We, as Christians, probably ponder from time to time why it seems that nations that once were considered Christian have all fallen away or grievously backslidden. North Africa, Asia Minor, and Europe, once the primary regions of what once was called Christendom, have come to a parlous spiritual state. The culture of the West, that which was rooted in Christian assumptions, seems to be tottering on the brink. Is this evidence of some sort of spiritual law of decay? The first thing we have to do is rid ourselves of any notion that this is what is inevitable. The Scripture plainly tells us that it is God’s will to deliver the creation, the creation we see and touch, from its bondage to decay (Romans 8:19-21). The Scripture tells us that it is God’s will to heal the nations, not otherworldly regions (Revelation 22:2). This is all predicated on the people of God functioning together as the Holy City. This does not imply some sort of grand ecclesiocracy. It means people praying, teaching, serving, and living in constant fellowship with God. We can pray all we want for our personal needs and those of others, but we also need to learn to pray constantly and comprehensively in terms of what God’s word teaches is his will for the nations. We should teach the full counsel of God’s word firmly rooted in what our relationship with the Holy Spirit has turned from knowledge to conviction. Our lives cannot be a disconnected set of spheres, some governed by God and others not. Ritual cannot substitute for relationship. Life is to be lived beside the river of living water. Nations fail if the priesthood of believers fails.
