"...He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem... ' Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, 'If only you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.' " Luke 19:28-44 NKJ
Catch the deep grief Jesus expresses for these people, who would soon send Him to the cross. They did not fully realize that their Messiah walked among them! Look at His heart. He wept and grieved for what would come upon them.
Do we as believers have a sense of loss and grief for those who are lost? Do we have a heart like Jesus, a heart like God... or a heart like Jonah?
In the book of Jonah, God told Jonah to go and preach to the people of Nineveh, but Jonah went the other way to get away from the Lord. After spending three days in a whale, he was willing to go to Nineveh. Listen to his "impassioned" plea for the people. "Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!" Jonah 3:4 NLT His delivery is like dry toast! But amazingly, the people of Nineveh, from the greatest to the least repented, even the King! When God saw what they had done, He changed His mind about destroying these people!!! Wow!!! How encouraging! How merciful God is!!! Now let's look at Jonah's heart. "This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry." I guess he was looking forward to God bringing destruction on them. Here is what he says to God, "I knew that You are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to anger and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people." God's reply later in the story is, "... Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn't I feel sorry for such a great city?" Jonah 4:2, 11 NLT
What about us today in America? Do we weep for our own nation as it slips farther into depravity every day at an ever increasing pace? Could we lose our nation, which was once founded and blessed as "One nation under God'? How should we intercede as citizens of the kingdom of heaven... as citizens of America? How do we become salt and light to a country moving into darkness?
Let's look at how some in the Old Testament prayed for Israel:
"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 I will hear from heaven,
and forgive their sin and heal their land."
2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJ
The verse above is how God wants His people to pray for revival. When sin has brought about desolation, plague and judgments, it is the responsibility of God's people to intercede before God for His mercy. This verse is God's chosen way to bring about restoration through humility, prayer, seeking God, and true repentance. God will hear this prayer. He will cleanse His people who cry out to Him from sin. He will bring healing for a church... for a nation and a people. The repentance begins within the hearts of individuals in the church, those closest to God, that they may hear Him and intercede for others inside the church and beyond.
Look how Daniel prays for Israel. I doubt if he was as sinful as described in chapter 9; but as an intercessor he takes on the sin of the people when he goes before God to beg for His mercy. If you are concerned for others and are being called to intercession read 1-19 of this chapter. Here are some highlights:
"Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, 'O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who loves Him, and with those who keeps His commandments, we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments... O Lord, righteousness belongs to you You, but to us shame of face,.. because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You... O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, My God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name." Daniel 9:3-19 NKJ
Please comment and give us a sense of what is happening where you live.
3 comments:
The Jewish people certainly have suffered continuously since the death of Jesus. In Old Testament times, the Jews would turn away from God and while out from under His protection, would be overrun by enemies who would destroy their lands and take them into exile. But time and again, they eventually repented and asked God for intervention. The Lord was always faithful to restore them to their lands and prosperity.
This last great turning away was from the long-awaited Messiah they not only refused to accept, but sought to permanently silence through crucifixion. The horror that has fallen upon the Jewish people since that time has been great. They were scattered throughout the world and even when finally, obtaining their homeland a few decades ago, they have been embroiled in continuous wars with their Enemies on all sides.
A few years ago, our kids managed some kiosks at the Opry Mills Mall in Nashville. Israeli young people would come to the USA on a work visa and work these kiosks. One of these young men (who had a Christian mother and a Jewish father) began to discuss with me his doubts about Christianity. I asked him why God had allowed the Jewish Temple to be destroyed almost 2000 years ago since it was vital to fulfill God's commands for worship? And today there is a huge Islamic mosque built on its foundations, so there is no possibility of rebuilding it. Is it possible God allowed the temple to be permanetly destroyed because it was no longer necessary? Because Jesus is indeed the Messiah and the New Covenant?
This point pierced his heart deeply and he agreed it would seem Jesus must be the Messiah.
America is clearly in process of rejecting God from politics, schools, the workplace and all public gatherings. There are pending laws in many places that would encroach on the beliefs and practices within our religious organizations and churches. Thankfully there are many Christians who recognize this horrendous danger and they are organizing, uniting, praying and repenting on behalf of our nation before we sink to the very depths.
We have watched European Christians meekly accept the corruption of their society for the misguided sake of Christian compassion and they now live under legal persecution of many facets of their Christian faith. Increasing numbers of American Christians are fighting to keep our nation from going down this same dark path.
The prayers of these intercessors are like a "wall" preventing anti-god liberals from easily sweeping away the very foundations that have made America great and prosperous. May we all have strength and fortitude to persevere in this spiritual battle. If we do, God will be faithful to intervene as He has so many times throughout the centuries.
Hi Sheri! Your reflections on Ninevah are really standing out to me this year. No doubt due to the March 11 massive 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that wrought sudden devastation on Japan's east coast. Japan has the world's third largest economy -- a highly educated and affluent people.... Yet, as I write, there are 20,000 dead/missing, estimates of $248 billion in damages and their nuclear plants are in melt-down and leaking radiation. Tokyo's mayor released a statement that he believes this disaster was "divine punishment" for the greed and selfishness of the Japanese people. An amazing statement in light of the fact that as many as 84% of the Japanese claim no personal religion, 64% do not believe in God and 55% do not believe in Buddha. A mere 1% are Christian and they live primarily in western Japan.
As I researched Ninevah, I discovered it was a truly magnificent city surrounded by walls 100 feet high and thick enough to allow 3 chariots to ride abreast. It had 1500 lofty towers, houses, parks, and good crop land. There was a total population of about a million. Yet in spite of its impenetrable walls and marvelous affluence, God threatens immediate destruction of the city in 40 days' time because the sins of the people are so great.
Is it not convicting to read that the obedience (however unwilling) and subsequent bold, conviction of ONE man speaking out on God's behalf warning of impending destruction -- was all it took for the mighty king and all the citizens of Ninevah to be pierced to the heart and repent? And God's wrath was withdrawn.
It is no wonder Satan has orchestrated an era of political correctness and false compassion to muzzle the loudest voice of conscience in our society -- the Church -- the Christians. May the story of Jonah and the Ninevites encourage Christians in every walk of life to boldly proclaim God's words and stand as a beacon of light for His ways. Although societies cycle through various fads of sin, God never changes. His truth is eternal and never changes.
In Noah's time, the people were given 120 years of warning to repent. But no one listened. The floods came just as Noah said they would. Only he and his family were saved.
These two Old Testament events show there is no unwillingness to forgive on God's part, that He is delighted to show mercy to the truly penitent. But the ultimate outcome is dependent upon the response from the people. In His mercy, God sends prophets to warn people to forsake their sinful ways. Some nations will take heed and repent. Others will persist in obstinate unrepentance and reap sudden destruction.
May this Lenten season bring us grace for great boldness and courage to speak on God's behalf -- to speak correction and warning as an instrument of God's mercy. And may America humble itself and turn back to God so He may heal our land before destruction overtakes us as well.
Thanks Marjie for your comment long ago. This year I decided to repost the Beatitudes for the Lenten Season.
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