Don’t make the mistake I made.
One morning this week I woke up and sat down to have my morning devotions. The portion I read puzzled me; so I turned to one of the Bible commentaries I have on my phone.
But as soon as I turned my phone on, up popped news headlines; and before I knew it I was reading the news.
It was depressing reading.
Reading the News
Things in Ukraine were not going well, with the fall of Avdiivka, and the threat of a further imminent advance by the Russian war machine.
Alexei Navalny had been struck down by “sudden death syndrome” (yet another in a long list of PUTative assasINations). Navalny, whose name the thug who murdered him will not say, was formerly an atheist, then professed a newfound faith in God three years ago[1]. He was Russia’s most prominent opposition leader.
With Russian elections looming, once again in the time-honoured tradition of “Solidification by Liquidation”, that stretches back to Pharaoh in Egypt and Herod in Judea, a murderous despot connives to consolidate his bloody regime.
Elections also loom in America later this year, with the likely choice between one candidate frail and failing cognitively; and the other, long failed morally and now encouraging the aforementioned murderous despot in a future attack on America’s allies.
Meanwhile, mass shootings[2] continue unabated, in the wake of 604 mass shootings (i.e. 50 per month) last year, where 754 people were killed and 2,443 others injured.
And all the while the Land of the Free, along with the rest of us in the West, continues to reap the fallout from the moral collapse of society.
In the Middle East, there is no end in sight to the tragedy being played out in Israel and Gaza. Nor is there likely to be as long as, while some are looking for a two state solution, a majority of Israelis (and, for that matter, a majority of Palestinians, though with the opposite aim in mind) want only one.
To confuse things further, some Christians still set their hope on an earthly kingdom being established there.
Could all this mean the end of the world?
Yes, I was distracted.
More, I was depressed. It seriously affected how I read the Bible that day. It is hard not to let what you read in the news interpret how you read, and what you read into, the Bible.
This is not good.
Read the Bible first
1. The end of the world? What does the Bible say?
That very evening, Eileen and I, in our evening devotions, were up to 1 Thessalonians ch 5.
You yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them. (5:2-3)
Interestingly, only the next day I read a secular news article[3] (after reading the Bible first this time 😊) by Jamie Seidel, in which he quoted Professor John Blaxland[4] viz:
“I’m the son of a clergyman. And in Christian circles, there’s a lot of talk about the end times. They’re pointing to what’s going on in Israel and globally as confirmation of that time being close. Some actually see it as their job to hurry it along.
“But I’m not of that view. I am a professing Christian myself. And one of the things these people forget is that the so-called second coming is when Christ comes ‘like a thief in the night’. It’s not something some clever person can read in the tea leaves.
“I say that because I think it’s important to put it out there.”
2. Looking for an earthly kingdom? What does the Bible say?
When challenged, Jesus was clear:
The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you. (Luke 17:20-21)
While Jesus asserted His kingship at His trial, He insisted:
My kingdom is not if this world. (John 18:36)
The kingdom is His rule, not an earthly realm.
We live in this world. And as long as we are here, like the Jews living as sojourners in Exile (Jer 29:4-7), we are to conduct ourselves as responsible citizens (1 Peter 2:11-16).
We are to do what is best for all (even if it is not necessarily what they think is best for them).
Always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all. (1 Thessalonians 5:15)
As we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. (Galatians 6:10)
But in the end we do not belong to this world (John 17:14-16).
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. (Philippians 3:20-21)
3. And what of the petty despots of this world? Will they win?
I find it hard to imagine what it was like for our parents living through World War II. Born after it all, I know that era only in terms of we won, and peace was restored.
But our parents had no such assurance, with rumours floating around that everything north of Brisbane and west of the Darling River would be abandoned to the invasion if such occurred.
Nor can it be assumed that all would have ended as it did. Or that it will end well in Ukraine, the Middle East etc. You only have to look at history to see how often might has conquered right.
What if Hitler had prevailed?
Martyn Lloyd Jones had no such qualms. He cited Psalm 37:35-36:
I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.
Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.
And preached at the time:
“Are you troubled by something that has happened in the world today? Then put it in the context of the Old Testament.
“I was never worried for a second about a man like Hitler; it was enough for me to read the thirty-seventh Psalm, and there I read of a man like him spreading himself like a green bay tree, a sort of colossus striding the whole earth.
“But I read on and learned that a day came when a man wanted to go to see him and to speak with him, and he could not find him. He searched everywhere for him; he could not find any trace of him; he had vanished.
“Why? God had blown upon him.”[5]
Where is Hitler now? Or Pharaoh? Or Herod? Or Stalin? Or Mao?
Or, soon, the murderous Russian despot?
What a comfort to read in Psalm 2:
Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together,
Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,
“Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.”
He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;
The Lord shall hold them in derision.
Then He shall speak to them in His wrath,
And distress them in His deep displeasure. (vv 1-5)
Our assurance of this? God declares:
I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion.
I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me,
“You are My Son, today I have begotten You.
Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron;
You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.” (vv 6-9)
Christ is on the throne (Rev 19:11-16). Let the petty despot stride across the earth like a colossus, we have Psalm 37; we have Psalm 2.
The early disciples, facing life-threatening hostility from their own countrymen, took comfort from Psalm 2, on the basis of which they were able confidently to assert:
“Truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.” (Acts 4:27-28)
And then they freely prayed:
“Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word…”
And when they had prayed… they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. (vv 29,31)
Though they do their worst, in the end the cruel tyrants of this world do only “whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.”
In the meantime, “we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor 5:7). The Spirit helping us, the Bible opens our eyes to see this world differently.
If any further proof be needed, it is in Christ crucified:
“We preach Christ crucified… to those who are called, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” (1 Cor 1:24-25)
Hugh Latimer knew this when he advised his young friend Nicholas Ridley, both being burnt at the stake in Oxford, during the reign of Bloody Mary:
“Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.”
Renew your mind
Of course, it is not just reading the News that affects how we read, and what we read into, the Bible.
We are under constant pressure from the surrounding culture to reinterpret the Word of God to fit in with the world’s values.
We need to be transformed in our thinking if we are to understand the will of God aright.
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:2)
Jerry Bridges put it well:
“We know the only way we can avoid conformity to the values of this world is consistent exposure to the Word of God, so that its teaching can continually influence and change our values and convictions.”[6]
Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night. (Psalm 1:1-2)
[1] https://www.gcmediaministries.org/russia-aleksey-navalny-talks-about-his-faith/ [2] Using the definition of a mass shooting as four or more persons shot in one incident, at one location, at roughly the same time. [3] https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/end-times-why-2024-is-make-or-break-for-democracy/news-story/5a89722e15cadf12319e01aea3f904e5 [4] Dr John Blaxland is Director of the ANU North America Liaison Office and Professor of International Security and Intelligence Studies in the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre (SDSC), Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University (ANU). [5] https://www.youtube.com/shorts/z_Il4te5e4U See also here: https://www.kevinhalloran.net/why-martyn-lloyd-jones-wasnt-afraid-of-hitler/ [6] Jerry Bridges Growing Your Faith: How to Mature in Christ (p. 61)