We have dealt very corruptly against Thee, and have not kept Thy commandments, nor the statutes nor the judgments, which Thou commandest Thy servant Moses. Nehemiah 1:7
They called it the Grand Pride Wedding, and it was one of the highlights of Toronto’s now famous World Pride celebrations. More than 115 gay and lesbian couples gathered at the Casa Loma in Toronto to be ‘married’. The city rolled out the red carpet for the huge event, which was attended by thousands of guests and promoted and reported by dozens of media outlets. Such a spectacular event would have outdone anything ever known in Sodom and Gomorrah. Although they called it pride, the entire spectacle was deeply shameful and disgusting, totally contrary to the principles and direct commandments of the Word of God. This event is one of the worst examples of what Nehemiah referred to in his prayer when he said ‘We have dealt very corruptly against Thee’. God judged Israel for that corruption, and He must also judge Canada.
Nehemiah was deeply grieved over conditions in Jerusalem To hear of the walls broken down and the gates burned, and to know that the people were under great affliction, caused Nehemiah to go into a period of deep grieving. In his prayer, Nehemiah acknowledges the cause of the judgment against Jerusalem. Disobedience to the Word of God must always be punished. God is not mocked, and all who seek to do so will pay the full price. The depths of corruption, immorality, and outright rejection of God and all that is good has radically worsened in recent years. The truths of the Bible are openly mocked and challenged, and people openly laugh in the face of God. Men have never escaped the judgment of God in the past for such rebellion and sinfulness, and they will not escape it now. As we study the book of Nehemiah, we see a wonderful recovery of the people of God, a wonderful restoration of the worship that God intended, a rejoicing in the goodness of God in allowing godly order to be restored in Israel. But it began with a full confession of wrong, and a deep repentance before God. That will not happen around us today, because the world is rapidly ripening for judgment, to welcome the man of sin, the antichrist. What remains is for the Christians to not be dragged away by the depravity all around us, and to restore those things that God commands in our own lives and in our Assemblies.
Compared to the vile world around us, we think we measure up to God’s standards fairly well. And compared to the world, maybe we do. But like Nehemiah did, we should never measure ourselves by those around us but by God’s holy standards. Nehemiah was a good man, devout in his service to God. But he looked at the commandments, statutes, and judgments that God gave to Moses. And he was condemned. He recognized that God’s standards were far higher than his own. We must also recognize this, and confess our own sinfulness. Until we do, we can expect little in the way of God’s blessing. -Jim MacIntosh