Art Toombs Ministries 

Online Bible Commentary

Is America at Risk of God’s Judgment? 

2 Kings 19: 25 'Did you not hear long ago How I made it, From ancient times that I formed it? Now I have brought it to pass, That you should be For crushing fortified cities into heaps of ruins. 26 Therefore their inhabitants had little power; They were dismayed and confounded; They were as the grass of the field And the green herb, As the grass on the housetops And grain blighted before it is grown. 27 'But I know your dwelling place, Your going out and your coming in, And your rage against Me. 28 Because your rage against Me and your tumult Have come up to My ears, Therefore I will put My hook in your nose And My bridle in your lips, And I will turn you back By the way which you came. (NKJV)

 

This passage is God’s word delivered by Isaiah to King Hezekiah of Judah. At this point in time the nation of Israel has been split in two, Israel and Judah, and each has their own king. 

When you read the book of 2 Kings you find a common theme throughout the book. The common theme is that when each new king is introduced he is identified as either “he did evil in the eyes of the Lord” or “he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord”. 

The kings of Israel almost always were doing “evil in the eyes of the Lord”, whereas the kings of Judah were almost always doing “right in the eyes of the Lord”. 

God plans and ordains destinies for nations based on this theme. “From ancient times” He brings “to pass… crushing fortified cities into heaps of ruins” (v. 25). He will crush those nations that do “evil in the eyes of the Lord”. This destiny has been ordained by God from the beginning. 

Once this process begins the “inhabitants” of these nations will have “little power” (v. 26a). They will be “dismayed and confounded” (v. 26b), wondering why this is happening to them? They will be as “grass”, “herbs”, or “grain” that dies from the ravages of nature (v. 26c). 

The Lord “knows” of evil actions, “your rage against Me” (v. 27). When nations rage against God, He exacts His judgment (v. 28). 

God is a God of patience, but only to a point. In this passage, He finally ran out of patience with Israel’s disobedience and allowed them to be overthrown by Assyria, who crushed “fortified cities into heaps of ruins.” 

Their people, drained of power, were dismayed and put to shame. The people of Israel were deported to Assyria and other foreign lands. They lost their country. 

Assyria had come from the north, conquering all nations before them including Israel, but now they come to Judah. King Hezekiah of Judah “did what was right in the eyes of God”. 

Because of Judah’s faithfulness over the years, God chose to spare Judah. He stopped Assyria in their tracks, and made them return by the way they came. God did this by striking down 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp while they slept and then used the Assyrian king’s own sons to slay him. 

So God spared Judah because of their obedience. However, even though Assyria was an evil country and worshipped another God, God allowed them to overthrow Israel because of Israel’s disobedience. Then, Assyria was also judged, for raging against God. 

Such is the character of God. Leaders who do not understand this and disobey God by their laws and edicts put their countries at risk. Now, America has raged against God…and America is now at risk of God’s judgment.