Hard Lessons

I've been reading 1 Kings for my time in the Word of late. Really? Kings? I mean, seriously, Lord, how is this helpful? I try to "observe and apply" when I read. What does it say? What does it mean? How does this apply to me? And reading through 1 Kings can be a real challenge in that last question.

So, here I am, reading along, finding all about how Solomon was the wisest guy and ended up falling away, so God promised to take the kingdom from his offspring. The kingdoms divided and most of the kings of Israel "did what was evil in the sight of the Lord" and paid the consequences. Their monarchies ended. Their entire families were wiped out. It wasn't pleasant for them. And little by little the lifestyle of idolatry and consequential immersion into other sin stopped being "present" and edged toward "the norm". In the end (beyond 1 Kings, of course), there was a larger result than the removal of kings and their monarchies. There was the removal of Israel and, eventually, Judah as well. When did they get removed? What was it that ended these nations as nations and put them in slavery to other kingdoms? It appears that they were overrun when the sin that was present became the sin that was normal.

We know that "it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Heb 9:27). Sure, there may be discipline (Heb 12:5-11) for believers and temporal judgment for all (Luke 13:1-5), but right now I'm not talking about individuals. Right now I'm not talking about you and me. Right now I'm talking about nations. Nations are made up of individuals, but they are not people. Nations are organizations of people. Nations, then, do not face a final judgment somewhere. The Bible, in fact, is full of God's judgment on nations. No, seriously, full. From Sodom and Gomorrah to Canaan, from the Amalekites to Babylon, from Egypt to Alexander, the Bible is full of God judging sinful nations. Revelation is about God's temporal judgment of a sinful world. Individual judgment takes place at the end, but God judges nations in their lifetimes. When? When their moral structure has so violated His commands that the violation is the norm rather than the exception.

And all of the sudden the Book of First Kings has become applicable to me. Oh, sure, there are lessons to be learned in there. Lots of good things that I can apply. But one big thing is that God judges nations, and when nations embrace sin as a national pastime, expect that judgment soon. Ask Sodom. Inquire of Nineveh. Check on the Canaanites. Look at Israel itself. It isn't pretty. When the iniquity of America is full, expect unpleasant results from God. That's something I've learned from 1 Kings. Reading the newspaper, watching the news, and following the Internet all suggests that it's not too far off. That's something I learned from the media.