If My People

Recently, Anne Graham Lotz, a highly respected Bible teacher and daughter of famed evangelist Billy Graham, spearheaded an initiative to call all Christians, particularly in the United States, to pray for a sweeping revival in America under the banner of 7 7 7: An Urgent Call to Prayer.

The idea behind the "7 7 7" was for people to pray each of the first seven days of the seventh month (July 1–7, 2014), and to fast and pray for seven hours on the last day. She urged people to pray specifically for the following:

• For God the Father to restrain, protect, and deliver His people from the evil that has come into our world.

• For God the Son to be exalted, magnified, and glorified in His Church, in our nation, and in our lives.

• For God the Holy Spirit to fall on us in a fresh way, compelling the Church to repent of sin and our nation to return to faith in the living God, resulting in a great national spiritual awakening.

Anne—like many Christians today who are keenly aware of the way in which end-time prophecy is being fulfilled—knows full well that the Rapture and the Tribulation are looming on the horizon. She says that God specifically led her to do this: to urge the body of Christ, especially in America, to pray for one final spiritual awakening and renewal prior to the Lord's soon return.

In June, Joel Rosenberg, a prominent Christian author and speaker, posted a special announcement on his blog to promote the event, in addition to an upcoming conference featuring Anne Graham Lotz and Dr. Ronnie Floyd, President of the Southern Baptist Convention:

Now, I have nothing but the deepest respect for these godly people, and I share their sense that the Rapture and Tribulation are rapidly drawing near, as well as their desire to see a spiritual awakening in America—a country that seems to be working overtime to erase every trace of God from its society.

But there's that verse again:

According to most sources (like I'm going to count them myself), there are a total of 31,102 verses in the King James Bible, and I cannot think of a single one of the other 31,101 verses that have been more frequently misinterpreted, misappropriated, and misapplied by sincere, well-meaning preachers and pulpit-pounding evangelists than 2 Chronicles 7:14.

For generations, this verse has been quoted by American preachers as if it were a secret formula for not only a sweeping spiritual revival, but for a bevy of temporal blessings to boot. It has been the rallying cry for innumerable calls for national repentance and revival, and has been liberally quoted by some of the foremost preachers of the gospel throughout America's history.

Today, however, with America rapidly sinking into the abyss of stifling political correctness, secular humanism, sensual gratification, self-glorification, and spiritual rebellion of the highest (lowest?) order, those heart-felt cries for revival and spiritual awakening—although growing in urgency—seem to be in danger of being drowned out altogether.

And I can just hear some people out there reading this, thinking:

"Well, that's what it says, isn't it? What's wrong with 2 Chronicles 7:14? I mean, we're His people, right? He said if we repent and turn back to Him, then He'll forgive us and heal our land, right? That seems pretty clear to me...what's the problem? Don't you want a revival?"

Well, yeah. The only problem is that this verse—in fact this entire portion of Scripture—happens to have nothing to do with the Church.

It never has and it never will.

What's a "chronicle"?

By definition, a "chronicle" is simply an account of a series of events that presents those events in the order in which they occurred, generally without extensive or in-depth analysis or interpretation. It's basically a blow-by-blow account of the facts.

Although no author is specifically named in the books of 1 & 2 Chronicles (which were originally combined into a single work), biblical scholars normally attribute their authorship to the prophet Ezra, and there is general agreement that they were written between 450–425 BC. They cover the same general time period as the books of 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings (roughly from the days of King Saul in the eleventh century BC up to the Babylonian captivity in the sixth century BC) and recap some of the same events, only from a somewhat more priestly perspective.

Although the events described occurred prior to the Babylonian exile, 1 & 2 Chronicles were written following Israel's return from that 70-year period of captivity, and possibly as a result there is an emphasis throughout on the proper worship of God and the importance of obeying His laws (and the results of breaking them). In 1 Chronicles, we follow the rise of King David, and toward the end of the book we are introduced to his son Solomon.

Although David was a man after God's own heart, God denied him the right to build Israel's first temple because David had shed much blood. He had been a man of war since the day he slew Goliath, and had defeated Israel's enemies. But God wanted His temple to be built by a man of peace during a time of peace, and He ordained that it would be built by Solomon. Although David drew up the plans and prepared much of the material to be used in its construction, it was Solomon who constructed the temple from 966 to 959 BC.

In 2 Chronicles 1–5, Solomon is on the throne and building this magnificent structure, and in chapter 6 he dedicates the newly completed temple. In his prayer of dedication, Solomon heavily references God's covenant with Israel. He was keenly aware of the terms of Israel's covenant, and it was clearly uppermost in his mind as he prayed to dedicate the temple:

In other words, Solomon was basically praying:

"God, I know the terms of our contract. If you send (1) drought, (2) famine, or (3) pestilence because we have sinned, then hear from heaven and forgive our sin and heal our land if we repent."

In chapter 7, with the dedication ceremonies complete, God fills the temple with His glory—His power and presence radiate so powerfully from the new temple that the priests can't even enter. Then, after a flurry of sacrifices and feasts, God appears to Solomon at night and speaks to him in response to his dedicatory prayer:

In other words, God was basically agreeing with Solomon:

"Yep, those are the terms. If I send (1) drought, (2) famine, or (3) pestilence because you have sinned, I will hear from heaven and forgive your sin and heal your land if you repent. That's the deal."

And that brings us to 2 Chronicles 7:14.

So, what's wrong with 2 Chronicles 7:14?

Nothing...except the way it's misinterpreted, misappropriated, and misapplied by millions of Christians in America today. As you can clearly see from the context, this is all about God's covenant with Israel.

Just to be clear: Although biblical scholars may parse them differently, several covenants that God has specifically made with Israel are recorded in Scripture (as well as a couple with all of mankind, such as the Noahic Covenant in which God promised He would never again judge the world with a flood). A detailed rundown of these covenants is beyond the scope of this article, but one thing is abundantly clear: Israel is the only nation on earth that has ever been in a covenant relationship with God. And they still are.

Although the New World was settled by godly men who dedicated it to the proclamation of the gospel, and later the founding fathers dedicated America to God, the above statement includes the United States. Stirring patriotic songs such as "God Bless America" aside, America is not now nor has it ever been in a covenant relationship with God. Sorry...never happened.

Has God blessed America? Absolutely—like few other nations in history. But we have been richly blessed primarily due to our support for His people Israel in accordance to God's promise to Abraham:

And that support that has been rapidly eroding over the past few years, with a special thanks to one particular Sunni Muslim named Barack Hussein Obama.

For decades, Christians in America have watched their once-great nation systematically turn from God and seek to eliminate every trace of His presence from American society. Everywhere they turn, they are confronted with the relentless rise of secular humanism cloaked under the pretense of "separation of church and state," coupled with mainstream churches that provide their congregations with about as much sound biblical teaching and spiritual nourishment as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

God, however, always has a remnant. There has always been a core of born-again Christians in America who do everything in their power to stand against this tsunami of godlessness in order to shine the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world—or country, as the case may be—that continues to make it ever more obvious that it wants nothing to do with Him.

So I certainly cannot fault the motives of Christian leaders and pastors who want nothing more than to see God's Spirit move the hearts of millions across America, and awaken her from the spiritual stupor that possesses her before God's hand moves in judgment more dramatically than it already has. I can scarcely grasp the magnitude of the burden on their hearts or the sense of urgency that grips their spirits.

I say this to emphasize that I do not intend anything I say in this article to come across in a sniping or harping manner, as if I had nothing better to do than to toss around nitpicking criticism at other Christians over a minor disagreement over the proper application of one single verse of Scripture.

Because I do. But there is more at stake here than the proper application of one single verse of Scripture. A lot more.

Here are several specific interpretive issues concerning this passage in 2 Chronicles—and although none of them necessarily represents a slam dunk all by itself, each is something that needs to be considered in dealing with this passage. Taken all together, these issues paint a picture of a passage of Scripture that has nothing whatsoever to do with the Church—in America or anywhere else for that matter.

• Who is God addressing? Obviously, Solomon—and by extension the nation of Israel. God is giving Solomon a detailed response to his prayer from chapter 6. Thus, these promises of blessings and warnings of punishment are directed squarely at Israel (and nobody else).

• Notice in 2 Chronicles 7:12 above, God says "I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice." What place? The temple in Jerusalem. Not Central Park in New York. Not Wrigley Field in Chicago. Not Universal Studios in Los Angeles.

The temple. Jerusalem. Israel.

• When God says "My people," who is He talking about? There can be no doubt that God is talking about His Chosen People, the Jews. The context is 100 percent Jewish. There is simply no other way to interpret it. There is no clear reason to associate this with Christians a millennium in advance, let alone American Christians nearly three millennia in advance.

• What land is God going to heal? Just as obvious: the land of Israel. That is specifically the only land in view here.

• What exactly does God mean by "heal their land"? He means, you know, heal their land. Solomon prayed about drought, famine, pestilence...stuff like that. That's all part of the land covenant. There's nothing symbolic or figurative here. This verse is literally about rain, crops, and pests—not revivals, conferences, and prayer meetings. This passage has to do with the physical restoration of the land, not spiritual blessings. It doesn't say that and it doesn't mean that.

• Finally (and this is a biggie in my opinion), if Christians in America are going to claim 2 Chronicles 7:14 for themselves and their own spiritual blessings or whatever kind of blessings they happen to want at the time, why stop there? Let's keep reading, shall we?

Oops. I'll bet a lot of Christians who claim verse 14 never read verses 19 and 20. Why don't they claim those verses, too? If Americans are going to claim 2 Chronicles 7:14, does that mean they are in danger of being uprooted from U.S. soil unless they repent and return to God? If so, then why are they still there? I haven't seen a whole lotta national repentance goin' on, yet there they are—overregulated and underemployed. And try not to act surprised, but history reveals that this verse describes precisely what happened to the nation of Israel:

They failed to keep the terms of the covenant God made with them, and they were in fact uprooted from their land and their first temple was destroyed. As was their second.

Where some Christians go wrong, however, is in arrogantly presuming that God has canceled or revoked His apparently not-so-eternal covenants with Israel due to their rebelliousness and disobedience. The Bible, however says otherwise and says it with thundering clarity.

FYI: God loves Israel. Satan hates Israel. So whenever you hear someone teaching something that denigrates, disparages, divests, disses, or dumps on Israel, take a wild guess who's behind it.

Land? What land?

This issue of being uprooted from the land brings us face to face with another key aspect of the misapplication of this verse:

Where is the Church's land?

Did God give the Church a land to call our own? Could someone show me where it is on the map? I know there's a Churchland, Virginia...but I've been there and I'm reasonably certain that's not it.

Is the Church's land the United States? Then what about Christians in Asia or Europe? Is it any land where Christians happen to live? Then it's the entire world...including Israel! Is it any old place we want it to be? No!

With all due respect to the residents of the greater Portsmouth area, the point is that God never gave the Church any actual land to possess.

The Church has no land to heal!

Only Israel has been given a homeland by virtue of a covenant with God: a region on earth to call their own forever. Period. And if the Muslim countries that surround Israel like a pack of snarling wolves don't like it, maybe they should take it up with God. He made the covenant.

The Church may not have a homeland, but that doesn't mean they don't have a home—it's just that our home is not on earth:

The heavenly places. The Church's home is not on this earth. Our heavenly home is the New Jerusalem, and it won't be long before we bid this world goodbye and take up residence there for eternity. Our citizenship is not of this world. We are sojourners here—and our sojourn is nearing its end.

And when I think about it in those terms, I just don't get why on earth any Christian would want to claim 2 Chronicles 7:14 to begin with. "Heal our land"?? Why?! So we can waste a few more years down here in this sick, sin-infested world, enjoying the world's definition of the "good life," surrounded by all the material possessions and carnal distractions it has to offer? Really?

Rather than claiming 2 Chronicles 7:14 in an effort to wrangle some type of blessings out of God, our prayer should be more along these lines:

Come, Lord Jesus! Our focus should be on Jesus. It should be spiritual, not temporal. We should be looking forward to the Lord's return and storing up treasure in heaven, rather than being focused on having our "best life now" and continually seeking to enjoy ever increasing levels of blessing and abundance here on earth.

I love His appearing. So I don't know about you, but when the time comes for us to say adios to this sin-sick world, it'll suit me just fine. I've got dibs on a window seat on the first load up.

There are a number of other verses in this passage that those who "blab and grab" verse 14 casually gloss over as if they weren't there or didn't apply (because it's patently obvious that they do not apply to any Christians in any nation), and this is precisely the type of sloppy, selective hermeneutic that lies at the root of countless aberrations of Scripture.

Understand that when God made these promises to Solomon—and ultimately carried them out—He wasn't being arbitrary or capricious. He wasn't treating Israel the same way He treats other nations (nor treating other nations the same way He treats Israel).

He was simply enforcing the terms of His contract.

The bottom line is that 2 Chronicles 7 is all about the physical restoration of the land of Israel: the blessings God would bestow on Israel if they obeyed, and the prescribed punishments that He would mete out if they didn't.

Well, Israel didn't—and God did.

Color me surprised.

So, what's really wrong with 2 Chronicles 7:14?

As I said earlier, there's a lot more at stake here than a minor disagreement over the proper interpretation of one single verse of Scripture.

Indeed there is.

There are many people in the Church today who have gotten caught up in something called dominion theology, aka Kingdom Now theology. One of its basic tenets is that the Church's job is to go out and take over the world for Christ and build His kingdom so He can return to earth and take over the reins. In fact, many of them believe that is exactly what is holding up the second coming of Christ—the Church hasn't done its job!

According to them, Christians have been lazy and, like the Crusaders of old, need to man up and get going with the construction of Christ's kingdom here on earth by having born-again believers infiltrate all levels of society—from government to business to education to arts and entertainment. Then, our job is to change the world into a God-fearing, Christ-honoring place that Jesus would be plumb proud to come back to rule.

Untangling the lies of dominion theology, however, is an article for another time. My point is that it is common for such people to liberally name and claim many Old Testament verses such as 2 Chronicles 7:14. They do so because they believe they do apply to the Church, and the reason they believe they apply to the Church is because they believe the Church has replaced Israel.

Many dominion theologists also subscribe to some species of replacement theology, where the Church has become "spiritual Israel" or the "true Israel," and as a result they feel free (if not obligated) to commandeer all of the promises God made to His people Israel and apply them to the Church. The good ones, that is. Apparently all the associated curses still apply to those hook-nosed hooligans who are illegally occupying land belonging to those poor, oppressed Palestinians.

So, for Christians today, in America or anywhere else, errantly naming and claiming a verse like 2 Chronicles 7:14 leads right to the doorstep of some deeply flawed and spiritually dangerous theology.

Don't go there.

As born-again believers in the Age of Grace, we are the bride of Christ and our only real job is to let our light shine before men, take the gospel to a lost and dying world, and occupy until He comes to take us home to be with Him. The Church has been promised no land on this earth, and the only covenant that applies directly to us is the New Covenant that God made with Israel—a covenant that Jesus established with His blood. And even then, we have only been grafted into that covenant by our faith in Christ, and that was only made possible by Israel's (temporary) rejection of their Messiah nearly two thousand years ago.

Instead of trying to pilfer the eternal promises God made to Israel, the Church should be honoring the Jewish people.

Instead of picking their biblical pockets, we should be thanking them, loving them, blessing them, supporting them, defending them, standing with them, and praying for them.

After all, at least indirectly, we owe our eternal destiny to them.

So, what's right with 2 Chronicles 7:14?

So, is the Old Testament radioactive or something? Does this mean Christians will be stricken with leprosy if they claim 2 Chronicles 7:14? Does this passage of Scripture mean anything at all to Church Age believers, and if so, what?

Even though Christians have no business claiming it as a promise of potential blessings, that certainly doesn't mean this verse and many others like it have no meaning for the Church.

First of all, one of the fundamental purposes of all Scripture is to reveal to us the character of God. Well, what do passages such as 2 Chronicles 7:14 and others teach us about God's character?

• God is faithful.

We serve a promise-keeping God, and His promises are eternal. Even though many of His promises do not specifically involve the Church, we can certainly read the Old Testament and see that He always kept His covenant with His people Israel. Throughout the Old Testament, we read how God blessed them, protected them, provided for them, miraculously delivered them from the hands of their enemies, and miraculously delivered their enemies into their hands.

But was Israel always faithful to God? Uhm, not so much. In spite of all that God did for them, Israel repeatedly drifted into wickedness and idolatry, and God had to punish them according to the terms of their covenants in order to get them to turn to Him in repentance and seek His face.

In spite of Israel's repeated disobedience and rebellion, however, do we read anywhere in the Old Testament about God abandoning Israel? Did He ever cancel or break any of His covenants with them and cut them loose, even though He would have been thoroughly justified in doing so? No! Why?

Because He gave His Word.

Shaky ground: People who subscribe to some species of replacement theology need to ask themselves one simple question: If God doesn't honor the Old Covenant, how secure are Christians under the New Covenant?

It is only because of God's faithfulness to His Word that He has kept His covenant promises to Israel, and for born-again Christians in the current Age of Grace, that's really good news. That means our status under the New Covenant based on our faith in Christ is just as rock solid and unshakable.

Another thing we can take away from this passage in 2 Chronicles 7 and others is this:

• God wants to be in communion with His people.

Notice what happened after Solomon finished his prayer of dedication:

The temple was filled with what is sometimes referred to by Jewish rabbis as the Shekinah glory—the literal presence of Yahweh, the Creator, the living God. Understand that this was the whole point of building the temple in the first place: It was built so God could dwell with His people. God wanted to be at peace with His people Israel; but He also wants to be at peace with all those who humble themselves before Him and trust in the atonement His Son made for the forgiveness of sin. And if we do, then the following applies to us:

Just as Israel had peace with God as long as they remained faithful to Him and followed His ways, people during the Church Age have peace with God when they repent of sin and put their faith in Christ's finished work on the cross.

One final thing we can glean from 2 Chronicles 7:14 is this:

• God always wants people to humble themselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from their wicked ways—and He always blesses those who do.

Yes, God wanted Israel to turn from their wicked ways and seek Him—and He wants us to do the same! God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and He wants this for all of us because this is the only way we can have a right relationship with Him and enjoy the blessings of His presence in our lives. It was true for Israel in 2 Chronicles 7:14, and it's true for the Church today.

But what we cannot do—what we must not do—is jump on this verse like a magic formula we can use to manipulate God, presumptuously acting as if we could force Him into giving us whatever kinds of blessings we desire. This type of abuse of His Word must grieve the Holy Spirit, and if anything make it harder for God to bless those who treat His Word in such a manner.

Incidentally, as far as Joel Rosenberg's comment that I quoted earlier is concerned, even though I cringe every time I hear the expression "Christ-follower" and I cringe even harder when I hear someone talk about how the Church needs to be "purified" (I know what he means, but still), to his credit Joel only said Christians should pray "in the spirit" of 2 Chronicles 7:14.

So, in all fairness, it's not as if he's naming and claiming the verse or directing people to pray in strict accordance to it. Telling people to pray "in the spirit" of the verse isn't quite so bad, and I point this out because, like I said, I really do have a lot of respect for the man and I don't mean to sound like I'm picking on him. That is certainly not my intention.

If my people...

I honestly can't blame Christians for wanting to claim 2 Chronicles 7:14, because it is a powerful, moving verse of Scripture. Read it again, slowly:

Wow. People love this verse (I know I sure do), and why not? In one single verse, God eloquently expresses His feelings toward His people Israel—His Chosen People whom, as a nation, He loves and cherishes and will never abandon no matter how many times they fall or fail Him.

It's about repentance and forgiveness. Forsaking sin and seeking a holy God who is slow to anger and quick to show mercy.

While God the Father managed to express the essence of His relationship with Israel in a single verse, God the Son did something similar for the Church in a conversation with a Pharisee named Nicodemus:

It's still about repentance and forgiveness. Forsaking sin and seeking a holy God who is slow to anger and quick to show mercy. And finding Him, waiting with open arms.

Of course, if the Church would like a few "If my people" statements of their own to stick in their back pockets, here's a quick Top 10 list of ideas:

1. If my people would quit trying to invalidate or commandeer the promises of my eternal covenants with Israel...

2. If my people would quit bickering and sniping each other over less critical doctrines like the timing of the Rapture and other end-time events...

3. If my people would stop treating me like a cosmic Santa Claus and only come running to me when they want something, and trying to manipulate me by twisting verses taken out of context...

4. If my people would spend more time reading my Word instead of listening to every self-appointed "prophet" or "apostle" or trendy Bible teacher who comes along, claiming I told them things I never told them...

5. If my people would stop seeking after ecstatic or mystical experiences and allowing those experiences to take precedence over my revealed Word...

6. If my people would quit reading books written by people who, for money or for whatever reason, make up stories about how they visited heaven or hell (which you would know are nonsense if you would just read my Word)...

7. If my people would stop chasing after phony miracles that are either (a) the result of demonic activity or, more likely, (b) complete frauds...

8. If my people would spend more time seeking me in my Word and in prayer than they do facebooking or playing with their smartphones...

9. If my people would study my Word and pay attention to what's going on in the world so they can realize that the stage is rapidly being set for the grand finale of end-time prophecy to unfold...

Time out. Before we get to no. 10, note one thing. Although 2 Chronicles 7:14 may not apply to the Church, as born-again believers we do have one thing in common with the nation of Israel:

God loves and cherishes us and will never abandon us no matter how many times we fall or fail Him.

The New Covenant—sealed with Jesus' blood—redeems us from the penalty of and slavery to the law. It is a better covenant based on better promises:

Which brings us to the final "If my people" statement for the Church:

10. If my people would quit getting tangled up in the Old Covenant I made with Israel, which was merely a shadow pointing to my Son and the New Covenant that He established with His blood...

If my people would do these things, then those who have responded to the conviction of my Spirit and repented of sin, believed on the name of my Son who died to pay the penalty for their sin, and have been born of my Spirit would better understand who I truly am, and who they truly are in Christ.

When we understand who we are and what we have in Christ under the New Covenant, maybe we will stop trying to claim Old Covenant promises that do not apply to us.

No matter how powerful or moving verses like 2 Chronicles 7:14 may be.

Greg Lauer — JUL '14

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