God’s Proclamation to Western Leaders

By David Ettinger

Raging Against God
Israel’s Southern Kingdom of Judah had just been invaded by the powerful Assyrians. Their king, Sennacherib, did not accompany his 185,000-soldier army to Jerusalem, instead barking forth terms of surrender and words of outrageous arrogance through his field commander (2 Kings 18:19-35; 19:8-13).

But Sennacherib gave no thought to whom he was bellowing his disdain. Though he thought he was addressing the people of Israel, he was in reality raging against Israel’s God. When a Judean official requested the field commander to speak in Aramaic rather than Hebrew – that the Israelites perched on the wall might not lose heart ­– the field commander spewed:

“Has my master sent me only to your master and to you to speak these words? Has he not also sent me to the men who sit on the wall, doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you? … Has any of the gods of the nations actually saved his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? … Who among all the gods of the lands are there who have saved their land from my hand, that the LORD would save Jerusalem from my hand?” (2 Kings 18:27, 33, 35).

This was an army, political leaders, and a people drunk on their military might, self-perceived glory, and self-sufficiency. And God did not take kindly to it – especially the field commander asking, “Who among all the gods of the lands are there who have saved their land from my hand?”

The Assyrians were about to get an answer to what they thought was a rhetorical question.

Modern-Day Arrogance
Such arrogant raging was not limited to the days of antiquity; they are thriving here in the West.

Speaking for the country in which I live – the United States – I see such arrogant raging thriving in the highest places of government. I see it in the White House as our leaders almost daily trample God’s commands by enacting laws and supporting policies which mock the Bible.

I see it in Congress as elected officials persistently introduce legislation which tramples on God’s standards of holiness. Bills promoting “alternate” lifestyles, gender-acceptance, abortion freedoms, and the expulsion of God and the Bible from public institutions are our leaders’ way of saying to God’s people, “May you eat your own dung and drink your own urine.”

More and more of our elected officials scoff at and demean God, His Holy Word, and His people. We see this in their ridicule of the Bible and increasingly overt anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism. God’s people are constant targets of our new breed of politician, and they wear their disdain like a badge.

I suppose there has always been disdain for God and His people, but for past few centuries at least there has been discretion – a little less conspicuousness – when leaders aired such views.

Now, however, such discretion is gone. More and more of America’s politicians proudly display their God-of-the-Bible revulsion for all to hear, as if to say, “We’ll speak as boldly as we please, and defy your God to save you from our hands.”

Yes, today in the West – particularly here in the U.S. – the arrogance being displayed by our governmental leaders far overshadows that of the Assyrians!

God’s Response
How did God respond to such unbridled arrogance? What did He proclaim to the mighty Assyrians who defied Him? This:

“Whom have you taunted and blasphemed? And against whom have you raised your voice, And haughtily raised your eyes? Against the Holy One of Israel! … But I know your sitting down, Your going out, your coming in, And your raging against Me. Because of your raging against Me, And because your complacency has come up to My ears, I will put My hook in your nose, And My bridle in your lips, And I will turn you back by the way by which you came” (2 Kings 19:22, 27-28).

Interpret the latter part (relative to today) as you will, but know this: Those who arrogantly raise their voice against God, challenge Him, disdain Him, and trample on His commands will feel His wrath: “Then it happened that night that the angel of the LORD went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when the rest got up early in the morning, behold, all of the 185,000 were dead” (2 Kings 19:35).

This is God’s proclamation to the leaders of Western nations who defy Him. Only death awaits – and that in the form of eternal damnation in the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:14-15). As the apostle Paul tells us in Galatians 6:7: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a person sows, this he will also reap.”

As a people redeemed by the shed blood of Jesus Christ, let Christians rein in their bitterness enough that we may pray for our leaders, that their eternal fate may not be unquenchable flames.

But also let us be bold enough to warn those who scorn and abhor God that they cannot win; that they will be severely judged by a holy and righteous God and reap the consequences of their abominable arrogance for eternity!

David Ettinger is a writer/editor at Zion’s Hope, Inc., and has written for Zion’s Fire magazine since its inception in 1990.

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Tagged: Arrogance, Christianity, Defying God, God's Punishment, God's Judgment, Goverment, Politics, Practical, President Biden, the New Testament, The Old Testament, theology, Warning to the West

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