Remember all the laws and feasts, special days and years that the Lord gave the Israelites, and told them to observe, in the Old Testament? In Exodus 23, God tells His people that they are to work, plant and harvest six years and then let the ground rest on the seventh. Leviticus 25 also speaks of a Sabbath year, what was called Shemitah, and the year of Jubilee. Again His people were called to sow for 6 years and rest on the seventh. Both the Shemitah and the year of Jubilee speak of canceling debts. The Shemitah runs in a 7 year cycle. The Year of Jubilee in 50 year cycles. I have read in commentaries that the purpose was that God wanted to the poor to have a chance to escape poverty, by allowing themselves to become free, (if they had sold themselves as slaves) and free of debt, and by not using the land on the 7th and Jubilee years, it would teach His people to work hard, save and store of the 6 years and trust and obey on the Sabbath (Shemitah) years. Deuteronomy, Jeremiah, 2 Chronicles and 2 Kings also speaks of Sabbath years. If you are like me, when you read through these passages, your eyelids may have gotten heavy and maybe would skim through the verses in the hope of getting to a part that might hold your attention. Here is an important point, When God set up this system for his people, they were told that if they obeyed His laws, they would be prosperous, and if they didn't they would face hardship. He would allow them to be attacked by their enemies, he would allow, cities to burn, crops to fail-to become desolate. He would lift his hand of protection. We, or at least I have made jokes about the Israelites being 'stiff necked' people. God was working miracles all around them , and they would forget and become distracted, whine about life being hard, and ultimately miss the blessing God had for them. Like going into the Promise Land.
What does any of this have to do with America? I ask you, are we any different? Demographically speaking, Jesus said to preach the Gospel to all Nations. No matter which Nation each one of us have come from, when we accept God's word, we are His people. So in that way, the Israelites and today's Christians are the same.
God made a covenant with Israel. When our Founding Fathers came to America and set up our government, we made a covenant with God. Our Declaration of independence-states, "...We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
One signer of this document, and who was the 2nd President of the U.S. stated, "The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God." John Adams.
Another is Samuel Adams, "I conceive we cannot better express ourselves than by humbly and happy period when the kingdoms of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ may be everywhere established, and the people willingly bow to the scepter of Him who is the Prince of Peace."
Congress, 1854 convened and stated,"The great, vital, and conservative element in our system is the belief of our people in the pure doctrines and the divine truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ."
Congress, U. S. House Judiciary Committee, 1854, "Had the people, during the Revolution, had a suspicion of any attempt to war against Christianity, that Revolution would have been strangled in its cradle... In this age, there can be no substitute for Christianity... That was the religion of the founders of the republic and they expected it to remain the religion of their descendants."
In George Washington's opening prayer at the first inaugural address in 1789, he says, "Would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being Who rules over the universe, Who presides in the councils of nations, and Whose providential aids can supply every human defect – that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes." He goes on to say, "The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained."
This act of prayer is important because of who, what, where, and when it happened. George Washington our first president-in his first official act, dedicated our country to God, at our nations first Capital, (NYC), in a church that is now called St. Paul's Chapel, on the day that our nation's government was formed.
I am not coming from the mindset that some have that we, (The United States) are the NEW Israel. I don't believe that. I do believe that God had and still has a special covenant with the nation of Israel. I also believe that vows made unto God are important no matter when they were said. According to written American history, George Washington dedicated this country unto the Lord. And many founding fathers and leaders of our country warned of what would happen if this country turned it's back on God's ways, and it's heritage.
I think we can all agree that our country today has been heading in the wrong direction from the government that was set up a little over 200 hundred years ago. In fact, I think that the 21st century of which we live in today looks a lot like the 7th century B.C., of the Israelites.
Tomorrow, I will try to show through scripture God's warning to Israel of what would happen if they did not turn back to Him. I am going show their defiance and the judgement that was unleashed upon them. Then I want to show what happened to the U.S., 12 years ago and some very scary, mind blowing 'coincidences.'
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