God's Country?

Is America Jerusalem? The Puritans in Massachusetts thought of their colony as a “city on a hill”, a great experiment in godliness which would shine like a beacon to all the nations as a testimony to the transforming power of God. But not everyone came to this country for religious reasons. Many did; Maryland was founded to give a safe harbor to England's despised Catholics; Pennsylvania was a refuge for the Quakers; Rhode Island was founded for the religious dissenters of Massachusetts itself. But the Virginia Co. was largely mercantile - people came for economic reasons, to get land for younger sons, to break out of the straitjacket of England's rigid class system, to escape old failures or in a desperate gamble that in this new place they could earn more than mere survival. Georgia was a penal colony, a dumping ground for England's overflowing prisons; North Carolina became home for the defeated populations of Ireland and Scotland. And the Spaniards had come to Florida looking for gold and the fountain of youth. At America's roots were a very mixed bag of motives.

Of course, so were Israel's. Surely there were many among the tribes who fled Egypt for economic rather than religious reasons. But in the front, at the top, leading them on, was God's call and God's promise and God's visible presence.

We in the United States cannot claim that. As religious as our founding fathers were - and make no mistake about it, they were profoundly religious - we cannot claim that this political and geographical entity called America is Israel. We cannot claim a one-for-one correspondence between God's promises to Jerusalem and God's promises to us. So what can we claim? How do we apply this Psalm?

The great 19th c. preacher Charles Spurgeon points out that the Psalms have more to say about God than about people. And so even as the world changes, it only underlines God's changeless character. In today's Psalm, Jerusalem, surrounded as it is by a natural rampart of hills, is portrayed as an impregnable fortress. (David's army had taken it by stealth, with a small band sneaking up through what was thought to be a secret tunnel to the city’s springs.) With modern weapons of mass destruction, geography counts for much less; only equally modern technology can defend it. So in one way the metaphor used in this Psalm is out of date. And yet, while Jerusalem has changed, and armies and weapons and tactics have changed, and America isn't Jerusalem anyway, David's God - and ours - is still the same. And so the question is, what is it about the nature of God that this song reveal?

David looked down upon Jerusalem and thought, “No army can ever be able to surprise this city; no matter how numerous the invaders, my people will always be able to hold their own.” And so, when he said, “As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people,” he meant that, “As Jerusalem is protected by the mountains, so are God's people protected by the covenant, shielded by God’s own power. Therefore they are utterly secure.”

But what does that mean for us, now, here?

America is not Jerusalem. American is not the new Israel. And even if we were, the oceans, which surrounded us with a safety zone as Jerusalem was guarded by mountains, no longer protect the country from invasion. Our country is not protected as Israel was - but WE are. That is because we, the church of Jesus Christ, are now Israel. “...if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise.” [Gal 3:29] And so this Psalm is for us, relating first to the Church as a whole, and then to individuals in particular.

The Church as a whole is eternally protected by God. The important question is not, “How often has the Church been attacked?” but “How often has she won?” When you list the battles, you are listing the victories. Even battles still in progress. Consider how desperately and heavy-handedly Communism tried to destroy the church in Eastern Europe and China - and now Communism is flopping about gasping its last breath and the church is growing by leaps and bounds. “He who sits in the heavens laughs; YHWH has them in derision.” [Ps 2:4]

Sneak attacks actually work better. Calling Christians names and spreading false rumors are very effective - in the short run. Have you ever heard the accusations that were used against Christians in the early years? According to the Christian History Institute, they include cannibalism (the Lord's supper, of course), gross immorality (including incest), antifamily actions, poverty (well, actually that was often quite true), atheism (it IS true that they didn't believe in any of the pagan gods), antisocial behavior and causing disasters. Well, today's list of BAD THINGS Christians stand accused of, like intolerance, doesn't seem like that big a deal when compared to the first century's list, does it? And "hate speech"? Well, doesn't Proverbs say "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil?" [Pr 8:13] It's a badge of honor to hate evil: but only the evil, not its victims.