On our church website we have an “Ask the Pastor” feature (https://cbccne.org/ask-the-pastor/) where any member of our congregation or any visitor to the website can submit a question to me for a response. It is a way for our flock to interact with me and continue our mutual, spiritual growth through dealing with real life questions that we face.

This week, I received this question:

“With next week being 9/11, are we going to have any recognition of the attack in our service? What is your view of 9/11 from a biblical perspective?”

What a great question from you, seeking a biblical perspective of a major event in our nation’s history. You have given a wonderful example of how we SHOULD see earthly events: all in the context of God’s sovereign plan. That is a sign of spiritual maturity when we have or seek to have a biblical world view for events here.

I have received many such questions in the soon to be 21 years since the attack on our nation. I have always tried to answer from the Bible, simply because my view outside of the biblical perspective is not worth much at all. I would just be another voice jumping into the chaotic fray of human reasoning and seeking retribution.

From a personal perspective, I had a friend and co-worker that was in one of the towers on that fateful day. He made it out of the tower alive and shared his story with me of his march up Long Island on that day with dust and debris raining down on him. He was shell shocked at the events, of course, and, with the subway system shut down, all he could do was march north along with the throng of others mumbling to himself, gazing back at what was, and wondering how it all happened. It took him a few years before he could ever go back downtown, and he struggled to deal with the thought that he made it out alive while some of his friends did not. Survivor’s guilt is real. I wrote about that earlier this year and he was suffering from it (https://cbccne.org/working-through-personal-loss/). As we talked about the event more and more, he became more cognizant of the reason why he felt that way and was able to work through the PTSD to live a normal life until he passed away a few years ago.

To answer the first question straight out of the gate, YES, we will have a recognition of the attack in our service. We should always remember and reflect on the event. We should always pray for the families who lost loved ones and that we will. Many are still seeking closure from the events of that day. There is a group of 9/11 Families organizations that honor those who lost their lives and bring remembrance through many activities and on-going social services (they can be found at https://911families.org/about-us/, if you are interested). As you may remember, I have referenced this organization in the past and written about their misguided protest activities.

The second question is important and worthy of a detailed response, because as the Preacher wrote, truly, “there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Israel and the beloved Jerusalem have been attacked many times in history and I believe there is a pattern in history to 9/11 that should hit us right between the eyes as we seek to understand those events from 2001.

Let’s go back in time and review some of Israel’s history.

Isaiah, after announcing the plan for the coming Prince of Peace, describes how Israel’s arrogance would draw God’s anger (Isaiah 9:8-21). Several characteristics of God’s judgment against Israel appear including bricks falling down, being attacked from all sides, false prophets, a confused population, no pity on the poor, foolish leaders speaking idiocy, burned up lands and eventual civil war. It’s not a pretty picture for Israel and, eventually, Israel falls to Assyria as Isaiah 10 describes. Israel was comprised of the northern 10 tribes and was taken captive into Assyria in 722 B.C.

Why did Israel fall?

Jeremiah records the exact reason for us:

“Now this came about because the sons of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and they had feared other gods and walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD had driven out before the sons of Israel, and in the customs of the kings of Israel which they had introduced.

The sons of Israel did things secretly which were not right against the LORD their God. Moreover, they built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city. They set for themselves sacred pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, and there they burned incense on all the high places as the nations did which the LORD had carried away to exile before them; and they did evil things provoking the LORD. They served idols, concerning which the LORD had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.”

Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah through all His prophets and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments, My statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you through My servants the prophets.”

However, they did not listen, but stiffened their neck like their fathers, who did not believe in the LORD their God. They rejected His statutes and His covenant which He made with their fathers and His warnings with which He warned them. And they followed vanity and became vain, and went after the nations which surrounded them, concerning which the LORD had commanded them not to do like them. They forsook all the commandments of the LORD their God and made for themselves molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal.

Then they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, and practiced divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him.

So, the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them from His sight; none was left except the tribe of Judah” (2 Kings 17:7-18).

In short, Israel worshipped other gods, built high towers for its protection, abandoned and then rejected God’s word coming from the prophets, practiced child sacrifice, and had overwhelming pride throughout the nation that they could not be touched.

Hmmm, any of this sound familiar to you — a nation turning away from God’s commandments, ignoring God’s warnings, following after other gods, boasting about its defenses, finding itself in a protracted (political) civil war all the while beaming with pride?

A Messianic Jew named Jonathan Cahn wrote a book called “The Harbinger” in 2012 about the 9/11 attack and how it fit into the Old Testament prophecy from Isaiah 9 (https://www.christianbook.com/harbinger-ancient-mystery-secret-americas-future/jonathan-cahn/9781616386108/pd/386108). It is a good read and worth the time to peruse its content. There is a documentary movie about the book coming out soon, as well.

A harbinger is a person or thing that announces or signals the approach of another. It is a precursor of the real damage to come. Judah is warned by Isaiah not to be too proud because what happened in Israel to the north was coming its way, also (Isaiah 28). It’s chosen city Jerusalem (called Ariel) is prophesied to fall:

“Woe, O Ariel, Ariel the city where David once camped! Add year to year, observe your feasts on schedule. I will bring distress to Ariel, and she will be a city of lamenting and mourning; and she will be like an Ariel to me. I will camp against you encircling you, and I will set siegeworks against you, And I will raise up battle towers against you. Then you will be brought low; From the earth you will speak, and from the dust where you are prostrate Your words will come. Your voice will also be like that of a spirit from the ground, and your speech will whisper from the dust” (Isaiah 29:1-4).

The conquering of Israel was a warning to the Southern Kingdom: Judah and Jerusalem. You’re next if you don’t clean up your act!

We know what eventually happened to Judah. They followed along with the same rampant abuses that Israel committed. They turned its back on God and followed after others. Ezekiel records many of the abuses in Jerusalem in great detail (Ezekiel 8) revealing that God took him on a ride through the city and showed him animal worship, the worship of foreign gods, and the worship of the sun. God would then tell Ezekiel “Therefore, I indeed will deal in wrath. My eye will have no pity nor will I spare; and though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, yet I will not listen to them” (Ezekiel 8:18). Ezekiel 9 described the bloodshed that was the come. Ezekiel 10 contains one of the saddest lines in all of Scripture, “Then the glory of the LORD departed from the threshold of the temple” (Ezekiel 10:8). God left His earthly house.

Jeremiah warned Judah and Jerusalem again and again:

“The LORD said to me, “Out of the north the evil will break forth on all the inhabitants of the land. For, behold, I am calling all the families of the kingdoms of the north,” declares the LORD; “and they will come, and they will set each one his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its walls round about and against all the cities of Judah. “I will pronounce My judgments on them concerning all their wickedness, whereby they have forsaken Me and have offered sacrifices to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands” (Jeremiah 1:14-16).

In Jeremiah 2, God is reasoning with Judah through the prophet. Why has Israel left Him? Then God says, “My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:13).

Judah turned its back on God like Israel did before them. They had forsaken the Lord and, instead, determined to go it alone. Rather than rely on “the fountain of living water,” they created cisterns in the ground for water that were broken, so that all the water leaked out. I cannot help but recall Jesus’s encounter with the woman at the well where He said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14). The true living water was rejected by Judah.

Judah ignored the harbinger, and instead refortified its defenses, continued its path away from God and, eventually, God abandoned the nation. Judah would be carried away into captivity in 586 B.C. and the great city Jerusalem would remain in tatters.

The Book of Lamentations is a funeral dirge. There are five chapters in the book, perfectly organized with 22 verses in each of the first two and last two chapters with 66 verses in chapter 3. Jeremiah is watching the fall of Jerusalem right before his eyes. He is called the Weeping Prophet for a reason. The sights that Jeremiah had to witness were horrible when Babylon cut off the city and there was no food for the masses (Lamentations 4:9-10). The book is read on special occasions in Judaism, but specifically on the anniversary of Jerusalem’s destruction by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C. and then by the Romans in A.D. 70.

A quick look at Lamentations shows that many saw the destruction of Jerusalem and blamed the Babylonians (Lamentations 1:10). Many then blamed God (Lamentations 2:2-9). Eventually, they realized that they did it to themselves (Lamentations 4:6). Indeed, turn your back on God and you will endure His wrath.

This is God’s wrath on Judah: abandonment for 70 years of captivity in Babylon.

The Apostle Paul described God’s wrath in Romans 1:18-32 where he wrote about the consequences and result of unbelief in an individual and eventually at a societal level.

Paul wrote:

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:18-20).

Paul wrote that God’s wrath is evident on an individual when they reject God in unbelief. The Greek here stresses this is a continual revealing of wrath from Heaven toward those who “suppress the truth in unrighteousness”.

Why? Because God should be evident to them.  Paul wrote that God’s existence was evident within them, and that God made it evident TO them.  How? Everyone should be able to see attributes of God in creation via in His eternal power and in His divine nature, internally understood as being faithful, kind, gracious to all.  Many hold to the belief that God does not exist, or if He does, He is uncaring, unavailable, and unworthy of worship or respect.  This is God who “causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45).  God provides rain to all and brings the sun to all in the world.  Surely, everyone can see that.  Paul wrote that the individuals who suppress the truth that God is the Creator of everything “are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).  They inherently know that God exists, but they purposely determine to ignore Him to their own demise.

Paul wrote that “even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures” (Romans 1:21-23).

Instead of recognizing God for who He is, they chose to honor other gods and give thanks to “Mother Earth,” for example, who is even celebrated by the United Nations via Earth Day (https://www.un.org/en/observances/earth-day). Paul wrote that these suppressors of the truth “became futile in their speculations” so that their “foolish heart was darkened.” Looking for a natural explanation for every event and having a humanist viewpoint of the world is the norm for many in our American society.

We know that an accurate understanding of the truth requires spiritual enlightenment (1 Corinthians 2:14) and therefore we should pray for those unbelieving friends to gain discernment through the presence and influence of the Holy Spirit.  Unfortunately, unbeliever’s “foolish hearts” are now darkened since they “professing to be wise, became fools” resulting in their exchange of “the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.” They replaced God with their own creations and His creation was used for unholy purposes such as the worship of the sun, or worship of the sacred cow. This is exactly what God showed Ezekiel was going on in Jerusalem ages ago (Ezekiel 8).

Mankind continually creates items that people are called to worship such as currency or material assets. Now, rarely do we see the worship of a statue like in the days of Daniel (Daniel 3:8-27) but we have our own “celebrities and heroes” that many worship.  Some of those individuals lead churches or denominations, too.  God will not share His glory with anyone or any created thing (Deuteronomy 5:7-10).

Suppression Brings Wrath

Suppressors of the truth about God face punishment.  Paul wrote about the wrath of God (Romans 1:18).  There are five types of God’s wrath in the Bible, so we need to ask ourselves what type of wrath Paul wrote about. 

God’s eternal wrath is the never-ending punishment in Hell.

God’s eschatological wrath is discussed in detail in Revelation reflecting the events leading up to the Day of the Lord when Jesus returns in judgment.

God’s cataclysmic wrath is shown in events like the flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, or Pompei where the explosion of Mount Vesuvius buried the city in ash.

God’s consequential wrath is the effect of reaping what you sow on the earth – living a lifestyle of excess may lead to an early death.

None of these fit the pattern of Romans 1, though, so we must look to the fifth wrath which is the wrath of abandonment. Abandonment is when God removes the restraints on an individual and lets them go their own way to pursue their sin leaving them to the consequences of their actions.  In truth, unbelievers abandon God and God eventually abandons the unbelievers both at an individual level (Judges 10:13; Hosea 4:17) and then eventually at a societal level.

The Wrath of Abandonment in Romans 1

Paul wrote about three phases or judgments that would occur in a society that abandons God. Paul used a recurring term “gave them over” in each of these judgments, which is the Greek paredōken, meaning “to be delivered to judgment or punishment”. It is used of Jesus being handed over to be crucified (John 19:16) and Jesus willingly giving Himself up for us on the cross (Ephesians 5:2; 25).  It is also used of God punishing angels who sinned by committing them to “pits of darkness reserved for judgment” (2 Peter 2:4).  It is translated “betray” in a number of passages (Matthew 10:21, for example) including Jesus being betrayed by Judas (Matthew 17:22) and the king handing an unrighteous slave over to the torturers (Matthew 18:34).

In Romans 1, Paul wrote that “God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”

The first phase of God’s abandonment of a society is a dishonoring of the human body with lust and impurity. The implication is sexual immorality where societal norms are cast aside to the lust of passion at all costs.  The creature is worshipped rather than the Creator.  Men with increased lust for women and women with increased lust for men looking for pleasure at all costs.  Paul wrote that this is exchanging the truth of God for a lie with fornication.  Jesus also called the Jews out for this behavior (John 8:41-44).

Paul then wrote about the second phase of God’s abandonment on a society when “God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.”

In this second phase of God’s abandonment, the women lead in pursuing relationships with other women.  God created women to have a greater moral compass to some extent.  Women are usually the last to be affected by a moral issue being more reserved and generally more thoughtful to changes in norms. In God’s abandonment, however, the women become the leaders in immoral behavior, setting their desire on a same sex relationship.  Paul called this abandoning the natural function (Genesis 2:24) for that which was unnatural (as Leviticus 18:22 clearly states). The “penalty of their error” in the Old Testament was clearly stated as death (Leviticus 20:13).

Paul then wrote of the third phase of God’s abandonment on a society when the people “did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer.” In the third phase, “God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, [and] malice” (Romans 1:28-29).

Paul described the people in society as “gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful” (Romans 1:30-31).

In the third phase of God’s abandonment, we see His restraint on sin being pulled back precipitously.  The society is filled with depraved or debased minds.  The Greek word here describes someone that is rejected or failed to pass a test, indicating that the individual is not worthy or is useless to God. The individual has been completely abandoned to his own desires. The remaining characteristics Paul wrote about for these individuals is a laundry list of evil which reminds you of the condition of the people in the days of Noah when “the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5).  For the society of Noah’s day, the cataclysmic wrath of God came via a flood.  In the New Testament, the eventual punishment for these individuals will be eternal wrath in Hell.

How many people do you know who are slanderers, or haters of God, or inventors of evil, unloving, and unmerciful?  My guess would be that we all know many like this in our circle of acquaintances. While we long to provide temporary grace to these individuals, Paul wrote that “although they know the ordinance of God, those who practice such things are worthy of death” noting that these individuals have willingly and purposely rejected God.  They are in blatant rebellion of God and “not only [do they] do the same, but [they] also give hearty approval to those who practice [with] them” (Romans 1:32). In the third phase of God’s abandonment, society as a whole celebrates the individual’s sin and their personal rebellion against God.

In the Old Testament, we read of Pharoah’s heart being hardened by God (Exodus 9:12).  In the New Testament, Paul wrote of Hymenaeus and Alexander being turned over to Satan because they “rejected [God] and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith” (1 Timothy 1:20). These are examples of God’s wrath of abandonment on an individual.  At a societal level, we can look to the Rome as a historical example of a society that God abandoned.

In the United States, the Supreme Court has always been a beacon of societal values.  What the Court decides usually reflects the mindset of the culture.  Since Supreme Court justices serve for a lifetime when appointed, there can be a delay before the culture affects the Court’s decisions.

Looking back over some decisions in the last 50 years, it is not difficult to see a pattern that matches Romans 1.

The 1960s were a time of sexual freedom and exploration.  It was called the sexual revolution for a reason.  No longer would the people be restricted the societal norms of the 1950s.  Instead, the era of free love ruled the day.  The sexual revolution included “increased acceptance of sex outside of traditional heterosexual, monogamous relationships (primarily marriage), the normalization of contraception and the pill, public nudity, pornography, premarital sex, homosexuality, masturbation, alternative forms of sexuality.” Free love is a social movement that accepts all forms of love. The movement’s initial goal was to separate the state from sexual and romantic matters such as marriage, birth control, and adultery. It stated that such issues were the concern of the people involved, and no one else. The movement began around the 19th century but was notably progressed by the “hippies in the Sixties” (Wikipedia).

According to the Planned Parenthood website, “the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling on January 22, 1973, not only gave people the right to access abortion legally all across the country — it also prevented many deaths from unsafe, illegal abortions” (https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/issues/abortion/roe-v-wade). Recent changes to that Roe v. Wade decision may have seemed like a reversal but most likely only means a short postponement before Congress puts in a legislative declaration with a similar effect. Even in the past week it was announced that the VA will perform abortions, if needed. The pervasive culture will win the day.

Justice Harry Blackmun’s opinion in that 1973 decision provided all sorts of reasoning as to why abortion should be allowed, but nothing of the events that led to the decision even being brought up for consideration.  The issue of abortion was merely a result of the “consequences” coming from the sexual revolution – unwanted pregnancy. Cultural beliefs were shifting and people wanted to have sex without consequence for their actions.

For those with a biblical perspective, however, it is a reflection of the first phase of God’s wrath of abandonment on America.

The 1960s sexual revolution also began the rise of the feminist movement which carried into the 1970s and 1980s.  Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, homosexuality was still considered a developmental maladjustment by medical establishments, but the gay rights movement took hold after the Stonewall riots in 1969.  According to Judy Rebick, a leading Canadian journalist and feminist activist, lesbians were and always have been “the heart of the women’s movement”, while their issues were “invisible” in the same movement. Sociologist Mary Bernstein writes: “For the lesbian and gay movement, then, cultural goals include (but are not limited to) challenging dominant constructions of masculinity and femininity, homophobia, and the primacy of the gendered heterosexual nuclear family (heteronormativity).” The fact that the acronym LGBT begins with “lesbian” reflects the leadership of women in the movement.

One of the elements of equality that the LGBT movement sought to overturn was the definition of marriage.  One of the lower court cases that led to the Supreme Court’s hearing the case and eventually making a decision on same sex marriage was a lesbian couple wanting to have equal treatment under the tax code which gave an exemption for a portion of inherited assets upon the death of a spouse (for much greater detail on the cases, see the book Awakening: How Gays and Lesbians Brought Marriage Equality to America by author Nathaniel Frank).

On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court held in a 5–4 decision that the Fourteenth Amendment requires all states to grant same-sex marriages and recognize same-sex marriages granted in other states. The decision was celebrated across the world with newspapers in Europe stating that America had finally “grown up”. America celebrated with the White House lit up in rainbow colors (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/same-sex-marraige-legal-nationwide-supreme-court-rules-n375551).

For those with a biblical perspective, however, it is a reflection of the second phase of God’s wrath of abandonment on America.

As far as the third phase of God’s abandonment on America, we have seen a rise in mass shootings and other unimaginable crimes over the past decades.  Larger cities have had numerous moments of frontpage media attention with bombings, school shootings, child pornography, and the current rise in sex trafficking cases. These events certainly reflect the depraved or debased minds that Paul wrote about. The mindset of culture might have not risen to the “continual evil” that Moses wrote about in Genesis 6, but it certainly on its way there with great speed. We can certainly see the characteristics that Paul wrote about reflected in our society. The White House display after the same sex marriage decision is a great example of the “hearty approval” of the people (Romans 1:32) for activities that God describes as an abomination (Leviticus 18:22) which is reflective of a society under the third phase of God’s abandonment.

I should point out here that abandonment of a nation does not mean the abandonment of an individual believer.  God will always have His remnant among the nations. and He promised to never leave His people nor forsake them, nor can anyone snatch His chosen away (Deuteronomy 31:6-8; John 10:29).

For those with a biblical perspective, each year brings more and more of these events leading us to question where we are as a society. America is in the process of being abandoned by God completely.

For many, the thought that America is a “Christian Nation” provided comfort. In reality, however, America was never a “Christian Nation” even though many founders believed in God. Jesus said it Himself, “My Kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). One day in the future, however, it will be true that His kingdom will come to Earth (Revelation 19-20). Until that time we will continue say “Marana-tha” -> Lord, Come!

Moving back to the question of 9/11, I agree with Johnathan Cahn that the attack was a harbinger of judgment to come on America. It was a warning shot for us: if we abandon God, He will no longer protect us as a society. We have been attacked on our own soil 6 times in our recent history. Five of these were a part of the Second World War. 9/11 was the sixth such attack from a foreign agency. There was less than 150 years between the attacks on Israel and Judah. Anyone who thinks that the U.S. is impenetrable is in error. Every day planes piloted by foreigners land on our shores. Vast coastlines are unprotected. No borders are truly 100% secure.

So, how should we continue to view this attack since it was 21 years go?

Looking back to the earlier Lamentations reference speaking of the fall of Jerusalem:

Do we blame the foreign actors (the 9/11 Families organizations certainly have taken that approach)?

Do we blame God for allowing this to happen to us? Many individuals still do that rationalizing “If God was really loving, He wouldn’t have allowed this to happen to us, especially since we’re a ‘Christian Nation’”

Or do we finally come to realize that we have been and continue to abandon God in favor of other gods and we are receiving His wrath for OUR actions?

May our leaders realize that we continue to move away from God and may we pray they repent and turn to Him that our nation may be rescued and healed (2 Chronicles 7:14).

May we continually pray for our country, for local governments to change policy in our schools, and for God to have mercy on our children.

May God empower His church to stand firm against societal decay and continue to preach the truth about God, abortion, homosexuality, and any other practice contrary to biblical teaching.

May all His children be at peace and live in peace with all people as an example of Jesus’s life and ministry (Romans 12:18).

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