“Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” – Judges 17:6
Many Christians are wondering where the United States of America is regarding our place in history. Curiously, a book of the Bible called Judges serves as an interesting historical comparison. The book of Judges covers the first roughly 300 years of the nation of Israel’s history.
There are three significant parallels between ancient Israel, as reported in Judges, and modern America (I taught from Judges on Deborah, Gideon, and Samson. Visit RealFaith.com to find sermons, transcripts, and study guides for the series).
One, people did not care what was right in God’s eyes and only did what was right in their eyes, despite repeated prior warnings:
- Exodus 15:26: …do that which is right in his eyes…
- Deuteronomy 6:18: …do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord…
- Deuteronomy 12:25: …do what is right in the sight of the Lord.
In Samson’s life as the last judge, he serves as a painful example of doing that which is right in our eyes instead of God’s, which aptly summarizes the Western world.
- Judges 14:1: Samson…saw one of the daughters of the Philistines.
- Judges 14:3: Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.”
- Judges 14:7: …she was right in Samson’s eyes.
Samson was a political leader who did what was right in his eyes, not God’s eyes. Today, our politicians are eerily similar. Today, we have phones and other screens that continually tempt us to also do what is right in our eyes and not do what is right in God’s eyes. The result is that the generation who invented the selfie, who, for the first time in history, decided we all needed to have a camera that faced us, has decided to do what is right in their own eyes.
Two, things get worse and worse. There is a powerful myth of progressivism, based upon a false evolutionary concept, which states that people are basically good and getting better. Subsequently, this myth says that if we encourage people to feel better about themselves, they will naturally become better people. Morally, the Bible says the exact opposite. People are born with a sin nature imputed from Adam, and, apart from restraining forces like our conscience, painful life consequences, the legal system, police officers, soldiers, and potential death, people would spiral into evil at a rapid rate. Apart from people being saved by Jesus, filled with the restraining and renewing power of the Holy Spirit, and living under the authority of God’s Word, they get worse and not better over time.
Three, the same demons at work 3000 years ago continue their work today. Judges 2:19-20 continues, “…going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways. So the anger of the Lord was kindled…”
These powerful demonic forces are referred to as a “god” or the “gods” throughout Judges (2:3, 2:11, 2:12, 2:13, 2:17, 2:19, 3:3, 3:6, 3:7, 5:8, 6:10, 6:25-32, 8:33, 9:4, 9:9, 9:27, 10:6, 10:10, 10:13-14, 10:16, 11:24, 16:23-24, 17:5, 18:14, 18:17-18, 18:20, 18:24 6:25, 20:33). Two of the most prominent demonic counterfeit gods in Judges are Baal and Asherah. He is about power, fame, money, and success, and she is about beauty, lust, pleasure, sex, and seduction. Today, they run most of Western culture in everything from the porn industry to sex trafficking, prostitution, friends with benefits, the abortion industry, adultery, entertainment, and the government. Although we have new people 3000 years later, we are dealing with the same old demons doing the same old things. The issue in both Ancient Israel and the modern West is the same: demonic forces at work result in syncretism that leads to apostasy.
Come back tomorrow where we will dive into what syncretism and apostasy are.
Are there any areas of your life where you are choosing to do what’s right in your own eyes rather than in God’s eyes?
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