Judge of the Nations (Syria)

God is the judge of the nations. He sets the standards for the behaviour of nations.

All the nations will stand before him at the end of history to give an account of their behaviour.

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him (Matt 25:31-32).

God makes interim judgements on the behaviour of the nations through the events of history. When prophets like Jeremiah spoke to the surrounding nations, they declared their failure to meet God’s standards for the behaviour or nations. The prophets also explained what the consequences of this failure would be. God will eventually bring about the downfall of the nation that failed to meet his standards.

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth… He made all the nations.. and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands (Acts 17:24,26).

Modern people no longer believer this. Many Christians don’t. Unfortunately, people who have lost faith in God, look for another power to judge the nations. This is wrong, and dangerous.

God has not delegated responsibility for judging the nations to the President of the United States. Yet, Obama seems to want to take this role with Syria. He has decided that the president of Syria has not met his standards for the behaviour of nations, so he must be punished. He wants to use military force to bring judgment on Syria. Unfortunately, the President of the United States might have the power to act as judge of the world, but he does not have the wisdom.

Presidents of the United States have a long history of looking out for their own interests. They tend to punish nations that they do not like, such as Syria, Iraq and Iran, but they turn a blind eye to the failures of their allies. The King of Bahrain has attacked his own citizens, but he gets away with it, because the US has important military bases on this island kingdom. Saudi Arabia has funded and organised terrorist activity all over the world, but the US president does not judge this nation, because it hold important oil reserves.

Some people want the United Nations to act as judge of the nations. However, it does not have the wisdom to make fair judgments, and it does not have the power to bring judgment evil nations and political leaders. That is why God has not delegated the role of Judge of the Nations to the United Nations Organisations.

John Kerry seems to be saying that the community of nations (whatever that means) sets the standards of behaviour for nations. That only seems to apply when the nations support his view.

I prefer to continue trusting God. He is perfectly wise, so he is the only one who can make good decisions about the rise and fall of nations. He moves slowly, but he will eventually work out his purposes, bring justice to all nations. God is till the judge of the nations.

Political leaders who set themselves up as judge of the nations are usurping a role that belongs to God. That is dangerous move that will eventually lead to their own downfall.