God's Work with Planet Earth

Just to recap this series of posts up to this point, first God judged and punished Sodom and Gomorrah for their sexual immorality, the violence they committed against each other and guests, and the injustice in their society (Ezekiel 16:44-50).

Then He judged and punished Egypt with 10 destructive plagues as signs of His power, and to free His people from slavery.

Then He judged and punished all the Canaanite tribes for their wickedness as He brought Israel into the promised land. Sometimes He commanded the Israelites to fight and drive these people out of the land, and other times He said “stand still” and God confused, drowned, or stoned the enemy armies with massive hailstones.

But when the kingdoms of Israel and Judah began to break “the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments” (Exodus 34:28), then God warned them for generations that He would judge and punish them as He had judged and punished the other nations, unless they would repent and return to Him. God gave the antediluvians before the Flood 120 years, He gave the Amorites 400 years, and He gave the tribes of Israel even longer. But they persisted in provoking God’s wrath, even after they saw what happened to the other nations. (Jeremiah 3:7-8)

This blog series is dedicated to learning more about Who God is by looking at how He has related to and dealt with humans, as laid out in the Bible. What did He hate so much that He would allow pagan nations like Assyria and Babylon to come and wipe out His own chosen people from the promised land where He had place them? I want to pull out the main complaints God made through Old Testament prophets against the Israelites.

What was so bad? If you’re sensitive, don’t read further. But if you read on, do you recognize any of this in our modern society today?

Idolatry

If you haven’t read my previous posts, I believe that the Israelites (like the nations around them) kept getting sucked into idolatry

• NOT because bowing to sticks and rocks you carved into images yourself is so attractive and irresistible, but
• because those images represented real fallen angels masquerading as gods, and influencing and enticing people to self-destructive behaviors

. Why do I believe this?

• After Satan transformed into a serpent or possessed a serpent in the Garden of Eden to deceive Eve, he didn’t stop there, but inspired jealousy and rage in Cain to get him to kill his brother Abel. After just over 1,600 years the whole world was so violent and corrupt that God had to cause the Flood if any humans were to survive (sounds counterintuitive, but humans were on a path to self-extinction, according to Genesis 6:13)
• Satan and his angels rebelled in Heaven and were cast down to the earth (Revelation 12:7-12)
• Our real danger and struggle is not with “flesh and blood”, “but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12)
• Demons/fallen angels were posing as gods and demanding worship, and the sacrifices were not to inanimate objects. (Deuteronomy 32:16-17, 1 Corinthians 10:20-21)

With that Biblical context, we can see that idolatry wasn’t just a dumb, ignorant act by primitive and unsophisticated civilizations. The people were dealing with real, spiritual beings.

When God says He’s a jealous God, He has created humans and given them many blessings, but the humans are following lying spirits instead, betraying their Creator. He often compared their worship of false gods to an unfaithful, adulterous spouse.

In the Biblical accounts, the idolatry always led to these other things:

Dishonesty

When I started digging for examples of God complaining to Israel about their wickedness, it was a bit overwhelming. I’ve read the Bible through multiple times, but when you start pulling these things together you start to realize how bad things had gotten.

Here are some examples of dishonesty God brought against Israel. I could list scripture references but it’s all through the major and minor prophets so it would be very long list!

• Loving bribes and doing anything for money, rather than pursuing truth and justice
• Alliances with thieves
• Speaking lies and perverse things
• Trusting in falsehood and lying words
• Being a hypocrite: Saying things to make yourself look good, but not following through with action – Speaking peace to your neighbor, but waiting to trap him
• “those who remove a landmark” (falsifying property boundaries to take your neighbor’s land)
• Deceit became a way of thinking, to take advantage of others, to get whatever you can for yourself
• Even the priests and prophets dealt falsely and prophesied lies in God’s name
• Calling good evil, and saying evil is good

Injustice

This is what I mean when I say God is obsessed with justice. It’s interesting to me that Jesus sounded like this when He was calling out sin. It might have been hundreds of years later, and a tax collector writing instead of a prophet, but it’s the same God.

“Who justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away justice from the righteous man!” Isaiah 5:23

“They do not defend the fatherless, nor does the cause of the widow come before them.” Isaiah 1:23

“Now hear this, You heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, Who abhor justice and pervert all equity, Who build up Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with iniquity:” Micah 3:9-10

“For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: Afflicting the just and taking bribes; Diverting the poor from justice at the gate.” Amos 5:12

“The people of the land have used oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy; and they wrongfully oppress the stranger.” Ezekiel 22:29

“The LORD will enter into judgment with the elders of His people and His princes: “For you have eaten up the vineyard; The plunder of the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing My people and grinding the faces of the poor?” Says the Lord GOD of hosts.” Isaiah 3:14-15

“Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, who write misfortune, which they have prescribed to rob the needy of justice, and to take what is right from the poor of My people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless.” Isaiah 10:1-2

Violence

“Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, to shed blood, to destroy people, and to get dishonest gain.” Ezekiel 22:27

“They have committed adultery with their idols, and even sacrificed their sons whom they bore to Me, passing them through the fire, to devour them.” Ezekiel 23:37

“As a fountain wells up with water, so she wells up with her wickedness. Violence and plundering are heard in her. Before Me continually are grief and wounds.” Jeremiah 6:7

“But a beautiful cedar palace does not make a great king! Your father, Josiah, also had plenty to eat and drink. But he was just and right in all his dealings. That is why God blessed him. He gave justice and help to the poor and needy, and everything went well for him. Isn’t that what it means to know me?” says the LORD.
“But you! You have eyes only for greed and dishonesty! You murder the innocent, oppress the poor, and reign ruthlessly.” Jeremiah 22:15-17, NLT

Sexual Immorality

These false gods seem to be fairly consistent by inspiring certain behaviors. Sexual purity and God’s model for families is one area they attack very fiercely, especially in our time today.

“…In your midst they commit lewdness. In you men uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women who are set apart during their impurity. One commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; and another in you violates his sister, his father’s daughter.” Ezekiel 22:9-11

“…you commit abominations, and you defile one another’s wives. Should you then possess the land?” Ezekiel 33:26

“But you–come here, you witches’ children, you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes!” Isaiah 57:3, NLT

“There were even male and female shrine prostitutes throughout the land. The people imitated the detestable practices of the pagan nations the LORD had driven from the land ahead of the Israelites.” 1 Kings 14:24, NLT

• Numbers 25 is the story of Israelites being lured into sexual rites and rituals in the worship of Baal by Moabite women. Because of this, 24,000 people died.
• In Leviticus 18:22-23, the Israelites were instructed by God not to have sex men with men, or women with women. They were also forbidden, both men and women, from having sex with animals. Why was this rule so important? Because Israel’s neighbors were engaging in this behavior.

Reason for Judgement

In my first few posts I showed from Genesis that God created a perfect world with no sin and only goodness. This was His intention and His will for humans. But He gave humans free will, and more often than not, humans follow the temptations of fallen angels which lead into the behaviors listed above, which God commanded against. Why are the fallen angels so bent on encouraging humans into these behaviors? Because they eventually destroy societies.

This is why God judged and punished Israel along with the other nations. This is why He will one day judge the whole world.

“For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth.
He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with His truth.” Psalms 96:13