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day of the lord >> cause of a national crisis>> bible verse handbook
Causes of a National Crisis - Bible Verse Handbook
Session 3 The Primary and Secondary Causes of a National Crisis I. THE DAY OF THE LORD JUDGMENTS ARE SENT BY GOD 15Alas…the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as destruction from the Almighty. (Joel 1:15) 25I will restore to you the years that the…locust has eaten… great army which I sent… (Joel 2:25) C. Many in Israel interpreted the agricultural crisis as simply a “natural disaster.” 11 The Lord gives voice before His army, After God used Babylon to discipline Israel, God judged Babylon for her wickedness 4 As for our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is His name, 5 “Sit in silence, and go into darkness, 8 “Therefore hear this now, you who are given to pleasures, 10 “For you have trusted in your wickedness; 8 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Because you have not heard My words, 9 behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,' says the Lord , ‘and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations. 10 Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. 11 And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 12 ‘Then it will come to pass, when seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,' says the Lord ; ‘and I will make it a perpetual desolation. 13 So I will bring on that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied concerning all the nations. 14 (For many nations and great kings shall be served by them also; and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the works of their own hands.)' (Jer. 25:8-14) D. Destruction was coming; 15Alas…the day of the LORD…shall come as destruction from the Almighty. (Joel 1:15) G. God called the wicked army of Babylon and the locust invasion “His army,” 25“I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you.” (Joel2:25) J. God fights against His enemies. 10They rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; so He turned Himself against them as an enemy, and He fought against them. (Isa. 63:10) 4Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (Jas. 4:4) K. God's judgment is controversial in the Church. 11 Say to them: ‘ As I live,' says the Lord God , ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?' (Ezek. 33:11) II. FOUR FACTORS WORKING TOGETHER IN A NATIONAL CRISIS C. The second factor contributing to the end-time crisis is Satan's rage. 12“Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.” (Rev. 12:12) F. The fourth factor contributing to pressure in the nations is creation's groan. 21Creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now… (Rom. 8:21-22) The earth's convulsions will increase as sin ripens in the earth 5The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws… 6Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell in it are desolate. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left. (Isa. 24:5-6) 20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, G. These four factors work together for good under God's sovereign and wise leadership. 28We know that all things work together for good to those who love God… (Rom. 8:28) K. Jesus is the primary actor in God's judgment in the book of Revelation. 1The Lamb [Jesus] opened…the seals [of judgment] … 7for the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand? M. The Lord will be involved in the end-time judgments that create crisis across the earth. 7“I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things.” (Isa. 45:7) 6If there is calamity in a city, will not the LORD have done it? IV. THE CHURCH IS THE FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE 14“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 17For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? (1 Pet. 4:17) B. God's requirement in Joel's day was that God's people humble themselves. 12“Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting…”13Rend your heart…return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful…and He relents from doing harm. (Joel 2:12-13) This was the same in Solomon's day 14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. G. Joel called God's covenant people to repent and cry for mercy 13 Gird yourselves and lament, you priests; 19 O Lord , to You I cry out; H. God's zeal in judgment is the proof of His commitment to contend for relationship with people. 5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord , 7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? 8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. 11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Heb. 12:5-11) 12Whom the LORD loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights. (Prov. 3:12) V. PROGRESSION OF JUDGMENT: FROM LOCUST TO MILITARY INVASION (DEUT. 28) B. 23Your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you shall be iron. 24The LORD will change the rain of your land to powder and dust; from the heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed. (Deut. 28:23-24) C. Later in the prophecy, Moses warned Israel that God would send a locust plague to them. 38You shall carry much seed out to the field and gather but little in, for the locust shall consume it…42Locusts shall consume all your trees and the produce of your land… 45Moreover all these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD… (Deut. 28:38-45) D. The progression to a military invasion is the most severe form of judgment for a nation. 49“The LORD will bring a nation [Babylon] against you from afar…as swift as the eagle flies…50a nation of fierce countenance…51they shall eat the increase of your livestock and the produce of your land, until you are destroyed. 52They shall besiege you at all your gates untily our high and fortified walls…come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you at all your gates throughout all your land which the LORD your God has given you. 53You shall eat the fruit of your body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters…in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you.” (Deut. 28:49-53) E. Moses' prophecy in Deuteronomy 28 was well known in Joel's day, alocust plague 38 “You shall carry much seed out to the field but gather little in, for the locust shall consume it. 42 Locusts shall [ l ] consume all your trees and the produce of your land. (Deut. 28:38, 42) Followed by a military invasion 47 “Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, 48 therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you. 49 The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand, 50 a nation of fierce countenance, which does not respect the elderly nor show favor to the young. 51 And they shall eat the increase of your livestock and the produce of your land, until you are destroyed; they shall not leave you grain or new wine or oil, or the increase of your cattle or the offspring of your flocks, until they have destroyed you. 52 “They shall besiege you at all your gates until your high and fortified walls, in which you trust, come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you at all your gates throughout all your land which the Lord your God has given you. 53 You shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters whom the Lord your God has given you, in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you. 54 The sensitive and very refined man among you will be hostile toward his brother, toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the rest of his children whom he leaves behind, 55 so that he will not give any of them the flesh of his children whom he will eat, because he has nothing left in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates. 56 The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicateness and sensitivity, will refuse to the husband of her bosom, and to her son and her daughter, 57 her placenta which comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of everything in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates. (Deut. 28:47-57) H. The Lord later scattered Israel 64 “Then the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known—wood and stone. I. 52They shall besiege you at all your gates until your high and fortified walls, in which you trust, come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you at all your gates throughout all your land which the LORD your God has given you. (Deut. 28:52) 2“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. 3And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone…all nations of the earth are gathered against it.” (Zech. 12:2-3) 1The day of the LORD is coming…2I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; the city shall be taken[captured]…half of the city shall go into captivity. (Zech. 14:1-2) J. Moses prophesied that if they did not obey God, plagues seven times worse would come. 21“Then, if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins.” (Lev. 26:21) K. Because of God's patience in judging sin, the wicked assume His judgment will never happen. 11Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. (Eccl. 8:11) L. Zephaniah warned Israel not to settle in complacency by refusing to take God's judgments seriously. 12“It shall come to pass at that time that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and punish the men who are settled in complacency, who say in their heart, ‘The LORD will not do good, nor will He do evil.'” M. Moses made a startling statement that God's judgments were prophetic signs. 46They shall be upon you for a sign and a wonder…on your descendants forever. (Deut. 28:46) N. The book of Revelation describes the supernatural work of God in releasing disaster. 17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” (Rom. 9:17) 8Come, behold the works of the LORD, who has made desolations in the earth. (Ps. 46:8) O. God caused drought in Amos' day as a prophetic sign. 7“I also withheld rain from you, when there were still three months to the harvest. I made it rain on one city, I withheld rain from another city. One part was rained upon, and where it did not rain the part withered. 8So two or three cities wandered to another city to drink water…yet you have not returned to Me,” says the LORD. (Amos 4:7-8) R. God's judgment has many layers of purpose. 5As you do not know what is the way of the wind, or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, so you do not know the works of God who makes everything. (Eccl. 11:5)
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