(3) Our habitat is desolate.
Without a doubt, we live in a sick and perverted world. All you need to do is watch a portion of the nightly news and that truth becomes obvious.
Verses 7, 8 “Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.”
Everywhere that we look, our nation seems to be spiritually desolate.
-It used to be a part of the culture to attend church throughout the week. It is almost rare that many attend a single solitary Sunday morning service.
-Our cities are consumed with sin. Those in control are no longer in alliance with the godly, the good, and the decent.
-The enemy has taken control, and it was all allowed through wrong thinking by those with a faint heart. And everywhere we look, the churches are deserted.
-Every time we turn around, another congregation votes to close the doors. The once great congregations who pleaded the blood and called sin what it is are decreasing in numbers and growing old.
(4) God’s judgment isn’t just in the future-His wrath has already begun.
Verse 9 “Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.”
We have a few survivors that are holding on, and as such we have not yet faced the consequences as did the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. Just as evil as the Ninevites were when the Lord called His reluctant prophet Jonah into service, our nation might still heed the call to righteous and holy living and be spared like the Ninevites, at least for a time.
We have an advantage, living in the time that we do.
-We have a wealth of past history that we might use to guide us from making the same mistakes again.
-We believe in the total accuracy and applicability of the Word of God. It wasn’t only for the days in which it was written, it is equally valid for all of the decisions that we need to make in our lives today. God did create the world out of nothing. God did send His only Son to die on the cross for us. Jesus was raised from the dead, just as the Scripture and He Himself has foretold. He is coming again, on a day of the Father’s choosing, and things as we know them will end.
In many cases, we are in much the same position as Isaiah. We have a good idea about what happened in the past and how these things happened as they happened. We are not blind to the things that are going on around us. If there was ever a time in human history where the fallenness of man is obvious, it is now. We have a vision or at least an understanding of the “End Times”. We know that there will come a time when enough will be enough and Jesus will return.
We can’t stop the return of Jesus, but there are many souls in this world that could have a totally different outcome for their eternity. There may have been those in the past that have slipped into an eternity separated from God, but we can do much to prevent that from happening to others. If we fail to act on the knowledge that God has blessed us with, it is going to continue to happen. Satan’s fold will get bigger and bigger if we fail to act.
We can see the total moral and ethical deterioration of our nation today.
-The sacred bond of marriage is scoffed at, and those that seem the most interested in uniting are the gay and lesbian factions.
-A man’s word was his contract, but even now, with stacks of papers filed, signed, sealed and witnessed by many, contracts are made to be broken. A man’s word is not even worth the breath that is expended to exclaim it.
-The sky is polluted, the water is dirty, the land is contaminated, the resources are drying up, the rain pours down acid, and the food that we eat is more artificial then natural.
The fallenness of creation is total, and there are really no serious efforts to return the land to the glory that God once meant for it to hold. The infection of sin is all encompassing and there is no true antidote being sought. We know Jesus is the answer but the world is saying no thanks.
Everywhere we look, we can see the effects of the ravages of sin in the world. The blessings seem to have been blocked and sin appears to be winning. The wounds of our nation just don't want to go away.
So what can we do?
-Our thoughts will have to change.
-We must grow strong of heart.
-We must have the courage to stand up for the things that we have read, understood, and lived in God’s Word.
-We must demonstrate that we have the authority to call the remainder of the world to the same standard by being an example of a believer.
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