Britain’s position before God.

In this deeply significant phase of Britain’s history, it is of the utmost importance for us to be clear on our nation’s standing with God. In this article we consider some passages from the Prophet Jeremiah that are directly relevant to our situation.

Speaking First to Judah

Jeremiah spoke for around 40 years to Judah, often through tears, up to the beginning of the Babylonian captivity. As a young man, Jeremiah saw the best of days for Judah. He began to prophesy in the days of Josiah (Jer 1:2), whose account is in 2 Kings 22-23. Josiah led the people of Judah to return to the Law of Moses, cleansed the land of idolatry, restored the Temple and celebrated the Feasts of the Lord in Jerusalem. It was said of him:

Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul and with all his might, according to the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him. (2 Kings 23:25)

As a young man, Jeremiah would have experienced these good and blessed times in his nation. These would have stood in stark contrast to the days of decline that followed – but these were inevitable. Judah had already fallen so far, prior to King Josiah, that God’s anger was turned back only temporarily, during Josiah’s reign:

Nevertheless, the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, with which his anger was aroused against Judah, because of the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. (2 Kings 23:26)

Britain: Hope or Concern?

There are applications from this period of Judah’s history that we can apply to modern Britain.

In Jeremiah’s day, blessings on the nation as a whole depended on how they were led. It was the King’s responsibility to lead the nation according to God’s laws. In our day and our nation, the monarch has a prominent role, but so do the Government and all the institutions that exercise authority on behalf of the Crown.

The Prophet Jeremiah experienced good and blessed times in his nation – which would have stood in stark contrast to the days of decline that followed.

Our current leaders are rapidly descending into the ways of King Manasseh, discarding belief in the God of Israel, opening the way for any and every form of idolatry, rejecting God as Creator, sacrificing our unborn babies and many other things that displease and bring sorrow and anger to Almighty God.

We have also had our good days – days when the truth of the Gospel rang out from our shores and when the Laws of God were engrained in our national heritage. Yet, no more than Judah could rest on the blessed days of Josiah can Britain rest on the blessed days of the past. Just as in the latter days of Judah, there is hope, should we raise up uncompromising leaders like Josiah, but there is also real concern over the extreme vulnerability of our current position.

Conditions for Blessing

When Jeremiah went to the potter’s house (Jeremiah 18) he was shown a principle which applied not only to Judah but to all nations:

If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.

And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it. (Jer 18:7-10)

The British Empire in 1897 / See CreditsBritain was once in the former of these situations. Once we were a pagan nation not knowing the ways of God, but gradually, over many years, the laws of God were made central to our culture and national life: the Lord did not destroy us, but built us up.

Now, we are deeply into the latter part of this message. Disaster of some sort is inevitable - likely precipitated by the hardship following a mighty collapse of the economy. What follows remains to be seen. God’s judgments can be redemptive - but it depends on how the nation responds.

No more than Judah could rest on the blessed days of Josiah can Britain rest on the blessed days of the past.

Contrasting 2 Chronicles 7:14

Centuries before Jeremiah’s day, God’s covenant heart for Israel and Judah was shown to Solomon at the time of the dedication of the Temple. Solomon realised that a time would come when his nation would turn from God and he interceded with God in advance to make a way back. That way back, a specific promise for Israel and Judah, was summarised in 2 Chronicles 7:14:

If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

It is time for Christians in Britain to fine-tune their understanding of this and realise that, though we hear the heartbeat of God through this passage, it is nonetheless a promise given directly and only to Israel. We have to twist the meaning of the words “my people” and “their land” to make it read that if Christians pray, God will heal Britain. The Jeremiah 18 passage quoted above requires more than this: namely, repentance across the entire nation.

Of course Christians must pray, but repentance must sweep across the entire nation, especially among its leaders, not just in the Church. We can intercede for others but they themselves must repent (turn from their own sin). Even Jeremiah could not repent on behalf of his nation – hence they went eventually into Babylonian captivity.

Our Responsibility to Israel is Key

There is yet another key passage in Jeremiah that affirms how deeply serious the days are for Britain. In Jeremiah’s day, Babylon was the empire that took Judah into captivity, so the words spoken by Jeremiah were first applied to this empire. Babylon was God’s chosen instrument for judgment but the Babylonians also had responsibilities towards the Jews whilst they were in exile:

This is what the Lord says: “As for all my wicked neighbours who seize the inheritance I gave to my people Israel, I will uproot them from their land and I will uproot the house of Judah from among them. But after I uproot them, I will again have compassion and bring each of them back to his own inheritance and his own country.

And if they learn well the ways of my people and swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the Lord lives’ – even as they once taught my people to swear by Baal – then they will be established among my people. But if any nation does not listen, I will completely uproot and destroy it,” declares the Lord. (Jer 12:14-17)

The words also speak of the exile of the Jews among the nations since AD 70 right up to today. A positive consequence of this diaspora is that the lands where the Jews were scattered have been given opportunity to know the God of Israel. In following his ways, foreign nations could be counted among the commonwealth of Israel.

But, if instead these foreign nations reject the God of Israel, especially once he has gathered his people back from exile to their land, the foreign nations will be plucked up and destroyed.

If foreign nations that have hosted Jewish exiles reject this opportunity to follow the God of Israel, they will be plucked up and destroyed.

This is the condition of many Western nations today, having influenced many Jews over the years with their philosophies and false gods. Consider, for example, the way many Jews during recent years have been turned to the New Age movement in both Europe and America.

Now, at the time of the re-gathering of Israel, there is an increased turning to those false gods as the God of Israel works to fulfil his final covenant promises to Israel. The above passage from Jeremiah applies! Britain, America, Russia, Germany and all other countries that have known him and his way, in turning now away from the God of Israel, are setting themselves up for eventual utter destruction.

In these ways, embedded in the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, we can discern the deeply vulnerable situation before God, of Britain today. We must seek him whilst there is still time.

The man of God who started well, but was deceived.