PRÉCIS ON GOD’S WRIT OF DIVORCEMENT FROM THE AMERICAN CHURCH

SCRIPTURE. “O God, why do You cast us off forever? Why does Your anger burn and smoke against the sheep of Your pasture? [Earnestly] remember Your congregation which You have acquired of old, which You have redeemed to be the tribe of Your heritage; remember Mount Zion, where You have dwelt.

Direct Your feet [quickly] to the perpetual ruins and desolations; the foe has devastated and desecrated everything in the sanctuary. In the midst of Your Holy Place Your enemies have roared [with their battle cry]; they set up their own [idol] emblems for signs [of victory]. They seemed like men who lifted up axes upon a thicket of trees to make themselves a record. And then all the carved wood of the Holy Place they broke down with hatchets and hammers. They have set Your sanctuary on fire; they have profaned the dwelling place of Your Name by casting it to the ground. They said in their hearts, ‘Let us make havoc [of such places] altogether.’ They have burned up all God’s meetinghouses in the land.” – PSALM 74:1-8, AMPC

KEY TERM: “CAST US OFF (FOREVER).” ‘Zanach’ [זָנַח]: From a primitive root meaning, “‘To push aside, reject;’ to forsake, fail [to recognize]; to cast away, remove far away; to spurn (in great anger); to stink, emit a stench [by indifference or betrayal]; to throw away, as any thing useless or vile; to refuse to receive; to slight; to despise.”

QUOTATION. “In school I ended up writing three different papers on ‘The Castaway’ section of Moby-Dick, the chapter where the cabin boy Pip falls overboard and is driven mad by the empty immensity of what he finds himself floating in. And when I teach school now I always teach Crane’s horrific ‘The Open Boat,’ and get all bent out of shape when the kids find the story dull or jaunty-adventurish: ‘I want them to feel the same marrow-level dread of the oceanic’ I’ve always felt, the intuition of the sea as primordial nada, bottomless, depths inhabited by cackling tooth-studded things rising toward you at the rate a feather falls.” ― DAVID FOSTER WALLACE, A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments, 1998; edited

COMMENTARY. “This Psalm appears to describe the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Chaldeans. The deplorable case of the people of God, at the time, is spread before the Lord, and left with Him. They plead the great things God had done for them. If the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt was encouragement to hope that He would not cast them off, much more reason have we to believe, that God will not cast off any whom Christ has redeemed with His own blood. Infidels and persecutors may silence faithful ministers, and shut up places of worship, and say they will destroy the people of God and their Religion together. For a long time they may prosper in these attempts, and God’s oppressed servants may see no prospect of deliverance.

‘But there is a Remnant of [true] believers,’ the seed of a future harvest, and the Despised Church has survived those who once triumphed over her. When the power of enemies is most threatening, it is comfortable to flee to the power of God by earnest prayer.” – MATTHEW HENRY, Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, 6 vols., 1708-1710; edited

DK. It will certainly come as little surprise to most of you that I see crystal clear ‘Parallels’ drawn in the historic sand between ancient Israel and contemporary Amerca here. More specifically, between God’s people of old and God’s people of today – the Christian Church. And quite frankly, the lessons are hideous.

• First: The Jews presumed that because Yahweh had saved them in so many ways before, that they could trust Him to do it still again – despite their Sustained Rebellion against His Law. Well now, sound familiar, all you ‘Once Saved Always Saved’ folks out there? Our conduct matters not; we are saved despite any of it, whether contrition is present or not.

• Second: The Jews knew they were in desperate straits since their enemies had begun to overwhelm them in battle, thus rendering them under increasingly despotic rule. They therefore repaired to God in fervent, collective prayer under those circumstances not realizing that God refuses to answer such disingenuous prayer (or praise!) from a people that had turned Hypocrites, and worse, Blasphemers.

• Third: They failed to realize the Consequence of their failures to honor their Lord and became utterly shattered when His Judgements against what might have been called ‘The Establishment Religious,’ but ultimately would preserve and defend and honor ‘The Remnant (Jewish) Church’ in that time. As He most assuredly will the True Christian Remnant today, beloved!

This does not mean we shall not experience hardship; on the contrary. JESUS said it plain: “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.” – MATTHEW 15:20, NKJC

CODA. So there it is once again, staring us straight in the spiritual face: If we ‘Choose to remain’ with Him’ in some honor, He shall honor us in return. But He must abandon those who willfully and brazenly ‘Abandon Him.’ It has always been this way, beloved, and shall ever be so.

Until Time itself has come to its end. Selah.