Helpful Articles on Various Subjects
The Salvation of a Nation by Dr. Jack Hyles
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." Leviticus
2:13, "And every oblation of thy meat-offering shall thou season
with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of
thy God to be lacking from thy meat-offering: with all thine
offerings thou shalt offer salt." Numbers 18:19, "All the
heave-offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel
offer unto the Lord, have I given thee, and thy sons and thy
daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: it is a covenant of
salt for ever before the Lord unto thee and to thy seed with
thee." II Chronicles 13:5, "Ought ye not to know that the Lord
God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever,
even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?"
Just exactly how are nations saved? This does not deal
with all the people of a nation coming to Christ but rather how a
nation can be saved from destruction and from God's total
disfavor so that our sins can be forgiven and our land can be
healed.
To understand this properly we turn to the phrase, "the
covenant of salt." II Chronicles 13:5, "Ought ye not to know
that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David
for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?" A
covenant of salt was a covenant made between individuals pledging
an unbreakable friendship. They vowed that strong friendship to
each other, and as a symbol of that covenant, they ate bread and
salt together. The bread symbolized the nourishment of the
friendship and the salt with its savoring capacity emphasized the
durability of the friendship. Salt had an important part to play
in religious ceremony and sacrifices in the Word of God. For
example, salt had to be in every sacrifice. Leviticus 2:13, "And
every oblation of thy meat-offering shall thou season with salt;
neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to
be lacking from thy meat-offering: with all thine offerings thou
shalt offer salt." The Christian is called the salt of the
earth. Matthew 5:13, "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the
salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is
thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be
trodden under foot of men." Christ is called the Bread of Life.
John 6:35, "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he
that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me
shall never thirst."
The conclusion is, Christ will enter into a covenant with
His people-- a covenant that will not be broken. However, God
will not enter into a covenant with a nation unless there is
enough salt for the preservation of that nation. Since
Christians are called the salt of the earth, there are two
requirements for this covenant before God will enter into such an
agreement: First, there must be enough salt in that nation.
Second, that salt must have not lost its savour. God is looking
for enough salt that is savoured in a nation so He can spare that
nation from destruction. Note what this salt is. Salt
represents the righteousness of Christ. Savoured salt represents
personal righteousness. These two forms of righteousness are
mentioned in Romans 10:1-3, "Brethren, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I
bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according
to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness,
and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not
submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God."
Abraham came to God and begged for the salvation of Sodom.
His nephew, Lot, was there, and Abraham did not want Lot and his
family destroyed. He asked God that if he could find 50
righteous people, would God spare the city? God agreed to do so.
Abraham could not find 50, so he pleaded for the salvation of
Sodom if he could find 40. Again he failed. Then he asked if
the quota could be lowered to 30. It was. He failed again and
requested the quota be lowered to 20. Again he failed to find 20
righteous people. Finally God agreed that He would save Sodom
for 10 righteous people!
Now it must be understood that these ten righteous people
must have both imputed righteousness and personal righteousness.
They must be salt and they must be savoured salt. This was the
only hope for the city. Genesis 19:1, "And there came two angels
to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot
seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his
face toward the ground." Notice that Lot was at the gate of the
city. Some have suggested that he was an alderman. Others have
with justification, supposed that he was the mayor, for at the
gate of the city sat the judges, magistrates and city leaders.
The business of the city was done at the gate, much as it is done
at city hall today. At least we know one thing-- Lot was a city
official. Neither cities nor nations are saved because the right
officials are elected! The soul winner does more for the
salvation of his nation than does the precinct captain. The
answer for America is not excessive political involvement on the
part of God's people, but it is the excessive soul winning on the
part of God's people and the excessive preaching of
righteousness, separation and standards in our pulpits and in our
homes!
I believe that God has a quota set for America-- a quota of
righteous people who are possessed with the imputed righteousness
of Christ in response to their faith and with the personal
righteousness of a holy life! I do not know what that quota is.
In Sodom it was ten, but I believe with all my heart that God has
placed a number of people as a quota for the salvation of this
land, and that God will enter into a covenant of salt with us if
we can find sufficient salt that has not lost its savour! The
answer for America is not in a generation of preachers who leave
their pulpits and leave their soul winning to enter politics. Of
course, we should vote. Of course, we should pray for our
elected officials. Of course, as citizens we should have some
participation influencing others to vote properly, but this
should be minute in comparison with the gathering of salt. This
nation and every other nation will be spared only by direct
intervention from God Almighty! I am talking about the walls of
Jericho crumbling. I am talking about the drying of the Red Sea.
I am talking about the sun standing still for Joshua. The only
hope for America is for soul winners to get busy winning souls
and for leaders to get busy preaching personal holiness so that
God will enter with us into a covenant of salt and will spare our
land!
Now notice Genesis 19:26, "But his wife looked back from
behind him, and she became a pillar of salt." Why was Lot's wife
turned to a pillar of salt? There was not enough salt in the
city to cause a covenant of salt. When a city is taken in
battle, its destruction was finalized when the conqueror would
sow it with savourless salt. What a symbol this is! Savourless
salt will not spare a nation; it causes its destruction!
What then brings the salvation of a nation? 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." A nation is not saved because
the homosexuals straighten up or because the drunkards sober up.
A nation is saved when there are enough Christians to form enough
salt with savour so God will make with that nation a covenant of
salt! Those Christians must needs be separated and holy in their
living. For many years this has been my goal in my ministry. I
have gone day and night for years. The thrust of my ministry has
been twofold-- soul winning and separation, for I believe with
all my heart that if we can get enough people saved and possess
the imputed righteousness of Christ and then get those people
holy so they will possess personal righteousness, God will look
down from Heaven and forgive our sins and heal our land. Notice
again the words in II Chronicles 7:14, as follows:
1. "If My people, which are called by My name." There you
have the salt.
2. "Shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face,
and turn from their wicked ways." There you have the salt with
savour.
3. "Then will I hear from Heaven, and will forgive their
sin, and will heal their land." Here you have the salvation of
the nation. The answer, therefore, is in building soul-winning
churches over the length and breadth of this nation and in
preaching of separation and personal holiness in those churches.
The answer is not in the White House; it is in the church house.
It is not house-to-house registering of voters; it is
house-to-house preaching Christ.
I have four children and nine grandchildren. I have lived a
lot of years. At this writing I am 58 years of age. I have
preached over 41,500 sermons. I have flown nearly five million
miles on airplanes. I have watched this nation deteriorate.
Every patriotic American longs to see our nation spared. Some
fell that its sparing is in political reform. Some feel that the
nation can be spared if conservatives stay in the White House and
Senate. I believe that America can be spared only by Divine
intervention! It will take a miracle akin to that of the
crossing of the Red Sea or of the crumbling of the walls of
Jericho. I believe that God must intervene. He will not
intervene until we have won enough people to Christ and made
enough of them holy so that God, Who is the Bread of Life, can
meet with His holy people, who are the salt of the earth, and
that salt and bread can be mingled into a covenant of salt so
that God says to a nation, "I will enter into an agreement with
you for an unbreakable friendship for your generation."
I long to see my children and grandchildren live their lives
in the kind of America that I have known. I long to see the
judging hand of God stayed. I have given most of my life to this
end. When I lay my Bible down, walk out of the pulpit for the
last time after having preached my last sermon, I want to look at
those who follow me and say, "I did my best to get enough salt
and to get enough salt savoured so that you will have the nation
I have known." I may be wrong. I don't think I am.
May God give us preachers and churches aflame with the
message of salvation and stricken with compassion to preach
holiness so that we may have enough people with imputed
righteousness and enough of those with personal righteousness so
that God will look from Heaven and say, "America has met My
quota. There is enough salt and enough savoured salt for Me to
enter with them into a covenant of salt so that their generation
may be spared." To this end I work! For this I pray! In this I
hope! God, save America!
