"This is what [Yahweh] says,
'I will overthrow what I have built and uproot what I have planted, throughout the land.
Should you then seek great things for yourself? Seek them not.
For I will bring disaster on all people,' declares [Yahweh]."
Jeremiah 45. [Note 1]
This speaks of disaster. Is a similar thing happening today?
This page (1) reviews some disasters that Yahweh God brought about, including his sending his people into exile (which that message was about). Then it (2) suggests that today is like that time, and that the Western culture of Europe, UK and USA, though arguably planted by God in the Gospel, is being uprooted by Yahweh, because it has followed similar paths to the people he sent into exile. Then it (3) suggests how we, who are God's people in this world, should live and believe.
In some earlier disasters wrought by God God overthrew what humanity had built up. In the Flood of Noah, God overthrew the evil and wickedness of humankind, in mixing up the languages at the Tower of Babel, God overthrew the proud independence and disobedience of technological humankind, and in the humiliation of Egypt, God overthrew a regime of cruelty, injustice and oppression [Note 2]. Now, in the exile of his own people, Israel, God is overthrowing what he himself has built up. Is that not serious?
Why should Yahweh uproot what he himself had planted - his own people and the temple they had built for him? In those times, each nation had its own deity, which was supposed to protect its people. So was there not a danger that, among the peoples, Yahweh would be seen as an impotent deity?
To answer these questions, we need to take a long-term view. The answer, from various passages in Scripture [Note 3], is that God's people were supposed to represent him in the world, among the other peoples. This representation was supposed to be involve four things:
The people of Israel reneged on each one of these, especially the first, second and fourth. Instead of showing what the God is like (relational, frugal, fun, just, self-giving, faithful) they became hostile, wasteful, unjust, selfish and unfaithful. Instead of modelling how the God intended humanity to operate (governing with justice, love and purity), they continuously turned towards the deities of the nations around to be governed by them, with injustice, self-seeking and impurity. Instead of working with the God to heal and bless the world, they pursued their own interests in the world, as dictated by how the world understood 'interests'.
Such reneging on their fourfold mandate was not sudden, but occurred gradually over centuries. It occurred because a people's deepest beliefs, aspirations, attitudes and ways of living develop slowly and deeply, affecting all their lives. Yahweh God patiently wooed, forgave, and tried to teach them for hundreds of years, but in the end he needed to show that even a special people could not (because they would not) fulfil his mandate in their own unregenerate state.
However, Yahweh was not just getting rid of his failed people; he had a longer-term plan, in which his people, humbled, would be part of a plan that He Himself would instigate four hundred years later: a mechanism to change the human heart in all peoples. This mechanism? He Himself entered his creation as a human being, Jesus the Messiah, died, rose again (defeating death), so that human beings could be Forgiven, cleansed inside and then his Holy Spirit would dwell inside us. Then all peoples had a chance to become His special people, and a way to fulfil Yahweh God's fourfold mandate in his world.
If this is so, then the current economic, political and knowledge prosperity may be seen as what Yahweh God "built up". It is a prosperity that is led by the USA, and is intended to bless God's world. God's people - those who have been saved by Christ and are purified and led by the Holy Spirit - are the foundation and centre of this, even though the rest of the world might not recognise it [Note 5]. God's people have a fourfold mandate in this world:
How are we getting on today with this? Especially, those called Christians in the USA, since they are the most recent of the three peoples who have been 'built up' by God.
| Mandate | How We Do | From Bible | |
|---|---|---|---|
| To show what the One True God is like? |
Liberal wing shows: "God is meaningless, largely an extension of what Western liberal humanity happens to want at this time." Evangelical wing shows: "God is a rule-imposer." Charismatic wing shows: "God is a self-centred worship-seeker." Pentecostal wing shows: "God pampers his favourites." | ||
| To model how the God intended humanity to operate in the world? |
The model we give is:
Make money the measure of all things; governments and other leaders in society give GDP-measured economics absolute priority. Depend on military might, justified by fear rather than trust in the God. Over-emphasise science and reason as the route to knowledge and truth, ignoring tacit and intuitive knowledge and humility. Elevate the individual in economics and sexuality. Ourselves and families first. Ignore the rest of Creation. Either ignore the spiritual side, or ignore the secular side (see Sacred Secular Divide). Justify these things in the way the Pharisees did: find individual verses in the Bible that seem to support or even 'require' this. | ||
| To invite and welcome people who wanted to join with the One True God? | We put up barriers to those who would come, requiring them to first accept certain things we have deemed important. | ||
| To work with the God in his world for the healing and blessing of his world? |
We pursue our own interests, as defined for us by ungodly worldviews. Some actively and aggressively resist and deny our responsibility for climate change. We give our own convenience and comforts absolute priority over our responsibility to the rest of Creation ('the environment'). |
Note 2. Genesis 6-9 for the flood, which wiped out all humankind and land animals. Genesis 11 for Tower of Babel, where a large section of humanity came together to make a name for itself by building a tower so that they would not be scattered over the earth, in direct disobedience to God's command to humanity to spread out over all the earth to bless it in his Name (Genesis 1:26-28). Exodus 7-12 for destruction of Egypt's economic and military prowess, which resounded down the following centuries. It may be instructive to see the similarities and differences between these events, by looking at which aspect of human and other life is being affected: In the Flood, the biotic aspect of life functions was targetted; in the Tower of Babel, the lingual aspect was targetted; in the Exodus from Egypt, the economic aspect was targetted.
Note 3. Scriptures that explain why Yahweh God sent his people into exile include:
Note 4. Danger in looking at today in a long-term context is that we elevate aspects of today's life that we see as important (such as technology or sexuality), and see history in terms of those aspects. We need to see it in God's terms. Reference to God's creational mandate to humanity in Genesis 1 and his fourfold mandate to his people helps us do this.
Note 5. This does not mean that only God's people enact these things. Rather, God's people are like salt and light, so that all people can enact these things. So the various aspects of prosperity are developed by all kinds of people, including some who are hostile to the One True God, yet what they do and achieve is because of Him. It is Yahweh God who has built this up, not humanity by itself. See A New View for a theological understanding of this.
To send comments, queries, suggestions, please fill in the following and click 'Submit':
Thank you. This will send an email to me, to which I will endeavour to respond.
About This Page
Offered to God as on-going work, this page is designed to stimulate discussion on various topics, as part of Andrew Basden's pages that open up various things from one of the Christian perspectives.
Contact details.
Copyright (c) Andrew Basden at all the dates below. But you may use this material subject to certain conditions.
Written on the Amiga with Protext.
Created: 14 March 2012. Last updated: 8 July 2015 new .end. 19 February 2017 request dashes