God blessed America – But on what grounds?

I understand the temptation to say it, but America is not Israel or Israel-adjacent. We can say that God is gracious and blessed us beyond measure without trying to shoehorn our society somewhere into the Pentateuch, where it doesn’t belong. The Mosaic Covenant, or the Old Covenant, was not given to all people for all time but to the Israelites. And even if it was an offer to all nations, there isn’t an à la carte option. In the Old Testament times, you could be an Egyptian and enter into the covenant by becoming a proselyte. But Egypt couldn’t enter the covenant by adopting a form of the law to suit them. Pharaoh couldn’t say, “I think I like eight of the Ten Commandments and some of the dietary restrictions,” and then expect to be in the covenant to receive the blessings. That’s not how it worked. Like my Mom used to say in the summertime, when I stood with the door open, “In or out.”

God’s laws are good. Many of God’s laws are reflections of His holiness and are always the standard, while others were given for different purposes. Some theologians categorize the law into moral, civil, and ceremonial groups. The Hebrews did not have categories because they were all moral laws to them. God commanded obedience, and they would be punished for murder just like they would be punished for wearing mixed fabric. We have categories now because we are not in that covenant anymore, and some of those laws no longer apply, others were teachers, bringing us to Christ, and some continued into the New Covenant. To suggest that we receive covenant blessings from God because our founders applied a small portion of the Old Covenant principles of morality in government is to flatten the covenant and make it something it never was.

God has blessed the USA with material wealth because He is gracious, not because we entered into a covenant with Him and are rewarded for covenant faithfulness. Israel swore that “All that the LORD hath said [in the book of the covenant] will we do, and be obedient” Exodus 24:7 and Deuteronomy 5:27-29. The covenant required FULL obedience to the ALL of the laws of the covenant. That included Sabbath laws, dietary laws, worship laws, and laws governing morality. You are either all in or all out.

The Old Covenant was not a political how-to guide, but an agreement between God and Israel, with stipulations, with a bigger purpose than politics and patriotism. Jesus was born under this law and was judged under this law. Jesus is the last Adam, who did not fail. He is the Son of God who did not break the covenant like Israel but perfectly kept and fulfilled ALL of the laws and then inaugurated the New Covenant. We are blessed by receiving Christ by faith. He kept the law for us, and we received His righteousness. The New Covenant is all of grace. Nation states do not enter the New Covenant but individuals. A nation of Christians who love the Lord and their neighbor would be a nice place to live. A nation that governed on Christian principles would be blessed. A nation that prays for forgiveness and repents would be healed because God is gracious. Nations that abhor God will reap what they sow.

Christian citizens should pray for God’s mercy. We should work, in our sphere, to love our God and love our neighbor by doing what we can to have a good, moral, just government. A free people who love Christ would make a happy and joyful nation, and people mourn when the unrighteous rule. But let’s not claim a covenant God did not make. Nor should we think that we could create a Christian state and bring in the millennium through an act of Congress or think that we could keep the Old Covenant any better than Israel did.

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