God's Wrath

Is God right in killing a generation of Egyptians? How could God kill children? This question often comes up in a similar form concerning the conquest of Palestine and other judgments by God.

• It is a matter of timing. God could judge them then and there, or He could wait to do it in the next life. God will invariably end the world in the book of Revelation when there are still children upon the earth.

• The Egyptians were a bloody people. They had slaughtered Israelite children.

• The Egyptians had enslaved Israel.

• God had blessed Egypt because of Israel. Joseph stored up grain that fed the nations. During the famine, people sold Pharoah all of their property and their very lives. As a result, Pharoah and Egypt became extraordinarily wealthy. Pharoah owned all of what had once been private property.

• Notice that God had given them an opportunity to give in to His demands. The Egyptians consistently rejected God's offer. As a result the plagues escalated.

• The biggest issue would seem to be that Egypt stood between God and the Abrahamic promises. God was going to fulfill what He had promised Abraham.

• For us today, the Egyptians stood between us and God. They were messing with the advent of the Messiah!

• What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath--prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory-- even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? (Romans 9:22-25).

A Theology of Abandonment

I heard a message last Wednesday from John MacArthur which he preached in May of 2007. The message had been recommended by a friend. While the content of the message was not shocking, it was rather shocking to hear a major pastor lay it on the line.

MacArthur announced that he believed that America has been abandoned by God. He then went on and developed an extremely compelling theology of abandonment using Romans 1 as the linchpin of his argument.

He noted that among all the nations that God had abandoned in the Bible, that America has surpassed all of them in the breadth of its iniquity.

There are certain practical and personal implications for Christians in the United States if God has abandoned us. How should we rear our children? What should we expect to happen to American media in the next ten years? Of the influences that currently shape us, how will these influences begin to falter? What is our role as proclaimers of the Gospel? Should we separate? How can we escape from inclusion in God's wrath? How do we help others to escape?

In ages past, heroes of Biblical proportions were faced with hard choices in light of God's abandonment of their cultures. We live in no less momentous times if MacArthur is right. For my part, I came to the same conclusion almost ten years ago.

While America has likely been abandoned, there is always an opportunity to forestall God's wrath.

Psalm 81:13-14

"If my people would but listen to me,
how quickly would I subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes!"

Note: For a transcript of MacArthur's sermon, visit http://www.gty.org/Resources/transcripts/80-184.