Blood in Our Streets: The Real Policy Change America Needs

There’s blood again in our nation’s streets.

It happened on that shocking day in 2001 as two commercial airliners plunged into New York City’s Twin Towers, and it happened last week in San Bernardino from the muzzle fire of AK-47s, as two zealous Muslims spread death in hatred toward the Christian faith.

In the wake of the recent terrorist attack, Sen. Ted Cruz and a bevy of other Republican presidential hopefuls have sought to score political points in responding to the terrorist threat that confronts America and to benefit from President Obama’s palsied and bankrupt policies.

There is much that might be said regarding President Obama’s incoherent and wrongheaded worldview as it relates to the global and domestic terrorist threat, even as there’s much worthy to discuss connected with President Bush’s policies that were implemented in the wake of 9/11. I have thoughts I could share on the president’s current recommendations. And, in past years, I have lent my voice in opposition to encroachments against constitutional liberty that our past Commander in Chief sanctioned in the name of securing the peace. 

Yet, when we witness woeful carnage in our streets as occurred last week, we must look past partisan political bluster and get to the heart of the issue. There’s a critical point that must be recognized, and it’s this—the most muscular and clever policy of engagement toward terrorist threats will be futile apart from a humble repentance of our sins and sincere turning to Almighty God.

The Old Testament prophets proclaimed this truth repeatedly. Among the more memorable examples of this came as the scourge of the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon Jerusalem. In response, King Zedekiah sought aid from Egypt, and various Jewish patriots sought to defect there, firmly believing that their alliance with Pharaoh—whose nation was far stronger than their own—would somehow forestall further calamity on Judah at the hand of Nebuchadnezzar (Eze. 17; Jer. 42-43).

Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel denounced this strategy as not only utterly futile (Eze. 17; Jer. 42-44), but completely missing the point—that God had pronounced judgment on His people, and only by turning from their sins would His wrath be appeased. When King Zedekiah of Judah craftily sought Egypt’s assistance behind the back of his Babylonian overlord, Ezekiel declared:

But [King Zedekiah] rebelled against [Nebuchadnezzar] in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and much people. Shall [Zedekiah] prosper? shall he escape that doeth such things? or shall he break the covenant, and be delivered? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely in the place where the king dwelleth that made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he brake, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die. Neither shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company make for him in the war, by casting up mounts, and building forts, to cut off many persons: Seeing [King Zedekiah] despised the oath by breaking the covenant, when, lo, he had given his hand, and hath done all these things, he shall not escape. Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; As I live, surely mine oath that [Zedekiah] despised, and my covenant that he hath broken, even it will I recompense upon his own head. (Eze. 17:15-17)

The point is this: No obstinately wayward man or nation can outmaneuver God’s judgment. The  blood in Judah’s streets at the hands of a foreign oppressor was decreed by God as His sovereign chastening for the innocent blood His people had wickedly shed for generations (2 Ki. 23:26-27; 2 Ch. 6:6; Eze. 16:20-21). Over numerous administrations, the Israelites in Judah had despised their Maker, transgressing His law and holy covenant with prideful callousness, and when God’s judgment fell, a convenient and clever foreign policy adjustment by Zedekiah and other Jewish patriots accomplished nothing to stay His hand of fury against them.

And neither will a convenient and clever foreign policy change in America save us from further blood in our streets. What’s most needed by us is what Ezekiel wrote a chapter later in his book of prophesy, as he called on God’s people to repent—else His judgment would continue:

. . . I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye. (Eze. 17:30-31)

What, then, should be our posture? While we must be careful not to make a one-to-one comparison of God’s scourging in a particular episode found in biblical writ to a specific outbreak of violence today, we must remember that God’s Word teaches that He judges nations and peoples based on the same holy standard throughout history (Ps. 119:189; Matt. 5:17-20; Heb. 13:8). So, as we consider Ezekiel’s sobering exhortations, we should recognize that we, too, as a people have committed egregious sins worthy of similar judgment. And this realization should drive us to our knees in humble repentance.

Here’s the message, dear people: Brilliant political stratagems against the “War on Terror” are not what’s most critical for us at this time. The most important policy change America needs now is a change of heart. Only then should we expect His favor to return to our nation.

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (2 Ch. 7:14)