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Transcript 356D — Healing the Land [2 Chr 7:14]
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Yes. Good evening. Could you please relate II Chronicles 7:14 to the matter of the aging of the earth?
HC: Yes. All right. II Chronicles 7:14: "If my people which are called by My name shall humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
Yes, now how does that relate to the fact that this world is wearing out and that it's doomed to be destroyed by fire? Actually, you must remember that this world has continued for about 13,000 years. During this 13,000 years many nations have arisen. Many tribes have existed, and so on. And it's only at the end of time that we see the earth finally wear out. It's only at the end of time that it's going to be destroyed by fire. In the meanwhile this earth goes on. Therefore, at any time in history, except at the end of time, it is a truism that if a people will turn from their sins and cry out to God for mercy, He will bring His blessings upon them, not only spiritual blessings, but the land will also react in a very close relationship to these blessings.
But when we come to the end of time (where we are now, I believe with all my heart), then we get to the point where two things are happening. First of all, there is no more healing of the land possible, because it is at the end of time, and secondly, there is no repentance that will come. There is no repentance.
Now the Bible teaches, on the one hand, that this earth is going to wear out. But it also teaches that wickedness will multiply, in Matthew 24, "Wickedness will multiply and most men's love will grow cold. II Thessalonians 2 indicates that the rebellion will come, and the man of sin will take his seat in the temple. That is, Satan will begin to rule in the congregations. The whole world becomes increasingly rebellious. And at the same time the evidence of the final demise of the earth becomes apparent also.
It's very interesting when you read the Bible that there's a very close parallel between creation and its fortunes and the spiritual conduct of mankind. We see this very interestingly in the almost destroyed Nineveh, in the Book of Jonah. If you read the last verse of the Book of Jonah, it says there that Jonah is unhappy because God did not destroy Nineveh, which was the enemy of Israel, and then God says to him, "Don't you realize that there were 120,000 in this city who did not know their right hand from the left, and much cattle?" Now why did He talk about the cattle? The cattle were representative of the creation. And if the 120,000 were destroyed because of their wickedness, then the cattle would have been destroyed, even as happened in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah or in the destruction of the world by the flood. Everything with the breath of life was destroyed. Or in the destruction of the firstborn of the cattle when the firstborn of Egypt was killed. Or in the destruction of all of the animals in Jericho when they were destroyed. There is a parallel development of God's plan that comes upon creation as it comes upon man.
Now by the same token, God uses language to indicate that even as there is redemption for man, there is a redemption for this earth. Mankind is redeemed by experiencing the resurrection, and this earth will be redeemed in that it will be burned by fire and be recreated New Heavens and a New Earth.
But when we read II Chronicles 7:14, while this holds throughout time, and Nineveh is a good example of this; they repented of their sins, and God did not destroy them nor the cattle nor the city. You see, God healed their land. Had they continued in their rebellion against God, had they not repented when Jonah preached to them, they would have been destroyed, but so would have the cattle been destroyed. The whole city would have been destroyed, as Jericho was destroyed, and Sodom and Gomorrah.
CALLER: We as a nation have experienced so much moral decay, and in the last fifteen years or so we have experienced such great pollution. I too believe that we're close to the end of time, but I was just wondering how this passage in II Chronicles fit in.
HC: It still stands as a warning. But I'm afraid that it is too late. I'm afraid that we're right near the end of time. You made an interesting observation. Our nation (and not only our nation but every nation in the world in these last ten or fifteen years) has experienced great moral decay. Therefore, because there is this parallel condition that prevails, that as nations become more wicked, then also the earth begins to suffer, there is that parallel relationship that continues, therefore we can expect more and more natural calamities, more and more droughts and famines and earthquakes and pestilence's of various kinds. I really believe that, although it will be very difficult to measure. I think time is moving along so very swiftly, the time is approaching so very quickly that it will be difficult to really have a good barometer, a good standard with which to measure the increase in these various natural catastrophes.
But I think we will sense, more and more, that these things are happening. We'll become more sensitive than ever that things aren't quite as normal as we can remember them from way back.