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God Judges Nations

Is God Judging Nations Today?

Does God intervene today to bless or judge a nation?
Or does God’s judgement wait until the end of the age?

EF5 tornadoes pack destructive winds approaching 300 mph! Few would deny that extreme weather is a world problem, alongside earthquakes, tsunamis, floods and drought. The Bible says that the creation groans and people suffer as a result of the Fall of Man (Romans 8:20-23) and the secularist labels them ‘natural disasters’. Add to this terrorism, fiscal instability, Middle East turmoil etc. and many see all these things as End Time signs.

But whilst the world nears the Second Coming of Christ and His judgement of nations, some also ask:

“Does God intervene in the affairs of nations today? Are some of these events judgements from God? Are there examples of how God judges nations today?”

There are essentially two distinct viewpoints here: The Age of Grace View and The Intervening God View. Some maintain that God’s judgement is deferred until the end of the age, whilst others see God intervening in this present age (often resulting in severe national events).


The Age of Grace View

Since the time of Christ the world has been in an ‘age of grace’ or ‘church age’. During this time God’s kingdom is being built as people turn to Christ:

The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel

Mark 1:15

… behold, now is the day of salvation

2 Corinthians 6:2

… God desires all men to be saved …

1 Timothy 2:4

Taking these and similar texts, many maintain that, because we are in a time of grace, God does not act in today’s world as judge. God is patient and withholds judgement whilst people are drawn into His kingdom (2 Peter 3:9). Taking this view, it is argued that neither people groups, or governments or complete nations are judged at this time. It is argued that God’s judgement only really happens at the end of the age when Christ returns; that is, at the Great White Throne judgment. For example, around this time

All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them one from another . . . (Matthew 25:32)

The Intervening God View

The Bible teaches that it is God’s right to judge nations in real time [ Washington Institute for Faith ]

Does the “none intervention view” align with other scriptures? In particular, does recent history suggest that God judges nations today – in real time – not just in Old Testament (OT) times? Are there modern examples of God’s probable intervention?

Here’s a good reason why God judges nations today. As in OT times, today there are unseen spiritual laws that govern man’s actions, either good or bad. God is not mocked. If we sow to the wind we reap the whirlwind (Galatians 6:7) and that surely applies to individuals, people groups, governments and nations today. For example, history shows that tyrants invariably suffer for their actions during their lifetime (viz Hitler). And the Bible maintains that sexually active gay people can expect God’s judgement during their lifetime (Romans 1:27).

For when the earth experiences Your judgements the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. Though the wicked is shown favour (i.e. God’s grace in NT times), he does not learn righteousness

Isaiah 26:9-10

Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people

Proverbs 14:34

The implication here is that people learn righteousness not only through God’s favour or grace, but also through God’s intervention. And when people learn righteousness they are blessed. This promise of mercy or judgment is clearly stated by the prophet Jeremiah:

At one moment I might speak concerning a nation . . . to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it; if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it. ( Jeremiah 18:7-8)

Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation … to build up or plant it; if it does evil in My sight by not obeying My voice (God’s word), then I will think better of the good with which I had promised to bless it. (Jeremiah 18:9-10)

Here, the word “nation” is a translation of the Hebrew word “goy”.  Whilst “goy” can refer to the nation of Israel itself, it is often also used to describe non-Israelite nations i.e. Gentile nations. Note also that the time of God’s intervention does not seem limited to OT times; it is simply ‘at one moment’ – a time determined by God Himself.

It would seem that God’s blessing or judgement can occur on Gentile nations at any time during this present age. For example, in 1996 God intervened and blessed the Canadian Inuit people when they turned to God.

It is not the aim of this article to point a finger. It merely presents some interesting observations and asks the question, “Are some world events simply what we expect in a fallen world?” Or “Does God sometimes use terrible events to speak to a nation?” Decide for yourself. Of course, the inevitable suffering is a deeply sensitive issue.

God Judges Nations Today:

Why did New Orleans suffer from hurricane Katrina?

August 2005 saw one of the strongest storms to impact the US over the last 100 years. Katrina reached wind speeds of 170 mph and generated 5 inches of rainfall across a large area of SE Florida. In New Orleans the storm surge breached many levees and at least 80% of the city was flooded (some parts being under 20 feet of water). The economy suffered, particularly shipbuilding, the space program and banking. But some facts about New Orleans before Katrina are worth noting:

  • It had half the abortion clinics of Louisiana
  • Its aim was to be in the ‘Top Ten Gay Destinations Travel List’
  • Its mayors welcomed Mardi Gras, Southern Decadence and ‘Girls Gone Wild’ – all sexually explicit (sex acts were performed in full view of the police)
  • The annual Southern Decadence was due to start the day after the levee broke

God hates evil and that includes homosexual acts. When the storm hit, the City Council President said:

Maybe God’s going to cleanse us

Did he know that the girl’s name Katrina means ‘purity, chaste, holy’? Did God send Katrina as a purifying experience?

God Judges Nations that Harm Israel

There is perhaps one action that is likely to invoke God’s anger more than any other. In relation to the nation Israel (the nation chosen by God to be a witness of Himself) God says to her:

I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse (Genesis 12:3)

Anyone who harms you harms my most precious possession (Zechariah 2:8, NLT)

I will be a wall of fire around you (Zechariah 2:5)

I will contend with the one who contends with you (Isaiah 49:25)

No weapon that is formed against you will prosper (Isaiah 54:17)

Those who war against you shall be as nothing, as a nonexistent thing (Isaiah 41:12)

These are severe warnings indeed, especially to national leaders. Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran – take note. Has such judgement happened to nations in recent history? Is it happening even now?

God Judges Nations Today:

Germany Persecuted Jews – and Suffered

This must be looked at from two perspectives. First, after many warnings, God finally gave up His rebellious chosen people (Israel) when they rejected Christ as Saviour:

And all the people said, “His [ Christ’s ] blood shall be on us and on our children” (Matthew 27:25)

How true! This attitude opened up the way for persecution. As predicted by Jesus (Luke 19:44), the Jewish state came to an end in 70 AD and the Romans drove the Jews from their homeland. So began the post-advent dispersion (diaspora) amongst the nations.

By the early 20th century Jews were living in every country of Europe and some 9 million Jews lived in the countries that would be occupied by Germany during World War II. Nazi persecution commenced in the 1930’s and culminated in death camps like Treblinka and Auschwitz. 

The other perspective of the holocaust concerns Nazi Germany itself. The Allied powers eventually brought utter destruction to the country. Estimates of combined military and civilian German war dead range from 5.5 to 6.9 million. Many of these were ordinary Germans who did not support the Nazis. Nevertheless, they suffered as a result of wicked leaders:

When a wicked man rules, people groan (Proverbs 29:2)

Did Hitler’s Nazi Germany bring God’s curse of Genesis 12:3 down upon itself because of its treatment of the Jews?

God Judges Nations Today:

Arab Nations Invaded Israel – and Suffered

Our basic objective will be the destruction of Israel. The Arab people want to fight (Nasser, 27 May 1967)

Arab armies were mobilised, and by June 1967 some 250,000 Arab troops, 2,000 tanks and 700 aircraft ringed Israel, forcing Israel into pre-emptive action against Egyptian airfields. In the subsequent ‘Six-Day War’, the armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon (and later Iraq) attacked.

Israeli Airforce Mirage, Wikipedia
CC BY-SA 4.0

But, despite the huge Arab superiority in armour, aircraft and troops – they were defeated. After the war Israel held the Sinai, the Golan Heights, Gaza, the West Bank and all of Jerusalem. Some 1 million Arabs and all parts of Palestine were now under Israeli rule. The area controlled by Israel after this war (defined by the cease-fire line) was the same area allotted to Israel for Jewish settlement under the 1922 Palestine Mandate!

So was this just another war, or did God judge the Arab nations for their aggression? As already noted, when nations wage war on Israel, God promises to come to her aid.

God Judges Nations Today:

Japan’s long-term antisemitism

– and the 2011 Tsunami

On March 11, 2011 Japan was hit with a magnitude 9.0 earthquake which triggered a 15-meter high tsunami. This was the largest earthquake in Japan’s history and the world’s fourth largest earthquake since 1900. The death toll passed 18,000. Aid can still be given at Help Japan. It also resulted in the Fukushima nuclear disaster and the second worst nuclear accident in the history of nuclear power generation! Contaminated water was released into the Pacific Ocean, link.

Most see this as yet another of the world’s major natural disasters. Such a large earthquake was possibly due to the large size of the fault rupture as well as the speed at which the Pacific Plate is continuously thrusting beneath Japan [U.S. Geological Survey]. But there might be other factors.

Japan’s long-term Antisemitism

The global BDS campaign (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) aims to create economic and political pressure on Israel wrt to land occupation and Palestinian rights. In 2010, after a strong BDS campaign in Japan to boycott Israel, the Japanese retailer MUJI announced that it was cancelling its plan to open a store in Israel.

Of course, boycott action is not unique to Japan and even  western churches support such a boycott. But this was not new in Japan. As far back as 1994 it was noted that ‘Japan was the only major economic power to strictly comply with the Arab boycott of Israel’ (Reingold and Lansing, Business Ethics Quarterly, 1994). And to underscore Japan’s boycott, no Japanese government minister visited Israel until 1998. It is claimed that boycott actions by Japan (and other countries) have hindered Israel’s economy.

In November 2009 the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement “deploring” Israel’s construction in the West Bank. This reiterated a call by Japan “to freeze settlement activities”.

Did God judge Japan shortly afterwards for her long-term antisemitism (as in Genesis 12:3)?

God Judges Nations Today:

Britain’s economic, political and moral decline

In 1917 A.J. Balfour (Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, British Foreign Office) stated:

His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.

Britain Betrays the Jews

In 1922 the League of Nations gave Britain the Mandate to see this homeland implemented. But almost immediately Britain cut away 77% of the original mandated area for the Jews to create what later became known as Jordan. The East Bank was therefore given to Britain’s Arab allies! In 1923 Britain traded the Golan Heights (again originally part of the Mandate) to France in exchange for the oil-rich lands of Mosul in Iraq.

Then, in 1939 a British White Paper limited Jewish immigration to Palestine to only 75,000 immigrants over a five year period. This policy repudiated the Balfour Declaration and Britain’s Mandate just at the time of greatest need for a sanctuary for Jewish refugees. Finally, in 1948 Britain gave up and turned over her Mandate responsibility to the UN. Britain then withdrew from Palestine.

Some commentators see Britain’s betrayal of Israel (land trading and immigration restriction) as reprehensible. Given a unique opportunity to help Israel, Britain failed!

Britain’s Decline

It is interesting to observe what has happened to Britain since WW II. Consider:

  • In 1950, British output per head was 30% ahead of the 6 founder members of the EEC, but within 50 years it had been overtaken by many European countries
  • The British Navy dominated the world’s oceans until WW II. Today the British Navy is a shadow of its former self
  • Between 1945 and 1965, the number of people under British rule outside the UK fell from 700 million to 5 million
  • In 1967 Britain passed the Abortion Act, resulting in over 10 million lost lives. In the same year the Sexual Offences Act (England and Wales) decriminalised private homosexual acts. Both Acts might be seen as contributing to Britain’s moral decline
  • In 1993 there were more than 1,000 BSE cases per week involving more than 50% of the dairy herds in the UK
  • In 1999 Britain had a higher proportion of children in poverty than any other western European nation
  • After WW II Britain continuously devolved power to Brussels. There were typically 650 new EU laws each year using Statutory Instruments to bypass the UK Parliament. Britain left the EU in 2020.
  • Since the financial crisis of 2008–09, Britain’s economic growth has been slower than in the US, the EU27 and Germany [Institute of Fiscal Studies, 2024]

Is God judging Britain because of her treatment of Israel? Many believe Britain’s decline since the end of WWII to be a good example of how God judges nations when they treat Israel badly.

America for Judgement?

Land Division

There has been strong Congressional support for Israel for many years. Congressional resolutions unanimously passed an endorsement of the 1917 Balfour Declaration, and the U.S. was the first nation to grant de facto recognition to the new Jewish State in 1948. Some reasons for this special relationship can be traced to America’s Jewish roots.

Also, in contrast to Japan, the U.S. has anti-boycott laws to prevent or discourage U.S. companies from boycotting trade with Israeli companies. And today the U.S.-Israeli alliance provides Israel with strong diplomatic, economic, and military support ($3.3 billion annually as of 2024).

But the U.S. still lays out a moral and philosophical case for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem, and in this it is supported by the Arab League, the EU and Russia. According to the Bible this is a dangerous stance: God does not look on favourably at those who divide up His land:

I will gather all the nations . . . I will enter into judgement with them there . . . they have divided up My land (Joel 3:2, emphasis added)

As pointed out above, God judges nations who do evil in His sight (Jeremiah 18:9-10). So how a nation treats Israel is one issue; how a nation rejects biblical morality is another.

Morality

By 2003 all sodomy laws in the U.S. had been repealed, overturned or invalidated – in defiance of God’s word on homosexuality. This was achieved through state leaders (courts) or by the Supreme Court. The next step away from God is same-sex marriage. The Respect for Marriage Act, a federal law passed in 2022, requires states to recognize same-sex and interracial marriages across state lines. 

So, like ancient Israel, America is being led into defiance of God’s word by her leaders:

The leaders of this people cause them to err, and those who are led by them are destroyed (Isaiah 9:16)

Will America’s stance on Israel’s land and her defiance of God’s moral law lead to God’s judgment and her destruction?


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