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STAND & COMFORT Newsletter September 30, 2001 The Perversion Of 2 Chronicles 7:14 2 Chr 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. Revivalists and Kingdom Now adherents often use this verse of Scripture to refer to the Church's presence in America and its ability to move God to act favorably towards America. But this verse is not about America or any other Gentile nation on this earth. It is a specific promise made to King Solomon concerning God's people Israel and the land of Israel. These are important points which make the wrong use of this verse fall to the ground. For example: 1. God's word to Solomon concerning rewards for obeying His commands and punishments for not obeying encompassed the entire nation of Israel, because the entire nation was "His people." That cannot be true of America. All Americans are not God's people because all Americans are not Christians. 2. The punishment for not obeying God's commands was that His people would be driven out of their land into the nations, where they would worship other gods. This cannot be true of America because America is part of the system of nations on this earth. It is not a nation Biblically set apart for God to be a light to the nations. The command in 2 Chronicles 7 was given at the dedication of the temple Solomon had built. In verses 1 through 11 of this chapter, we read of sacrifices to God and rejoicing and great celebration. It was not a time of crisis when God was sending judgment upon the land, but of celebration and rejoicing. The celebration lasted seven days and then the people returned to their homes. It was after this celebration that the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night: 2 Chr 7:12 And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice. The land God refers to in all of these verses (vs. 13-14 and 20-22) is the land of Israel. In verse 19, He tells Israel that if they didn't do His commandments, then they would go out to where there are "other" gods that they wanted to worship, they would go out into the nations. And in verses 19 and 20, God speaks of Israel in CONTRAST to all the OTHER nations of this world. He was the God of Israel, while all the other nations had idols as their gods: Psa 96:5 For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens. In other words, the tabernacle was the one place where God would dwell among Israel. His dwelling place there was to be forever, a perpetual dwelling place. There they could seek His counsel and offer sacrifices for their sins. They would be His peculiar people, the one nation who would be a light to all the other nations of the world - if they followed Him and did His commands. Foreigners could join Israel, but the nations the non-Israelites came from did not become God's nations. That grace belonged to Israel alone. Just before Jesus went to Calvary, He stood over Jerusalem and said, Luke 19:41 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, We know what happened after Jesus rose from the dead - Pentecost. Jews from everywhere heard the gospel, and more than 3,000 believed the good news. Thirty-seven years later, Jesus' words in Luke 19:44 came true: Israel was dispersed among the nations and the temple was torn down. Now the gospel was to be taken to the whole world, and it would continue until Jesus returned. Jews and Gentiles both could now come to Jesus for salvation, but this was not the end of God's nation Israel. Paul clearly explained this in his tremendous discourse in Romans 9-11. God would one day graft Israel back into the Olive tree, but before that came about and before Christ's return, any Jew or Gentile could enter into Christ through the gospel and become a citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem. Paul knew that Jeremiah had prophesied the dispersion of Israel, and that they would someday return to their land in unbelief (Chapter 30). That brings things to our current situation. The point in recapping these events after Jesus' resurrection is this: when Israel was dispersed, God did not choose another nation as His people, as His holy nation. All people in any and every nation would never become the temple of the Living God because not all would believe. Nor did God designate any other nation as "the land," the place where His glory would dwell. Nor did He wait 1750 years to choose America as a replacement for Israel as "His nation" or "His land." His people would be taken from all the nations of the earth. His temple (believers) would be resident in ALL the nations of the world, causing Peter to write to the Church, 1 Pet 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: The gospel is personal. The target, if you will, of the great commission is the individual: Mat 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: The word "teach" in these verses is "matheteuo," which means "disciple. The same word ("taught") is used in Acts 14: Acts 14:21 And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch, What the discipled, individual believer was to be taught was "the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." Then each believer would earnestly contend for that faith and disciple others, so that there would be more servants of the gospel in all the nations. As they did this, they were to look ahead to the restoration of Israel and the second coming of Christ. But Dominionists take the great commission as a mandate to convert all of the people in all of the nations to Christ, so that the kingdom of God will be established in the earth. Thus the gospel is changed from one of being strictly personal to one that is territorial. Somehow through this effort, the idea has emerged that America is now the "new" Israel, God's "new" land, and that Americans are His "new" people. That's a perversion of the great commission and 2 Chronicles 7:14 as well. Such ideas negate the truth that God is not done with Israel. The truth is that God will regather the Jews, bring forth a remnant in a time of trouble, and bring them into their land, establishing peace at the return of Christ. All the Jews or Gentiles who have believed on Christ before that time will also enter into His reign. Thus as Jesus announced in Revelation 10 concerning the seventh trumpet, the mystery of God will be completed: Eph 1:9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: Rev 10:7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets. A remnant of Israel will come into her land at Christ's return, under the reign of Christ who will sit on the throne of David in that land. That throne is not in Britain or the United States or elsewhere. Israel is Israel and God has not forsaken her. Jesus will reign one day from Jerusalem. Jerry Falwell blamed the sinners of the world for what happened in New York and Washington, but God's command in 2 Chronicles is aimed solely at GOD'S PEOPLE: "If MY PEOPLE . . ." Let me repeat: this verse cannot be Scripturally applied to America, in the current crisis or ever, because all Americans are not God's people. Spiritually, America is not the Church's land or God's nation. America belongs to both sinner and saint alike because all are citizens of it. Scripturally, the Church has a permanent citizenship in heaven, the New Jerusalem. "If my people . . . will pray . . . I will heal their land." Can you apply this to America? Their land? God's people's land? What then are the unsaved considered to be? Foreigners? Could it be that calling millions to pray through worldwide prayer centers isn't satisfactory to Almighty God? Has the church failed to the point that God has removed His protection from America? Ridiculous. The Dominionists can only use this verse as referring to a land that Christians dwell in for whatever reason, not to a land God has specifically declared in Scripture to be chosen by Him for His people. They change the meaning and context. "IF MY PEOPLE . . ." America and any other country has sinners in it, as well as sinners saved by grace. Peter said that those who believe on Christ as the Scriptures say are His people and a holy nation not of this world, not of their own merit, but on the merit of the shed blood of Christ. Those who have applied 2 Chronicles 7:14 to the Church can be likened to the Jews of Paul's time: Rom 10:2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. 2 Chronicles 7:14 has become a standard call in Christian circles today. Those who sound such a call do see the sin and deprivation and degradation in all the nations of the world, including America, and want to see total nations turned to Christ. Who wouldn't? But Scripture shows that that is not only an impossibility, it is not Scriptural. The book of Revelation tells us that men will refuse to repent to the very end: Rev 9:20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Rev 16:9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory. If that doesn't do it for you, read Revelation 19 about Christ returning on His white horse against the gathered nations of this world. There are those who want this land healed, and use 2 Chronicles 7:14 as a pattern or model for the nations. Of course we want righteousness to reign and evil to be cleansed from the earth. Of course we would like to see all the people of all the nations turn around and accept Christ. Of course we would like to see a just world and peace and prosperity. Of course we would want all of that for America. But God's word says these things will not be until Christ personally, visibly returns in the sky with all those who are His to establish His global, millennial reign over the nations from Jerusalem. Telling the Church that claiming the promise of 2 Chronicles 7:14 will accomplish these things is a lie. Things will not happen that easily, nor that way. People need to accept the gospel and believe on Christ no matter what nation they are a part of, and when He returns, He will separate the sheep from the goats in all the nations of the world: Mat 25:32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: The Church's work is to make sure people hear the gospel so that they will be saved and avoid the wrath which the Lamb will bring with Him at His return (Revelation 6:12-17). The kingdom of God and all that it is will not come until that time. Yet, thousands, probably millions, are praying and fasting and persevering for the fulfillment of a promised kingdom short of Christ's return, a promise God never made to the nations of this world, even America. It's a carrot on a stick. God's dealings with Israel are not over. We are now living in a period when God is calling all who will come, to come into the body of Christ. At the same time, we are seeing God calling the Jews back to their land, though it is in unbelief. Out of those will come a believing remnant which will be united with the Church and enter the millennial reign with them. God is gathering a people to inherit the land when Christ returns, and when He's done gathering, He will bring them all into the land they are to inhabit. But not now. Not at this immediate, present time, but soon. This is God's promise to all. Everything hinges on Christ's return. The promise in 2 Chronicles 7:14 was given through a covenant with God. It was a promise of one who would reign over Israel if Israel obeyed the law. If it did not, then the curses of the law would be put into effect. In the New Testament, the promise is of a land, a return of Israel to the land and an inheriting of the world by all so that Christ will reign over all. One will not come into this inheritance by the keeping of the law, but by the grace of God through faith. It won't come about through revival, but by Christ's return in wrath and salvation. It won't come by blaming the sinners of the world or by millions of people praying their brains out, emptying their pocketbooks, confessing the right words or walking in circles so God will bring in the kingdom through their efforts. It will be by the grace of God through faith in Christ because He who promised is faithful to return and establish that which God has ordained. What God is doing today is gathering to Himself a people who will come to Him by grace through faith in the gospel of His Son. He tells us to pray for the salvation of all men, including those in places of authority: 1 Tim 2:1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; God is withholding His wrath so that the gospel will be preached as long as there are people to hear it. A time will come when men will not hear and repent, but try to eliminate the Jews and the Church, and it is then that God will no longer hold back His wrath: 2 Pet 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. This is God in His mercy and in His judgment. These are not things man initiates or the Church initiates. This is something God initiates at the very end of the age. Meanwhile, the false prophets' excited, emotion-filled cries concerning opportunity for revival and healing of the land will continue every single time a crisis arises. No matter how many times this scenario is repeated in the future, the apostate Church will forever fall short of being humble enough, of praying enough, of seeking God's face enough, of being righteous enough to cause God to heal "their land" because whatever nation they dwell is not biblically God's nation to begin with. God told Solomon concerning Israel, 2 Chr 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. I believe Israel is only a few short years from being healed because we are only a few short years away from Christ's return. I cannot place a number on "a few short years," but God is going to heal their land as He promised when Christ returns and not before then, for the Scriptures say, Rev 1:7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. At that time we will see the healing of the nations according to the word of God: Rev 22:2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were FOR THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. The healing of the nations will not come through revival. It will not come through redefining the Church and its doctrines so it can take dominion. It will not come through signs and wonders. The healing of the nations will come after, not before, the coming of Christ to establish His millennial reign. =========== This newsletter will be sent out whenever I think there is something the body of Christ needs to consider, to build it up, to give it encouragement or comfort in hard times. To sign up for this newsletter, email Ed at edju@velocity.net Web Page: http://www.velocity.net/~edju/ Past issues may be read at http://www.velocity.net/~edju/List.htm
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