All good things must come to an end, and tonight we find ourselves at the final moment to reflect on a Christian worldview. There’s no need for me to repeat what we already know about the world—it’s impossible to ignore. We’re all aware of the disappointments in our culture and the state of the world. Things are upside down, as we see in Isaiah 5, where bitter is traded for sweet and good for bad. We are living in a world that has turned upside down.

But I want to offer you a biblical perspective so that we can better understand what’s happening. The first thing you need to grasp is this: what is unfolding in our country, and in much of the world, is a divine judgment. Keep this in mind—it is God’s judgment. President Biden is not in control of this; God is. Our Congress, Senate, and anyone else behind the scenes pulling the strings do not have the final say over this nation or any other nation on Earth. We are already experiencing God’s judgment. It’s not something that is yet to come or something far off in the distance—we are in the midst of it right now.

To show you this, I invite you to open your Bible to Romans chapter 1. I want to help you understand how we can recognize when a nation is under judgment. Can we be certain? Yes, we can. Let me show you how. Romans 1:18 says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” Any nation, any people, any culture that turns away from truth will experience God’s wrath.

God’s wrath takes many forms. There’s eternal wrath, which is hell. There’s eschatological wrath, seen in the judgments of the Book of Revelation during the tribulation period. Our Lord spoke about this in Matthew 24 and 25. There’s also cataclysmic wrath, such as massive earthquakes and floods, the most significant being the Genesis Flood, where God drowned the entire human race except for one family. Then there’s sowing and reaping wrath—what you sow, you reap. Sinful actions always bring consequences.

But there’s another type of wrath—the one we see in Romans 1. This is the wrath of abandonment. In Acts 14, the Bible says God allowed the nations to follow their own paths, and throughout history, nations have experienced the wrath of divine abandonment. This is what Romans 1:18 refers to—the wrath of God revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.

God has made Himself known to all people through creation. His invisible attributes, His eternal power, and divine nature are clearly seen in the world He has made, so everyone is without excuse. Yet, people, nations, and cultures reject this truth. Even though they know God, they do not honor Him or give thanks. Instead, they become empty in their thinking, their foolish hearts darkened. They claim to be wise, but they become fools, exchanging the glory of the immortal God for images of corruptible man, birds, four-footed animals, and creeping things. They will substitute anything for the true God—idols of all kinds.

What we see here is the continual unleashing of God’s wrath throughout history on all people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. This truth about God can be known through creation, and as Romans 2 tells us, through the law of God written in the hearts of all people.