Tell Me It Isn't So

Okay, I will.

For too long I've heard too many people misinterpret 2 Chronicles 7:14.

This passage cannot be applied to us (the U.S.), as it is so often, for two reasons. First, if it were true, then replacement theology is true—and it's not. Second, we (the Church) have already humbled ourselves. We repented. That happened both as a cause and result of salvation.

God loves Israel. He's never abandoned her. He's always preserved a remnant. God did not divorce Israel and marry the U.S. or even the Church, despite the fact that we're called his bride. And then there's that whole olive tree thing about how we were grafted in, but we're not to think that we're better than the original tree. Replacement theology is not biblical.

Beside that, this passage is from a former covenant, not our current covenant of grace. We humbled ourselves individually. To say that we must do so collectively in order for God to heal our land means that what Jesus did is insufficient. That would mean that what God does is based on what we do. That's works, not grace. And it's not part of the covenant that God made with himself regarding us.

Of course there's also that pesky business of us continuing to sin after we've been pardoned (saved). We can't become sinless; it's hard enough to sin less. So the idea that if we humble ourselves and turn from our evil, wicked ways, God will then save our nation is, well, preposterous. God doesn't save nations; he saves sinners.

There's simply no way around this. There may be those who will feel obliged to correct me and quote Scriptures to support their case. Please, don't bother. This isn't rocket science. It's simple. That's why I stated it simply.

BTW, in brief all the promises of the former covenant apply to us, but the warnings and conditional provisions (if you do... then I will) do not apply. God doesn't dangle rewards for good behavior in front of his children, either to cause us to love him more or because when we obey God then he loves us more. We love him because he first loved us. Moreover, all—ALL—judgment has been postponed. That's part of what grace does.

Bad things happen because we live in a fallen world and we reap the consequences of both our choices and the choices of others. Sometimes the harvest is bad; other times it's good. But God never changes. Remember, in him there is no parallax.