Jap-09 God's Purpose for the Nations — Art Katz

Well, good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I'm privileged to have this opportunity to share with you. And everything that my brother said was understated. I'm much worse than what he described. We know that Jews are a peculiar people.

And I'm the most peculiar of the peculiar. We Jews are melancholy. Melancholy. New word for him. Anybody know it? You don't have this in your language because you don't have this disposition.

This is exclusively Jewish.

I felt very much like a dead man tonight. Wondered that anything could issue from me. If anything could come from me. All the more through translation. Through a pastor who is in another place, another mindset, another religious perspective.

Very much different from my own. And how are we going to communicate? Find an agreement together. In something that is more than a message. Something intended as an event. One that Japan desperately needs.

All the nations. A message that was born in Germany.

Now brought to Japan. For a first speaking in a nation where I did not intend to be.

The Lord has inserted Japan. And it's a message about the nations. And their responsibility toward God. As nations. The scripture says that the earth is the Lord's. And the fullness thereof.

God's Ownership of the Nations

And the nations. And those that dwell in them. Who knows that? Who considers that?

Even in the church. We're happy if we are allowed to function within the nations. That they allow us the privilege of having a religious existence. For Sundays and Wednesday nights. And we don't think more about it.

Nations think that their earth is their own. And that they can do with it what they will. And establish their own purposes. It's their playground. But that's not as God sees it. So I have a principle text in Acts chapter 17.

Paul at Mars Hill. And this is a remarkable address. It's not an appeal for the salvation of individual souls. It's the statement of the obligation of nations toward God. And we need to understand it that way.

And Greece is not just any nation. In its generation, it was the supreme nation. They spoke of the glory of Greece. And if you go today to Athens and to Mars Hill. And you see the ruins of the Acropolis where Paul spoke.

It takes your breath away. It's impressive as a ruin. How much more as it stood in Paul's day.

In all its glory. That's the statement of man. And his power.

Man is the measure of all things. There's something that comes into the world through the genius of what was Greece. But God brought them the Hebrew. Even as he's brought one to you tonight. Even as he has brought one to you tonight.

I suspect in the same condition. Not feeling very impressive. Having no intention to be there. Paul was brought to Athens in flight from persecution. But his spirit was stirred in him. As he saw the city.

As he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. Idolatry. We should say the city state. And nothing has changed. The cities and the nations are still given to idolatry. And no idolatry is greater than nation itself.

And no idolatry is greater than nation itself.

God himself has given nations. But not that they should be an object of idolatry to their own people. And that's what Paul says in this text. From verse 24. Acts 17. The God who made the world and all things in it.

Since he is Lord of heaven and earth does not dwell in temples made with hands. Neither is he served by human hands as though he needed anything. Since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things.

And neither is he served by human hands as though he needed anything. Now we come to the heart of the matter. And he made from one blood every nation of mankind. Notice how Paul repeats himself. The God who made the world.

And he made from one blood all nations of men. God is the creator. And what he creates he possesses. For himself. And for his own purposes. And we need to be reminded. For the root of all rebellion is this.

Creation, Possession, and National Rebellion

The presumption of man.

To think that his life and being is his own. Forgetting him who made him. For his own purposes. God made. In the beginning God. He is the creator. He has created all nations of men.

We did not make ourselves.

And we were not formed by some mythological goddess. Who has imposed her deity into our emperors and into the nation. We are made by God and for God. Anything other than that is rebellion. Even as it is conducted by Christians.

Who shall go up to Mars Hill today? Who can confront the philosophers today? Who can go up to the seat of power and the authority of men? And tell them that God has created their nation. Not for their use and for their power and for their ambition.

But for God's glory. Who made them. This is so fundamental. So simple. So foundationally true. But who thinks like that? We live as if our life is our own.

As if the earth is our own. And God calls that sin. And will judge it.

Whether it comes from individuals or nations. And who are the most arrogant of the nations today? Who have not considered the God who has made them.

And whose very earth God shakes under them.

To remind them who it is who is God. So he made from one blood every nation of mankind to live on the face of the earth. Having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation.

That they should do whatever they want with those boundaries. And exploit their resources. And overpower neighboring nations. And obtain for themselves riches and fame and power. And an empire.

That's what nations have done. But what is God's purpose for nations? What does the apostle say?

That they should seek God. Because he's not far from anyone of them. So here's what happened to me in Germany. In the city of Nuremberg. Where the great Nazi and pagan rallies were conducted. Where the great anti-Jewish racist laws were formed.

As I was reading this text.

And I've read it many times. Yes, God has formed the nations. Their bounds and their dimensions.

That they might seek after him. And I always thought, well that means individuals within the nation.

But for the first time I was struck with this thought. That the pronoun they should seek after him.

Does not refer to individuals. But to the nations themselves. And which of them have done it? And what price have they paid? For their failure to seek God. The God who made them. Paul's God. The God of the prophets.

And of Jacob and of Israel. And there is no other. We have not sought him.

For the purpose for our creation. What we have assumed purposes for ourselves. Which were not his. And the end thereof is death. This is the great presumption of mankind. A colossal conceit.

A total indifference to the God who made them.

And failure to having sought him. And I said, Lord for what? Seek you for what? For the purpose for which he has given your bounds. And your countries and your habitation. Pray for me. I'm mad. I'll show you how mad I am.

Germany, Israel, and National Purpose

Looking out on these stunned German Christians. Stunned. Astonished German Christians. Whose whole history has been imperialistic. Full of national ambition.

And remarkably equipped to fulfill it. A great people. Wanting great purposes.

For themselves. I said, I don't presume to know what God's purpose might have been. But I do know this. No country has ever had a longer and unbroken Jewish existence within it than you. No country in the world.

Has had a longer Jewish presence and existence than you. A longer Jewish existence or presence within the country. Than Germany. Do you know that? From the time of the destruction of the temple in 70 A .D. When the Jews were dispersed into the Roman Empire.

They came into what is today called Germany. They have a 2 ,000 year existence in Germany. The great Jewish names are German Jewish names. Einstein. Freud. Even Steven Spielberg. Reform Judaism was born in Germany.

Zionism was born in Germany. Germany is formative for the Jewish people. We have dwelt within that country for 2 ,000 years. And have admired German culture and civilization. And have been shaped by it.

But we never learned God in Germany.

And on that trip I went to the oldest Jewish cemetery in Germany.

Tombstones, Jewish tombstones from the 14th century. Too heavy for the Nazis to have knocked over. And I came and I spoke to a German audience that night. I said, is your God the God of Jacob? The God of Israel?

Do you know that? Are you conscious of that? Have you consciously and willfully embraced God as the God of Israel? Because I'm suspicious that you have not. That your God is some other God. Because you never communicated to the Jewish people in your midst.

That the God that you were celebrating. Is their God. They died without the knowledge of Him. They lived 2 ,000 years in your midst. And here's what I'm suggesting. That God has put His exiled Jewish people in your midst.

Not as an irritant that you would one day annihilate. But that you would come under them. That the first purpose for your being. Was to come under this broken and cast out people. In a priestly way and lift them up.

Explain to them the reason for their expulsion from their land.

And restore them to their God.

And to their place in Him. And that is your national purpose. Not a great industrial power.

Not a great imperialist and military power.

Priestly identification. Taking a second place.

Before God's chosen people. And lifting them up.

And restoring them to their God. So that they might fulfill their destiny. To bless all the families of the earth.

I don't know what Japan's destiny is. But I know this.

Your nation has never sought God to find out. And there's something about Israel. Central to all nations. That must be established. Or we will never have peace. We will never have justice. We will never have righteousness.

Israel's Election and the Nations' Humility

God intends Israel as central to all nations. And I'm not saying that because I'm Jewish. I'm saying that because God has chosen. It is not the issue of their ethnic distinction. It is the issue of His particular choosing.

I am who I am. I will be whom I will be. I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy. And I will elect whom I will elect.

Listen to this, you proud German nation. You proud Japanese nation.

Who would look upon this people as less than yourselves. Fewer in number. Weaker.

Backslidden and apostate. God has chosen them.

And chosen them as first.

You shall be the head of all nations.

A nation of priests. And a light unto the world. What kind of Christianity do we have? What kind of Christianity can we have? Even in its best charismatic, and Pentecostal forms. That has not this central perspective of the purposes of God for creation.

And understands that God will fulfill His intention.

And restore that nation the nation of Israel. As central to all nations.

That all nations will go up to Zion. To celebrate the God who is the Creator. And the Gentiles from ten nations will clutch the skirt of one Jew. And say, take us to your God. For your God alone is God.

And we would learn His ways.

That's the way of God. And we need to surrender to that. And submit to that.

For it is calculated to break our national pride. Nothing else can save us from idolatry. Whether it's Germans or Japanese. The celebration of our nations is inevitable. Unless we see it in relationship.

To God's chosen people.

God has set in Zion a stone of stumbling.

Calculated to break and to humble proud nations. And by it to recognize that God is God.

At your leisure you can look at Deuteronomy chapter 32. Verse 8. One verse. And I've never heard anyone ever preach from it. And I've been a believer almost 32 years. And what's the heart of this one verse?

That when God established the boundaries of the nations and their number He did so in terms of the number of the sons of Israel.

From the very beginning in the wisdom of God who is the creator and established all nations He did so in relationship to one nation.

A nation we would never have chosen weaker and less than ourselves.

A foolish king.

And to submit to God's choosing.

Is to humble ourselves.

And to submit to God as nations. This is sanity. This is sanity. This is health. This is reality. You dear precious children. I've been riding on your trains all day today to Colby and back. I've been riding on your subway trains all day.

I've been looking into the faces.

Of your people. I've been studying your nation and looking at your children.

And watching you in the streets. It's make-believe. It's make-believe. It's unreal. It's not reality. It's a people without purpose. A nation of consumers and nothing more. They have no reason for being for they know not God.

The Millennial Rule of Christ from Zion

If we want to know what God's intention was at the first we have only to glimpse at what it will be at the end. The millennial rule of Christ.

What shall we see then?

That the law of the Lord.

Shall go forth out of Zion and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem not in some imaginary or metaphorical way.

But literally. It will be the center of God's theocratic rule. God will set his king.

On the holy hill of Zion and give him the nations for his inheritance the nations of the world as his own. Do you believe that?

Would you think it's poetry? If it's true and literal these are the last days and we're moving toward the conclusion of history and the Lord's coming as their king to sit on the throne of David on the holy hill of Zion.

And send forth his law. How ought we to be living? And what ought we to be saying to nations that are still in rebellion against God? So I share this message with a little band of German souls. I'm their spiritual father.

They were kicked out of their homes when they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit when they were baptized in water as adults.

They were kicked out of their homes when they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and lived from my tapes for eight years. They lived from my cassette tapes for eight years and then we found each other.

We found each other and I became their spiritual father and they loved everything I said until I said this.

That your nation has an obligation to seek God.

For the purpose for which He created them.

And something rose up out of them.

And against me this is preposterous art this is absurd. What. We're going to stand before our nation and tell them this and they're going to listen to us these great statesmen and political figures.

There's no possibility of a practical fulfillment of this.

Not just giving us some lofty idea that cannot be fulfilled.

And will only confuse the church.

We just want to preach Christ we see individual souls saved but what have we to do with nation.

They were more German than they knew they had not their citizenship in heaven they were not pilgrims and strangers and sojourners in the earth. They were German all too German. And I had touched something very deep and they didn't want to give it up.

And maybe it's true that we should confront our nation.

We constitute less than 1 of the Japanese population.

We're only one of several faith postures.

Each of whom purport to know God.

And we're going to say that our God is the God and quote his scripture as our authority and justification. How dogmatic how narrow how intolerant of other faith views. Exactly you say, Arthur. Are you asking us to be like Paul.

The Church as a Prophetic Presence

Yes charismatic is not enough. We are coming to the end of the age and God is shaking the earth which is his to shake when men have raped it in their own ambition and purposes.

Which they have chosen without seeking God. But do you know why we can't tell this to the nation.

Because we ourselves are just as guilty. Did you seek God before you decided to go to university.

Or to choose this career choose this career this life or any of the major decisions of your life or did you assume that God wanted you.

To have a university education or did he go behind you to sanction and endorse what you have already chosen.

We are just like the world and we have not considered God and sought him for his purpose for our being and therefore we cannot speak as Paul. You know what my last message in Osaka was 12 years ago my brother taped that message in Osaka a message to ministers and I'll never forget.

This part of it I said do you think that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were military decisions or was it the judgment of God for the long standing rejection of himself.

A fiery inferno a preliminary judgment to avert an ultimate and eternal judgment of a fire that will not be quenched for the rebellion of men and of nations who have never sought him and made him. What do you think about that.

How far will God go. How serious is our sin. How blind are we to our condition that we cannot even properly understand our catastrophes and think that.

They are made by men or that they are geophysical disturbances in the earth as if God would not suffer and the Lord over all. So I have a 12 page paper here and I'm only giving you the heart of the matter.

It's a call to the church to be a prophetic presence in the nation and call the nation.

Repentance Before the Day of Judgment

To repent this before the day of the Lord comes as judgment or he's going to judge all the earth in fire. And that's what Paul says here. How does his message end. In verse 30. God has overlooked the times of ignorance in the past because he's now declaring to all men everywhere that they should repent because he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world by righteousness through a man whom he has appointed having furnished proof to all men by raising him from the dead.

Do you know why I'm strange and why I'm peculiar. I'm in a terrible daily tension between what my natural eyes see as the best of all possible worlds and the word of God of an apocalyptic judgment to come for all the world for which he now commands all men everywhere to repent.

And I've got to make a decision again and again which reality do I choose upon which reality do I predicate and establish my life and being what my eyes see the best of all worlds the conventional wisdom of man or God's word that he has created the nations that they might seek him.

I want to pray for a church in Japan.

Of the stature of Paul of the view of Paul who can confront its nation head on and speak the foolishness of God not as a human opinion or a religious sentiment but the absoluteness of God's word of the things that shall shortly come to pass.

And it may not be that the nations will hear but that's the foolishness of being prophetic. But some will cleave unto us and believe our gospel has been weak and inferior we have not impressed our nation by it.

It's only another religious option because we have not shown them their sin in the context of their nation their responsibility and their culpability for the sin of their nation.

As to their own sin this issue of nation reveals sin in its deepest and clearest sense and that's how the gospel was first preached on the day of Pentecost the appeal of Peter to the thousands.

That were before him was to separate themselves from that untaught generation whom you slew and hung on a tree.

To men who were not even there when it was done but whom he saw as being responsible for their national sin. To show men their sins in the context of their nation and the mystery of the nation.

Is to show them their sin in a depth and power that they would not otherwise say. It may be that the nation will not hear us. We have yet the obligation to speak with the authority of Paul.

And some will claim unto us and believe and be saved out of their own poor generation before the judgment of God falls on a nation that has never sought him.

That is the gospel.

We need to see it again.

To be such people thank you Lord precious God.

Prayer for a Prophetic Japanese Church

I'm asking your spirit to confirm these words that I've spoken only to the degree that they were your words that this is your view your apostolic view that needs again to be sounded and expressed your apostolic authority to the nations of the world by a church of this kind and that this is the purpose for our being that the gospel is not to improve our life and give our children a wholesome environment for Sunday school.

However good these things are have we sought you for our purpose have you created us anew. Then we might speak to our nation that God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world.

And that Japan is not exempted and that our every previous catastrophe was God's gentle warning.

Of a greater judgment.

To come Lord wake us up grow us up then we might serve these purposes before that day comes and we thank you and give you the praise for the privilege of it and the honor of it that saves us from narrow religion.

Who form for our enjoyment while the nation perishes we are the church for the nation and for the world. And the restoration of Israel. That their king might be seated on their holy hill of Zion.

And his law go forth to all nations so that they will study war no more. Fill our hearts with this vision that transfigures our present Christian life and we thank you and give you the praise for such a holy purpose and calling in these last days in Jesus name Amen.