A Call To Repentance In The Church: Part I

April 9, 2013

2 Chronicles 7:14 (NASB), “and 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, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

I have very faithful group who meet on Wednesday night for a time of prayer and then a short Bible study. I can’t tell you how much I enjoy leading this group both in prayer and in Bible study. This group which is comprised of saints who are bit older and most definitely wiser; are committed to this time of prayer and study each week.

The past several weeks we have met we have spent time praying for our country which has led to some excellent discussion about recent events and their Biblical context. There have been many questions like, “Where are we going?” and “What can we as Christians do?”  What has struck me is how genuinely saddened this group of senior saints is over what is happening in our culture today and more to the point what is happening in our churches today. Tragically I often do not see this same urgency from younger believers and I definitely do not see this level of commitment from them.

This past Wednesday night one of the ladies cited 2 Chronicles 7:14 as a key verse in understanding what needs to happen in the church starting right now. After this I went back to our house that evening and looked up 2 Chronicles 7:14 which I was of course familiar with and decided to take a deeper look at it than I had previously. A few things jump out from that verse that I believe we (the church) need to consider in the context of an increasingly non-Christian culture. Over the next few days we will be taking a deeper look at 2 Chronicles 7:14 and its consequences for the church today.

The first thing that got my attention was in the very first part of the verse when God says to Solomon, “and My people…” The context of this passage is the dedication of the newly constructed Temple under the leadership of King Solomon. Solomon has dedicated the Temple which brings about the Shekinah glory of the Lord and a massive feast which follows the sacrifices that were made. At this point it says in verse 11, “Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD and the kings palace, and successfully completed all that he had planned on doing in the house of the LORD and in his palace.”

The Lord then appears to Solomon at night, presumably in a dream and gives Solomon and the people of Israel some warnings and one of these has to do with times of drought and hunger which may come as a result of the sin of God’s people. God reminds and warns Solomon that the key is humility and repentance. If His people are humble God will hear them, if they are not and they turn to their own ways then God will not hear them. This is a basic Biblical principle that some want to ignore: God does not hear the prayers of the unrighteous!

All of this is addressed though to “My people.” This was of course addressed to the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people but in the context of today’s world we (the church) are God’s chosen people. We are the bride of Christ and as such we are “His people.” In 1 Peter 2:9 it says, “But you are a CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of the darkness into His marvelous light…” We are indeed His people and we are set aside for the purpose of proclaiming “the excellencies of Him…”

I often hear these days that there is need for “revival” in the United States and I completely agree that there is this need. I feel very strongly that the reason our nation seems adrift in so many ways is because of the deeper spiritual issues at work, first and foremost is the fact that there are many, many people who are lost and do not even know it. There also many people within the church who are lost and don’t even know it!  As Christians we often decry the loss of morality in our schools, in our homes, in our entertainment, and yes even in our churches; but the reality is that we are not a Christian nation and as such we should expect nothing else really. The moral degradation of our society will never change until hearts change and the only way this is going to happen is through the redemptive message of the Gospel. All of this however is a moot point if the church does not repent first. We have a hard time proclaiming “the excellencies of Him” when we are living lives that are no worse or worse than the world outside the church walls.

Tomorrow we will continue to look at 2 Chronicles 7:14 with the understanding that God is calling His “people” first to repentance. God will not lead a great revival in this nation or any nation as long as the people of God in those nations continue to turn their back on God.