It was more than four years ago that messianic rabbi Jonathan Cahn awakened America and the world as to what God may have been telling us with the terrible attack on Sept. 11, 2001, in his New York Times best-selling book, "The Harbinger," and the best-selling documentary version of the same message, "The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment."
The message stirred something deep in the spirit of the country.
Repentance and revival were on the minds and lips of followers of Jesus.
But, as we approach the 15th anniversary of 9/11, what's on the minds and lips of most Americans, believers included, is politics.
Don't get me wrong. I am not one of those believers who thinks Christians should not be involved in politics. I am engaged, as is this news service I founded almost 20 years ago.
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However, it's a good time to ask: "What comes first in our lives? Can a nation be blessed apart from God? With all we have seen transpire in our country since 9/11, is it possible that the political process can deliver us from the evil in which we have descended collectively?"
God has, indeed, given His people a spiritual prescription for times like these.
It's found in 2 Chronicles 7:14, Cahn reminds us in his works: "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."
It's what God told Solomon at the dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem. The consecration of the Temple was a high point for His people, but God knew they would stumble again, as they had so many times in the past. These were the words He wanted them to recall when those time inevitably came.
And they are still words for His people today – whether they live in Israel or America or anywhere else.
I should warn you that not everyone agrees with that last statement. Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, mocks the idea.
"Often, the way this verse will be preached in many evangelical pulpits is as a rallying cry," he writes. "In so many sermons, the 'people' referred to in the passage are the American people, and the 'land' is the American land. The meaning of the text is understood as an invitation to 21st century America to 'return to God' and then enjoy God's blessing once again. It's no wonder one scholar said that 2 Chronicles 7:14 is 'the John 3:16 of the American civil religion.'"
I've been in many evangelical churches in the last 50 years, and I have to say I have never heard this verse abused in that way.
In fact, though, the verse has special significance to America because, unlike any other nation in the history of the world besides Israel, the U.S. was dedicated and consecrated to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob at its founding by George Washington at his inaugural address. Interestingly enough, the location of that event was what we today know as 9/11's "Ground Zero" on April 30, 1789.
Why is that worth noting?
Because when the children of Israel departed from God, the place of consecration, the Temple, was destroyed in judgment, twice in fact – once by the Babylonians and later in A.D. 70 under the watch of the Roman army.
Surely, Russell Moore has noticed the Bible speaks to us through such patterns. Surely, as a Christian, He understands that we serve the same God of Israel – the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Surely, he recognizes that Jews and non-Jews alike are grafted into the eternal covenant God made with Abraham through faith in the sacrificial atonement of Jesus, the Jewish Messiah.
Why on earth would those words not apply to believers everywhere?
In fact, they absolutely do. Sooner or later, Jesus is coming back to fulfill the promise of all the prophets – "the restitution of all things." (Acts 3:21)
This shouldn't be a matter of controversy with believers.
Jesus is coming back to claim and restore His Kingdom, the one we mention every time we say the Lord's Prayer.
Do we as believers not have an obligation to follow the prescription God gave us for humility, prayer, seeking His face and repentance? Is He not talking to us with those words?
Shouldn't these next two weeks, leading up to the 15th anniversary of 9/11, be a good time to do so?
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