Does History Really Repeat Itself?

Well, of course, we know it does.  Maybe not always in particular specifics, but certainly, even a cursory look at history proves that the same things do indeed happen again and again - the same scenarios keep playing themselves out over and over.  As Solomon wrote: “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecc.1:9) 

 This past November, Des and I saw a movie called “Saving Mr. Banks” it was a biography about the author of the Marry Poppins and how Walt Disney made her book into his famous movie.    “Saving Mr. Banks” opens with the same exact same first line as the “Mary Poppins” film had, some fifty years earlier:  “Wind’s in the east.  Mist comin’ in – like somethin’s a-brewing, about to begin.  Can’t put my finger on just what’s in store, but I feel what’s to happen ‘s all happened before!”   Seems rather ironic, even humorous, considering the movie was somewhat of a sequel!  But that line struck me like a ton of bricks with what felt like a heavy spiritual hand. I continue to think of it as I see the news unfolding every day.  It all seems eerily like “What’s to happen ‘s all happened before!”

In the Bible we see God’s people, Israel, make the same mistakes again and again over the centuries as if spinning on a generational merry-go-round:  

1.) The people enjoy God’s gracious favor – based solely on God’s faithful commitment to His covenant. They respond with thankful worship and obedience.

 2.) The people take His blessings and protection for granted. They forget that God is the reason for their blessings. They stop being thankful. They reject God’s boundaries and, seeking to please their fleshly desires, they willingly embrace all kind of sin.  They stop worshiping and obeying God, instead they worship and obey their flesh.

3.) God, not wanting His people to suffer, repeatedly sends warnings, calling His people back to Himself, promising forgiveness if they would repent and turn from their wickedness, and judgment if they would not. Because of His grace and mercy, this warning stage could encompass years, even generations.

 4.) God allows the consequences of what the people have chosen to befall them.  Usually, initially, in small measured doses but even then, God grants extended periods of grace to allow the people time to change their minds and return to Him. They do not, so God gives them what they have sought.  The consequences come harder and faster.

5.)  Finally, the culture reaches a point where only a tiny remnant remains faithful to God.  It has become altogether so ungodly that the only thing that will restore the nation back to God is terrible judgment, chastisement and calamity. God, in His love, allows great suffering to come on His people to turn them back to Himself.  Like the warnings, the suffering can last years, decades, generations.  Sometimes God uses wicked nations to punish His people, allowing what seems like a victory for God’s enemies… for a season.  But He is just. Eventually He punishes the punishers who harmed His people.  And in the end, He saves Israel from ultimate destruction and a generation arises that returns to God.

Over and over, like the back of a shampoo bottle: wash, rinse, repeat. Why?

History repeats itself because men don’t change. We are who we are.  Fallen. Depraved. Without God and without hope in the world with hearts that are exceedingly wicked seeking to do evil continually. Lust, greed, selfishness – these are our drivers. We are unwilling and unable to please God. Those who say otherwise are deceived deceiving deceivers.  We cannot keep the rules. O wretched man that I am, who can rescue me from this body of death!

There is One.  One, (and only one) who can recuse me! God did what we cannot do. He kept the rules! He died in my place and rose again. He offers me forgiveness…. AND a rescue from the old way of life! He offers a new life that, in Christ, does please Him. Thanks be to God! He rescues us through Christ Jesus, our Lord. (Rom. 7:24-25)

But culturally, nationally, the beat goes on. Wash rinse repeat. Where are we now?  I’d say about two sentences into point #5 above.   Where are we individually?  I pray that I, and you,  may always be numbered in that faithful remnant who God continually preserves for  a witness- salt and light - holding out life in a crooked and depraved generation.  Piqued? Read 2Kings 17:7-41

A Lament for America

Our society is rapidly deteriorating. We have gone from condemning sin... to condoning sin... to celebrating sin. Everywhere we look, in almost every facet of our culture, those who are called 'leaders” -  those who are looked up to and followed,  are in full-blown, overt rejection of God and active mockery of His Word.  Truth is suppressed. History, experience and logic are discarded. Wisdom is not found in our schools, our courts or among our lawmakers.  Why?  Because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom… and there is no fear of the Lord.  

Claiming to be wise we have become fools, exchanging the truth of God for a lie... knowing God's righteous decrees regarding sin and death, we continue in sin, even approving of it and encouraging it.  Eager to justify our sin, we throw off God and His boundaries saying, “I have no need of God, he is archaic and outdated.” Shaking our fist in His face we declare, “I do not, and will not, accept His authority over me, I will not be bound by anyone’s rules!” … blinded to the fact that in so-doing we are rushing headlong into slavery, judgment and destruction.  Still, God’s heart is to save us from His just wrath.  He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked.  He is not willing that any should perish but that all come to salvation!  Yet, as it is written,  “There is none that is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Jesus weeps over us as he did over Jerusalem, “You who kill the prophets and stone God's messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn't let me.”

 God is patient, full of grace and mercy.  But do not be deceived, God will not be mocked. Whatever we sow,  so also shall we reap.  Men who suppress the truth by their wickedness are sowing evil seed among us.  They secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many are following their depraved conduct even bringing  the church into disrepute.  In their greed these teachers exploit us with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.  For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness  to be held for judgment;  if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;  if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless  (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)—  if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.  

This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority. ..  these people blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like animals they too will perish. They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you. With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed—an accursed brood … blackest darkness is reserved for them.  For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error.  They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them” … Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.” 

 I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles. Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.  They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. ⁶ By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.  But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.  

But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

 

Cross references:

Romans 3:10 : ver. 10-12, cited from Ps. 14:1-3; 53:1-3

Romans 3:13 : Cited from Ps. 5:9

Romans 3:13 : Jer. 5:16

Romans 3:13 : Cited from Ps. 140:3

Romans 3:14 : Cited from Ps. 10:7 (Gk.)

Romans 3:15 : Cited from Prov. 1:16; ver. 15-17, cited from Isa. 59:7, 8

Romans 3:17 : Luke 1:79

Romans 3:18 : Cited from

 

A Snowy Day

For some odd reason, I decided to write to you today about snow! I don’t know why, but it’s just been on my mind... somehow? Did you know that the Bible mentions snow about 25 times? Usually, snow is used as a standard to compare something else to. Ten times we read, “as white as snow,” twice, “as cold as snow,” and once, “as pure as snow.” Five times the word snow is used in a poetic sense to refer to the winter season, as in: “She is not afraid of the snows,” and once to indicate the mountains by calling them “the snows of Lebanon.” Three times God asks Job unanswerable question about snow to show Job that God sees the big picture while we humans see very little, and two times the Bible speaks of a specific snowy day in history. Do you know what day that was?  (I’ll put the answer at the bottom of the post.)  But I told you all that to tell you this - my favorite “snowy” verse in the Word. “Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow” Did you get that?  Not “as white as snow,” but “whiter than snow!”

King David pens these words in Psalm 51. Do you know the context of that Psalm? After being confronted with his sins of adultery and murder, David confesses and repents of his sin. With a contrite heart and a broken spirit, he seeks God’s forgiveness in faith, believing that God will forgive him, restore him and purify him to the extent that he will be whiter than snow!  Did you know that it is possible to be whiter than snow, even though snow is the very thing that is used as the standard of cleanness and purity that all others are measures against? Every snow flake is an ice crystal that forms in the upper atmosphere. Each crystal forms around something – a tiny microscopic speck of dust! At the heart of a clean pure snowflake is dirt! When God forgives us he takes away all sin, all guilt, all punishment, all fear, all condemnation, even the “stain” or “left-over” residue of sin! He removes our sin from us as far as the east is from the west! In other words, infinitely removed! The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all unrighteousness, completely removing it so that, as Isaiah put it, “though our sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow!”

Does that excite you? Does that give you hope? Does that give you peace and joy and motivation to serve such a great and loving God? Jesus said that unless our righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees we would not enter the kingdom of God! The Pharisees were a group of guys who spent all day every day trying to figure out how to be holy! Can we be better than that? YES! Because when we come to faith in Christ, we no longer have to “try to be good.” Instead we receive by grace through faith, His righteous record of perfect holiness…and without holiness no man shall see God! So Christian, don’t let the devil condemn you. “There is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus!” Neither should we continue in our sin. For we have been set free, made holy, washed clean! Let us not go back to the pig pen of sin! Rather, let us live pure and holy lives. Would a bride wallow in the mud while wearing her clean white wedding dress? Would a man let vandals destroy his prize classic car that he just detailed?  No, they would prize them and fight to keep them beautiful and clean. Let us do the same with our great salvation that cost him so dearly.  “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.  Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light!” (Eph.4;1, 5:1-3,8) 

P.S. You’ll find that particular snowy day in 2Samuel 23:20 and 1Chron. 11:22.