Author: John Page 126 of 166

Genesis 18:26 “And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.”

Genesis 18:32 “And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake.”

The terms ‘contingent promise’ or ‘conditional clause’ sound grandiose, as if the conditions must be magnificent in order to produce a meaningful outcome. In reality, the Lord asks very little from us. The magnificence lies in His output and not in our input. The ‘if’ is minute, and the ‘then’ is massive.

Abraham’s intercession for Sodom highlights this point. The fulfillment of the conditions originally required only fifty righteous people in the entire city. This already small requirement diminished to forty-five, then forty, then thirty, and then twenty. In the end, the Lord would spare the entire population IF only ten were righteous. The conditions went from very small to miniscule, while the outcome remained significant.

The small nature of God’s conditions demands an extra measure of individual responsibility (see the prior post – https://prayatlunch.us/free-riders/). Since the ‘if’ is so small, your contribution may be the difference between conditions fulfilled and conditions failed. Consider the following illustration related to Genesis 18. Maybe there were nine righteous found in Sodom, and one individual who was on the fence. Maybe that person thought that they could remain undecided or undedicated without consequence, straddling righteousness and worldliness. In the end, their decision to stop short of righteousness yielded horrible consequences. One person’s disobedience made all the difference.

PLEASE PRAY THAT EVERY CHRISTIAN WOULD RECOGNIZE HIS PERSONAL ROLE IN FULFILLING GOD’S SMALL CONDITIONS. You may be the proverbial tenth person in God’s plan for America today, and your absence will make all the difference.

Romans 8:31 “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?”

The word “if” should give us great comfort. Not only does the Bible use it to introduce a contingent promise from God in II Chronicles 7:14 that yields a certain outcome with the meeting of the listed conditions, but it also gives Christians assurance and encouragement in verses like Romans 8:31.

This phrase places the conditions upon God, with the artful use of a rhetorical question to provide certainty of those conditions. God is for us. With that in mind, there is nothing to fear. We will face no meaningful opposition with God on our side, because there is nothing that He cannot handle. He has already met the conditions and the outcome is certain.

What shall we say to ourselves when we are confronted by strong opposition? No one can be against us. What shall we say to one another when the world is attacking us? No one can be against us. What shall we say to the devil as he tries to sow seeds of doubt and discouragement?   No one can be against us. What should our testimonies indicate as we live in a world filled with hostility? No one can be against us.

God has met the conditions. He is for us. We have nothing to fear, because in this case He is responsible for both meeting the conditions and fulfilling the promises. We should live boldly because of it.

PLEASE PRAY FOR AMERICAN CHRISTIANS TO LIVE WITH THE ASSURANCE OF A GOD THAT IS FOR US. With God for us, nothing that is against us should cause us concern.

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.”

We are only one small word away from the Lord healing our land. The word “if” is a simple conjunction that introduces a conditional clause. In this case, it introduces a contingent promise from the Lord Himself. Based on the rules of logic and grammar, the Lord WILL heal our land IF we meet the four conditions outlined in the first half of this verse. If the conditions are met, then the outcome is certain. Yet, meeting the conditions is up to us.

So what happens if we fail to meet those conditions? This verse and the rules of logic and grammar do not prevent the Lord from fulfilling this promise without us. Yet, the use of the word “if” carries with it a strong implication. In fact, Merriam-Webster defines “if” in the following way: it is “used to say that something MUST happen BEFORE another thing can happen. (emphasis added)” In other words, the conditions are necessary for the outcome to be met … if not, then not.

Christians are left with two choices: 1) meet the contingencies and be assured of the outcome, or 2) fail to meet the contingencies and risk an uncertain outcome at best or preclude the outcome at worst.   It is far better to travel down the path of “if” instead of risking a continuation of the status quo that is characterized by “if not”.

PLEASE PRAY THAT CHRISTIANS WOULD TAKE SERIOUSLY OUR ROLE IN THE CONTINGENT PROMISES OF GOD. If we meet God’s contingencies, then the Lord promises nationwide revival. If.

Zephaniah 1:7 “Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests.”

Zephaniah 1:14 “The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.”

Like Judah in Zephaniah’s day, our nation teeters on the brink of judgment. The day of the Lord is at hand. The great day of the Lord is near. We do not know exactly how far away we are from wrath, but when it comes, it is likely to come quickly. The proverbial tipping point, described in these previous posts, is precipitously looming as early as the next tick of the clock:
https://prayatlunch.us/wrestling/
https://prayatlunch.us/tipping-point/

What are we doing about it? We should act now in the same way as we would if we knew that tomorrow was literally too late. In reality, it may be. PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICAN CHRISTIANS WOULD ACT TODAY AS IF OUR NATION’S DOWNFALL WAS IMMINENT. The day of the Lord may be at hand, and our lack of faithfulness is only beckoning our doom.

Zephaniah 2:2-3 “Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before the day of the LORD’s anger come upon you. Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD’s anger.”

The book of Zephaniah is largely about impending judgment. With God’s judgment looming on the horizon, the prophet stressed the need for God’s people to be faithful before it was too late. There were things that God’s people could do to avoid judgment, and to protect themselves and their land.   Yet, those things could only be done before the judgment began. If they waited, they risked facing the prevailing wrath that was coming soon.

Specifically, those things that the prophet directed them to do to avoid judgment were in line with the truths of II Chronicles 7:14. God’s people were directed to be humble and prayerful, expectant and repentant. They were to seek God, thus seeking righteousness and meekness. In doing so they could stay judgment; in doing so they could hide from God’s anger. Yet, they must do so before God’s judgment was upon them.

We do not know when it will be too late for our nation to avoid judgment and wrath. All we know is that we have a mandate now to be faithful. PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICAN CHRISTIANS WOULD PRAYERFULLY AND FAITHFULLY FOLLOW GOD NOW, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. In a nation potentially in its eleventh-hour, our prayerful faithfulness may be overdue if we wait until tomorrow.