Nobody likes to see something good come to an end

    I remember taking a class on Roman history at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana.  This class was so popular it had to be taught in the largest auditorium the school had on campus (known as the Pantheon because it was built to look like the Roman Pantheon).  Professor John Scanlon taught the course and he walked us through 1000 years of Roman history in just one semester.  I was enthralled with how much Rome was like the modern United States in its art, science, engineering, military might and politics.  I eagerly awaited each class and took detailed notes.

    Then on the last week of class he covered their eventual demise.  The long, slow decay of the once mighty empire.  He showed us how the Goths and Visigoths were able to cut Rome of from its water supply and that Rome surrendered without a fight. He covered how Rome had spent its wealth to hire mercenaries to do their fighting for them because they could not get enough of their own people to defend the empire. 

    I remember leaving the class that day feeling angry.   The dark ages were to come and the world would lose 1000 years of advancement.  Imagine us going to moon in 969 AD instead of 1969 AD.   Imagine where we would be now in technology. 

     But God had a better plan....

     From what I see today, our "advancement" does not always serve God's plan.  We don't become better but instead become worse.   Maybe God's plan was to slow our human-advancement down so his Gospel could "advance" throughout the world.   I am not saying this is the only reason, but it could be a reason for God allowing Rome to fall as it did and when it did. 

     But whatever the "reason",  God does it all out of love and we have to trust him.   I am sure there were many back in Rome that were dismayed as Rome had just become a Christian Empire with the conversion of Constantine to Christianity just 50 years earlier.   I am sure they were scratching their heads as well.  They probably thought the whole goal of God was to conquer the Roman Empire with the Gospel and then issue in some new age of a Christian Empire to advance the Gospel.    But their misguided hope was soon to be dashed to the ground.

   That is not how God works.   He doesn't need the Roman Empire to advance his Truth.  He also doesn't need the United States to advance it either.   God works through the hearts and minds of his children and not by politics or military/economic might.   Yes, God does make use of these things to save man from himself and give order to the world, but they are not end-all we want them to be.  They are tools he uses for his purpose.   Like this laptop I am using right now to write this blog.   It serves my purpose to get my word out for others to read, but eventually this laptop will be sitting at the bottom of a landfill someday as it will wear out and no longer be useful for anyone.   So also, the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany ... and so on will no longer serve God's purpose and will be scrapped just like Rome was in 415AD.

   As believers in Jesus Christ we know our hope is not diminished when this happens.  God is still in control.   Evil may seem to be "winning the day" much like it seemed to the people of Rome when their water supply was cut off by the Goths.  God wins in the end.   Our victory is already certain because Jesus is raised from the dead.