"If My People"
It is common to hear Christians claim that America is a “Christian nation.” What, exactly, does that mean? One thing it does not mean is that America has a divinely established national covenant with God similar to God’s covenant with Israel.
Because our Lord’s promise of divine protection and deliverance is given to the church (Matthew 16:18), the temptation is ever-present for Christians to mistakenly assume that our Lord’s promise extends beyond the church to that nation in which they live. Support for such divine protection is found by an appeal to 2 Chronicles 7:14 — “If 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 and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
The claim that “God is on our side” usually surfaces when politically active American evangelicals see themselves in another skirmish in the ongoing culture war–contending with secular-progressives for the soul of the nation in a Manichean struggle between good and evil. In the heat of battle, Christians invoke covenant promises made by God to national Israel, mistakenly assuming these promises apply to the United States because the United States is a “Christian nation,” and therefore like ancient Israel, allowing appeal to God’s promise of protection and eventual victory upon the condition, “if my people humble themselves.”
This tendency to apply the covenant promises God made to national Israel directly to America is one of the key indicators of a popular but erroneous assumption that American is a Christian nation because it was founded on “biblical principles” and therefore possesses some sort of unique relationship to God, just as Israel did under the Old Covenant.
But America has no national covenant with God, as did Israel under the covenant God made with his chosen people at Mount Sinai. This fact presents a serious problem for those who assume that promises God made to ancient Israel can apply directly to the United States. Covenant promises of blessing and curse were given to Israel in a particular biblical context (in preparation for a coming Messiah) and so cannot be applied to contemporary political issues given the role such covenant blessings and curses played in Israel’s unique history.
One such example of applying these covenant promises to modern America appeared on the website for the National Day of Prayer, where we read the following,
Our goal is to see communities transformed across America. That happens one family at a time. We know lives are being changed. We see the reports and statistics everyday (read Answered Prayer). We pray in expectation knowing that God can and will make a difference if we seek Him, turn from our ways and repent (II Chronicles 7:14).
The stated desire of the national day of prayer is the transformation of communities and individuals. Biblical support is taken from 2 Chronicles 7:14. This passage is cited apart from any consideration whatsoever of the redemptive-historical context in which the verse originally appears–the dedication of Solomon’s temple (2 Chronicles 6-7), specifically God’s private revelation to Solomon after the public manifestation of fire in the previous verses (2 Chronicles 7:1-3).
Those who see themselves in the midst of a culture war, or who are seeking a national revival, often affirm that if only God’s people living in America would act upon the covenant promises God made to Israel in 2 Chronicles 7:14, then God would spare our nation from some impending calamity–usually the election of some disagreeable political figure, or the passage of some worrisome piece of legislation, or a high court decision which is perceived to undermine Judeo-Christian values, or even partisan political views. If God made this promise to Israel during the days of Solomon, then he is still making this promise to Christians who live in America today. Right?
Wrong. The improper invocation of 2 Chronicles 7:14, closely parallels warnings made by certain dispensationalists, who see the end-times centering around God’s program for national Israel. Biblical passages which speak of covenant blessings and curses coming upon Israel’s enemies (i.e., Genesis 12:3), are interpreted to mean that unless the United States supports the modern nation of Israel (specifically in terms of the land promise given to the physical descendants of Abraham), America risks coming under God’s judgment. As one prominent evangelical stated while serving in Congress,
I am convinced in my heart and in my mind that if the United States fails to stand with Israel, that is the end of the United States . . . [W]e have to show that we are inextricably entwined, that as a nation we have been blessed because of our relationship with Israel, and if we reject Israel, then there is a curse that comes into play. . . . We believe very strongly the verse from Genesis [Genesis 12:3], we believe very strongly that nations also receive blessings as they bless Israel. It is a strong and beautiful principle.
Although it is believed that God’s promise to those who protect Israel applies primarily to matters of the on-going Israeli-Palestinian conundrum, biblical passages referring to Israel (or to Abraham) under the Old Covenant are applied to contemporary events without the slightest hesitation. Never mind the fact that Joshua tells us the land promise was fulfilled during the Conquest (Joshua 24:13) or that in the new covenant the land promise given Israel is universalized to extend to the entire earth (Romans 4:13). In light of Israel’s quite unique role in redemptive history mentioned previously, this kind of application should give us great pause.
If by “Christian nation” one means that America has some sort of theological charter or covenant with God as set forth in a biblical passage such as 2 Chronicles 7:14, they are sadly mistaken. 2 Chronicles 7:14 applied to Israel in the days of Solomon when God’s glory filled the temple he had just dedicated to YHWH. Passages such as this one are invoked the way they are because of a serious theological misunderstanding–the confusion of redemptive promises made regarding the kingdom of God with God’s providential purposes for the civil kingdom. Unless we are willing to rip the passage from its redemptive historical context, it cannot be invoked as a promise applying to modern America. In terms of our national relationship to God, America is every bit as “secular” as is Saudi Arabia, Iran, China, or even Israel, for that matter. America is not a divinely-ordained theocracy with either national promises or threatened curses as was true of Israel.
The reality is that the promise found in 2 Chronicles 7:14 and its conditionality of promised blessing and threatened curse (“if my people”) has nothing whatsoever to do with a national revival or the current fortunes of the United States. It had everything to do with the dedication of Solomon’s temple nearly 3000 years ago.