CHAPLAIN’S PAGE: “THEY SHALL BE ASHAMED OF ME”
How many volumes must have been written and sermons preached on the words of Jesus, impossible to tell! Every generation for the past two thousand years has left a wealth of written material on a life which changed history for all time. That short life was the fulcrum point of man’s destiny.
Today we live in an age where commercialism has taken over man’s reason for living. In business every square inch (or should I write ‘metre’?) is expected to produce a financial return. Of course, business must prosper, that is healthy for the economy. However, when it is based on usury it goes against God’s instructions for Israel. Sadly, the warning bells were ignored when the nation was at its most vulnerable stage following the victory of the Second World War. It faced a commercial adversary, Japan. We were stuck in the mindset of the 1930s whilst the rest of the world had moved on. It soon became apparent that we were outside the club. We also made yet another blunder and it was only those who had the Israel vision who were able to appreciate its significance. That blunder was to bypass the Commonwealth nations and cosy up to Europe. From then on it was downhill all the way. The chief architect of that act of treason was Edward Heath who will be long remembered as a traitor. He sold us out on the pretext of it being no more than a trade deal. There were those who saw through his facade of lies, but to no avail.
By now you may be wondering where this potted history lesson on post-war Britain is leading. It all hinges on the words that Jesus spoke to the people and to his disciples recorded in Mark 8:38 “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels”. In so few words Jesus was spanning the next two thousand years and testifying to the fact that his people, the descendants of Abraham would be ashamed of Him and His teaching.
These words are being fulfilled in Britain today. Slowly and surely all traces of what made the nation great are being air-brushed from the national consciousness. Mindless thugs pull down statues of those who changed the lives of millions in under-developed countries. In its place every false religion is thrust before the populace by the media and hardly a squeak of protest is heard. Surely those words of Jesus are being fulfilled before our eyes “They shall be ashamed of me”. How is it possible for such a change of heart to consume a nation in so short a time? A search through the Old Testament will reveal the answer. Israel’s early history was like a see-saw and every generation changed from good to very good, to bad and very bad. Thus has it always been, for Israel is likened to a ‘silly dove’ and a ‘cake not turned’ (Hosea 7:8,11). In spite of our constant waywardness and spiritual blindness God sees the nation in a different light. Isaiah was instructed to write “Who is blind, but my servant? Or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? Who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the Lord’s servant?” (Isaiah 42:19). In human terms this praise of a wayward nation is incomprehensible . If you, an employer was faced with an unruly employee, the P45 would be handed out in no time. But the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob hasn’t handed it out! Why not? Because from generation to generation He is mindful of the everlasting unconditional covenant he made with Abraham recorded in Genesis 17. God is not fickle like man, and when He has made a promise, it stands inviolate for all time.
Praise our wonderful Saviour. Amen.
