He Won't Be Silent Forever
January 26, 2019
6 years ago this week, John Piper posted, "We Know They are Killing Children--All of Us Know." 6 years later, New York has passed and celebrated a bill that would allow a mother to abort her baby up until the point that the baby was born. CBS actually posted an article with the title, "New York Passes Law Allowing Abortions Up Until the Baby's Born," only to change the title to, "New York Passes Law Allowing Abortions At Any Time If Mother's Health is at Risk." It appears that the conscience of the members of the editorial team awoke momentarily. However, instead of lamenting the hellish evil of abortion and calling for national repentance, they merely tidied up their wording.
After passing the legislation of the slaughter of more children, New York lit up the spire of One World Trade Center to celebrate the demonic evil. At the bottom of One World Trade Center is a memorial with the names of the unborn children who lost their lives in the 9-11 attacks. This strange twist further shows that our country knows that we are slaughtering children--the most morally reprehensible act imaginable. Yet, we keep marching forward, protecting and legalizing a social evil that surpasses just about every other genocidal monstrosity in human history. It is estimated that under Stalin, 23 million men, women and children were brutally murdered, under Hitler, 17 million were tortured to death; but, under the red, white and blue, close to 60 million helpless, unborn children have been ripped apart in the womb--which, as we all know, is supposed to be the safest place for a child.
When I was a boy, my father used to say, "Our country has got to stop slaughtering babies. It's only a matter of time before God judges this country for all the innocent blood we have shed." He said that 30 some years ago. So, Why hasn't God overthrown us yet? Why has He allowed this demonic evil to persist?
The Scriptures teach us much about the silence of God in the face of persistent and widespread evil. In Psalm 50:21, after rebuking Israel for their wickedness, the Lord said, "These things you have done, and I have been silent;
you thought that I was one like yourself.
But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you." As Habakkuk the prophet looked at the violence and evil in Israel, he cried out, "O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you 'Violence!' and you will not save? Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong" (Hab. 1:2). God responded by reminding Habakkuk of the judgment he was about to bring,
"Look among the nations, and see;
wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days
that you would not believe if told. For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
that bitter and hasty nation,
who march through the breadth of the earth,
to seize dwellings not their own" (Hab. 1:5-6).
If there is one thing that we learn in Scripture it is that the Lord will not stay silent forever. God will rise up against any nation that practices the wickedness that we have practiced in America. No veneer of moral rectitude will stay the hand of the infinitely holy Judge of all the earth. While God seems to have remained silent in exercising judgment, He has not remained silent in Scripture. Whatever judgment He withholds and whatever judgement He will send, Scripture teaches us that we are meant to turn from the evil of our ways and trust in Him for the mercy and grace that He offers in Christ.
In 2 Peter 3:9, Peter took up the question about the ultimate silence of God. Why has God delayed His return to consummate His purpose in human history, exercising eternal judgment on the ungodly and bestowing eternal salvation on those He redeemed in Christ? Simply put, He is giving men and women, boys and girls time to repent of the evil of their ways. Peter wrote, "The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." So the proper response to the silence of God in judgment is to rend our hearts before Him over the wickedness of our personal sin and over the sin of our nation. We should cry out to Him to overthrow this Satanic evil; and, we should cry out to him to grant repentance to our nation. If we don't, it won't be long. Scripture and history both bear witness to the fact that He won't be silent forever.
