Redeeming a Nation (Timeless Teaching)

by Philip Quenby

  Nor is it only fellow believers who need our care, sympathy, support and prayer. The world around us is groaning under the weight of suffering and injustice. This is a direct consequence of human behaviour, itself a result of what men believe and hold in their hearts, which in turn comes back to being for God or against him. If we open our eyes, we will not need to look far to find the “great contest in the face of suffering” (Hebrews 10:32), on our doorstep or further afield. In those circumstances, just like the Christians of former times we need to:

  • “Persevere” (Hebrews 10:36). To persevere means to persist in or with any undertaking, design or course. In a later Christian context it means continuance in a state of grace. Our perseverance means that we will continue on our own personal journey of faith, but it must not stop there. Until we take our faith out into the world we will be doing less than we can and should.

  • “Live by faith” (Hebrews 10:38). To live by faith means that we will slough off the false beliefs and perspectives of the world around us, cease to place our trust in those things which are worthless and instead put all our trust in God: for guidance, health and wellbeing, for all the necessities of life and ultimately for salvation.

  • Not shrink back. To shrink back involves giving way, recoiling or flinching. It is in effect a form of denial, just as Peter shrank back when asked if he were one of Jesus’ followers (see Matthew 26:69-75, Mark 14:66-72, Luke 22:54-62 and John 18:15-18 and 25-27). Hence: “those who shrink back ... are destroyed” (Hebrews 10:39). They are contrasted with “those who believe and are saved.” (Hebrews 10:39). We must remember that “if he shrinks back, I [the Lord] will not be pleased with him.” (Hebrews 10:38).

  We should not retreat into a Christian ghetto, nor allow Christianity to be absent from the public sphere. To do so would be to shrink back and to fail to live out Christ’s Great Commission. When he tells us to: “go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20), that command applies to our own nation just as to any other. This is our “great contest”: a battle for souls between the Kingdom of Heaven and the forces of darkness. We each have a part to play in the fight.

  Coming glory.

  It is a fight that we can undertake with confidence, knowing that:

  • “[Our] confidence ... will be richly rewarded.” (Hebrews 10:35).

  • “[When we] have done the will of God, [we] will receive what he has promised.” (Hebrews 10:36).

  • “For in just a very little while, ‘He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith’” (Hebrews 10:37-38).

  The “better and lasting possessions” (Hebrews 10:34) and the rich reward that the writer of Hebrews speaks of include our salvation in Christ and our future reward in heaven. Like Abraham, we can “[look] forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” (Hebrews 11:10). Daily we need to remind ourselves to focus on eternity rather than on what is transient: “For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.” (Hebrews 13:14).

  St Paul says: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18). Jesus says: “Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:12).

  The prospect of glory to come has motivated, inspired, comforted and thrilled Christian martyrs throughout the ages. It has enabled them to withstand persecution, torture and every kind of ill. Set alongside them, what is required from us seems small indeed. We are not yet grown so lazy, slack, self-satisfied and seduced by worldly things that the necessary effort is beyond us, but it will not be long before it is so. When the prophet Jonah was sent to preach to wicked Nineveh, all who heard him believed and turned from their wrongdoing with repentance: “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion on them and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.” (Jonah 3:10). Yet just a generation later the city had slipped back into its bad old ways and consequently was destroyed. This happened because those who heard Jonah failed to keep alive his message and to pass it on to the next generation. We must not be guilty of the same.

  Conclusion.

  For centuries, every Anglican parish kept John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs (first published in 1563) on display alongside the Bible and Book of Common Prayer. The martyrs whose lives and deaths it recorded were not solely English, but included Protestants from other lands. Yet inevitably, by keeping alive the memory of those who had died in England for the reformed faith, it contributed to the country’s growing identity as a self-consciously Protestant nation. The example of the great men and women of the past was a powerful force in building and strengthening the beliefs of generations to come. It is a lesson we need to learn all over again. We need a dollop of the confidence that inspired the martyrs of years gone by. It was not delusion that led to their self-sacrifice, but a reasoned and well-founded assurance.

  Bishop Hugh Latimer had tremendous and unshakeable confidence: in the power of God to save, in his own deliverance and the rich reward that was his in consequence, in the cause for which he was martyred and in the future of England. That same confidence can be ours. Archbishop Cranmer overcame the fear of hurt and death that we all experience, and in the end was true to all that he believed and held dear. His initial cowardice was redeemed in deepened courage and renewed assurance. We can do likewise.

  Whether we be amongst the rare few like Latimer whose conviction never seems to fail or amongst the majority like Cranmer who quake and tremble before the trials and tribulations of life, we can learn from the past and from the example of others. In doing so, we will be strengthened for what lies ahead. Like the martyrs of old, we need to respond in the right ways to the attacks we face, so that we deflect the blows that are aimed at us and above all so that we grow in confidence in the one who is our “help and shield” (Psalm 115:9). We must ensure that “we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.” (Hebrews 10:39).

  England must not be another Nineveh. The blood of martyrs must not have been shed in vain. We need to take our stand, in whatever ways we are able. With God’s good grace each one of us can this day add our little spark to what will then become a mighty conflagration.

  15. Protestant wind

  Hosea 8:7.

  Key word: recompense.

  In the sixteenth century Spain was not just a European power of the first rank, but a world power beyond compare. Under her control came all South America bar Brazil, the whole of Central America and much of the Caribbean, together with what are now the southernmost parts of the United States. In the Far East, she held the Philippines. Within Europe, her Habsburg kings were also rulers of the Spanish Netherlands and much of Italy.[32] Her resources of manpower and of bullion from the New World seemed inexhaustible. It was not realised at the time that the yearly import of vast quantities of gold and silver was the source of rampant inflation, nor that the illusion of bottomless wealth was encouraging severe imperial overstretch. In 1588 only her strength was apparent.

  For years England had provoked Spain: through raiding of Spanish treasure fleets, through support for Dutch rebels and through her unrepentant Protestantism. King Philip II determined that enough was enough. A mighty fleet was equipped: seventy three fighting vessels, attended by over fifty freighters and lighter craft, together carrying 2,400 guns, crewed by eight thousand sailors and carrying in addition seventeen thousand soldiers. Their orders were to sail up the Channel, pick up a further sixteen thousand men of the Duke of Parma’s forces from the Netherlands and land these, together with the Armada’s own complement of troops, in the southern shires. Little serious resistance was expected to Parma’s battle-hardened force and in truth
the raw recruits of the English army cut a sorry sight alongside the veterans of the Spanish tercios, then acknowledged as the finest infantry in Europe.

  The words of Elizabeth I as she addressed her troops at Tilbury in Kent were defiant: “I know that I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England, too; and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm.” The reality was that, unless the Spanish could be prevented from landing, the outlook was bleak. All depended on the outcome of the war at sea. As Drake shrewdly observed, “The advantage of time and place in all practical actions is half a victory; which being lost is irrecoverable.”

  Elizabeth had at her command some of the most talented sailors England has ever produced. The Lord High Admiral (Lord Howard) was not an experienced seaman, but he was a good chief and a wise judge of men. With Drake, Hawkins, Frobisher and others at his side, he was able to achieve a deliverance that seemed almost miraculous. As the Armada sailed up the Channel, scores of English ships clustered around it, dodging Spanish attempts to grapple at close quarters and pouring broadside after broadside at the enemy. The image is glorious, the truth rather more prosaic. Despite a prodigious expenditure of powder and shot, by the end of the third day of fighting the English had only succeeded in capturing, sinking or disabling two Spanish vessels.[33] Whilst Howard’s fleet had suffered little damage, the Armada was still a formidable force and its formation remained intact.

  A turning point came on 28 July 1588. Eight fire ships were sent amongst the Spaniards by night as they lay at anchor off Calais. In the event, these did not destroy a single vessel and burnt themselves out harmlessly on the sandbanks east of the town, but they did something that the English had been unable to achieve hitherto: they broke the Armada’s cohesion. Scattering into the North Sea pursued by an adversary with his tail up, the Spaniards took a terrible pounding from shot and shell and were driven beyond the point at which wind and currents made junction with Parma impossible. Their enemy continued to harass them along the North Sea coast as far as the Scottish border and then left them to the mercy of the elements. The battered remnants of the once-proud force limped home several months later. Only some sixty ships returned, with a loss of perhaps fifteen thousand men killed, captured and dying. Many vessels that were not lost in action were sunk in storms around the coasts of Scotland and Ireland.[34] The jubilant English and Dutch spoke unashamedly of the part played by the so-called Protestant Wind. In their eyes, Catholic Spain had “[sown] the wind and [reaped] the whirlwind.” (Hosea 8:7). There was great rejoicing.

  Sowing and reaping.

  The prophet Hosea was sent to the northern Israelite kingdom of Israel in the middle of the eighth century BC, during its last days of independence before the Assyrians invaded and it was destroyed. He was told to depict the unfaithfulness of Israel to God and to warn of the consequences. He told the Israelites: “Do not rejoice, O Israel, do not be jubilant like the other nations. For you have been unfaithful to your God” (Hosea 9:1). The phrase “They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind” (Hosea 8:7) was echoed by the prophet when he said: “Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unploughed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD until he comes and showers righteousness on you. But you have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil, you have eaten the fruit of deception. Because you have depended on your own strength and on your many warriors, the roar of battle will rise against your people, so that all your fortresses will be devastated” (Hosea 10:12-14). These words chime also with those of the prophet Nahum: “The LORD is slow to anger and great in power; the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished. His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet.” (Nahum 1:3).

  In phrase and counterpoint we see the Lord’s instructions for right living and, by way of contrast, the reality of human conduct. On one side sowing righteousness, breaking up unploughed ground and reaping unfailing love. On the other, sowing the wind and reaping the whirlwind. In both good and bad we see in operation the inexorable laws that govern our behaviour, by which the consequences of our actions are multiplied. Hence our righteousness will lead to unfailing love, whilst wind will turn to whirlwind. There is no mystery here. We can test it for ourselves. History and our own experience show it to be the case that small beginnings lead to something greater. As the saying has it: “Sow a thought, reap an action. Sow an action, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny.” In this nation we been sowing the wind for many a long year. We are already experiencing the inevitable consequences. If we carry on, we will reap the whirlwind just as surely as did Israel in the days of Hosea.

  Fruitfulness.

  Hosea pictured a land and a people that were unfruitful: “The stalk has no head; it will produce no flour. Were it to yield grain, foreigners would swallow it up.” (Hosea 8:7). God demands fruitfulness. He demands it from nature and he demands it from man.[35] The only miracle of destruction performed by Jesus was when he cursed the fig tree for failing to bear fruit, saying, “May you never bear fruit again!” (Matthew 21:19) and causing it to wither. He told his hearers that “I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit ... If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned ...This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (John 15:2, 6 and 8).

  Israel was in a critical condition. Without grain there would be no flour and without flour there would be no bread, the staple food. Starvation beckoned. The lack of physical nutriment points to spiritual hunger, for “man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” (Deuteronomy 8:3). Jesus describes himself as “the bread of life.” (John 6:35). It is no coincidence that he was born in Bethlehem, which means ‘place of bread.’ As formerly in Israel, so here today: the long roll-call of things with which we seek to fill the emptiness inside shows the deep spiritual hunger that grips our land. We are starving, slowly but surely, and the harvest from what we have sown will not feed us. We desperately need to “break up [our] unploughed ground” (Hosea 10:12) and to “sow for [ourselves] righteousness” (Hosea 10:12). Then we will harvest a crop worthy of the name: “unfailing love” (Hosea 10:12). As it is, our land is unploughed. If we leave it lying fallow, no crop will come from it.

  St Paul writes that “when the ploughman ploughs and the thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest.” (1 Corinthians 9:10). Things had reached such a pass in Israel, however, that benefit accrued not to the nation, but to foreigners who “swallow it up” (Hosea 8:7). Again, the parallels with our situation are too close for comfort. A tremendous amount of effort is being and has been expended by the state, by individuals and by the church, but it is to no avail if it is expended on unploughed ground, for then effort will be wasted and benefit will not go where it is intended. In large measure the post-war attempts to right injustice, create a more equal society and help those at the bottom of the heap have demonstrated the law of unintended consequences in precisely this way. It has happened because this has been almost entirely a secular project, divorced from God, carried out without reference to his will and often in direct contravention of his laws. We have indeed “eaten the fruit of deception” (Hosea 10:13).

  Unploughed ground can only be broken up by prayer, by walking in the ways of the Lord and seeking his will, by obedience to his commandments and demonstrating the love of Jesus. Until this is done, we will be whistling in the wind.

  Righteousness.

  Hosea emphasised the need for righteousness: “Sow for yourselves righteousness ... for it is time to seek the LORD until he comes and showers righteousness on you.” (Hosea 10:12). The recompense for our righteousness is an even greater abu
ndance of righteousness showered upon us by God. As in all our endeavours, the Lord will take what we bring and multiply it beyond our wildest imaginings. Correspondingly, the recompense for unrighteousness and “wickedness” (Hosea 10:13) is the “whirlwind” (Hosea 8:7), a “stalk [with] no head ... [producing] no flour ... [or] grain [which] foreigners swallow up” (Hosea 8:7), “evil” (Hosea 10:13) and “the roar of battle” (Hosea 10:14).

  If we reject God we remain under his judgment. In that event, the Lord says: “I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.” (Jeremiah 25:14). In other words, we get what we deserve. However, if we place our trust in Jesus as our Lord and Saviour we obtain mercy and forgiveness. In that event “[The LORD] does not ... repay us according to our iniquities.” (Psalm 103:10). Then instead of reaping the punishment that is rightfully ours, we gain salvation – made possible by the death of Jesus on the cross, a free gift given in spite of what we have done, not because of it. Ultimately, the only way for us to obtain true righteousness is by having imputed to us the righteousness of Christ.