America's Bible Verse?
“And My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
Many people take 2 Chronicles 7:14 out of context to prayerfully ask God to turn their country around with the idea that if people humble themselves as a nation and turn back to Him, then He will in turn heal their land, restore the nation, and bless them with a revival.
We are all for revival and salvation, and we are definitely for the gospel. We want nothing more than for God's message to go forth and save people. However, although this is an amazing verse, this is not the right passage to superimpose on the nations of the world.
Contextually, this verse is a statement about how God will do what He said He would do in the Old Testament. He identified the descendants of Abraham, the Israelite people, to be a kingdom of priests to the nations, through which He would reveal Himself. Part of the establishment of Israel in the Old Testament was that they were to be a people of God in an actual land with an actual temple that they went to so they could worship Him.
When God made promises about what they could expect in that land, He made promises that if they obeyed Him, He would bless them and if they disobeyed Him as a nation, they would be cursed. Part of the blessing that would come if they were obedient was that the land would be blessed, meaning it would produce fruit. Literal fruit. This was not promising a spiritual atmosphere, but rather they would be able to grow food to eat, which was so important for a nation. Since they were a nation that God established to reveal Himself through, this meant there were ways He wanted that nation to behave. He had promises attached to that nation in that actual land that if they obeyed, He would bless them in a very tangible way.
The verse never said, "Israel, if you obey, you will be blessed as well as any other nation that copies you." No, this was a promise given to that specific nation at that specific time. The USA is not the people of God as a nation. This is a nation of every type of person, including believers and non-believers, and the people of this country need spiritual revival.
Salvation never comes as a result of behavior. Salvation comes through the proclamation of the Word. How are we going to see this nation saved? It's not going to be through getting enough people to behave. That's how the Pharisees operated. The Word comes and it gives life to people. If we want to see true transformation come to the people of this nation, the hope we have is in the gospel we proclaim. Let's commit to evangelizing and reaching out with the good news by which they may be saved.
