Does History Really Repeat Itself?

The current swoon of the stock market has caused much talk of the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Will it occur again? Does history really repeat itself? The Bible shows that some historical themes do repeat themselves. This little article will explore one of these ‘repeat themes’ and then make application to our lives.

Consider God’s people from Adam to Noah. Although Adam proved by his actions that one must obey God exactly, mankind did not learn from Adam and departed from God, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5).

Consider the children of Israel. Surely since God liberated them from Egyptian slavery and cared for them in the wilderness, they would be true to God. Yet the first generation out of Egypt was so faithless God waited for them all to die before giving their children a new land that “flowed with milk and honey”. However, the children soon left God. The book of Judges depicts this sorry state and ends with, “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). What a tragic error!

One would think that the troubles and heart- aches during the time of the judges would be adequate to teach faithfulness and obedience during the period of the kings. Yet, first the Northern Kingdom, and then the Southern Kingdom fell into idolatry and both were swept away into foreign captivity. Later God brought back from captivity a remnant.

So is “enough? enough?” Is captivity in a foreign land enough to teach faithfulness to this remnant? A few years later God speaks through Malachi, “Oh that there were one among you who would shut the gates that you might not uselessly kindle fire on My altar! I am not pleased with you, says the Lord of hosts, nor will I accept an offering from you” (Malachi 1:10). Somehow these people decided to follow the ideas of men, so much so that Jesus quoted Isaiah to the people of His day, “In vain do they worship Me, teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men” (Matthew 15:9).

What is going on? Why can’t God’s people learn? Even after the wonderful sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross for our sins, and the establishment of the church as a safe haven for the saved, we read, “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons” (1 Timothy 4:1). Some 2000 years down the stream of time we know that such has happened.

Can we agree that history repeats itself in that men fall away from God? Let us notice how we can use this truth in our lives. A curious fact about nations falling away and being taken into captivity, and churches being lost to apostasy, is that neither does it as a nation or church alone. We say “Nation X was taken into captivity.” What we mean is that the people of Nation X were taken into captivity. We say Church X went into apostasy. Again we mean the people of Church X did not obey God and thus went into apostasy. In other words what we have been describing in this article is the activities of people, not institutions, and it usually happens one person at a time.

Now here is the point of this article as it refers to us. If history repeats itself and this “church goes astray,” it will do so one member at a time. In short, the New Testament teaches that each of us is responsible for ourselves. Churches are not saved as such. People are. It was Demas who decided to love the world and not the Lord (2 Timothy 4:10). It was Paul who decided to be faithful (2 Timothy 4:7-8). I am in charge of me. You are in charge of you. We each decide as to how we will live before the Lord.

If everyone else is lost, I don’t have to be. Conversely, if everyone else is saved, I can still fall away and be lost. Looking at history is sobering. We learn that men have continually left God. This amazing fact causes me to be ever so diligent to be sure that I do not. Listen as Joshua defies the historical pattern: “And if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: ? but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).

Summary: History repeats itself in that men fall away from God. But I don’t have to be a part of that history. I can choose to serve the Lord and be faithful all my life.

Related

Abundant Life: November/December 2008

• What is Worship? by Mark Roberts
• Another Testament of Christ’s? by Pat Farish