Blessed is the Nation

Psalms 33:12

Is America a Christian nation? If it is considered a Christian nation, what does that mean? If the answer is “No, America is not a Christian nation”, what changes? Truthfully, neither this nation nor any nation is actually Christian, for the entire country cannot be born again. There may be many Christians within that nation, but that doesn’t make a country “saved” or “lost”.

Some say that America is inherently Christian because it was founded on Christian principles. Again, facts and fiction should be clearly separated. Most nations are founded on simple, fundamental ideas of personal freedom and morality, all of which are spelled out in one way or the other by the Law of God. This fact does not make America Christian, for you can have principles of morality, and know nothing about Jesus Christ.

Again, the argument is made that our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution provided Godly, moral principles upon which we are built. Actually, the Declaration of Independence declares that all men are created equal, but a look around will show you that the man born blind or without any legs might beg to differ. The Constitution declared that slaves were property of their owners and could be counted as 3/5 of a man. Can you believe that? That is a Christian principle?

Thankfully, blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, and we do not need to concern ourselves with rather or not America qualifies. The reason for this is that when we accepted Christ as our Savior, we became a citizen of a greater nation, whose founder and leader is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Peter wrote his first epistle to “the strangers scattered” (1 Peter 1:1). Those “strangers” were Gentiles, just like you and I, and he told them that they were “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people” (1 Peter 2:9). Acceptance of Christ as Lord formed a new, “holy nation”, of which we all belong. This nation of believers is also called the church, and we now retain the blessing of Psalm 33:12. Because Jesus took our curse at Calvary, this holy nation takes the blessings of heaven and calls them their own.

This is not to insinuate that prayer for America is less than necessary. God uses any nation that brings glory to the finished work of His Son, and America has certainly been blessed for that very cause. It could probably be said that America has done more to take the good news of Jesus Christ to the world than any nation in the history of the world. For that one fact alone, America has experienced great favor by the hand of God. Any nation that brings honor to the finished work of Christ and ministers of His glorious grace can prepare themselves for great blessings, for God does all things for the sake of His Son.

You belong to a holy nation of people, and you are a ready recipient of God’s wonderful favor. Live today as a citizen of this heavenly nation, sure to bring honor and glory to our King.

An Alternate Altar

2 Kings 16:10-17

The furniture of the tabernacle was to be of particular size and shape, as was every single thing about God’s tabernacle. Moses was given specific instructions pertaining to each item and there was to be no deviation. These measurements, colors and shapes all held deep spiritual significance, pointing forward in one way or another to the coming Messiah.

King Ahaz was a wicked king over Judah, and his decisions reflect a man depraved of the presence of the Lord. He visited Damascus to meet with the king of Assyria, a sworn enemy of Israel and Judah, and while he was there he became infatuated with the architecture of that nation. He sent word back to the high priest in Judah that he wanted a replica built of a magnificent altar that he had seen in Damascus. The high priest built the altar per the king’s specifications and the king began using it immediately upon returning home.

After arriving, the king ordered the priest to begin using the new altar for all of the sacrifices of Israel, and to leave the old brazen altar that sat in the temple for the king’s use only. Actually, he had the brazen altar moved closer to the new altar so that he could enquire at it whenever he wished. This combination of bad decisions leads to the premature death of Ahaz and the subsequent judgment of God. By building a new altar, he was considering the brazen altar out-dated and useless. This is a type of a “new Christianity”, where there is no need for a crucified Savior, or talk of His finished work. He also denied the nation and the people access to the brazen altar, thus making salvation a gift only for the aristocracy. Calvary leveled the playing field, so that everyone, great and small comes to God by the same means. There is no respecter of persons with God (Romans 2:11), and Calvary is no exception.

Ahaz made one more move that will link him forever with the doomed Pontius Pilate. There was a brazen laver outside of the door of the temple, which sat on 4 feet, lifted from the pavement. This laver contained water which the priest would use to wash his hands and feet so that he could enter the temple in a purified state. Ahaz cut the legs off of the laver and sit it on the floor, thus lowering the purification of God to the level of the common man. The laver sat up, separated from the floor, for God’s holiness was not common, and it could be approached only after the priest had offered a sacrifice on the altar. By placing the laver on the floor, it became average, and just like any other basin.

The text says that Ahaz sat it “upon a pavement of stones” (2 Kings 16:17), a statement that does not appear again in the Old Testament. However, we do find it in the New Testament, written in Hebrew, in regards to the trial of Jesus Christ. Pilate has tired of talking to Jesus and he brings Him into a place “called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha” (John 19:13). Gabbatha was a platform made of square stones. Pilate puts Jesus on a cross and numbers him with the transgressors, killing Him between two common criminals. Jesus was anything but common, but the world has tried to make Him as much ever since.

Lift Jesus high and to His rightful place in your own life and conversation. Don’t cheapen and lessen the price that Jesus paid by always emphasizing your sin and failure instead of His perfection and success. He suffered so that you would never suffer. All other forms of Christianity are alternate altars, like Ahaz’s creation. There is nothing cheap or common about the price paid for us and we would do well to give Him the honor that He paid for.

Honor His Finished Work

1 Kings 18:17-38

This chapter from 1 Kings tells the story of Elijah calling down fire from heaven on Mt. Carmel. It is one of the most popular stories from the Old Testament, showing the power of the almighty God and His judgment against the false gods of this world. There are too many great things within the story to take much time trying to bring them out in a simple devotion, so I want to focus on one tiny aspect which made an enormous difference.

Elijah was certainly a man of faith and power, but James bears out that he “was a man subject to like passions as we are” (James 5:17). This verse falls within a passage on prayer and James is bringing out that though Elijah could pray and see great things happen, he was no different than you or I. Elijah had the same failures and temptations that we did, so his prayers were not being answered because he lived a holier lifestyle, or he spent more time with God. What was the reason that Elijah could pray and God would move?

When Elijah gave the challenge to the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel, he allowed them to go first, praying to Baal to consume their sacrifice by fire. They prophesied and cried from the morning all the way until mid-afternoon with no response from their god. They had put maximum effort into their prayer, but they had received no results.

At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah began his prayer to God for the fire to fall (1 Kings 18:36). As they say, timing is everything, and Elijah is obviously aware of what time of day that it is. In Israel, there were two sacrifices to God every day; one at 9 a.m. called the morning sacrifice, and one at 3 p.m. called the evening sacrifice. Both were symbolic of the coming Redeemer and His death as payment for man’s sin.

Jesus was placed on the cross at 9 a.m. and then died at 3 p.m., both corresponding with the timing of the daily schedule. Thus, the time of the evening sacrifice can be identified with the cry of Jesus at the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30). Any adherence to an evening sacrifice on the part of an Old Testament prophet becomes identification with the finished work of Jesus Christ, though Jesus had yet to come. Elijah waits until the time of the evening sacrifice to say a simple prayer, consisting of only 63 words in the KJV, and then the fire of God falls and consumes the sacrifice. There is no evidence of Elijah begging or screaming or making a great show during his prayer. These things were unnecessary, for Elijah had waited until the hour of “It is finished”, thus honoring the finished work. The fire does not fall because of Elijah; it falls because of Jesus!

Honor the finished work of Christ in your prayer life and watch God respond with great power. This does not mean that we don’t pray until 3 p.m., for the Old Testament was simply a shadow of things to come. You and I have the finished work of Christ in us at all times, so as we honor what Christ did for us at Calvary, we rest in that work. Your prayer life is only as powerful as the Jesus that you know. If you are always begging God with much pleading, then you send the message that God is slow to move and is waiting for your good works. In truth, the Lord is swift to move because of the work of Jesus at Calvary. Honor the cross and its work, and God honors you!

Divine Means

2 Samuel 14:14

The woman of Tekoah delivers a message to King David, under the guise of a weeping widow who has lost her son. She has been prompted to do so by Joab, David’s general, in hopes that David will allow his banished son Absalom to return to Jerusalem. David reads through the ruse and half-heartedly accepts Absalom back. This little story, nestled into the Old Testament gives us a hidden gem of God’s grace and it is found in the speech of this woman.

She states the obvious about man’s brief existence, and then gives glory to God for His ability to redeem mankind:

“For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from Him” (2 Samuel 14:14).

When God banished Adam and his seed from the Garden of Eden, He provided a means by which those who were banished would not be expelled from His relations. These means were laid out in Genesis 3:15, when God promised that the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent. Christ would be the seed of the woman, with no earthly father, and His death at the cross would not only bruise the head of Satan, rendering him ineffective, but it would provide the means by which man could come back to God through reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-20).

We were all banished from the presence of a holy God by the sin of our first father, Adam (Romans 5:14). However, God’s love is so great that He wished to provide a means by which all of humanity could be brought back to Him. The price was the blood of His Son Jesus, and all who accept that payment are then brought into familial relationship with the Father. The high price of our redemption should show us the infinite love of God, for no small amount of love would sacrifice its own for someone else.

If God has provided a means for us, and His love is so much greater than ours, could we not be open to bringing those back in our own lives who have slipped and fallen? Some have hurt us and abandoned us, but they are longing for a second chance. Before you keep someone out of your life because of past hurts or failures, consider the great price paid by God to keep His banished from being expelled.

The church would do good to consider and re-consider this passage, and keep a close watch out to the horizon for the return of the Prodigals. No sin should be considered “too much”; no failure considered “unforgiveable”. We are a family built upon failures being erased by a loving Father; how much more should we extend that love to those that we know?

God has provided the means for reconciliation for you and you are blessed to be walking in that knowledge. Take that goodness and spread it about today. Leave the sins of the past beneath the lid that Calvary has nailed on them, and rest in the loveliness of our Jesus Christ.

To Save By Many of By Few

1 Samuel 14:1-7

All victory that we experience is not really ours exclusively; it is the victory that was purchased by Jesus at Calvary. We can claim no battle as having been won by our own intelligence or goodness since we are merely joint-heirs with Jesus in what He has won by His finished work. Anything that God does on our behalf He does for two reasons: He loves us, and He honors the sacrifice of His Son.

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Jonathan, son of Israel’s first king Saul, was a mighty warrior who fought loyally for the crown. Realizing that his father was awash in doubt and anger, Jonathan saw the need for an Israeli victory over the oppressing Philistines and knew that it would only come without his father’s involvement. Taking only his armor-bearer, Jonathan ascended a mount and looked into the camp of the enemy. His statement to his companion speaks volumes of his faith and dependency:

“Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few” (1 Samuel 14:6).

Two important things surface in this verse that shows us the mentality of Jonathan. First, he refers to the Philistines as “uncircumcised”. The sign of circumcision was given of God to the Jewish nation as a mark of identification with the Abrahamic covenant. Every child born had to pass through the sign of covenant, thus placing them under the promises of God. To cite the lack of circumcision had nothing to do with physicality, but had to do with the fact that the Philistine was not under the covenant provision of God.

Second, Jonathan refers to God as “LORD”, which is the English rendering of the Hebrew word Yahweh, or Jehovah. It means, “Covenant keeper”. As “LORD”, God is obligated to recognize the covenant that He cut, giving Abraham protection from His enemies. Jonathan is appealing to God’s righteousness and justice for the victory that only He can provide.

“There is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few”, holds a double meaning for us under the New Covenant. Primarily, it means that God honors covenant no matter what. If it is to protect the entire nation He honors it, or if it is to provide victory to only Jonathan and his armor-bearer. Covenant is covenant, and God is God. By appealing to covenant, Jonathan was guaranteed victory before every lifting a sword.

Another meaning to us under the New Covenant is that God is not restrained to save sinners by many or by few. He will go to all lengths to save a nation or to save one lost soul. There is no respect or persons great or small with God, for all are in need of His saving power and loving grace. If there are 99 sheep in the fold, He will leave them there to hunt for the one lost lamb. There is truly no difference in God’s eyes from one sinner to the next; He loves them all equally.
Appeal to the covenant that Jesus cut with His Father, where you get the benefits while He paid the price. This will bring great victories in your life; all of which will have been His victories first.

Led by a Lad

Judges 16

I include the entire 16th chapter of Judges because it would do us all good to read it a time or two. It encompasses the story of Samson and Delilah, which shows the sad fall of a great man of power. Samson was not a man of high morals, nor did he show a real heart for the things of God. He was raised up by God for a certain purpose of delivering Israel from the oppressive might of the Philistines. His strength did not lie in his ability to walk holy or live right, but in one single obedient act. He was to take a vow of a Nazarite, “from the womb to the day of his death” (Judges 13:7). He could neither drink liquor nor put a razor to his head. If he was faithful in this, God would use him mightily.

For this cause, Samson was probably no bigger or more intimidating than you or I, for had he been, no one would have questioned his strength. His power was a mystery to those around him, with the exception of his parents, and that is not unlike the believer under the New Covenant. We look no different than anyone around us, but the power that resides within us due to the finished work of the cross is so marvelous that words cannot explain it. There is no act of holiness or righteousness that we can perform to increase that power; it simply comes from hearing and knowing of the loveliness of our Jesus.

After Samson became infatuated with Delilah, she revealed her true colors and deceived him into telling her the secret of his strength. Somewhere along the way, Samson had forgotten how loved and favored that he was by the Lord. Had he kept his heart focused on God’s favor and covenant with him, he would not have turned for love and affection into the lap of the world (Judges 16:19). Believers that do not focus on the Father’s love for them usually end up trying to explain what happened to them and why their fell into sin.

When Samson’s seven locks of hair were cut off, he became as any other man, and the Philistines captured him and “put out his eyes” (Judges 16:21). The seven locks are representative of God’s perfect rest, for seven always indicates either rest or completion. Since Samson’s life was not complete, nor was his work, the hair had always indicated that he was at rest in the promise of God. When he lost the hair, he lost the rest, and the only place for us to go when we are not resting in the finished work of Christ is to the millhouse of our own works.

The time came when Samson was brought to a large gathering of Philistines for a sacrifice to their god. They rejoiced when the saw Samson in chains, and they all desired for him to come before them so that they could mock him. Samson spoke to a “lad that held him by the hand” to lead him to the main pillars that held up the house. The lad led him to the pillars and Samson, whose hair had begun to grow back while in the prison house, pushed the building down in one final, victorious act.

A new generation is going to take the church by the hand and lead her to the pillars of this world. The bride has lost her rest and her spiritual vision, but God is raising up voices to bring her back to her glory, where she takes her rightful place as the victor that she is. Will you be the restless, blind church, or the lad that leads?

I See Nothing Wrong!

Numbers 23:18-21

Call me biased, but I see nothing wrong in my children. My son and my daughter make mistakes, no doubt, but I see nothing wrong with them, for they are mine and I love them unconditionally. There is no error that they could make, no wrong that they could perform, that would cause me to beat them, break their legs, rob their future, or destroy their dreams. I love them too much to cause them pain, for they are an extension of me. I may see problems in your kids, but not in mine!

God views every person on the face of the earth as a sheep. Many of the sheep have gone astray and are living on their own in the wilderness, and they need to come to the shepherd to find eternal life. The sheep that dwell with the Savior know His voice (John 10:27), and He refers to them as more than sheep. Those who are saved, He calls His friends (John 15:15).

When Balak, king of Moab, hired Balaam to curse the children of Israel as they passed through his land, Balaam jumped on the opportunity to make some easy money. After ascending a mountain to view an arm of Israel as it sat at camp in the valley, Balaam opened his mouth to curse God’s people, but a blessing came out instead (Numbers 23:11). When Balak moved him to another mountain in order to view Israel from a different vantage point, the result was much the same, with Balaam commenting, “I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it” (Numbers 23:20).

Though Balak had moved Balaam to a different mountain in order to see Israel in a different state (he would do it a third time as well in 23:27), each time God prompted a blessing instead of a curse. Remember, the people that Balaam wants to curse have done plenty to deserve it.

They murmured in the wilderness about having no water (Numbers 20) and then about having to eat manna (Numbers 21). They have been a complaining, miserable people since they left Egypt, yet look at how God views them in Numbers 23:21, “He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them”. No matter how bad they had lived, God did not see the sin in His people, for He had provided a way of escape through the brazen serpent of Numbers 22.

There is the shout of a king among God’s people when they learn that their heavenly Father is not mad at them, and that He sees no iniquity in His people. It is not that we are living without sinning; it is that God views His Son’s sacrifice over our sins. WE are the ones that dwell on our wrong-doing, while God is dwelling on Jesus’ finished work at the cross.

Just as I know that my children are not perfect in their every action, our heavenly Father knows that we are not perfect either. He no more demands that we be mistake free than we would demand such impossibility from our own children. It is not that God is soft on sin and failure, but it is rather that God was hard on sin and failure in the body of His Son at the cross. God cannot be just if He is hard on Jesus for your sin and then hard on you as well. The price has been paid in the blood of Jesus, so when God sees us, he sees us as His own. Praise God that when the Father sees you, He sees the Son!