What Causes A Nation To Collapse?

 
Zeph. 3:1-2 - Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled, The tyrannical city!
2 She heeded no voice, She accepted no instruction. She did not trust in the LORD,
She did not draw near to her God. NASU 

• Who Are We Talking About Here? 

For those of you who may not be familiar with Old Testament History I would like to fill in some blanks. Therefore, this Pump Up will be a little bit longer than normal.
 
Let us start with Moses leading the children of Israel out of Egypt and the time for this Exodus event would be 1446 BC.
 
You will want to know that the nation of Israel consisted of 12 Tribes at this time. These 12 tribes would split after the death of King Solomon (approx. 930 BC) and they would be known as the N. Kingdom, or Israel, or the 10 tribes. All three of these names refer to the same people or place.
 
The remaining part of this split would be known as the S. Kingdom, or Judah, or the 2 tribes. Also, you will want to keep in mind that the city Jerusalem was situated in Judah or the S. Kingdom.
 
The prophet Zephaniah is talking about the city of Jerusalem and what remains of the S. Kingdom or Judah.  Many believe the time to be around 630 BC.
 
The N. Kingdom has already been conquered by the Assyrians in 722-721 BC. The destruction of the S. Kingdom is about to happen in 606 BC. They will be conquered by the Babylonians. 

• How Is Judah Going To Collapse? 

Zephaniah is very clear on why Judah's collapse is going to take place when he says,
"Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled,
The tyrannical city!
She heeded no voice,
She accepted no instruction.
She did not trust in the LORD,
She did not draw near to her God…"
 
The Tyrannical city is a reference to Jerusalem which is a part of the S. Kingdom or Judah.

This collapse is going to happen because the Jewish people would not listen to the prophets that were sent to them by God (Jeremiah, Zephaniah, Joel, and Habakkuk are a few of the prophets who spoke to Judah at this time).

The Jewish people would not trust in the LORD and they would not draw near to God according to Zephaniah. 

• What Causes People To Not Listen To God? 

I could write Pump Ups for the next year and still wouldn't put a dent in what causes people to not listen to God.
 
What caused the Israelites to not listen to God?
 
One reason is they wanted to be like their neighbors.

We can plainly see this in 1 Sam. 8:19-20 - Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, "No, but there shall be a king over us, 20 that we also may be like all the nations, that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles."
 
They wanted to be like other nations. They had God as their king but this was not enough. They wanted a human king so they could be like other nations.
 
When in bondage in Egypt they wanted to be like the Egyptians. When they lived near Assyria they wanted to be like the Assyrians. They have constantly wanted to be like their neighbors.
 
If you will remember in the Garden of Eden the serpent tempted Eve with she could be like God if she would eat of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.

The devil will always try and make you believe there is something wrong with you, there is something missing in your life, or that you could be happy if you owned this product, lived in this house, town or state.
 
For the Israelites they engaged in offering sacrifices to other foreign gods, worshipped in ways strictly forbidden in their Torah and offered sacrifices to Baal, Molech or Ashtoreth in order to be like their neighbors.
 
The fallacy in the devil's logic is it is all based on a lie. In the garden, Adam and Eve were already like God. You will remember God said, "Let Us create man in Our image..." (Gen.1:26).
 
They were spirit beings as is God a Spirit Being.
 
What causes people to sin is not being content with who God has made them to be. You don't have to look very far in our own country to see people who are discontent with who they are.
 
What will happen is after they make the change they will likewise find out this doesn't lead them to being happier than before. 

• What Causes A Nation To Collapse? 

The collapse will come when the people refuse to be what God wants them to be. The further Israel got a way from God and His ways the deeper they went into ungodliness.
 
What was Israel and Judah's final outcome?
 
God allowed both of them to be conquered by foreign countries. In 722-21 BC the Assyrians conquered the N. Kingdom and in 606 BC the Babylonians would conquer the S. Kingdom as previously stated.
 
You will remember that in Jerusalem was the temple that Solomon built. The Jewish people never thought God would allow the temple they built to worship Him in would be destroyed, but it was.
 
God doesn't care about the buildings we build. God cares about the lives we lead to Him.
 
The best thing Christians can do for the USA is lead more people to become believers in Jesus Christ.
 
Only God knows how long it will be until the collapse of the USA.
 
So what causes a nation to collapse? The answer is Not Worshipping God according to His Word.
 
Think About These:
 
The person who expects to go to heaven must take time to study the route that will lead him/her there.
 
Heaven is a state of thankfulness for having received what we didn't deserve and for not receiving what we did deserve.

Stay Pumped,

Gary A. Serago
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Minister of God's Word