Leave the Party!

Then I heard another voice from heaven say:

"Come out of her, my people,

so that you will not share in her sins,

so that you will not receive any of her plagues;

for her sins are piled up to heaven,

and God has remembered her crimes.

Give back to her as she has given;

pay her back double for what she has done.

Mix her a double portion from her own cup.

Give her as much torture and grief

as the glory and luxury she gave herself.

In her heart she boasts,

'I sit as queen; I am not a widow,

and I will never mourn.'

Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her:

death, mourning and famine.

She will be consumed by fire,

for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.

Revelation 18:4-8

There is much controversy and even bitterness about the President of the United States apologizing to the rest of the world for things that we have done to offend. Why should we ask forgiveness when we have been perhaps the most effective deterrent to tyranny the world has ever known? Our generosity in times of crisis is legendary.

But what about our national sins, can a nation sin against God? When people join together and call themselves a nation and then establish laws that are directly contradictory to the Word of God it is sin. Revelation 18:4 speaks of national sins.

Offenses may be irrelevant but sins are not! Even as in a court of law the question is not how humanitarian is the criminal. The question is did he commit the crime and what is the prescribe punishment. The judgment of guilt or innocence cannot be based on who you are or what else you have done.

The advice in Revelation 18 is that God’s people “come out” of such a nation so that they will not share in her sins or receive her punishment. We have been more focused on avoiding the punishment and less aware of what it means to share in the sins of our nation.

If you want to know if you are “sharing in the sins” of your nation here is a good first step. Get a piece of paper and write down the top ten sins of your country. If you can’t think of ten can you name five? What about three? Ok, let’s just name the greatest sin of this nation.

If you can’t name the sins of your nation then it is likely you are participating in them yourself. Ask God to show you how your country is sinning against Him and determine to leave the party before the fire falls in judgment.