CLEANSING OF A
NATION
INTRODUCTION
Cleansing of a nation is imperative towards its spiritual and physical growth; with godly leadership, if it is to function under God’s umbrella of protection and blessings. The mainstay of any nation is its relationship with Almighty God!
The Psalmist revealed: Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord and the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance (Psalm 33:12). It was not for Israel only, but the Gentiles (non-Jewish) also; those who have been adopted in, making them partakers of His blessings!
Cleansing of a Nation
Due to Wickedness
The cleansing of a nation is of extreme importance; as given in the case of Nineveh, an ancient capital city of the Assyrian Empire, the royal residence of Assyrian kings, a great city whose wickedness had come up before God. God forewarned Nineveh, of its coming destruction, as He does to all no longer are under His protective umbrella due to ungodliness having been allowed to reign and forsaking allegiance to His Word!
Scripture reveals: As Jonah (a Prophet of God) began to enter into the city a day’s journey (a city of three days journey), he cried out, yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. And the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth (a sign of repentance), from the greatest of them to the least of them (Jonah 3:4-5).
And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented (relented) of the evil, that he had said that he would do to them, and he did it not (Jonah 3:10). It was noted that God did not change in His ultimate intention towards the Ninevites; rather, they changed in their attitude toward Him! On the basis of that change, God could deal with them in grace, rather than in judgment as their failure to repent would have necessitated.
Nations that Forget
God
The Psalmist wrote: The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God (Psalm 9:17). Hell is the place of torment which consists of an everlasting separation from God. It was noted that all nations that forget God refers to the wicked who forgets there is a God, who sees and knows all things, and are held accountable! The Psalmist cried out: Put them in fear, O Lord; that nations may know themselves to be but men (Psalm 9:20).
They were bold, impudent, a fearless generation of men who neither fear God nor regard man, therefore the Psalmist prayed that God would inject fear into them. For them to know that they have no power against him; how frail, mortal, and miserable they are without Him! The cleansing of a nation is not only a need of moral cleansing but to be reinstate one’s familiarity with God; coming in line with His Word!
What Promotes
Uncleanness
Apostle Paul wrote: Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Corinthians 7:1). This is regard to humanity as a whole but fits under the cleansing of a nation as well!
Paul reveals the makeup of what promotes the uncleanness of a nation or individual: Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness (immorality), idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance (contentions), emulations (jealousies), wrath, strife, seditions (dissensions), heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, reveling, and such like; they that do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God (unless repentance comes into focus) (Galatians 5:20-21).
Righteousness versus Sin
Scripture reveals: Righteousness exalts a nation; but sin is a reproach (disgrace) to any people (Proverbs 14:34). This indicates a need for the cleansing of a nation or people! It was noted that national righteousness and national sin have opposite effects; exaltation verses reproach. Justice being at the forefront exalts a nation, bringing high esteem of God, attended with the privileges and blessings of God, which makes a nation great and honorable.
Whereas sin is a reproach to any people where vice reigns, iniquity (lawlessness) abounds, and immorality of all sorts prevails. Sin is dominate in many nations with no heartfelt need towards a cleansing; for many relish the immorality that entertains them, on a daily basis, through electronic means and other venues so readily available!
Pollution of the Land
Cleansing of a nation becomes a reality when it becomes vile, polluted, and inhabited by those who no longer seek God or adhere to His blessed Word. Adam and Eve were in literal paradise on earth; until disobedience to God’s Word came into foreplay, and their eyes were opened to good and evil!
Scripture reveals: Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat of it; for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die (Genesis 2:17). Punishment came to all three involved; the serpent who brought forth the deception that undermined God’s Word, the woman (Eve) who was first deceived, and man (Adam) in his acceptance of the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:14-19).
Enemy from Within
The land of the great and free is fast becoming a thing of the past; as many have allowed the ungodly to gain an upper hand while the Christian majority remains silent! Years ago I received a thought that America would be overcome; not by an enemy from without, but an enemy from within! We are seeing such happen increasingly more as secular values outweigh the Biblical value of God’s Unadulterated (Pure) Word.
The cleansing of a nation is a message that cannot be ignored; or past history and biblical instruction towards the guilty parties will become a reality! It was noted that no nation can continue to ignore God and sin freely without suffering the consequences of such a lifestyle! No matter how blessed a nation has been, if it forsakes God, it faces His great displeasure.
Corrosive Immoral Breath
Many nations face the reality of the cleansing of a nation injunction; and if ignored, will suffer the consequences by being removed from the blessings of Almighty God, and His umbrella of protection, that is so needful in the times we live! It was noted that our nation is suffering from the corrosive immoral breath of the 21st century.
The secularism, humanism, materialism, liberalism, and commercialism of our day have devastated our resources of security. There lies a need for an answer to the question: Which will it be Christian Biblical Values or totally secular values? Many today want secular values (doing what is right in their own sight) without reference to God!
Biblical Warnings
It was noted that the destiny of nations is still in the hands of a sovereign God. Sin shortens the existence of both governments and individuals. Unless we heed God-given warnings, a calamity can come upon us suddenly with devastation!
The need for a cleansing of a nation, or people, was expounded on by Apostle Peter who revealed: God turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemning them with an overthrow (destruction), making them an example to those that afterward should live ungodly (2 Peter 2:6). Have we learned from this warning or has Sodom and Gomorrah risen again; being pursued in many nations with pride, though condemned in God’s Word!
Voices of Past
Voices of the past reflected on need for the cleansing of a nation if certain conditions prevail: Our ancestors established their system of government on morality and religious sentiment. Moral habits, they believed, cannot safely be trusted on any other foundation than religious principle, nor any government be secure which is not supported by moral habits (Daniel Webster).
God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever (Thomas Jefferson).
It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible (George Washington). If we ever forget that we are a nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under (Ronald Reagan).
Recipe for Cleansing of
a Nation
Scripture gives a recipe for the cleansing of a nation: If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:14). It was noted that while this promise was promise was originally given regarding the people of Israel it is applicable to all who will call on the Lord in repentance and faith!
Scripture revealed what would happen if God's offer of repentance was rejected: If you turn away, and forsake my statues, and my commandments which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them; then will I pluck you up by the roots out of my land which I have given you; and will cast you out of my sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all nations.
And they, which pass by, shall say, why has the Lord done this? And it shall be answered, because they forsook the Lord God, and embraced other gods, and worshiped them, and served them, therefore He brought all this calamity upon them (2 Chronicles 7:19-22).
God's Intervention
There are many voices of dissension that seek to undermine any possibility of the cleansing of a nation; unless God intervenes! Apostle Peter wrote: Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons; but in every nation, he that fears him, and works righteousness, is accepted of him (Acts 10:34-35).
This is addressed to any nation who will adhere to the Word of God, endorse His precepts and commandments! Cleansing of a nation is a cry that needs to be heeded; as in the days when the Prophet Jonah cried against the wickedness of Nineveh; as previously mentioned!
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