A client nation is a nation which is assigned to represent God on the earth through custodianship of the Gospel and Bible doctrine. Such a nation is sustained by a nucleus of mature believers on whose account the nation is preserved through the principle of blessing by association (Genesis 39:5). Israel is the unique client nation in all of human history, because she is the only nation to which God has given covenants, and also because she was the first and will be the last client nation unto God.In Leviticus chapter 26:1-13, God promised that the people of the unique client nation would experience great blessings if they were obedient to His Word. In Leviticus 26:14-39, divine discipline is promised to the nation if the people are disobedient. The divine discipline of a client nation is parallel to the divine discipline of an individual child of God (Hebrews 12:5-11; 1 Corinthians 11:30). God disciplines each believer in Christ for disobedience as parents should discipline their children for disobedience. However, unlike human parents, who sometimes make mistakes as to when and how they discipline their children, God’s discipline is always perfect.
The discipline God specified for His covenant people in Leviticus 26:14-36 for failure to comply with divine truth involved five distinct cycles. The discipline would intensify with each cycle with the intent that the people of the nation might change their minds and return to fellowship with God.
While the specific features of these cycles were specified to one nation only (the nation of Israel), application in principle may be observed in all declining client nations throughout history. The fourth and fifth cycles are covered in detail throughout the Scriptures and are apparent in the decline of nations in both secular and biblical history. Is the Lord's discipline always administered in five distinct cycles? Not necessarily--but no client nation has ever survived a continuous rejection of God’s authority and no nation ever will.
When a client nation is under the cycles of divine discipline, adjustment is called for in two categories: the attitude of the general population toward the divine principles of establishment regarding things as freedom, morality, rule of law, the understanding of freedom through a strong military, the punishment of criminals (including capital punishment for murder (Genesis 9:6); and two, the attitude of believers in Christ in the nation toward Bible doctrine. Let’s take a look at the first cycle of discipline specified for client nation Israel:
“But if you do not obey Me and do not carry out all these commandments,
if, instead, you reject My statutes, and if your soul abhors My ordinances so as not to carry out all My commandments, and so break My covenant,
I in turn, will do this to you: I will appoint over you a sudden terror, consumption and fever that will waste away the eyes and cause the soul to pine away; also, you will sow your seed uselessly, for your enemies will eat it up.
“I will set My face against you so that you will be struck down before your enemies; and those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one is pursuing you.” (Leviticus 26:14-17)
The covenant that Israel was expected to obey included all of the legislation from the Law of Moses and the teaching of doctrine that came from the Lord during that dispensation. Believers today are not under the Mosaic Law, but are responsible for learning the whole realm of Bible doctrine and fulfilling the unique spiritual life of the present dispensation. Notice in the first cycle the deterioration of mental stability and the loss of inner peace and confidence.
As to the useless sowing of seed, we must recognize that the Bible must be understood in the time during which it was written. In our present era of industry and technology, this Bible passage may apply to all businesses and corporations even though they may not be agricultural in nature. The seed could be viewed as the capital invested in the business. Here is the second cycle:
“If also after these things you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. “I will also break down your pride of power; I will also make your sky like iron and your earth like bronze.
“Your strength will be spent uselessly, for your land will not yield its produce and the trees of the land will not yield their fruit.” (Leviticus 26:18-20)
The purpose of the first cycle was to warn the rebellious nation to make the appropriate adjustments. In verse 19, the problem is arrogance. The number “seven” in verse 18 speaks of the completeness of God’s program of discipline. He knows the perfect degree of intensity for each cycle and applies it. In verse 20, regardless of how great the ingenious any human solution may be, it will all be in vain, because of the perfection of divine chastisement!
The nation has been given the opportunity to respond between cycles, and upon failure to do so, more intense discipline is applied. Loss of national power and loss of production occur even though a great amount of human strength is expended.
“If then, you act with hostility against Me and are unwilling to obey Me, I will increase the plague on you seven times according to your sins. “I will let loose among you the beasts of the field, which will bereave you of your children and destroy your cattle and reduce your number so that your roads lie deserted.” (Leviticus 26:21-22)
The second cycle was followed by another gracious opportunity to respond, but failure to comply is followed by another cycle. The third cycle is marked by a general inability to control the earth and the beginnings of great desolation. Here is the fourth cycle:
The nation has been given the opportunity to respond between cycles, and upon failure to do so, more intense discipline is applied. Loss of national power and loss of production occur even though a great amount of human strength is expended.
“If then, you act with hostility against Me and are unwilling to obey Me, I will increase the plague on you seven times according to your sins. “I will let loose among you the beasts of the field, which will bereave you of your children and destroy your cattle and reduce your number so that your roads lie deserted.” (Leviticus 26:21-22)
The second cycle was followed by another gracious opportunity to respond, but failure to comply is followed by another cycle. The third cycle is marked by a general inability to control the earth and the beginnings of great desolation. Here is the fourth cycle:
“And if by these things you are not turned to Me, but act with hostility against Me,
then I will act with hostility against you; and I, even I, will strike you seven times for your sins.
“I will also bring upon you a sword which will execute vengeance for the covenant; and when you gather together into your cities, I will send pestilence among you, so that you shall be delivered into enemy hands.
“When I break your staff of bread, ten women will bake your bread in one oven, and they will bring back your bread in rationed amounts, so that you will eat and not be satisfied.” (Leviticus 26:23-26)
Sufferings become intensified under the fourth cycle. There are increased attacks by enemies and an influence of foreign influence. The fourth cycle is also characterized by a very severe economic crisis. National sovereignty dwindles. Before the southern kingdom of Judah went down to the fifth cycle under the Chaldeans, Judah had been controlled by the Assyrians and then for a short time by Egypt. The first two invasions of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans are understood to be under the fourth cycle. In 606 B.C., right after Nebuchadnezzar defeated Egypt, he invaded Jerusalem, but did not demolish the city. Jehoiakim, king of Juda, was allowed to remain on the throne. Daniel was taken to Babylon during this siege as a hostage, along with others. In 598 B.C. there was a second invasion and captivity of Jerusalem. It was at that time that Ezekiel was taken captive to Jerusalem.
“Yet if in spite of this you do not obey Me, but act with hostility against Me,
then I will act with wrathful hostility against you, and I, even I, will punish you seven times for your sins.
“Further, you will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters you will eat.
“I then will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and heap your remains on the remains of your idols, for My soul shall abhor you.
“I will lay waste your cities as well and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your soothing aromas.
“I will make the land desolate so that your enemies who settle in it will be appalled over it.
“You, however, I will scatter among the nations and will draw out a sword after you, as your land becomes desolate and your cities become waste.
“Then the land will enjoy its sabbaths all the days of the desolation, while you are in your enemies' land; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths.
“All the days of its desolation it will observe the rest which it did not observe on your sabbaths, while you were living on it.
“As for those of you who may be left, I will also bring weakness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. And the sound of a driven leaf will chase them, and even when no one is pursuing they will flee as though from the sword, and they will fall.
“They will therefore stumble over each other as if running from the sword, although no one is pursuing; and you will have no strength to stand up before your enemies.
“But you will perish among the nations, and your enemies' land will consume you.
“So those of you who may be left will rot away because of their iniquity in the lands of your enemies; and also because of the iniquities of their forefathers they will rot away with them.” (Leviticus 26:27-39)
Even after the fourth cycle, there is opportunity to respond, which would cause the disastrous circumstances to be reversed. Through adjustment to the Word of God, it is just as easy to go back to prosperity and blessing as it is to keep heading toward destruction. But when it is too late, the nation goes down to utter military defeat. The northern kingdom of Israel went under the fifth cycle to the Assyrians in 722 B.C. Because at times in the southern kingdom of Judah there was some positive volition toward doctrine, the southern kingdom lasted about 135 longer than the northern kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar invaded Jerusalem a third time in 586 B.C. and devastated the city. The fifth cycle includes things like cannibalism (verse 29), which occurred in the southern kingdom under the fifth cycle, and also in restored Judea under the fifth cycle again in A.D. 70 when Jerusalem was under the siege of Rome. The fifth cycle also involves the assimilation of surviving nations into other nations and cultures. The fifth cycle of discipline to a nation is parallel to the sin unto physical death of an individual believer (1 John 5:16).
When a client nation comes under the final cycle of discipline, the Lord turns His attention toward the nucleus of believers that is positive toward the Word of God. The number of these believers is no longer large enough to preserve the nation, and though they will be under very difficult and challenging circumstances, God will be faithful to them, just as He was to the exiles and survivors of client nation Judah.
Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. http://www.lockman.org/
