God is honored by our recognition of his sovereign right to judge. Thus, he demands we acknowledge that what happens in history is not mere happenstance, but his direct sovereign oversight over all human history, and that we praise him for it (Psalm 75:6-10).

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Hebrews 10:31

Sin can grow in individuals and in nations and can be internal or publicly manifest.
Herman Bavinck.^[1]

The whole matter of corporate responsibility is fundamental to the Reformed faith. It is part of the foundation. It is a truth that must be preserved at all cost.
Herman Hanko

Outside social media, it is now quite rare to see Christians refer to corporate divine judgment (hereafter: CDJ), that is, divine judgment against a corporate entity, such as a family, city, or nation. The last time a prominent public figure connected a national tragedy to divine judgement was Gov. Mike Huckabee in the aftermath of the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, the cause supposedly being the secularization of culture. In response to the question, “Where was God?,” put to him by Neil Cavuto, Huckabee implied that divine judgment was somehow involved, “We ask why there is violence in our schools,” Huckabee said, “but we have systematically removed God from our schools. Should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage?” As a hostile critic put it, “If you don’t want me [God], I won’t come. You’ll be sorry when I don’t stop someone from killing 20 first-graders, though.” The Parkland shooting, just 6 years later (2018), was comparably tragic, yet no public figure attributed it to divine judgment in any way. It appears that Christian public figures are now reluctant to draw any such connections.

Some may view the attribution of tragedies to CDJ as antiquated, believing it has been misused, exaggerated, and—let’s be honest—too closely associated with the stereotypical “Bible thumper.” But there are larger cultural factors that would explain its disappearance, including that modernity, at least prior to the impact of critical theory, has been emphatically individualistic. And so CDJ appears indiscriminate, affecting some who are not responsible for whatever sinfulness or depravity brings it about, such as young children, which was the implication of the Sandy Hook tragedy, and this seems morally outrageous. And as we see in the California wildfires, the detection of CDJ can appear arbitrary. Why make the wildfires of California the instrument of CDJ, but not the hurricanes of North Carolina or Florida? And which sin is it, exactly, that brought it about? Neglect of the homeless? Corporate greed? Sexual sin? Paganism? All of the above? Since God no longer sends infallible prophets to clear up this difficulty as he did in Old Testament times, isn’t a studied agnosticism a better approach?

Despite these considerations, Christians should recognize CDJ as a legitimate theological category for understanding historical events, and so consider the California wildfires as very likely divine judgment. For ease of understanding, I will arrange my argument as a series of questions. I begin with clarifications, and then end with more extended focus on two common objections to CDJ: the problem of detection (knowing CDJ has taken place), and the suffering of innocents, those who suffer in CDJ, but did nothing to contribute to the sin bringing it about.

1. Does God judge corporately?

The most important question is also the easiest, since Scripture is replete with instances of CDJ. The primary example is all mankind following the Fall (Rom. 5:12), then all mankind in the Flood (Gen. 6:13) and the dispersion following the Tower of Babel (Gen. 11:9), then of course, Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:25), which the New Testament identifies specifically as a warning to future generations (Matt. 10:15; 2 Peter 2:6; Jude 7). There is CDJ against both non-covenantal nations, including Egypt (Ezek. 29:1-12), Babylon (Jer. 51), Assyria (Isa. 10:5f.), Edom (Obadiah), Nineveh (Nah. 3, which can apply to any sinful city), and Moab (Jer. 48), as well as the covenantal nations Israel (Amos 2:6f.) and Judah (Amos 2:4-5). Indeed, God judges all nations (Ps. 94:10, 23; Obad. 1:15-16).

We must not forget that God not only judges corporately, he also blesses corporately. Christ died on the cross for all those who receive God’s grace (1 Cor. 15:22). The substitutionary atonement wouldn’t be possible without our corporate identity in Christ.

2. But doesn’t the coming of Christ bring CDJ to an end?

Not at all. In the New Testament, Jesus speaks of judgment against a town for refusing the Gospel, linking such judgment with that of Sodom and Gomorrah (Matt. 10:14-15), and predicts Jerusalem will be judged corporately (Matt. 24:15f.; Mark 13:1-2; Lk. 21:20f.). Paul describes CDJ as on-going in Romans 1:18-32, and in Revelation we see corporate judgment against all mankind (Rev. 16:19; 18), and even against churches (Chaps. 2-3). So whatever changes the covenant of grace brings to the way God deals with corporate entities, it does not appear to include the withdrawal of CDJ.

3. Why does God judge corporately?

Two reasons stand out. First is that God punishes sin (Matt. 12:36; Acts 17:30; Rom. 1:18; Eph. 5:6), and by such punishment, we learn to fear him (Job 19:29; Eccl. 12:14; Ps. 58:11). Secondly, for his own glory, that the peoples of the earth may honor him (Ps. 9:19-20; Isa. 37:20). Divine judgment reminds the wicked as well as the righteous that he is God, and that he is to be worshipped and obeyed.

I am the LORD, and there is no other,
besides me there is no God;
I equip you, though you do not know me,
that people may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is none besides me;
I am the LORD, and there is no other.
I form light and create darkness;
I make well-being and create calamity;
I am the LORD, who does all these things.
(Isa. 45:5-7)

God is honored by our recognition of his sovereign right to judge. Thus, he demands we acknowledge that what happens in history is not mere happenstance, but his direct sovereign oversight over all human history, and that we praise him for it:

For not from the east or from the west
and not from the wilderness comes lifting up,
but it is God who executes judgment,
putting down one and lifting up another.
For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup
with foaming wine, well mixed,
and he pours out from it,
and all the wicked of the earth
shall drain it down to the dregs.
But I will declare it forever;
I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
All the horns of the wicked I will cut off,
but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.
(Ps. 75:6-10)

4. Isn’t it presumptuous to claim to know any specific historical tragedy is CDJ?

2 Tim. 3:16 declares that the Scriptures are “…profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” Paul describes civilizational decline in Romans 1:18-2:5. Is this not so that we learn to detect it? Why indeed would so much of Scripture be dedicated to predicting and reporting divine judgment if we were not to learn to apply it to our own circumstances? Even major American political figures, such as Washington,^[2] Jefferson,^[3] and Lincoln^[4] believed we should attribute corporate tragedy to CDJ.

Read More