Repenting On Behalf Of Our Country?

Now the glory of the God of Israel went up from above the cherubim, where it had been, and moved to the threshold of the temple. Then the Lord called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing kit at his side and said to him, “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.”

As I listened, he said to the others, “Follow him through the city and kill, without showing pity or compassion. Slaughter old men, young men and maidens, women and children, but do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were in front of the temple. (Ezekiel 9:3-6)

The principle of marking those who would be protected from judgment was first mentioned in Genesis 4:15 when the Lord marked Cain as a warning to those who might try to kill him for murdering Abel.

It had also been hinted at when the Lord told Elijah He had reserved 7,000 faithful in Israel who had not succumbed to idol worship (1 Kings 19:18), but Ezekiel 9:4 stands as the clearest example in history of the Lord marking those who are His and protecting them from danger. In the spiritual world the mark is a sign that the marked person belongs to the Lord and is off limits to anyone else.

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory (Ephes 1:13-14).

Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. (2 Cor. 1:21-22).

In these two passages Paul revealed that all born again believers were marked at the time they believed to show that they belong to the Lord. It’s the spiritual equivalent of a rancher branding his cattle with his mark of ownership. The presence of this mark will protect us like it has protected others He has marked throughout history.

They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath. (1 Thes. 1:9-10)

But in our case, the mark doesn’t just protect us from the judgment taking place around us, it qualifies us to be removed from the judgment altogether. The Greek word translated from in the last phrase of the above passage means we’ll be separated (distanced) from both the time and the place of the coming wrath.

Peter used the example of Lot to describe this. (Note the similarity in the wording of 1 Thes. 1:9-10 above and 2 Peter 2:7,9 below).

If The Lord rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men, then He knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment (2 Peter 2:7,9). The angels sent to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah couldn’t do so until they had Lot safely out of the way (Genesis 9:15-16, 22).

This mark can only be received on an individual or personal basis. What I mean is we’re not marked because we’re part of the Church, we’re part of the Church because we’re marked. The concept of collective salvation is not Biblical. Nor is it possible for a person with God’s mark to transfer its benefits to someone with out it.

God has stated this in no uncertain terms. In speaking of the judgment about to fall on the Southern Kingdom he had Ezekiel say;

“Son of man, if a country sins against me by being unfaithful and I stretch out my hand against it to cut off its food supply and send famine upon it and kill its men and their animals, even if these three men—Noah, Daniel and Job—were in it, they could save only themselves by their righteousness, declares the Sovereign Lord. (Ezekiel 14:12-14).

Notice He didn’t have Ezekiel say, “If my people …”. He said “If a country …”. Literally it means, “When the Earth …”. This tells me He was giving us a general principle applicable to all nations, not one that would only apply to Israel, as is the case with promises like 2 Chronicles 7:14 and Jeremiah 29:11.

If any country persists in going against the will of God and doing things He has forbidden, and He determines to judge that country, the believers in it, no matter how righteous they may be, can only save themselves. In Ezekiel 14:15-20 He repeatedly said that even if their own sons and daughters would be affected by the judgment, the prayers of these righteous men could not save them. They could save only themselves by their righteousness.

(Rev. 7:1-8 shows the marking of certain individuals will happen one final time after the Church is gone when the Lord will put His seal on the foreheads of His 144,000 servants to protect them from the coming Trumpet and Bowl judgments. And once again His mark will only protect those to whom it will be given.)

There is a currently popular trend in the US where groups of believers have been offering prayers of repentance on behalf of our country in an effort to stay the hand of God’s judgment. But the Lord had Ezekiel tell us this would not accomplish anything. If any nation continues to defy God by going against His ways, that nation will be judged and the prayers of the righteous people in it will only benefit themselves. Only those who have received the mark of God will be rescued.

Proponents of repenting on behalf of our country use the examples of Jonah and Daniel to support their position. I’ve written about Jonah in the past, showing how in that case every person in Nineveh, from the King to the lowliest servant, repented by clothing themselves in sackcloth and fasting (Jonah 3:6-9) in a united effort to avoid the judgment. It was not a case of a few repenting on behalf of the others. They were all repenting. Every one of them.

Those who propose Daniel’s prayer on behalf of Israel in support of this don’t understand that his case was not reflective of our situation either. According to Daniel’s own account, he was only reminding God of something He had already publicly promised to do;

In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom—in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years (Daniel 9:1-2)

Daniel had read the Book of Jeremiah, written almost 70 years earlier. He knew that the time of captivity was nearly over and that God had already promised to deliver them.

“This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.” (Jeremiah 25:11)

This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place”. (Jeremiah 29:10).

And as for the claim that Daniel’s prayer brought Cyrus the Persian to conquer Babylon and free the Jews, Isaiah had foretold this 200 years previously, even naming Cyrus by name. In the message given through Isaiah, God called Cyrus His anointed (chosen one) and included a detailed description of the plan by which Cyrus would conquer Babylon without a battle (Isaiah 45:1-7).

Jewish tradition holds that Daniel showed this portion of the scroll of Isaiah to Cyrus following the fall of Babylon. In response Cyrus ordered the Jewish captives to be set free. This was not something prompted by Daniel’s prayer, it had been God’s published plan all along.

Where the judgment of the US is concerned God has offered no prophecy of duration and no promise of restoration. And now enough people have voted to continue on the path of rebellion to confirm the futility of offering prayers of repentance on behalf of our country.

Since I believe we’re at the End of the Age and that the US has no official role to play in bringing about God’s Kingdom, I see a future where the US continues to decline in power and influence while events increasingly become centered in the Middle East. I think the election results tell us God’s plan for the End Times is right on schedule and there will be no more delay.

Therefore, I believe we should continue living each day by trusting in the Lord and longing for His appearing to take us home. We should stop worrying about our life here and focus our time, our talents, and our treasure on preparing for our life to come (Matt. 6:19-34). And above all, we should remember that while there’s no such thing as repenting on behalf of our country, there is such a thing as asking the Holy Spirit to soften the hearts of our unsaved loved ones toward repenting for themselves. While there is no collective salvation, there are untold millions of cases where the destinies of individuals have been changed through the prayers of others. I know because I’m one of them.

Every idol in our lives is being removed. Believing in our country, our leaders, our economy, our bank accounts or even ourselves is proving to be ineffective. The only one left to believe in is God, and that’s just the way He wants it. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:4-6). You can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah. 11-10-12

Do you see this nation “turning from their wicked ways”?

God would have saved Sodom and Gomorrah if only ten righteous had been found.

I don't see our nation turning from its wicked ways, unless things get so bad that there is no other choice (but, then, Sodom and Gomorrah were bad and they didn't turn).

However, to me, the problem is not with the wicked - it's with those of us who say we are God's people who are not being the salt and light we are called to be and allow the wicked to triumph. If there were even a small number of truly "righteous" people, I believe God would save our land. The fact that He doesn't appear to be doing so says to me that most of us who call ourselves evangelical Christians are lacking. We need to get our act together before we can expect God to act on our behalf, instead of complaining about how bad things are.

We had an awesome Lord’s Supper this morning. As we remembered the Lord’s death (till He come), we couldn’t help but be mindful that a shockwave was sent through America this past week (and past weeks—what, with Sandy, and all). Many at our assembly were in fervent prayer about our nation this election cycle and the movement of the two campaigns seemed to suggest that the Lord was “doing a work” and granting America, through His grace a reprieve of sorts. Alas, we found that to not be the case. Wednesday brought disillusionment, disappointment, anger—all the usual “fleshly” responses to the events of the world. But huddled together this morning, with our thoughts centered around the Preeminent One, we were reminded that the tiny shaking of our world this past week (and weeks) is nothing to be compared with the shaking that is to come. It says in Haggai chapter 2:6-7:

For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;
And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.

There is a great shaking of this world that is to come, and who will be able to stand! While we wait for a kingdom that cannot be shaken, we must realize that this world and all that is within it will be shaken to its very foundation. In that great and terrible day there will be those who will cry out for the rocks to fall on them as the “desire of the nations” - the One who had come with a word of peace and hope and reconciliation, but they would not have it - that One will come, His feet alighting on Mt. Olivet and He will step back into this earthly scene to assume His throne as King of Kings. Remember the story of the Lord’s triumphal entry: the crowds cried out Hosanna - blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord. One week later they cried out: Crucify Him! Jesus marks in the middle of these two events:

Luk 19:42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.
Luk 19:43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,
Luk 19:44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

Jesus’ warning of a great shaking to come—but it was preceded by the day of their visitation! When He who came in the name of the Lord, He who would be their peace with God was made manifest but they would not!

We were also reminded, as we remembered His death, what He said to His disciples that night: “With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer...” His desire is toward the sinner, toward us, toward whosoever will [come unto Him]. His desire that night was to institute the very ordinance of which we all partook. It meant the cross for Him...and life for me! His desire was, and is, for me! For you! He calls us out of this world that is passing away (and all the lusts thereof) to life everlasting, to joy unspeakable, to hope eternal. Paul would say, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” These petty distractions (the election included) are but blips on the screen. If you are His, you have something of far more lasting value - you are His and He is yours!

There will be a great falling away—we have been witnessing it already as, one by one, the denominational sects cede this doctrine, that bit of holy ground. We see mega-gatherings of “believers” heaping to themselves “teachers” that will tell them what their itching ears long to hear. No doubt, some of the President’s followers have elevated him to messiah-status in their simplistic and misguided view of life. There will be more—it will be a great apostasy. In the days of His flesh, our Lord was followed by multitudes, but there is a picture in John 6 when the “hard sayings” of the Lord hit the ears, many followed Him no more (it seems all but the 12 departed). These men were to endure the kinds of trials you and I can only imagine (as of right now, anyway). But their names are now written in the Lamb’s book of life, as is yours and mine if we are His.

I will always be grateful for being born in America. I remember even as a little kid thinking how fortunate I was to have warm, clean bed and food to eat, never going hungry, having a roof over my head, clothes to wear and a loving family. I would hear about the poor in other countries and realize how glad I was to be here. As I have grown older and wiser, I have come to realize that this world is not my home, I'm just passing through, as the song goes. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. As much as I love America and the freedoms we have, the thousands of brave men and women who gave their all to keep it that way, I also know that I have an eternity and it was never meant to be lived on a fallen and sinful world. I praise the Lord that He let me find Him and His gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. My hope is in the Lord, NOT men, NOT presidents, NOT kings or princes, but the LORD.

I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save.

When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.

Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God. He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them— he remains faithful forever. (Psalm 146:2-6)

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