[This is part 5 in a series on the temptation of Egypt. See part one, two, three, four]

Leaving Egypt Ministries, Obadiah D. Morris

The inevitable failures of political systems can be explained economically if we wish to keep such things on a sort of basic, logical footing. It isn’t actually possible to create wealth by printing money, as the debt-ridden American regime has done for the past century or more, ramping up the printing even more greatly in the past couple of decades and even the last few years. Eventually the attempt to get something for nothing is exposed and the false prosperity created by it vanishes overnight. Printing money does not create real goods, but only works to raise prices of existing goods as well as transfer wealth to others. As one economist explains,

“The increase in monetary expenditure that results from an increase in money supply cannot produce the expansion in real output, contrary to the popular story. All that it will generate is a reshuffling of the existing pool of real savings. It will enrich the early receivers of the new money at the expense of last receivers.”

But it is not just for economic reasons that plunder empires cannot last forever, but also that God brings judgment upon all these systems that earn their wealth through plunder and make their empires “great” at the expense of others around the world.

Judgment on global plunder systems

The descriptions of such plunder systems from the scriptures are perfectly applicable to the modern day American system, where global dominance in trade and military might lead to the ruling elites seeking to further their plunderous ways, and where such power further produces pride in men and the belief that they’re invincible. 

“By the vastness of your trade, you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mountain of God, and I banished you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. Your heart grew proud of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor; so I cast you to the earth; I made you a spectacle before kings. By the multitude of your iniquities and the dishonesty of your trading you have profaned your sanctuaries. So I made fire come from within you, and it consumed you. I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the eyes of all who saw you” (Ezekiel 28:16-18). 

For the pride of patriotism and believing that your “best country ever” has “the strongest military in the world,” God tears these systems down to size.

“The proud look of man will be humbled, and the loftiness of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. For the Day of the LORD of Hosts will come against all the proud and lofty, against all that is exalted—it will be humbled” (Isaiah 2:11-12). 

Such prideful plunder systems cannot go on forever. Though they may use their military might or their money printers or their navies to enrich their empires for some time, eventually these systems must be judged at the hand of God.

“This is the burden against Tyre: Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for Tyre is laid waste, without house or harbor. Word has reached them from the land of Cyprus. Be silent, O dwellers of the coastland, you merchants of Sidon, whose traders have crossed the sea. On the great waters came the grain of Shihor; the harvest of the Nile was the revenue of Tyre; she was the merchant of the nations. Be ashamed, O Sidon, the stronghold of the sea, for the sea has spoken: ‘I have not been in labor or given birth. I have not raised young men or brought up young women.’ When the report reaches Egypt, they will writhe in agony over the news of Tyre. Cross over to Tarshish; wail, O inhabitants of the coastland! Is this your jubilant city, whose origin is from antiquity, whose feet have taken her to settle far away? Who planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose traders are princes, whose merchants are renowned on the earth? The LORD of Hosts planned it, to defile all its glorious beauty, to disgrace all the renowned of the earth. Cultivated your land like the Nile, O Daughter of Tarshish; there is no longer a harbor. The LORD has stretched out His hand over the sea; He has made kingdoms tremble. He has given a command that the strongholds of Canaan be destroyed. He said, ‘You shall rejoice no more, O oppressed Virgin Daughter of Sidon. Get up and cross over to Cyprus— even there you will find no rest.’ Look at the land of the Chaldeanse— a people now of no account. The Assyrians destined it for the desert creatures; they set up their siege towers and stripped its palaces. They brought it to ruin. Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for your harbor has been destroyed!” (Isaiah 23:1-14). 

The end of “great” empires

Eventually, all such global empires as the American plunder system, which were once thought to be “the best in the world,” will come to an end at the hand of God in an act that will show them just how rebellious they were to His law. 

“They will lament for you, saying, ‘How you have perished, O city of renown inhabited by seafaring men— she who was powerful on the sea, along with her people, who imposed terror on all peoples!c Now the coastlands tremble on the day of your downfall; the islands in the sea are dismayed by your demise.’ For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘When I make you a desolate city like other deserted cities, and when I raise up the deep against you so that the mighty waters cover you, then I will bring you down with those who descend to the Pit, to the people of antiquity. I will make you dwell in the earth below like the ancient ruins, with those who descend to the Pit, so that you will no longer be inhabited or set in splendord in the land of the living. I will make you an object of horror, and you will be no more. You will be sought, but will never be found,’ declares the Lord GOD” (Ezekiel 26:17-21).

These once “great” and seemingly unstoppable empires, which may have produced genuine wealth at one point, eventually wind up with nothing after being little more than exporters of inflation and plunder around the world. These once “great” empires become a laughingstock to the rest of the world. 

“Who was ever like Tyre, silenced in the middle of the sea? When your wares went out to sea, you satisfied many nations. You enriched the kings of the earth with your abundant wealth and merchandise. Now you are shattered by the seas in the depths of the waters; your merchandise and the people among you have gone down with you. All the people of the coastlands are appalled over you. Their kings shudder with fear; their faces are contorted. Those who trade among the nations hiss at you; you have come to a horrible end and will be no more’” (Ezekiel 27:32-36). 

Eventually, those who use their military might to assert dominance around the rest of the world in order to obtain riches for themselves fail in their endeavors. The plunderers become the plundered. The system which was itself used to judge those who refused to obey God, is itself judged for its evils — just as the Assyrians were used to judge others (Isa 10:5-6) only to have the judgment turned around on them (Isa 10:12).

“A sword is against her horses and chariots and against all the foreigners in her midst, and they will become like women. A sword is against her treasuries, and they will be plundered” (Jeremiah 50:37). 

Though most people once foolishly spoke of how they lived in “the best, richest country in the world,” in part because they temporarily enjoyed the prosperity that comes from robbing other people, eventually God reverses the course for these patriots who thought their empire could go on in its misdeeds forever. 

“Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah” (Isaiah 13:19). 

Abandoning Babylon 

As we know from history and scripture, the “great” empires of the world can’t last forever. They go on to engage in all the acts that lead to their demise, such as taxing everyone to death, inflating their currencies into nothing, and making war with everyone around the world, effectively destroying themselves as a way of God carrying out His judgment upon such evil systems. 

The get-rich-quick scheme of empires of inflating their supply of money and raising up a rich empire for some time comes at the expense not only of future prosperity, but amounts to men trading their liberty for short-term material glory. They are tempted by the ephemeral prosperity of such systems into going into bondage with them. 

“Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows” (1 Timothy 6:9-10).

Seeking God’s Kingdom

Those who want to build a sustainable, lasting society must seek the Kingdom of God — a social order based on charity, love of neighbor, and service to one another, as Christ taught (Matt 20:26). There is no other choice for men seeking a workable, sustainable social order. All systems based on political violence fail, because they are opposed to God’s natural order and commands to love our neighbor. Those seeking to follow God must choose liberty. True greatness in the Bible is not power, wealth, and status, as the kingdoms of this world represent, but actually serving one another and treating men as your brothers. This is what pure religion is all about.

Though the godly society, based on charity rather than socialist violence, may require great sacrifice, faith, and patience in the Lord to provide and reward those who seek Him instead of the kingdoms of men, it will be richly blessed and indefinitely sustainable relative to the fleeting and failing empires of this world which are built on violence and debt.