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When Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell took the pulpit two weeks ago to address the somber gathering at Washington’s National Cathedral, he looked to II Corinthians chapter 5 for comfort amidst the chaos. With voice carrying to every corner of the wired world he began with verse one and read through verse nine.
For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens...For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee...We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
Amen. This, assuredly, is a glorious hope...at least for those to whom it applies. Sadly, Rev. Caldwell holds out the promise of heaven but not the way by which it is attained. He offers the reward but not the conditions. If the Spirit is our guarantee of eternal life, then how do we receive this Spirit? The assurance of eternal life is surely not a comfort to those who don’t have it. So that is the question. Can the abundant promises of scripture be so broadly applied as to comfort an entire nation, even world? Jeremiah 23:17, after all, warns terrible things against the prophet who promises peace and security to those who despise God and walk by the dictates of their own heart.
Rev. Caldwell chose to close his Bible at the very verse where it most needed to stay open, verse ten. This is what those gathered needed to hear, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done.” So there it is. There is a judgment, there is a distinction, and there is a real obligation to do something with the knowledge we’ve been given.
Though it is easy to call plays from the sidelines, I cannot help but think that passages the like of II Chronicles 7:14 would have been a far more appropriate selection based on the times and the audience.
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 will forgive their sin and heal their land.
The U.S. has a problem. We are a nation that has been transgressed upon, but we are also a nation that has transgressed against. We are a nation that mourns for sins committed against us, but seems blind to the sins coming from within. As prayer after prayer rises from around the country, who can be sure they are heard? God turns a deaf ear to the self-righteous and unrepentant (Isaiah 1:15, 59:2), and we are a nation steeped in immorality. Fornication, adultery, and homosexuality abound. We are a nation steeped in idolatry. The worship of self has replaced the worship of God. And we are a nation steeped in violence. Whether it be cold-blooded murder or the massive slaughter of the unborn, there is blood on our hands. Genesis 4:10 warns that the blood of the slain cries out to God for justice. The blood on our land cries out for judgment against the terrorists, and the blood of 40 million American unborn cries out for judgement against us.
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