A brief little tidbit for you tonight - an exercise in simple logic...
Note the picture that I included in this post - it is a small portion of the stunning views that one finds in the ancient city of Ephesus (in modern day Turkey). It is easy to be swept up in the brilliance of the stone-work or the mastery of the carvings. And for good reason; the stunning reliefs draw "oohs" and "ahhs" from millions of tourists every year.
The sites are traps for suckers like me who are inexorably drawn to history (it has been a passion of mine since birth). And yet - the obvious question is so often left unasked...
If these civilizations were once so imposing - if they represented the pinnacle of advancement during their time... What happened?
Think. The two common denominators that consistently crop up when one tours these citadels of antiquity are as follows: 1 - They were known to be bastions of idol worship and debauchery, devoted to one pagan god or another. 2 - they are all RUINS.
This is no coincidence, and Israel is no exception. If you want to know why the only relics that are to be found in Jerusalem are ruins from antiquity, you need look no farther than this same simple fact. When they turned their backs on God and worshiped the idols of the world, their fate was no different than all the others.
Civilizations that worship anything or anyone other that the One and Only God is ultimately doomed to this fate. There have been no exceptions, nor will there ever be. A great flood wiped out the first 1400 years of history, and pinpoint judgements befell the others by means of war, famine, plague, and natural cataclysms that obliterated whole civilizations from the face of the earth. Check out Pompeii sometime - those ruins are some of the most haunting images ever discovered by modern man.
And what will tourists say of our nation in a thousand years? Will they be walking among a thriving civilization of a nation that stayed true to the One and Only God and His One and Only Son, Jesus? Or will they Oooh and Ahhh in wonder over the sandy relics that are left behind to bear witness of our existence, having turned away from Jesus? The decision is ours - and we are trending very poorly at the time of this writing.
We need renewal and revival in the land. We need to cry out in repentance on a national scale. We need to beat back the current hedonism and idolatry that is even now effervescing among so many in our society - an ugly wickedness that can even be found within our churches.
We need to wake up.
Your brother and servant in Christ Jesus our Lord,
Mark Scott Grimmett GoldenLight Ministries