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Closer to God, Part 3 - Conditional Promises

2 Chronicles 7v14, 17-20

20th January 2017

In this passage, God makes three promises, each of which begins with the word "if":

2 Chronicles 7v14
if my people, who are called by my name, will 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.

2 Chronicles 7v17-18
"As for you, if you walk before me as David your father did, and do all I command, and observe my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father when I said, 'You shall never fail to have a man to rule over Israel.'

2 Chronicles 7v19-20
"But if you turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple which I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples."

They'll all conditional promises:

And if you want to ask the question, "Why hasn't God healed our land yet", then see conditional promise 1: "If my people will... then I will heal your land".

Some people think we can't believe that this promise applies to the church because the church doesn't have a land. They point out that the original promise was to Old Testament Israel, who had a territory of their own, and that's what God was talking about. But I think the people who say that are utterly mistaken.

Firstly, Christians have been grafted into Israel (Romans 11v24). Now, we are Israel. And therefore we are heirs of all the promises of the Old Testament.

Secondly, Jesus promised us, "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth" (Matthew 5v5). If you believe that that's a good translation, they you must believe that the church won't just get some territory on the earth; we'll get all of it. It's all our land, ultimately. See also Numbers 14v21 (although the NIV translation may not be good here) Isaiah 11v9, Habakkuk 2v14.

We are responsible for the whole earth, because we are God's chosen people and, if we will respond to His call, God will heal the land. It's not ours in the sense that we can boot everybody else out, of course; it's ours in the sense that we're responsible for it.

Every Christian is joined to Christ, and so has access to God. Every Christian has the Holy Spirit within him, and therefore has more power than any non-Christian. Our power lies not in ourselves but in our relationship with God.

God calls us, His people, who are called by His name, to humble ourselves, to pray, to seek His face and to turn from our wicked ways. Will we do these things? If we will, God promises that He will hear from heaven and will forgive our sin and heal our land.

Let's believe His promise. Let's do as He says, and see our country turned back to God.

It won't happen through our efforts. It won't happen because we're strong or persuasive or influential. It will happen because God will see our obedience, hear our prayers, and act. As Zechariah 4v6 tells us, "'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the Lord Almighty."

More next week.