Israel in the 8th century B.C. was self-satisfied; her churches were full; her people were religious; there was a great deal of activity in her midst; and she believed her material prosperity was evidence of God’s favor. But God and His Word had been forgotten, His law forsaken, and His loving grace taken for granted. Instead of the name of the Lord, Israel ran into two towers – their homes and their temples – prosperity and religion – and God promised to destroy both. They went on their way, climbing the heights of prosperity, never imagining that the end of all that they had attained was just around the corner, as they would be hopelessly dragged off to serve as slaves of Assyria.
Once any people begin to amass expensive homes, power over other people, and large incomes, it is easy for them to find their identity in these things. There is a natural tendency for people to consider their security to be in their stuff. They will go to great extremes to protect that which they imagine themselves to have gained by right – and anything that would threaten their power or their status or their revenue – they will act even in immoral ways to maintain what they presume to be rightfully their own.
The obvious dilemma in Israel 28 centuries ago was the sin of materialism. Do we not face this same problem today? The Israelites compromised God’s Word in order to achieve what they deemed to be success. Are we not falling into the same trap? Why should God not sweep away our western materialistic churches? Why should our pseudo-Christian culture with its mindless worship and endless obsession with sensuality, be any more durable than ancient Israel was?
