I remember years ago at the arcade marveling at a super fun little device called the coin gravity well. You’ve probably seen these, they're large funnel shaped devices that you roll a coin into and then gravity and the shape of the inverted cone provide the entertainment. The coins roll in mesmerizing circles, getting faster as the cone reduces in size. Eventually at the bottom they reach a feverish pace before they drop into the small hole, your money gone forever. I love these things and will never miss an opportunity to drop in a coin and watch the goodness. But as I do, there is always a guaranteed constant. The coin will go down…not up.
Allow me to draw a rather bold parallel between the coin gravity well and another entity. Another entity, that just as my coin did, is guaranteed to spiral downward. Another entity, that left to it’s own over time, cannot exhibit any other pattern besides moving lower and lower. What is this entity I speak of? Human society.
The ancient Roman Empire was, in it’s age, the largest, most technologically advanced, and most affluent society on the planet. The empire had grown to epic proportions and had created and installed wonders like running water, public toilets and aqueducts that delivered their water from as far away as 57 miles. While other cities at this time could support 100,000 inhabitants, Rome supported over 1 million citizens. For 1,000 years Rome was the pinnacle of civilization on the planet. And then it failed and vanished.
You would think that a societal system this advanced would continue moving forward in it’s progress. Maybe suffering an occasional setback, but always moving forward. But just as our coin is affected by gravity, societies are affected by a similar force that is just as constant in its downward pull. Human nature.
One of the many books written on the study of the decline of the Roman Empire is The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, published in 1776 by Edward Gibbon. A six volume set, Gibbon analyzes, researches, and inspects every aspect of the ancient civilization of Rome. And in doing so he uncovers for us some amazing parallels about other historical societies and the reasoning for their eventual declines. The one constant you can draw from any society that has ever existed, is that they never last forever. Regardless of their wealth, their technical prowess, their political might, or the strength of their military, they always fall. And the reasoning will more than likely surprise you. Ironically, they never fell from the external pressure of great armies or nearby enemies; they fell because of internal disintegration.
Vernon McGee, in his seven volume commentary set, Through the Bible, proposes that there are three main steps in the decline of any society. First, there is religious apostasy. An overall societal move from the belief that Almighty God controls, judges and rules all aspects of life. People move away from God, His laws, and His statutes and move in the direction of doing what they feel is right in their own eyes. The second step is moral awfulness. As a result of no longer employing the moral direction of God, people seek to please themselves. Sin runs rampant as society embraces and even encourages sex out of wedlock, alcohol use, homosexuality and homosexual marriage, divorce, rebellion, love of self, materialism, and worship of multiple gods. As a result of this moral awfulness, we see the breakdown of the family unit. The strength of any society is the strength of the family and as the family unit is destroyed, society follows closely. The third step is political anarchy. A society in chaos will be defined by a political structure in chaos. A political structure that advocates division, hostility, inability to function efficiently, being wasteful with its resources and is filled with prideful men and women looking to serve themselves more than the public. Deterioration begins in the church, then spreads to the home, and finally to the state.
Today in Judges chapter 20 we see the continuation of the moral awfulness that we witnessed yesterday in chapter 19. Even in 550 B.C., the simple societies of the Israelites could not escape the societal model of destruction. We first see God’s people greatly stray from Him. They turn from Him, erect temples to other gods, worship at the feet of idols and fail to adhere to the laws He has provided for their welfare. This brings them to the threshold of moral awfulness. They seek fleshly pleasure over the ways of God and as result they spiral downward into the abyss of their own sinful darkness. A perfect picture of this was the scene in chapter 19 that involved rape, murder, homosexuality, mob rule, selfishness, and pride. And today in chapter 20 we will see the accelerated end game of this sinful behavior, political anarchy.
The eleven other tribes of Israel assemble against the guilty tribe where the abomination occurred, Benjamin. A civil war erupts. A society is divided by the moral awfulness and as a result they war amongst themselves. The eleven tribes decimate the tribe of Benjamin for their sins until there is only 600 men left standing. The tribe of Benjamin, named for Jacob and Rachel’s beloved second and last son, is obliterated almost to extinction. And all at the evil hands of religious apostasy and moral awfulness.
Just as that coin travels downward within the gravity well, the human heart will continue to travel downward into the depths of its own dark ways. Without God, the human heart is doomed to repeat history into infinity. The insane pattern of thinking that somehow a new and modern society can cheat the sin that lies ingrained within every beating human heart is simply false. People say, “if we could just change this or that and vote in this party or that party, everything would be fine.” False thinking. People say, “if we could just eliminate this old law and make this new law, then society would be fixed.” Incorrect logic. People say, “if we just allow everybody to do whatever they think is right in their own eyes and then demand societal acceptance of it, this level of tolerance will advance our society.” Just the opposite will occur.
You see, at the foundation of all societal problems that have and ever will exist, there is one constant. The sin nature that resides within the human heart. What we have today is a spiritual problem not a societal problem. When people worship themselves and do what pleases their flesh, we have a society that is doomed to eventual failure. The human heart must be fixed. It must be corrected. And that can only happen through the power of Jesus Christ. As lives call upon Christ, a miracle happens. God’s Holy Spirit inhabits their heart and a correction takes place. The very Spirit of God now lives in that heart. Guiding it. Teaching it. Correcting it. Conditioning it. And as a result, the world changes one life at a time.
Today, don’t look for society to change to adapt to your needs and wants, that will never work. Focus on following Jesus and you’ll see that He will allow you to adapt to this world. He will allow you to find a level of peace, freedom, and joy few will ever know. Focus on Christ and allow Him to lead you in His paths of righteousness. And as you do, you will be a light to this dark, morally awful world. A world that so needs to see the goodness of God.
God bless you and may God bless our world.
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