The Day Of Vengence

THE DAY OF VENGENCE

Read Jeremiah 46:1-12

Read Jeremiah 46:1-12

That day is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance. Jeremiah 46:10

In chapters 46 to 51 of Jeremiah, God pronounces a series of judgments upon the nations of Egypt, Philistia, Moab, Babylon and other lands. That day of judgment and vengeance is called the day of the Lord (Jeremiah 46:10). The first nation singled out for this divine visitation of judgment was Egypt. This ancient land of the Pharaohs was both Israel’s oldest enemy and chief of allies. The life of the Hebrew people in the Old Testament was almost inextricable from the influence of Egypt. There was something both horrid and seductive about the “land beyond the wilderness”––the place of pyramids, palaces, dark-skinned beauties and tantalizing gods.

God’s judgment of Egypt in the day of the Lord was intended not only to recompense Egypt for its evil ways but also to release Israel from its captivity to Pharaoh’s land. Though Moses had led the people through the sea and away from Pharaoh, their hearts longed for the things, the way of life, of Thebes, Memphis and Tahpanhes. It was true: You could take the boy out of Egypt but you couldn’t take Egypt out of the boy. So it may well be for American Christians.

In the August/September 2008 issue of First Things, editor Joseph Bottum wrote a stellar article: “The Death of Protestant America: A Political Theory of the Protestant Mainline.” In that article, Bottum noted that Protestantism served a dual function in American society: “It was simultaneously the happy enabler and the unhappy conscience of the American republic––a single source of both national comfort and national unease.” ²⁴

Protestantism served as the “third leg” of what America rested upon: capitalism, democracy and free religion. But as American mainline Protestants were co-opted by politics and political parties, she lost her prophetic voice and with it her unique place as both America’s pastor and America’s prophet. Bottum wrote:

Every so often, there would explode from the churches a moral and prophetic demand on the nation. But, looking back, we can now see that these showy campaigns were mostly a secondary effect of religion’s influence on America. Each was a check written on a bank account filled by the ordinary practice and belief of the Protestant denominations.

As it happens, the denominations were often engaged in what later generations would scorn as narrow sectarian debates: infant baptism, the consequences of the Fall, the saving significance of good works, the real presence of the Eucharist, the role of bishops. And yet, somehow, the more their concerns were narrow, the more their effects were broad. Perhaps precisely because they were aimed inward, the Protestant churches were able to radiate outward, giving a characteristic shape to the nation: the centrality of families, the pattern of marriages and funerals, the vague but widespread patriotism, the strong localism, and the ongoing sense of some providential purpose at work in the

existence of the United States. Which makes it all the stranger that, somewhere

around 1975, the main stream of Protestantism ran dry.²⁵

What Bottum is saying is this: Israel may well live in Egypt, to serve as the enabler of Egypt’s goodness and the critic of Egypt’s evil, but Israel can never become Egypt. The church may live in America, to serve as the enabler of America’s good things and the moral conscience for America’s sins, but the Church cannot become pure American.

To prevent this from happening, God sends His day of the Lord. As Egypt dies under the weight of God’s judgment, Israel is awakened to the reality of who and what they are—God’s people, not Egypt’s. As we see American democracy stymied by layers of bureaucracy and partisan politics, American capitalism ruined by the twin gods of greed and corruption, and American religion reduced to a shell of its old glory, we are reminded that we are Christ’s people, not America’s. It is a tearful lesson, for it is natural for you and me to love being part Christian and part American––the best of both worlds––as it was natural for the Jews to be part Israel and still part Egyptian.

The Cross takes no prisoners. It kills everything under its shadow: Jesus Christ, the apostles and martyrs, the “old man” in each of us, and all cultures that see only the shame of the Cross but none of its glory. The Cross is ever there as a reminder of the day of the Lord (Good Friday) and the fact that Christ has claimed us for His own. We belong to God and to Christ, and since that day of the Lord on Calvary two millennia ago, we ceased to belong to America.

PRAYING FOR THE PCA

AC: Pray for wisdom and discernment for the Commissioners on the Overtures Committee as they process and recommend action on overtures brought to the Assembly.

CTS: Praise God for his blessing on the launch last year of Living Christ 360, Covenant Seminary’s Internet broadcast ministry featuring the daily Bible teaching of Bryan Chapell. Pray that people all over the world will find spiritual enrichment and encouragement through this ministry.

MTW: Praise God for open doors in India, where 30,000 people are coming to Christ every day. Pray for our growing and aggressive church-planting program that is seeking to take advantage of the opportunities God is providing in this populous nation.

RUM: Please pray for the RUM Area Coordinators: Bebo Elkin (MS, LA, West TN, AR Area), Keith Berger (Southwest Area), and John Pearson (SC, NC, VA). Ask that the Lord will give them insight and wisdom as they minister to the many staff under their care.

RBI: Gary Campbell, Chet Lilly, Mark Melendez and Terry Aiello are in leadership positions at RBI. Please pray that they will be granted divine guidance and strength to fulfill their important roles.