Ecclesiastes 1:4-5

1. “The rapid increase of divorce; the undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home, which is the basis of human society.”

2. “Higher and higher taxes and the spending of public monies for free bread and circuses for the populace.”

3. “The mad craze for pleasure; sports becoming every year more exciting and more brutal.”

4. “The building of gigantic armaments when the real enemy was within, the decadence of the people.”

5. “The decay of religion–faith fading into mere form, losing touch with life and becoming impotent to warn and guide the people.”

Writers and speakers have been drawing parallels between Gibbon’s observations and the state of affairs in America for decades. Whether the outcome of our decline will end in the fall of our nation as we know it, remains to be seen. It may be generations, centuries, or even a millennium before God answers that question.

I am reminded of the opening lines of The Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (1859):

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way….”

The two cities Dickens wrote of were London and Paris and the time was 1757-1794 and the French Revolution. London was clinging to the old order and Paris was in the midst of a bloody revolution. The polarization of the two societies might be compared to the polarization we have been witnessing for the last 18 months of the political campaign that just ended. Of course, many would argue—and I would not disagree—that the nation was already polarized between the haves and the have-nots, the powerful and the disenfranchised; and the true disciples of Christ and the handmaidens of the status quo.

As I write, some are wringing their hands in despair, believing that our nation is doomed, while others are cheering in jubilation, believing that a new, brighter day has dawned. We can only hope and pray.

From our historical vantage point, we should note that Paris survived the bloody revolution and still exists today. London, on the other hand, has undergone not a revolution, but an evolution, and the old order of rigid class structure has been broken down. The point is that both nations still exist.

Unless Jesus comes—and no one can point to the present and say, “This is the end” or even “the beginning of the end,” because only the Father knows that day and hour—someone 150 years from now will be drawing parallels between these days and those days. And, it will be the best of times and the worst of times.

Our final words come from the Word:

“But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet 3:7-13, ESV).

As Solomon reminds us, time marches on:

One generation passes away, and another generation comes;
But the earth abides forever.
The sun also rises, and the sun goes down,
And hastens to the place where it arose (Ecclesiastes 1:4-5).