England has had its coronation. Why am I thinking of the prophet Jonah* and his message: ‘Forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown ( destroyed)!’ The King of Nineveh put on sackcloth, sat in ashes, and declared a three day fast of eating and drinking and that everyone should cry to God repenting of their wicked ways and violence. Dare I say that is what we should be doing – not having street parties.
There is a wonderful song, 'What Wondrous Love Is This'. Someone gave me a CD of Tennessee Ernie Ford singing it and I especially love one line: 'Christ laid aside His crown for my soul...' **
If only the new person in London would set aside the crown, kneel down and declare a national time of repentance.
The fast in Nineveh extended even to the animals, which were also covered in sackcloth. The entire huge ancient city was full of cries, people begging God to forgive their sins, and hungry animals crying for food and water.
God observed all this and had mercy on Nineveh for a long period.
We show no sign of repenting of anything, but we have offended Almighty God and his patience is not infinite.
How have we offended Him?
. Child murder, 10 million babies aborted just in the UK.
. Denying God as Creator, for which there is no excuse (Romans 1:20)
. Denying that God made us male and female (Genesis 1:26,27)
. Profaning God's name, even children doing this (Exodus 20:7 God will not count us guiltless!)
. Putting false gods on the same level as the living and true God of the Bible
. Failing to pass on the faith to our children
. Mixing the DNA of men (created in God's image) with animals
. Sexual sins of all description
. We call evil good and good evil (Isaiah 5:20)
We are now at the point of Romans 1:28, ‘God gave them over to a reprobate mind.’ Many people no longer have sound minds. They cannot think straight. They cannot tell good from evil.
In Britain we are even being asked to utter, to speak out loud, an oath of allegiance as the coronation is shown on TV - even though the Lord Jesus told us to swear no oaths!
That is at Matthew 5:37, meaning that we should be extremely careful what we vow. Hitler's military all swore an oath of allegiance to him, and when they were later ordered to commit all sorts of atrocities, they were only keeping their oath and following the orders of their leader.
If people take this oath, they have no idea what will be required of them in the future.
So if we are grieving at all this, what can we as individuals do to be saved? 1 John 1:9,10 tells us: ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned , we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.’
That is so obviously what we should be doing. Instead Britain is closing roads for street parties.
And by the way, I am no ‘holy Joe’. The Lord Jesus came into my life in 1981, as I was on my knees repenting of my sins and begging him to let me be one of his people, which I did not and do not deserve. He wants everyone to come to Him for forgiveness and mercy and He said He will never turn anyone away.
*The book of Jonah is literal, not a fairy story. How do we know? Jesus believed it , see Matthew 12:40. Incidentally, Nineveh was destroyed, totally.
**Our son-in-law and daughter, Michael and Annie Nissim, played this song at their wedding reception and although there was much joy and hilarity at the reception, they gave honor to the Lord Jesus and His great sacrifice on the cross for anyone who will confess Him as Lord and follow Him. Michael is pastor of Nahariya Messianic Fellowship in Nahariya, northern Israel.
