The present age of the pandemic seems to display a dark age in history with widespread signs of the End Times. Thousands and thousands of people have disappeared unnoticed from the world, and we still have not fully answered the questions about the destiny of the world. Where are we standing in the history of God?
At the moment of Augustine’s death, the Vandal armies were besieging the city of Hippo where Augustine was a bishop. Two decades earlier the world had been shaken by the news of the fall of Rome. How was it possible for Rome to fall by the hands of the vandals? The Roman Empire was one of the greatest civilizations in the world and lasted for over a thousand years. I believe that Augustine was greatly confused and shocked as a man who loved God. His book the City of God was inspired by the fall of Rome and completed by the year of A.D 426. The treatise took Augustine at least a decade to write in response to the pagan claims that the fall of Rome was one of the consequences of the abolition of pagan worship by Christian emperors.
From Augustine’s point of view, what caused the fall of Rome? What can we say regarding the course of the history of the nations? This is the purpose of his masterpiece with a subtitle “Against the Pagans”. Augustine distinguishes between two cities, which are intertwined in this world until the final judgment separates them. God gave lordship so that there would be a peace that is necessary for the propagation of the gospel. But once the historical mission was accomplished, Rome fell because of her own sin and idolatry. This has been and will always be the destiny of all human kingdoms until the end of time. We can see the destiny of the nation of Israel because of her sin and disobedience. On the contrary, the City of God is eternal, stable, and his domain lasts forever.
During this age of the pandemic and social turbulence, it is God’s tremendous blessings and privileges for us to be called to serve the kingdom purpose of our times. God is awakening his faithful people through the Holy Spirit to love each other fervently during the times of apathy and advance the kingdom of God.
God summoned Abraham in his hometown. Jesus called his disciples by the Sea of Galilee. God called poor college students from Korea in response to his world mission command, which is still resonating in their hearts despite their age. We want to participate in the history of God of our times as long as God allows us to do so. This is what God has done through his people, inspired by the Holy Spirit. This is what some of our missionaries did preaching the gospel of Christ in the public square of Rome where the Roman soldiers had marched in pomp and glory.
We are walking in the history of God as long as God allows us to do so, while we remain faithful and obedient to him. Whatever the circumstances, the history of God will never stop. It will continue in the years to come.
John Shin in humble prayer