Effectual Homeland Security
January 27, 2002
…Unless
the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. Psalm 127:1
Psalm 2:10-12; 94:20-23: The Peril
- September 11, 2001 is a date that we will never forget. We are Americans, so all of our lives
were changed and impacted that day, for all of us were under attack even
as we enjoyed the peace and serenity of that sunny Seattle day. Soon after that infamous day, the enemy
was identified, and the war against terrorism began. While domestic patriotism soared, the
Afghanistan Taliban regime was quickly eliminated. Meanwhile, the international hunt for
al-Qaida terrorist cells continues, while we continue to track down the
masterminds behind this terrorist network.
And so, the question at this point in the war is: Are we winning? To answer that question, we must turn to
the Word and believe it, versus turning to the world and believing what we
see there.
- To answer that
question, we need to ask ourselves some more: As a nation, are we kissing the
Son? As a nation, are we serving
the Lord with fear and trembling, and are we putting our trust in
Him? Do we devise evil by law, and
condemn innocent blood? God’s Word
declares that the nation which rejects the Son and codifies evil in its
laws, is a nation which will perish in the way and be cut off.
- On the brink of
national disintegration, our only hope is repentance and a return to the
Biblical antithesis. But we pervert
the antithesis and reveal our rejection of the Son by calling evil good and
good evil. We don’t just commit
evil, we institutionalize it. Are
we good? By law, we have said that
the dismemberment of an American child in the womb is a morally
legitimate, good, and righteous thing to protect. By means of law, we exalt and protect
sodomy, offering help to the morally narrow and unenlightened through
diversity training and sensitivity programs.
- The wrath of God is
being revealed from heaven upon this nation in the handing of us over to
our vile passions and lusts of the heart.
It has pleased God to cast us into this moral vortex, judging our
nation by giving us over long before September of 2001 ever came
around. And when the commonly
understood judgment occurred that day in September, did we repent and kiss
the Son? No, our polytheistic
nation fled to our idols for deliverance.
On the mantle of our devotion, the Son was but One
of many whom we sought for help.
- How did this
happen? It has happened through the
discipling of this nation by the Church.
But we have not taught this nation to observe all that Jesus
commanded. Instead, we have taught
this nation that individualistic, autonomous choice is the highest
virtue. We have told them how to
make a written document living and breathing. Our prohibitionist morality has instructed
the nation on how to favor the traditions of men versus the commandments
of God. Idolatry we promote under
the name of ecumenical unity, and male abdication in church leadership we
reclassify as contemporary and relevant egalitarianism. We have taught them that their choice is
paramount, their entertainment our objective, and their polytheistic faith
acceptable before god, whomever he, she, it, or they might be. We are the problem.
- So what is the
solution? Is there any hope for
this nation? While the Church
currently is the problem, the Church most assuredly is the solution. But we must fight not with the weapons
of this world. We must repent,
regardless of what God chooses to do with this nation. We must worship the Living God. For if there will be deliverance, it
will be by means of assembly, the corporate gathering of the saints to
worship the Triune God of Scripture.
Corporate worship is the formal response
to all unbelief, including terrorism.
Worship is used by God to define the antithesis, scatter His
enemies, and destroy those who hate Him.
And He does this through worship of Him by His people, drawing the
nations unto Himself. Apart from
worship that is pleasing to God, there is absolutely no hope for this
nation, or any nation for that matter, for we the Church are the ones who
must first kiss the Son before the nations will stream to the presence of
God.
Zechariah 8:20-23: The Pilgrimage of the Nations
·
The presence of God in our corporate midst has been the evangelistic
hope of God’s people under the Old Covenant (Zech. 14:16-20; Is. 2:1-4; Micah
4:1-3; Hag. 2:6; Mal. 1:5) and under the New (1 Cor. 14:25; Heb. 12:26; Rev.
15:4). Assembly was our hope in the
past, assembly is our current hope, and assembly is our hope for the future. While we as individuals have responsibilities
to proclaim the gospel, the cornerstone and foundation for Christ’s dominion to
be manifested in the world is what occurs each Sunday morning when the saints
gather. Worship defines the Church, is
the goal (all nations) of the Church, and worship is integral in achieving that
mission. It is the chosen weapon of God
to bring the nations under His dominion.
It is not only a celebration of victory, but also the means to achieve
that victory.
Ezekiel 14:1-8: Repentance From Our Idols
·
Our temptation is to see the idolatry in the Church or in the nation
today and excuse ourselves from culpability.
But, we are organically linked with the Church and our nation. The issue is not of kind, but of degree. The “us/them” dichotomy is false. All minds, truly, are forges that never cease
creating idols. Our first step in
repentance, and towards victory over our idolatrous enemies, will be repentance
from our own idols. Jesus summarized the
first four commandments in the Decalogue when He instructed us on the greatest
commandment: “You shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all
your mind” (Matt. 23:37). There is no room for the Christian to have
divided or partial devotion towards God.
But idolatrous minds and hearts lie to us, and tell us that we can love
God with most of our being. What
are your other loves that seek the devotion and worship of your heart, mind,
and soul? Idolatry is pervasive today,
and not some problem bound only to third world nations or to God’s people under
the Old Covenant. John appropriately
concludes his first epistle with the words, “Little children, keep yourselves
from idols. Amen”
Worship As An Instrument Of War
·
2 Chronicles 20:1-22: In response
to a hostile military coalition, Jehoshaphat gathers Judah into assembly for the
purpose of deliverance from God. Worship
is the response to this political and military threat. The worship assembly begins with prayer, with
Jehoshaphat appealing to the covenants made to Abraham and Solomon, appealing
to the promises made by God therein, and confession of Judah’s utter helplessness in
bringing about their own deliverance.
The Word of God is then declared through Jahaziel, and God responds by agreeing
that He is all-powerful, and they are completely powerless. He declares that He will fight the battle,
that He will be present in their midst, and that they need only to stand still. In response to God’s Word, the people praise
and worship the Lord, and the Lord defeats His enemies. This is a paradigm for the Church. The corporate assembly on Sunday morning is
not a retreat or safe haven, but is the fundamental way we engage the
world. We gather to confess our utter
helplessness, to ask God to act on our behalf as Ruler of all nations, rulers,
principalities, powers, and dominions.
Nations fall when we gather to worship and adore the Triune God of
Scripture. They are destroyed not by the
sword, but by the gospel, the power of God unto salvation.
·
1 Samuel 7:3-12: In the
context of national declension, Samuel speaks to the people. Their first act in repentance is to repent
from their idolatry, to put away their idols (v. 4). Once God’s people have obeyed this, the
second act of repentance is to gather, to assemble for covenantal renewal as
the collective people of God. There is
fasting and confession, and though there is fear, their eyes are on the Lord
and their trust is in Him for deliverance.
Israel faces an invader, and their
response is to assemble and worship the Lord of Battles, and the Lord defeats
their enemies. This paradigm can also be
studied in the Exodus, at Jericho, and throughout the period
of the Judges. The helplessness of God’s
people expressed in assembly, and the power of the Living God to deliver His
people.
·
Hebrews 12:18-24: Might this
paradigm only apply to the theocracy of Israel? Actually, the New Testament teaches that this
principle has not disappeared, but instead has been fulfilled and expanded
under the New Covenant. The principle
has grown, not diminished. Why? Because we are in a different assembly. In the New Covenant assembly, we do not have
just an earthly assembly, but the earthly joins with the heavenly
assembly. Under the Old Covenant, they
gathered at the temporary Mt. Sinai assembly which was
shaken. Now we gather (note the past
tense used) with the eternal Mt. Zion assembly, which cannot be
shaken. When we assemble on Sunday
morning, we assemble with the angels, the departed saints, and with the powers
of heaven. If assembly
of God’s people to worship Him under the Old Covenant provoked God to fight for
Israel, how much more will assembly under the New
bring about the defeat of God’s enemies as we ask Him to visibly manifest his
dominion on earth. Therefore, let us
“not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some,
but exhorting one another, and so much more as you see the Day
approaching” (Hebrews 10:25).
Conclusion
- God may choose to have
mercy on this nation, and He may not.
Regardless, our duty is to gather and worship God, the Father of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The hope of America is the hope of all
nations, that the Church would assemble to worship and God would be
pleased to inhabit our praises, scattering His (and our) enemies. When the Church does, and someday it
will, the nations will stream to the presence of God in the corporate
assembly of His people. Our prayer
is that this nation will stream, and the enemies of this nation will be
the enemies of our God and King.
“Who shall not fear
You, O Lord, and glorify your name? For You alone are holy.
For all nations shall come and worship before You,
for Your judgments have been manifested.”
Revelation 15:4