THE DARK AGES (BY: John Grace)
THE DARK AGES
(BY: John
Grace)
The
time of the judges (in
Israel) was a dark and distressing time. The days of glory under Joshua
were passed and the new generation of Israelites were left without a
significant leader. There were still nations left to conquer and, to a
small degree, Israel experienced some success. By and large, however,
they failed to completely drive out the heathen nations. Their failure
to obey God's command caused God to not expel their foes from among
them. Instead He chose to leave them there, expelling them "little by
little". He left them there to test the hearts of His covenant people.
Lamentably, they wound up failing most of those tests. With each
failure, God allowed their enemies to overtake them and to ride over
their heads. Once engulfed by their foes, they remembered the God of
Joshua, and cried out for deliverance. Mercy triumphing over judgment,
God sent them triumph by raising up a deliverer (or a "judge"). As long
as the judge reigned, peace and righteousness seemed to reign. However,
as soon as the judge died, Israel forgot the Lord again and resumed
their evil ways. With each cycle of sin, judgment, deliverance, peace,
and then sin again, Israel's apostasy descended into deeper depths of
depravity. They grew further and further from the Lord, and fell deeper
into degradation and apostasy. So much so that even the judges
themselves were not exempt from foolish behavior. The more Israel made
alliances with their heathen neighbors, the more they resembled them,
becoming like them. A good description of their hearts can be found in
Isaiah: "Sinful nation, a people loaded with iniquity, offspring of
evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the Lord,
they have despised and shown contempt and provoked the Holy One to
anger, they have become utterly estranged" (Isaiah 1:4). Judges simply
describes them as those "doing what's right in their own eyes".
These
were the dark ages of Israel's history (although not exclusively so).
Without righteous guidelines and leadership to steer them in the
direction of the Lord, the people lived rudderless. They were as those
who, disregarding righteous precepts, let them slip completely away,
leaving them with nothing but their own vain imaginations. Sadly, this
is exactly the experience here, in today's society and churches. We have
jettisoned the biblical precepts, supplanting them with our own views
of righteousness. We have, by our own backward traditions, nullified the
Law of the Lord; by our own foolish alliances with the world, we have
estranged ourselves to the Lord we claim to serve.
As God did not
completely eradicate Israel's foes then, so He will not with us now. He
leaves things unfinished that He may test us and know our hearts. If we
fail to obey him, we will be overtaken by our sins and become enslaved
thereto (Romans 6:16).
What happened in the dark ages of the judges
befell them by way of an example and warning to us, to admonish and fit
us for right action (I Corinthians 10:11). Joshua warned them what would
happen if they forgot the Lord and went after other gods and followed
the ways of sinful nations. The people, while Joshua gave this very
warning in their sight, vowed not to forsake the Lord and commit
idolatry. Still, Joshua spoke of the dangers of apostasy, and still they
vowed to serve the Lord, even making a covenant to that effect.
Shamefully, they broke it shortly thereafter, and oftentimes since.
We,
today, are in that same situation. We too vow to worship only God and
yet, inevitably veer down the path of disobedience. We are indeed in our
own dark ages. We have, as Isaiah proclaimed, "gone away backward". It
is only by walking in the light of God's truth that we can dispel the
darkness which now beclouds us. It is only by being very watchful of
ourselves to love the Lord our God, that we can escape these dark ages
and be delivered again to righteousness and all of its glorious
benefits. Don't think that you can fool God. Know that whatever seed you
sow, that's the seed you will reap. The only chance we have at
restoring the light of God's favor to these dark ages of apostasy is to
put away our idols from among us and incline our hearts to the Lord
(Joshua 24:23). God has promised that if we will, in repentance, return
to Him, He will give us spiritual shepherds after His own heart who will
feed us with knowledge and understanding and judgment (Jeremiah
3:14-15). He will restore us and receive us again to Himself. So, as
Joshua gave the Israelites an ultimatum, I give you the same: "Choose
you this day whom you will serve" (Joshua 24:15). The choice is up to
you,beloved. But choose quickly, and choose wisely, for these are indeed
dark days (Cf. Ephesians 5:8-
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