Biblical Concept: Divine
Regime Change
Thesis: National regimes featuring (statues, pictures, aggrandizement, etc.) a megalomaniac dictator (Nero, Caligula, Domitian, Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pot, Amine, Hussein, Jong-il, etc.) are ripe for Divine regime change. God often uses the power of other nations to bring the change.
(The parentheses are mine.)
NAS 1 Samuel 13:13 And Samuel said to Saul, "You have acted foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, for now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14 "But now your kingdom shall not endure. The LORD has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you." (Saul died at the hand of the Philistines. See 1 Samuel 31.)
NAS Psalm 10:16 The LORD is King forever and ever; Nations have perished from His land. 17 O LORD, Thou hast heard the desire of the humble; Thou wilt strengthen their heart, Thou wilt incline Thine ear 18 To vindicate the orphan and the oppressed, That man who is of the earth may cause terror no more. (Note the contrast between oppressed orphans and judged nations of terrorist men.)
NAS Joshua 2:9 and said to the men, "I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you. (Rahab to the Hebrew spies before the destruction of Jericho.)
NAS Psalm 9:17 The wicked will return to Sheol, Even all the nations who forget God. 18 For the needy will not always be forgotten, Nor the hope of the afflicted perish forever. 19 Arise, O LORD, do not let man prevail; Let the nations be judged before Thee. 20 Put them in fear, O LORD; Let the nations know that they are but men. Selah. (Note the contrast between judged wicked nations and the needy afflicted.)
NAS 2 Samuel 22:43 "Then I pulverized them as the dust of the earth, I
crushed and stamped them as the mire of the streets. 44 "Thou hast also
delivered me from the contentions of my people; Thou hast kept me as head of
the nations; A people whom I have not known serve me. 45 "Foreigners
pretend obedience to me; As soon as they hear, they obey me. 46
"Foreigners lose heart, And come trembling out of their fortresses. 47
"The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock; And exalted be God, the rock of
my salvation, 48 The God who executes vengeance for me, And brings down peoples
under me, 49 Who also brings me out from my enemies; Thou dost even lift me
above those who
rise up against me; Thou dost rescue me from the violent man. 50
"Therefore I will give thanks to Thee, O LORD, among the nations, And I
will sing praises to Thy name. 51 "He is a tower of deliverance to His
king, And shows lovingkindness to His anointed, To
David and his descendants forever." (King David’s
victory song after the conquest of evil Canaanite nations.)
NAS Jeremiah 25:12 'Then it will be when seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,' declares the LORD, 'for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation. (Babylon was conquered by the Medo-Persians. See Daniel 5:28 below.)
NAS Jeremiah 50:17 "Israel is a scattered flock, the lions have driven
them away. The first one who devoured him was the king of Assyria, and this
last one who has broken his bones is Nebuchadnezzarking
of Babylon. 18 "Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of
Israel: 'Behold, I am going to punish the king of Babylon and his land, just as
I punished the king of Assyria. (Assyria was defeated by Babylon and Babylon
was defeated by Medo-Persia.)
Nahum is a whole book devoted to the destruction of Nineveh (Assyria) by the
Babylonians. See 3:1-7. 100 years earlier, Nineveh responded
to the message of Jonah. See Jonah 3:4-10.
NAS Daniel 2:21 "And it is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men, And knowledge to men of understanding. (Human history is a revolving door of regime change.)
NAS Daniel 5:28 "'PERES'-- your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and Persians." 29 Then Belshazzar gave orders, and they clothed Daniel with purple and put a necklace of gold around his neck, and issued a proclamation concerning him that he now had authority as the third ruler in the kingdom. 30 That same night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain. 31 So Darius the Mede received the kingdom at about the age of sixty-two. (This is an example of regime change by leadership decapitation. Babylon fell to Medo-Persia.)
NAS Ezekiel 7:20 'And they transformed the beauty of His ornaments into pride, and they made the images of their abominations and their detestable things with it; therefore I will make it an abhorrent thing to them. 21 'And I shall give it into the hands of the foreigners as plunder and to the wicked of the earth as spoil, and they will profane it. 22 'I shall also turn My face from them, and they will profane My secret place; then robbers will enter and profane it. 23 'Make the chain, for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence. 24 'Therefore, I shall bring the worst of the nations, and they will possess their houses. I shall also make the pride of the strong ones cease, and their holy places will be profaned. 25 'When anguish comes, they will seek peace, but there will be none. 26 'Disaster will come upon disaster, and rumor will be added to rumor; then they will seek a vision from a prophet, but the law will be lost from the priest and counsel from the elders. 27 'The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with horror, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble. According to their conduct I shall deal with them, and by their judgments I shall judge them. And they will know that I am the LORD.' " (Israel’s spiritual digression reached the point of abominations, crimes, and violence. God used Babylon to put Israel under captivity.) (See also Habakkuk 1:5-11 and 3:16b)
Ezekiel 25-32 records Divine regime change for Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, Tyre, Sidon, and Egypt. Notice the repetition of the phrase “then they will know that I am the Lord.” Human history is a revolving door of regime change.
NAS Jeremiah 18:6 "Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this
potter does?" declares theLORD." Behold,
like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of
Israel. 7 "At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a
kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it; 8 if that nation against
which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity
I planned to bring on it. 9 "Or at another moment I might speak concerning
a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it; 10 if it does evil
in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will think better of the good with
which I had promised to bless it. (When nations move
deep into evil, God removes them.)
NAS Acts 12:21 And on an appointed day Herod, having put on his royal apparel, took his seat on the rostrum and began delivering an address to them. 22 And the people kept crying out, "The voiceof a god and not of a man!" 23 And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died. (This is an example of regime change by leadership decapitation.)
Revelation 19 records the planetary Divine regime change brought about at the Second Advent of Jesus Christ. Note the rulers of the new regime in Revelation 20:4.