Pt.6 National Rededications Gone RIGHT

God's Sovereign Plan to Rededicate the Nations

Can you think of a biblical example of successful national rededication, where an entire nation (citizens and ruling class) has been comprehensively dedicated to God for all eternity without compromise? No nation has attained such a transformation thus far, but the Bible does reveal God's plan to accomplish this. This brings us to God's plan to redeem every nation through the fulfillment of his covenant with Israel. Let's take a look at how God said true, lasting transformation will be accomplished.

“Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: Will you defile yourselves after the manner of your fathers and go whoring after their detestable things? When you present your gifts and offer up your children in fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. And shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, declares the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you." - Ezekiel 20:30-31

First, God confronted Israel's divided loyalty and insincere dedication. God refused to hear the prayers of such contradictory people, but God also revealed his plan to heal their condition. God will do more than secure a momentary dedication that decays with time; His plan will permanently reverse the decay introduced by sin.

“As I live, declares the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out I will be king over you. I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out. ...I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. I will purge out the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against me. I will bring them out of the land where they sojourn, but they shall not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord. - Ezekiel 20:33-38

The people's divided loyalty must be corrected for the desired transformation to take place. God leads the entire nation back to wholeheartedness through purifying repentance. The result is a comprehensive transformation that endures for generations.

“For on my holy mountain, the mountain height of Israel, declares the Lord God, there all the house of Israel, all of them, shall serve me in the land. There I will accept them, and there I will require your contributions and the choicest of your gifts, with all your sacred offerings. As a pleasing aroma I will accept you, when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you have been scattered. And I will manifest my holiness among you in the sight of the nations. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I bring you into the land of Israel, the country that I swore to give to your fathers. - Ezekiel 20:40-42 (emphasis added)

Through God's plan for the fullness of time, Israel will be the first nation wholly and permanently dedicated to God with all the benefits of every covenant promise. What a glorious and faithful God we serve! God revealed the same plan to Jeremiah a few years later.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” - Jeremiah 31:33-34 (emphasis added)

This comprehensive rededication of Israel will not face any decay or compromise; it will be permanent for all eternity.

In that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. - Isaiah 4:2-4

But Israel is saved by the Lord with everlasting salvation; you shall not be put to shame or confounded to all eternity. - Isaiah 45:17

Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. - Isaiah 52:9-10

God has promised to prove his faithfulness to nations through the permanent salvation and restoration of Israel. What an amazing promise, and the transformation does not stop with Israel! Through the reign of Jesus and the restoration of Israel, all the nations of the world will experience the same transformation. This is the ultimate, final rededication of the nations.

God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne. The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God; he is highly exalted! - Psalm 47:8-9

And you will say in that day: “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted. “Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.” - Isaiah 12:4-6  

By [New Jerusalem's] light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it... They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. - Revelation 21:24-26

Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.” - Revelation 15:4

My prayer for "Rededicate 250" is that it would be a foretaste of God's promises of ultimate transformation, that America will be blessed to bless God's redemptive plan for Israel and all the nations. May it be held to the standard higher than our President, the standard of true redemption: Jesus of Nazareth. 

If you want a chapter-by-chapter Bible study of God's plan to restore all things, watch my free video series Seeking Shalom on servantleadernetwork.org and the Servant Leader Network app, and sign up for the Seeking Shalom Summer Intensive beginning June 1.