“The powers that be are ordained of God” (Romans 13:1).
In the Book of Daniel, the evil king Nebuchadnezzar, who is a Biblical “type” of Satan, is described as “MY servant Nebuchadnezzar”; and it is written “…and the Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand” (Daniel 1:2). This is a stunning example of the sovereignty of God over kings and nations. As Daniel himself told Nebuchadnezzar; “He removes kings and sets up kings” (Daniel 2:21) and later; “The God of heaven has given you a kingdom” (Daniel 2:37).
God raises up nations and kings to do His will; He sets one against another to achieve His purposes. “The Most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whoever He will, and sets over it the basest of men“ (Daniel 4:17).
The gentile nations that God has raised up in His sovereignty, like Babylon, face judgement in this world; but the peoples of these gentile nations face individual judgement in the next world.
The Church doesn’t stand before God as a corporate body; Israel does but the Church doesn’t; the only nation God deals with, as a nation, is Israel. Christians stand before God as individuals, chosen by God to be His. God’s treatment of Israel and Judah, His covenant peoples, should be a stern and solemn lesson in the hearts of all believers.
Israel’s sin was to steal God’s sabbatic years; their leaders knew precisely what God expected of them; but they mocked the messengers of God and despised His words; but sin pays wages and payday will surely come. It came for Israel and Judah and it will come to Christianity and the nations that God raised up as dwelling places for those He called to be His.
It is in this context that we must see the rise of Islam as God’s instrument to punish the nations that He raised up to serve Him and who have, instead, become ungodly, lawless and apostate.
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