Psalm 22:27-28: “All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, 28 for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations.” 

I want to show you from Scripture the extent of God’s involvement in the affairs of nations, their rise and fall, and the establishment of their governments; then we can meditate together on our own world. 

The TV talking heads and pundits are analyzing the recent election. They are asking, What happened?  I’m sure much of what they say is valid; there are logical, strategic reasons Bush won by such a margin. But what they overlook is the simple fact that far more Americans agree with the Christian value system than they do the value system of the Democrats, with their abortion on demand, gay marriages, partial-birth abortion, higher taxes and more government involvement in our lives.

 But the overriding thing that they all overlook is that God determines the rise and fall of nations, and who serves as their leaders. 

Daniel 2:20-21: “...“Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. 21 He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.”  

This is a general statement about the nature of reality: Even great empire builders like Cyrus the Great were tools in God’s hands. God calls Cyrus His "Shepherd," and His "Anointed" (Isaiah 44:24-45:7). 

The prophet Isaiah seems to say that even the rise and fall of secular states and heathen nations revolve around the affairs of God’s people. 

Isaiah 45:4-6: “For the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen, I summon you by name and bestow on you [i.e. Cyrus] a title of honor, though you do not acknowledge me. 5 I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me, 6 so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting men may know there is none besides me. I am the LORD, and there is no other.”   

And remember the Book of Jonah, and all the other prophets. God did not want to see Nineveh, even that wicked city, destroyed; so He sent Jonah to preach repentance. And when the city-state repented, God spared them. Though God does not hold heathen nations to the same standard that He held Israel, He nevertheless does judge them according to His righteousness and justice. 

Though all of the heathen nations have a connection to God's people, it is a mistake to think that God cares nothing for peoples and nations, except as they relate to His people—whether Israel or the Church.  Remember Sodom, which He destroyed because of their wickedness, and Nineveh, which He spared because of its repentance. 

We see this further illustrated in the following scriptures: 

Genesis 15:13-16: “Then the LORD said to him, 'Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and ill-treated four hundred years. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterwards they will come out with great possessions. 15 You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.'” 

Leviticus 18:20-29: “Do not have sexual relations with your neighbor’s wife and defile yourself with her. 21 Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed [Or to be passed through the fire] to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD. 22 Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable. 23 Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion. 24 Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. 25 Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. 24 Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled: 25 Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. 26 But you must keep my decrees and my laws. The native-born and the aliens living among you must not do any of these detestable things, 27 for all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled. 28 And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you. 29 Everyone who does any of these detestable things — such persons must be cut off from their people.” 

Certain acts are detestable to God whether they are done by His people or those outside His covenants. And nations that tolerate such things defile their land, and God will cast them out. 

Many, many Christians were praying for the defeat of the Liberal agenda for America. But if Kerry had won, it would have been God who determined the outcome. Does that mean that Bush is God’s man? No. For God determined also that Bill Clinton should govern the U.S. for eight years, and many of us consider him God's punishment rather than God's man. 

Acts 17:26-27: "From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. [pretty direct involvement, wouldn't you say?] 27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out and find him, though he is not far from each one of us." 

Notice how, in the following scripture, God’s providential control reaches all circumstances—directing of the righteous, punishing the proud, and even using the wicked for His own ends, and causing a man’s enemies to suddenly be at peace with him (Proverbs 16:1-7; 21:1).

Proverbs 16:1-7: “To man belong the plans of the heart, but from the LORD comes the reply of the tongue. 2 All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the LORD. 3 Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.  4 The LORD works out everything for his own ends — even the wicked for a day of disaster. 5 The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished. 6 Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the LORD a man avoids evil.  7 When a man’s ways are pleasing to the LORD, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him.” 

Secretly and invisibly, behind the scenes (as it were) God directs us, determines the way we take. If we bring Him into our plans, He blesses them and makes them succeed.  He even catches the wicked in their own net and uses them to bring about His judgments. He gives His beloved peaceful sleep, making even their enemies leave them alone. 

But let us focus on one verse in particular: “The LORD works out everything for his own ends — even the wicked for a day of disaster.” Over and over in the Bible God uses men to carry out His judgments on other men, or to otherwise fulfill His purpose. 

Perhaps the best known examples of God’s use of the disobedience of evil men to carry out His benign purposes are the examples of Joseph and of Jesus Christ. 

Genesis 50:19-20: “But Joseph said to them, 'Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?  20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.'” 

Acts 2:22-23: “Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men [lawless men. i.e. Gentiles], put him to death by nailing him to the cross.” 

Does this not sound as though God attends to the moral condition of tribes and nations, holds them responsible to His moral law, and judges them according to His righteous standards? 

The fact is that God is intimately involved in the destiny of all nations, in their rise and fall, in blessing righteousness and punishing evil and injustice. 

Proverbs 14:34: “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.”

Jeremiah. 18:7-10: “If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, 8 and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 9 And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, 10 and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.” 

Psalm 22:27-28: “All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, 28 for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations.” 

Daniel 2:20-21: “...“Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. 21 He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.” See Acts 17 for a NT statement of the same principle: "

God is involved with all the nations; and though He doesn't hold them to as high a standard as He did Israel, still He judges them according to the moral law. He prospers them and brings them down. Obadiah is about the judgment of Edom. The book of Zephaniah speaks of judgments against Philistia, Moab and Ammon, Ethiopia, and Assyria. The fact that these countries border on Israel does not imply, as some contend, that God is only concerned with heathen nations insofar as they affect Israel. As we saw above, God rules over all tribes, nations, and peoples according to His moral law.

Remember that He withheld judgment on Palestine for 40 years because, He said: "For the sin of the Amorite has not reached full measure" (Gen. 15:16). When God was about to take Israel across Jordon, He said that it was because of the wickedness of the Palestinian people that He displaced them: "Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. 25 Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants" (Lev. 18:24-25).

To sum up, I will say this: God judges nations today according to His moral law just as He has always done. He blesses righteousness and curses iniquity. But since we are not prophets, we can’t say of this or that event that God is judging for such and such a reason. We cannot say that the nation to which a disaster occurs is more wicked than other nations. We can only say that “All of God’s judgments are just” even though they are also “a great deep”—we can’t know God’s full mind or intent. Righteousness will still “exalt,” that is, bring blessing to a nation; and sin is still a reproach to any people, and will lead to judgment.

Amen