THE FRENCH REVOLUTION (1650-1850 AD)
Psalm 2:1 “Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?”
When Paul was in Athens he was invited to speak in a meeting of the Areopagus. In the midst of his discourse he said: “From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.”
One of the things that we see is that every nation has a relationship with God whether they know it or not. Nations can choose to walk in God’s ways or not to. By the 18th century nations in Europe were making their choice. Some ran towards the Creator, but others did not. Some of the richest and most powerful nations in Europe decided to go their own way.
France was one of the nations that decided not to go God’s way. Instead of going for the reformation they went for a revolution with the model of “libert`e, fraternit`e, equalit`e.” Would the French revolution succeed where Rome had failed in freeing the human nature of its brutal propensity to murder, theft and slavery?
We see that the revolution killed or exiled its leaders, kept the masses ignorant and set the stage for their own downfall. We see that the temptation to have power and the excitement of the guillotine overwhelmed the model of liberty, fraternity and equality. It is said that at the time of the French Revolution there was such a sophistication of deception that the world is still deceived after 200 years.
It is important for us to see what some of the foundational stones were in the French Revolution. Later on we will be looking at the American Revolution and in all honesty there is no comparison. The reason this is important because we see some of these same foundational stones in our own Western civilization today. We need to learn from history so that we do not repeat those mistakes.
Foundational results of the French Revolution:
1. A violent rejection of Biblical Christianity. When we see today how God is kicked out of our schools, businesses and our courts we see this same rejection in our own society.
2. Ignorance in respect to God and the Bible. A survey was taken in one particular denomination to find out why so many pastors were dropping out of the pastorate. They came up with four reasons, but the last was interesting and highlights this second point. They dropped out because of “Biblical illiteracy.” They did not know the Word of God!
3. The “Enlightenment” filled the vacuum created by unbelief. Man is a religious person. If we do not believe in God then that vacuum needs to be filled with something else. What is filling the vacuum in our Western Society today?
4. Historical revision bred shame of French heritage. I think of the chant given at a demonstration at Stanford University: “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Western Civilization’s got to go!” Yes, there are problems with our Western Civilization, but we still have the freedom to demonstrate, etc.
5. The reversal of the true nature of man. Instead of the recognition that the problem is sin, the explanation for the problems was that man was tied in knots by rules and laws, etc. It seems today in our Western society that nobody takes responsibility for their own actions. It is always someone or something else that is to blame.
6. A destruction of all order and established institutions.
7. Rejection of moral standards. They had moral anarchy. Anything goes today as well. Since there is no absolute truth everybody does what he/she thinks is right. The history of all societies is not class warfare, but ethical warfare against a sovereign God.
8. Christianity is persecuted while the occult is promoted. I left the USA in 65 and did not come back home for seven years. When I did I was surprised to see how many occultist shops had been opened in those seven years. 9. Crime, vice, indulgence and socialism destroyed the French economy. In our Western world today we are seeing the destruction of our economy because of the same thing. 10. Circuses were given as holidays just like they did in the days of Rome. We have the same today with football, basketball, etc. If we do not turn our worship to God then we will turn to something else; it’s our nature to worship.
Like I said, the one thing we can learn from history is that we do not learn from history.