As another year begins, we may be looking forward to better things. But if we consider the moral and spiritual trends of recent generations, we may consider that these trends are likely to continue into the future. In the United Kingdom, we may feel that the past 60 years have been particularly significant in our moral decline. One of the most serious decisions of the UK Parliament during that period was the legalisation of abortion in 1967. Over 224 000 abortions were reported in the UK in 2020; the figure for England and Wales was the highest ever, and Scotland’s was the second highest. This means that, in just one year, close to a quarter of a million little human beings were killed without justification (the number who are aborted because of danger to the mother’s life is a tiny fraction of the total).
Apart from anything else, the number of abortions is surely a significant factor in leaving the number of births significantly less than the number of deaths in the country. Hence there is a shortage of workers in various sectors such as care homes and transport. Much more serious is the guilt involved in the slaughter of so many unborn children. By way of contrast, in Great Britain in 2019-20 there were 664 homicides, a small fraction of the number of abortions. There is, rightly, often an outpouring of sympathy and abhorrence over a single murder, and widespread concern is expressed at times when the murder rate is increasing. Why then is the opposition to abortion, to the slaughter of real human beings, so limited? One reason is that society has been taught not to consider unborn infants as fully human.
Developments such as the legalisation of abortion and same-sex marriage, the easing of restrictions on divorce, and proposals to allow assisted suicide show that Britain, to a very great extent, no longer has a moral compass – or at any rate, a moral compass that is, so to speak, calibrated by Scripture. And preceding the loss of a moral compass was the loss of a spiritual compass. People lost sight of the authority of Scripture; they no longer believed that it was a revelation from God, and that it is therefore infallible – without error. It is without error because it was inspired by the Holy Spirit, a divine Person. And a divine Person cannot say anything inaccurate. His knowledge is in-
finite; so He cannot be mistaken. Thus the Bible, from beginning to end, is totally reliable. But people generally have lost sight of the authority and the reliability of Scripture and, what is worse, much of the professing Church has lost faith in Scripture as the basis for its teaching.
The Bible begins with God’s testimony to the fact that He created all things. But the dominant philosophy today is that the whole universe is the result of billions of years of evolution since the “big bang”. Yet no explanation seems to be offered for why the “big bang” occurred. Many people are glad to believe that there is no God, no Creator; they are glad to feel confident that a godless morality is good enough, and that they may live their lives without having to take into consideration the commandments of the God of the Bible. They are glad to dismiss all fears that this God will at last bring them to judgement and cast them away to a lost eternity. Well did Moses say, “O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!” (Deuteronomy 32:29).
The Bible sets before us many who navigated their way through life by using a moral compass and a spiritual compass that were calibrated by what God has revealed. Consider Abel and his way of worshipping God: he “offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain”. In other words, Abel’s sacrifice was according to God’s revelation; Cain’s was not. Abel recognised God’s authority and acted accordingly; he had a spiritual compass, properly calibrated, and by God’s grace he used it well.
Consider Noah. He lived in an extraordinarily evil generation, so evil that God was to punish the entire population of the world, apart from Noah and his family, by sending a flood that would destroy them all. God directed Noah to build an ark so that he and those closest to him would be preserved. It seemed such a foolish waste of time and effort to build that ark when, even after more than 100 years had passed, there was still no sign of the flood that would destroy the world. Noah must have had to endure much mockery but he walked with God; he knew what was the safe way to go; he went through life following God’s instructions. He had a moral compass and used it to recognise what was the right direction to take.
Consider Moses. He “refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward” (Heb 11:24-26). No doubt there were wonderful prospects before him in Pharaoh’s ungodly palace; he could probably have lived an easy life of luxury and sinful pleasure there; or he could have filled an important, influential position in the government of the country. But he could see that
he could not have God’s blessing in the palace; so he felt compelled to join God’s people, although they were suffering oppression. That was where Moses’ spiritual compass pointed; he was thinking just as a gracious man should think; he was making use of the light that God had revealed.
Consider Paul. When appearing before Felix, he stated, “Herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men” (Acts 24:16). He was not casual about these things; he was striving to have a clear conscience. His conscience, by God’s grace, was moulded by the will of God revealed in Scripture. He had a moral compass and he used it.
As we look on to 2022, we may be concerned about new departures from God’s law that will be promoted by those with access to the levers of parliamentary power and by the opinion formers of this generation. Yet let us remember that “the Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea” (Ps 93:4). In His sovereign wisdom He has allowed our moral and spiritual situation to deteriorate over a long period of time, but He is able to halt the forces of spiritual and moral decline and to turn the whole situation around.
The Saviour quietened the waves on the Sea of Galilee; He did so miraculously. When there are storms on the oceans and seas today, the Lord quietens the waves in His own time through His ordinary providence. In His own time, He will show that He is indeed mightier than all the forces of unbelief, secularism and false religion, which are so strong today; He will subdue them; He will send out large numbers of ministers to make the gospel known throughout the world; He will make the preached Word powerful. Especially He will pour out the Holy Spirit to bless all the means He uses to turn sinners to Himself. And He will take glory to Himself in it all.
When will this take place? This year? Of course, we cannot tell when. But we are to pray that the Lord would weaken all the agencies that Satan is using to further the interests of his kingdom. Likewise we are to pray that God’s truth would be spread everywhere, that the Spirit would apply the truth to the hearts of sinners, that the cause of Christ would be built up and purified, and that God would be glorified in every part of this world in the salvation of sinners and through the holy lives of His people. These will be people who will make good use of their moral compass, calibrated by Scripture, that God freely makes available. Whatever may be true of 2022, God’s people should indeed look forward to better things in the future, for He has given promises of worldwide blessing: for example, “The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Is 11:9).
May the Lord richly bless every reader with spiritual blessings in 2022.