Like most pieces of literature, both ancient and modern, the passages throughout the Bible have a context. And taking things out of context is dangerous. One particular Bible passage near and dear to Christians in America is 2 Chronicles 7:14 which says, “If 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 and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” Why was this verse written, and does it really have application for America today?

The passage is a quote from God, and He was speaking to King Solomon sometime around 965 BC right after Solomon had completed the construction of the Temple in Jerusalem. God appeared to him and told him how He had selected Jerusalem as the place where animal sacrifices were to be made in order to temporarily atone for sin until the Messiah came to fulfill what those animal sacrifices pointed toward, namely the death of THE Lamb of God – the Messiah. And because God had chosen Jerusalem in the land of Judea in the land of Israel (Palestine/Canaan) as the Promised Land where God’s people would dwell and be blessed, God also promised to curse those who rejected Him and thus polluted the land with their sins. Solomon was to know that the Israelites – God’s chosen people – would be blessed if they obeyed God and cursed if they rebelled. But even though God would curse them for their disobedience, He told Israel that if they would call out to Him and repent, He would heal their land of the ravages He would send upon it. God’s restoration was contingent on their repentance, for the land of Israel was special to God, and Jerusalem was the permanent home of God’s blessings. To understand this, context is vital – beginning in v. 11, continuing to v. 22. And if verse 14 is taken out of context, then the passage is woefully misinterpreted and misapplied.

First, the passage was written to Israel – God’s chosen people through whom the Messiah came to offer salvation to all peoples, not just Israel. Second, the provision for repentance meant that if the Israelites turned from ignoring God and/or worshipping pagan gods, then God would hear their prayer from His seat in Heaven and forgive their sins. Third, God would also send rain on their famine-ravaged land that had become parched due to their rebellion (because the Israelites were farmers, a dry land caused them to go without food). Thus, the Promised Land, flowing with milk and honey, would only remain fertile if Israel remained faithful.

The question for us is can we replace the original location of 2 Chronicles 7:14 – Jerusalem in the land of Israel – with America? Has God blessed the soil of America, and has He made any eternal promises regarding our land? The answer is NO. America is blessed insofar as it is fertile and full of prosperity for we materialistic Americans. But so are other lands around the globe, and most of these are not Christian. Then again, neither is America Christian!

The point being is that 2 Chronicles 7:14 does not apply to the United States. If we as Christians actually did come together and pray for our nation in fervency, God has given no promise to heal us (whatever that may mean). And forgive our sins? If we’re Christians then God has already forgiven our sins through our faith in Jesus Christ. God’s promises lie with Israel, and all who bless Israel and the seed of Abraham (the father of Israel) will be blessed.

Our land will likely be destroyed, but Israel will never be destroyed since God has made eternal promises to that land and His people. The church should be praying for Israel’s peace, but before peace is had there, there will be a war so bloody that countless people will perish. Jerusalem will have peace, and Israel will know Christ. We should pray for that! Maybe we as Christians should pray instead that our weak preachers open the Bible and preach God’s word while cutting out all the fluff of how to have a happy marriage, finding your purpose, and how to have your best life now. Thus, we should pray for the things that God has promised to answer. 

Acts 15:5-18… Some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.” The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”

In the first century, just like the modern day, there were some who stood up to proclaim their belief that circumcision was necessary for Gentiles (all non-Jews) to be saved. They apparently did not understand grace and were requiring Gentiles to become Jewish (through circumcision) in order to be truly saved by Jesus Christ.

These legalists, called Pharisees, had a history of forcing the Jews to obey the letter of the Mosaic Law while they themselves missed the spirit of that Law. Therefore it isn’t surprising to find them foisting their legalism upon the Gentile church. This apparently growing belief among Jewish converts led to the first church council which met to discuss this problem.

The gathering together of the church leaders that day was intense. One side was pushing for works in addition to God’s grace for obtaining true salvation while the other was about salvation by God’s grace alone through faith in Christ alone – the same debate that exists between denominations today. The Apostle Peter stood up in the midst of the debate and humbly asserted his own influence and spiritual calling among the brothers. He reminded the gathering that day that he had been appointed to preach to the Gentiles and bring them to belief in Christ. This he had done, and he witnessed, along with other Jews, the phenomenon of Gentiles receiving the Holy Spirit and afterward speaking in tongues (Acts 10:44-48) as a result of their conversion to Christ for salvation. And at no time did these Spirit-indwelt Gentiles become circumcised! Peter reminded them that God had made no distinction between Jews and Gentiles, giving both groups the Holy Spirit and making them one.

So Peter’s question in v. 10 solved the issue. Why would the Jews tell the Gentiles that they also had to keep the Mosaic Law in order to be saved – a burden that no Jew from Moses to John the Baptist was able to keep? This made no sense, and Peter told them that in doing so they were putting God to the test – they were slandering God’s gift of salvation by grace alone.

Peter summarized the Christian faith in Acts 15:11: “we” (Jews) are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way “they” (Gentiles) also are. Peter himself taught that God’s grace alone saves a man apart from works. Today, some still claim that God gives grace but only to those who work for it by abstaining from certain food, drink, and activities. Don’t believe it! Good works follow salvation; they don’t merit it. Faith is the root of salvation; works are the fruit (Ephesians 2:8-10).

It takes faith to believe in the unseen future that God has promised to those who trust in Him and to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead -- for the righteous shall live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4). Now who are the righteous? And what is faith? Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible (Hebrews 11:1-3).

The faith we have is our “assurance of things hoped for” – our unwavering belief that God is who He says He is. And since “assurance” means “to support” our faith supports us like the unseen roots of a tree support it. Roots are unseen, but the tree they support give it assurance.

            Now faith isn’t an entity all to itself. Faith in faith is worthless, and unless our faith is set upon something or someone that worthy of our trust, then it won’t bring us much support. This is why the context in Hebrews 11 draws the reader to faith in Jesus, for faith in Him stems from a “conviction of things not seen” – specifically our eternity with Him. God’s word, the Bible, is where faith begins. Any faith worth having begins with believing God through His word.

The second thing that Hebrews 11 teaches is that faith gains the approval of God (v. 2). The saints of old gained salvation the same way modern-day Christians attain it – through faith. Their faith pleased God, for “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6). These saints of old bore fruit in keeping with their faith, for none of them wandered about with blind optimism merely wishing God to be true or acting superstitiously. Neither did they gain salvation by merely acknowledging history and doctrine. They gained God’s approval simply because they believed God even during times when God seemed so unbelievable.

Third, faith acknowledges the power of God (v. 3). The author of Hebrews had Genesis 1:1 in mind when he said, “By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God…” So to reject God as the Creator of all things is to reject the very basis of what true and right faith is, namely believing God’s word which clearly says that He created the world.

Of course there are other faiths to have faith in, but are they true? Is evolution true? If you believe it, then you have faith, but does your faith make it true? Of course not. And not even science has proven that vile doctrine to have any basis whatsoever for our assurance. We believe something because we know it to be true, and if it isn’t then we reject it. Hats off to those who believe that evolution created the world, for they have more faith than Christians. But it’s not faith in and of itself that saves; it’s the object of our faith that saves us: Jesus Christ.

Faith is to a Christian what a root is to a tree. It provides support and assurance of salvation. That root then produces a shoot, as it were, which is evidence of life in the tree and nourishment in the root. Then it produces a fruit which nourishes those who partake and in turn creates more seeds that can take root and start the whole process over again. So true faith is about a root, a shoot, and a fruit – all three of which work together in God’s plan to multiply and make more and more disciples of faith in Christ. We must be about the task of planting the seeds of faith (evangelizing) and of watering those seeds (preaching all that Christ taught). Only then can we sit back and watch God cause growth (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:5-9). It all starts with faith in Christ – believing His word, obtaining God’s approval for such, and acknowledging God’s power.