II Chronicles 7: The "If" Clause

II Chronicles 7 contains a very famous scripture that is typically invoked around the time of the National Day of Prayer: "If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land" (vs. 14).  It's a beautiful verse, but we must always take care to remember the pivotal "if" statement that God uses!

Verse 14 describes the positive side of that little word "if."  It holds a promise of national repentance and reconciliation with God.  Certainly it's appropriate to use this scripture when urging the country to return to God and seek forgiveness.  The good news is that God promises to honor such a prayer (at least in the specific context of His people Israel praying toward the Temple - by extrapolation, that includes His people today, too!)  The invitation to get right with God is enshrined in scripture in this verse as He holds open the door to our humility and repentance.

But that door hinges on "if".  There is another "if" clause a few verses later, which reveals the negative side of that ledger.  "But if you turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will pluck you up from the land that I have given you; and this house, which I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples" (vs. 19-20).  While good things can happen if God's people humble themselves and pray, God also makes it clear that bad things will happen if they forsake Him and chase after other gods.  He specifically mentions being plucked from the land in exile and casting the Temple out of His sight.  (Unfortunately, both of these events will come to pass several hundred years later when Babylon arrives as an instrument of God's justice.)

For good or for ill, the Temple will serve as a testimony of the loving and just character of God.  If the Israelites do well and live under the protection of the first "if" clause, it will be a sign to the world of God's grace and mercy upon His people.  If, however, they persist in choosing idolatry and immorality, the Lord says, "And regarding this house, now exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished, and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this house?’  Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord the God of their ancestors who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore he has brought all this calamity upon them’" (vs. 21-22).  

One way or another, whether through the "if" of national humility and repentance or the "if" of chasing after other gods, the Lord will be glorified.