Does God Hold Nations Accountable?

Wow. Long time, no blog.

I tried a few last year, and didn't get much of a response and sort of....gave up.

But now I got a comment on a blog from a year ago and I'm all excited! Obviously, it doesn't take much!

Here's the comment, and I quote:

"So I've been thinking a lot about something that Peter said in Sun. School last week - that the Twin Towers and other disasters in the US is God's judgement on us. This bothers me for a number of reasons. One if God is judging the US we are assuming that we are His chosen nation and therefore come under His judgment as a nation which is not Biblical. Only the nation of Israel is God's chosen nation/people and the covenant of blessings and curses applies to them. Beyond that Heb. 8:13 tells us that the old covenant is obsolete - not the Davidic but the Mosaic. Jesus has replaced it with His blood. Therefore even the Israelites do not fall under the the old covenant any more. Jesus has given them a new covenant which we all chose to accept or reject. If we reject it, we will face judgment. Why do bad things happen? Because we are at war with Satan who is determined to destroy the Godly things of this world. We should expect events like 911 because we are at war with the principalities and powers of this world. It is not God's judgment on His chosen nation of the USA. Yes, we are moving farther away from God as a society and culture, just as nations have before us. But I don't believe God is so much concerned with what we do as a nation, as what we do as individuals. Am I going to far with this? What are your thoughts? How do we live as Christians in a nation that is moving farther away from God and will continue to do so? Should we focus on the salvation of the US or on the salvation on those individuals that God is calling to Him? "

Great comments and thoughts! Here's my response:

First off, I don't believe that the good ole US of A is God's chosen nation today, or any other day for that matter. If you google the subject, you'll find all sorts of people claiming this to be true. Many teach that the USA has replaced Israel and quote a number of OT texts. Some say that the "lost 10 tribes" of Israel ended up here in North America after being carried away by the Assyrians. Others say that since our nation was founded on the grounds of religious freedom by Christians and for Christians, then God somehow HAS to choose us and has granted us Most Favored Nation status. I don't believe any of that. Based on the Bible, God has clearly chosen one nation and one nation only, Israel. And there's no hint that America or any other nation has replaced Israel. Romans chapter 11 makes it clear that because of Israel's unbelief, they- the natural olive branches have been broken off and wild olive branches have been grafted in. America? Nope, but the Gentiles have replaced Israel... for a time. The gospel of the grace of God now goes out to every people and tongue and tribe and nation, while Israel is under God's judgement or discipline. Paul sums it up in ch 11 vs 25-29

25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, 26 and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written:
“The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. 27 And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”
28 As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, 29 for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.

So Israel has "experienced a hardening" which is only for a certain time- until the Church body is completed and the "full number of the Gentiles has come in". Then God will turn back to Israel and keep His promises to that nation. See, "God's gifts and His call are irrevocable."

Second, I believe that God DOES hold nations responsible for their conduct. Let's have a little look see at just one example from the OT. Jeremiah 25 has a fascinating prophesy in which God predicts the 70 year captivity of Judah. After centuries of spiritual adultery, God has enough and disciplines Judah. In fact, God uses another Nation as the HAMMER to execute the judgement.

8 Therefore the LORD Almighty says this: “Because you have not listened to my words, 9 I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,” declares the LORD, “and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin. 10 I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, the sound of millstones and the light of the lamp. 11 This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

Notice how God describes the "hammer"- King Nebuchadnezzar as MY SERVANT. God uses this man and the nation as His servant, to execute His will. We see God's sovereignty in dealing with and controlling the nations.

Then, something else is said a little further down the chapter.

12 “But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt,” declares the LORD, “and will make it desolate forever. 13 I will bring on that land all the things I have spoken against it, all that are written in this book and prophesied by Jeremiah against all the nations. 14 They themselves will be enslaved by many nations and great kings; I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.”

We see that even though God used the king of Babylon and his nation as the hammer to pound Judah, God holds the nation responsible for their actions!!! We see these two parallel and seemingly contradictory truths of God. God is sovereign and all things are in His control; yet man is responsible for his actions before a holy and just God. These two truths are throughout scripture. On one hand, God "chose us in Him before the creation of the world" (Eph 1:4) and on the other hand, "whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him." (John 3:36) God's sovereignty and Man's responsibility. But I digress... The point is that God cares about nations and holds them responsible for their conduct. There are many other examples in the OT.

Third, our responsibility today is to individuals, first and foremost. The great commission from Matthew 28 says:

19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

I suppose that some might interpret the passage in a way that commands us to make disciples of nations- like I'm going over to Africa and convert Swaziland to be a national disciple of Jesus. No commentary that I have interprets this way. Instead, the interpretation is that we are to make disciples of individuals from all nations. And that clearly is the teaching throughout the New Testament. Individuals are saved, and sometimes in large numbers as on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2, but they are individuals and not nations.

To summarize, I believe scripture teaches that God holds individuals responsible and holds nations responsible. Some have made the point that when England was at it's most powerful, it was sending out the largest number of Christian missionaries of any country in the world. And that as their missionaries dropped off, so did their world position- and the same has happened with the US. I don't think you can make too much of this (and I'm not even sure it's accurate), but you can say that if God holds nations responsible, then He can chose to bless nations as well. I might go as far as saying that it seems God blessed the US during it's history. But does power and prosperity lead to dependence on God? Instead it seems to lead to corruption, pride, self-reliance, and completely forgetting God. So is it a blessing from God at all? Does the NT teach us the power and prosperity will result from a faithful witness? Not hardly.

What are your thoughts?

Eric