God, History and the Nations

 By Bill Muehlenberg - Posted at CultureWatch:

Published September 12, 2023

Good news about rogue rulers and evil tyrants:

A major problem we have as mere fallen and finite creatures is that we lack perspective. We do not see the big picture and we do not consider the long term. Christians can be just as guilty of this as non-Christians. We can too easily become overwhelmed by events going on around us. This can especially be true regarding wicked rulers and evil nations.

I have been around for a while now, and I recall worrying greatly about things like the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc. Communism seemed to be the wave of the future back then. But of course the wall came down in 1989, and over seven decades of godless Communist rule came to an end – at least in that part of the world.

And many empires have come and gone over the centuries, be they the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Romans, and so on. Yet when we see powerful and evil nations today, it still can seem like they are on the ascendancy, and even darker days lie ahead.

Communist China is a case in point. This is one frightening police state which has nefarious global ambitions. Yet it too will one day be no more. Just today I caught a sub-headline that said this: “China’s ‘shadow bank’ sector is on the brink of a potential $4.5 trillion disaster. And the rest of the world could be exposed.”

Whether or not that comes about, we do know that Communist China’s days are numbered, just like every other nation. And Xi Jinping is not invincible, just like every other ruler. This is certainly the message found in Daniel. I am reading again this short but powerful Old Testament book. If its mega-theme is the sovereignty of God, its sub-theme is this: God is in charge of the nations.

Continue here.