God's Protection of the Righteous During Judgment

And in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. Then one of them, named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar. Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea. This they also did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.

(Acts 11:27-30)

What happens to the Lord's saints who reside in nations that He judges? The answer is that when God begins to judge nations for their wickedness, He always makes provision for His saints to be cared for during the outpouring of His judgments on those nations.

In the passage quoted above, we see that God had pronounced a judgment of famine on the Roman Empire at that time. However, God warned His saints of the impending famine beforehand so they could prepare for it, thus avoiding the full impact of the famine that the wicked would experience. This passage also implies that God forewarned the saints that the region of Judea would be especially hard hit, which is why the saints sent extra relief aid to the brethren in that region.

Another example of God caring for His saints when judgment falls on a nation is the warning that our Lord Jesus gave the disciples before Judea and Jerusalem were destroyed by the Roman armies in 70 AD. The Lord had warned the disciples to flee Jerusalem and Judea when they saw the sign of armies surrounding the city of Jerusalem (Luke 21:20-21). The sign Jesus spoke about manifested in 66 AD, when Judea rebelled against Rome. In response, Rome sent her armies into Judea to suppress the rebellion. In that year, the Roman armies surrounded Jerusalem and attempted to take the city but failed, resulting in their withdrawal back to the coast. Nevertheless, the disciples recognized the sign and fled the city and Judea in obedience to our Lord's warning. Four years later, in 70 AD, the Roman armies returned and destroyed both the city and the Jewish nation. However, the disciples were spared because the Lord had cared for them by warning them beforehand.

Then he said, "Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there?" And He said, "I will not destroy it for the sake of ten." So the Lord went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.

(Genesis 18:32-33)

The context of this passage is Abraham's conversation with the Lord, in which the Lord revealed that He was potentially about to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because of their wickedness. Abraham was obviously concerned about his nephew Lot, who was living in Sodom at the time, and so he interceded on Lot's behalf. Abraham was convinced that the Lord would not judge the righteous with the wicked, so his logic was that if sufficient numbers of righteous people were living there, surely the Lord would spare the cities from destruction. He asked the Lord if He would spare the cities if fifty righteous people were found there, eventually reducing the number to ten. In each instance, the Lord assured him that He would not destroy the cities even if only ten righteous people lived there.

The Lord's statement is profound because heaven had classified these two cities as extremely wicked and sinful—so much so that God had decided to end their wickedness by destroying them. Yet we see that the Lord had committed to sparing both cities if He could find just ten righteous people living among them. As it turned out, Lot was the only righteous person living there, which God deemed insufficient to prevent the cities' destruction. Nevertheless, God remained true to His word that He would not destroy the righteous along with the wicked, and He therefore removed Lot from Sodom before destroying the city.

In this account, we see that God also spared Lot's family from destruction based on his righteousness (Genesis 19:12-13), though this was not the only occasion when God spared the families of the righteous. He did the same for Noah's family (Genesis 7:1) and Rahab's family (Joshua 6:17).

Several principles emerge from these scriptural accounts. First, we see that the presence of the righteous in sufficient numbers can prevent the total destruction of a society, even if the unbelievers in that society have become extremely wicked. Second, we see that a nation will be judged when the number of righteous is deemed insufficient; nevertheless, the Lord warns the saints beforehand so they can prepare accordingly. Finally, we see that at times, based on an individual's righteousness, God will allow the families of the righteous to be spared from His judgment. This is not always the case, however, for in some instances, when society has become sufficiently wicked, God will only allow the righteous to be delivered and not their family members as well (Ezekiel 14:20).

Michael E.B. Maher

The Church and the State

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