The Christ in Prophecy Journal

God, Judgment and the Weather: Call to Repent

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When does God use the signs of nature to call nations to repentance?

Now, more often, God uses signs of nature as remedial judgments to call nations to repentance. Both the Bible and history attest to the fact that God has a pattern for working with nations.

First of all, the Bible teaches beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is the one who raises up nations and He is the one who sets their boundaries. He is the one who gives them purpose and that when a nation begins to rebel against Him, the first thing He will do is raise up prophetic voices to call the nation to repentance. When I say prophetic voices, I’m not talking about people with supernatural knowledge of the future. I’m talking about the gift of prophecy as it operates today, and the way it operated today is that God gives to certain individuals supernatural ability to take the word of God and apply it to contemporary events. When you find a person who can take the word of God and preach about abortion, or preach about the national debt, or preach about same sex marriage, that’s the gift of prophecy. There are people who have that gift.

God raises up prophetic voices to call a nation to repentance. These are people who look at the Word of God and they see the nation is in violation of the Word of God. They know from the Word of God what’s going to happen, not because they have supernatural knowledge of the future, but because they know that God deals with nations according to a certain pattern, and that He will deal with that nation if they don’t repent. And so, they call the nation to repentance.

If the nation refuses to repent, then God sends remedial judgments. He will send one after another after another. These can take many forms. It can be economic calamity. It can be military defeat. It can be weather phenomenon. And finally, if the nation sets its jaw against God and refuses to repent, God will then deliver the nation from judgment to destruction. The Bible says this over and over. It uses a very special phrase. It says that God does this, “when the wound becomes incurable.” That’s used by nearly all of the prophets. When the wound becomes incurable is when God moves a nation from judgment to destruction.

There are examples of remedial judgments all throughout the Bible. Of course, the first ones that come to mind are the plagues that God put upon Egypt. Plague after plague after plague called Pharaoh to repentance, calling Pharaoh to bend his knee and give in to what God had ordered through Moses, and finally he did.

When the children of Israel got ready to enter the Promised Land, there was a land use covenant. God said through this land use covenant, “This is your land. It’s for you to use. If you are faithful to me, I’ll give you certain blessings. But, if you are unfaithful, and for example intermarry with the women of that land and you start worshipping idols, then here’s what I’m going to do to you. I’m going to put curse after curse after curse on you.” God would then list all of those curses, and there’s a tremendous number of curses. He talks about how their children would become rebellious, and there would be an epidemic of divorce. He talks about economic failure. He talks about military defeat, and He also talks about weather phenomenon. He said there will be crop failures, there will be pestilence and there will be drought if they were not faithful to Him.

I think of Elijah and Ahab. Elijah confronted Ahab and in summary said, “You are leading this nation to worship Baal. There is only one true God, Yahweh. I’m going to prove it to you! I’m going to speak and it will not rain until I speak again.” And, he spoke! For three and one half years it did not rain until he came back and spoke again. In Texas people would just shake their heads and say, “Man, that guy was a great weather forecaster. We wish we had him on our station.” But, no, this was a supernatural phenomenon of God.

Also, take for example Joel. Joel was the prophet who warned about a locust invasion. You read the book of Joel it’s all about the worst thing that could happen to an agricultural society having a locust invasion that stripped the place bare. These locusts ate the bark off the trees and even the clothes off the clothesline. They had nothing left to offer to God, nothing to feed themselves with, and nothing to feed anybody else with. The people started wringing their hands and saying, “Oh, what bad luck, what bad luck.” Joel got up and said, “I’ve got news for you. It has nothing to do with luck. God sent the locusts, and if you don’t repent, God’s going to send something worse than locusts, He’s going to send an army!” And, they died laughing, because do you know what God did? He sent the army and they were defeated.

Also consider Haggai, a man probably in his mid 80’s who at the time was a very elderly man. I call him “the Harry Truman of the Old Testament.” He was a man who spit words like bullets. The children of Israel had gone into Babylonian captivity, and God in His grace and mercy had brought them back to the land. They immediately laid the foundation of the Temple, and then lost interest. For 16 years the Temple foundation stood there bare while they built and paneled their houses. Finally, God raised up this prophet and He came out one day and said, “I’ve got news for you, listen to me, have you noticed that every time you plant your crops the root rot gets them. Notice that when you replant them a flood comes, and when you replant them again the hail comes, and when you replant them again a windstorm comes.” He said, “Did you know that God sent every one of those disasters, and He’s sending them to you to call you to repentance? Get your priorities in order! Rebuild the Temple of God.” For once people paid attention. They dropped everything and went over there and rebuilt the Temple, and God began to bless them once again.

In the next segment of this “God, Judgment and the Weather” series, we’ll look at exactly who is behind the signs of nature calling people to repentance.

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Dr. David Reagan

Dr. David Reagan is the Founder and Evangelist Emeritus of Lamb & Lion Ministries. He is a life-long Bible student, teacher, and preacher and he led over 45 pilgrimages to Israel. Dr. Reagan was the host of the radio then television program Christ in Prophecy for nearly 40 years.

9 CommentsLeave a Comment

  • “God raises up prophetic voices to call a nation to repentance. These are people who look at the Word of God and they see the nation is in violation of the Word of God. They know from the Word of God what's going to happen, not because they have supernatural knowledge of the future, but because they know that God deals with nations according to a certain pattern, and that He will deal with that nation if they don't repent. And so, they call the nation to repentance”.

    Dr Reagan’s words should be writ large across the internet. Here is the truth, prophets with a lower case ‘p’; not forthtelling their own vain imaginations, but faithfully proclaiming His truth within the context of His written, revealed Word.

    This is also applicable to ‘a’postles!

  • So, if a president, be it Bush, Obama, whatever, creates policies against Israel, or promotes policies like gay marriage or abortion, then I am supposed to think it would be just for my parents, brother, nephews, neices, uncles, aunts, from 1 to 100, to be killed in a weather incident hundreds of miles away from the guy who made the decision???

    Obviously I just don't get this line of thinking.

  • I'm not try to be confrontational, argumentative, arrogant, whatever, I just can't grasp the concept of justice against one by harming another.

  • Billy, 2 Samuel 24 indicates that this is God's M.O. Notice that God's behind the inciting of David to act because of the people's sin. We're not as a nation as innocent as we think we are to be exempt from God's judgment. We're the one's who elected our leaders, right, and God uses their missteps at times to bring us to repentance.

  • Nathan said "We're not as a nation as innocent as we think we are to be exempt from God's judgment. We're the one's who elected our leaders, right, and God uses their missteps at times to bring us to repentance."

    I also read in that chapter "David built an altar to the LORD there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the LORD answered his prayer in behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped."

    So I beg to differ. I AM exempt from God's judgement through the blood of Christ. I do NOT have to pay the price of any sins committed by this NATION. The NATION may have to pay the price but not ME. MY sins were paid for by the ultimate sacrificial offering – the blood of Jesus.

    If I am wrong please tell me how because truly I want to know.

    Now, I could understand if God were punishing the NATION and I may happen to get killed as COLLATERAL DAMAGE like innocents in war zones. Therefore, I personally would not be the target of the punishment but I may be a victim of it.

    Could that be the case? This I could begin to understand.

  • Were talking about two different things here – personal vs. national sin/judgment/repentance. Our leaders would have to repent and follow God for national judgment to end (wouldn't that be nice).

    I think "collateral damage" is an apt description. Empires rise and fall and Christians all suffer through them, but the Lord always provides or brings us Heaven bound.

  • Hello Billy
    You said “So I beg to differ. I AM exempt from God's judgement through the blood of Christ. I do NOT have to pay the price of any sins committed by this NATION. The NATION may have to pay the price but not ME. MY sins were paid for by the ultimate sacrificial offering – the blood of Jesus.

    Genesis 3:16 To the woman He said: "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you."

    Hello Billy

    As a Blood bought believer, as yet still dwelling in my corruptible flesh, I gave birth, first to twin boys then two more sons later. Dominionism would have me believe that I do not have to experience this judgment put onto the mother of all mankind.

    But I DID bring forth my children in pain, it really did hurt, and without medical intervention none of us would have survived. You would think I would never want to go through that ever again, but I did, twice more. Even though MY sins were paid for by the Blood of Jesus.

    What Blood bought Christian man can honestly claim that ‘thorns and thistles’ do not blight his work to sustain himself and his family. ‘Third World’ Blood bought believers know this better than we do in the West.

    God bless you.

    MARANATHA!

  • Billy, were the Apostles not also purchased by the Blood of Christ, yet they too suffered many things by the hand of man and were killed for their witness and testimony. We are not subject to the wrath of Almighty God, yet it is certain that if we do what we are called to do according to His purpose and His will, we will suffer persecution. The Lord does send rain upon the just and the unjust, however when it comes to a nation being a recipient of the wrath of God for their sins, sometimes the innocent can perish with the wicked. Do you believe that all of those who perished in the Holocaust deserved their fate, as they cried out for the Hand of God to rescue them? Their were many believers who also perished in the camps.

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