on Christ’s behalf,
be reconciled to God.
2nd Corinthians 5:20