Rev 6:5 9/26/80; Ps 37 1/1/80; Eph 221, 249 4/1/86
A. Whose fault is it?
1. The economic status of the client nation to God is often a sign of the spiritual status of that client nation. As goes the believer, so goes the client nation to God, Isa 37:30-31.
2. When economic depression occurs, we have a tendency to blame someone; e.g., the Federal Reserve, the policies of government and bureaucracy, poor management, or the demands of labor. But whatever the apparent reasons, you can always count on the fact that the economic status is a reflection of the spiritual status of that nation.
3. Depression means the pivot is shrinking. It means believers are not advancing to maturity, and therefore God is exercising His divine prerogative in administering the five cycles of discipline.
B. Definition.
1. “Famine” in the Bible refers to economic depression and natural disasters.
2. Jesus Christ prophesied there would be many wars and famines until His Second Advent. War manifests man’s arrogance. Depression manifests his total function of the old sin nature, Mt 24:7; Mk 13:8; Lk 21:11.
3. Since the Bible advocates free enterprise as part of the laws of divine establishment, any violation of this law through sin, human good, or evil results in recession and depression. Human good causes a depression by trying to solve the economic problems of scum.
4. In the natural course of life, economic depression occurs periodically. Depression is inevitable when government tries to play God.
5. Economic depression for divine judgment and punishment of a nation in degeneration and reversionism, Isa 51:17,19; Jer 14:15-16, 15:1-2, 29:17-19; Ezek 5:16.
6. Without Bible doctrine, believers aren’t worth a damn, and the justice of God can only take them out in discipline. Depression is designed to wake people up to the truth. When people reject the truth, strong delusion is at work.
7. When there is an economic depression even with the proper separation of government and business (i.e., no government interference in business), this indicates that part of the populace is in the cosmic system, Lam 4:6-10; Jer 4:28.
8. When political power or the law tampers with free enterprise, it results in economic depression. You cannot use the law to adjust God’s laws. Economic depression is always the creation of politicians and the poor decisions of government. People are the products of their own decisions.
C. Recession and depression are part of the cycles of discipline.
1. Recession as a part of divine discipline on a national entity is the second cycle of discipline, Lev 26:18-20.
2. The fourth cycle of discipline, described in Lev 26:23-26, is an intensification of economic collapse.
3. So the second cycle of discipline is economic recession; the fourth cycle of discipline is economic depression.
4. The fourth cycle of discipline is also mentioned in the curses on the client nation in Deut 28:15 cf. Deut 28:23-24.
5. Economic depression often results in the collapse of a nation as the administration of the fifth cycle of discipline to the client nation, Deut 28:25-26.
D. Economic depression is a test for the function of the faith-rest drill.
1. In Gen 12:10, Abraham and his family were starving, but this was a test to see if Abraham would advance to spiritual maturity. However, he failed the test and sought help in Egypt.
2. The same principle is taught in 1 Pet 1:7-8.
3. Economic depression is used to test believers regarding the place of doctrine in their lives and the logistical grace rationale, Gen 26:1.
E. The Importance of Preparation for Economic Depression.
1. Gen 41 teaches the importance of liquidity or cash in a depression. As Prime Minister of Egypt, Joseph, knowing God’s plan, saw the seven prosperous years as a time to prepare for the seven depression years. By his preparation, Joseph was able to keep Egypt in a state of liquidity so that, during the seven depression years, Egypt not only survived but advanced. (See Ephesians lesson #705.)
2. The importance of preparation can also be realized from watching the squirrel. The intensity of his nut-gathering activity in the fall indicates the type of winter to come.
G. Inflation is a basis for economic depression under the fourth cycle of discipline, Lev 26:26.
H. Solution for Recovery from Economic Depression.
1. Only the spiritual recovery of the believer will deliver a nation from its economic depression.
2. In 1929 when the Great Depression hit the United States, there was a rise of good Bible exposition. Some of the great Bible teachers of that generation became very well known at that time. So there was a spiritual recovery long before the United States realized economic recovery.
3. 2 Chr 20:9, “If disaster comes to us, whether by the sword of judgment or disease or economic depression, we will stand in Your presence before the temple that bears Your name and we will pray to you in our distress. Then You will both hear us and deliver us.”
a. Economic disaster, like warfare or disease, always has a tendency to bring people back to the reality of eternal God.
b. The Old Testament economy was restored by mature believers going into the Temple and praying.
4. Only the pivot of mature believers in the client nation can effectively restore the economy through their spiritual impact, Isa 37:30-31.
5. When a client nation is under the fourth or fifth cycle of discipline, only the pivot of mature believers have enough historical impact for deliverance. This emphasizes how important you are as a member of the royal family of God, and how important is your momentum in the protocol plan of God.
6. Ps 33:16-19, “No king is delivered by the size of his army; no warrior escapes being wounded because of his great strength. A horse is an empty hope for deliverance; in spite of its great strength [horsepower], it cannot deliver you. But the eyes of the Lord are on those who respect [personally love] Him, on those who wait for His grace, to deliver them from death, and to keep them alive in economic depression.”
a. In the time in which Ps 33 was written, human solutions were such things as the size of the army, the strength of the individual, and the ability of the horse. Yet none of these can deliver.
b. There are no answers to a client nation in apostasy apart from its spiritual recovery.
I. Economic depression is often caused by rejection of Bible doctrine as it is taught by those authorized to teach it.
1. In the Old Testament, the authorized teachers were the prophets and Levitical priests. In the New Testament, they were first the apostles and now pastor-teachers. We’re seeing such rejection today.
2. Ps 105:15-16, “Do not touch [be hostile against] My anointed ones [those who teach Bible doctrine]; do My prophets no harm.” In other words, do not reject the message or the messenger. By rejection of the messenger, you reject the message. “He called down famine [economic depression] on the land, and destroyed all their food supplies.”
J. During economic depression, there is generally a lot of false teaching of false doctrine which intensifies the depression, Jer 14:13-28.
1. Politicians, religious types, and false prophets always promise no depression. Jer 5:12, “They have said, `Misfortune will not come on us; we will not see the sword or famine.’”
2. Compare that passage with Jer 14:13, which says that ten years later, they were destroyed by both the sword and famine. They had tampered with God’s laws for the economy.
K. God protects the mature and positive believer in time of disaster.
1. Job 5:20, “In economic depression, He will deliver you from death, and in battle from the power of the sword.” This mentions both the fourth and fifth cycles of discipline.
2. Rom 8:35-37, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall disaster, or anguish, or persecution, or economic depression, or privation, or danger from warfare? In all these things we win the supreme victory through Him who loves us.”
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© 1989, by R. B. Thieme, Jr. All rights reserved.
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