The early church understood the principle very clearly that they could not repent for the nation, for we saw in an earlier example that when God pronounced the judgement of famine on the Roman Empire, that the church’s response was to prepare themselves for that famine. In other words, they didn’t petition the Lord to reverse His decision because it would make their lives more uncomfortable, for they understood that God was dealing with the unbelievers and unless the unbelievers repented there was nothing the church could do about it. So how should the church respond in these instances? They should in humility, correct those who are in opposition to God’s laws, in the hope that God perhaps will grant them repentance that they may come to their senses and escape His judgment. The church can also petition the Lord to soften the hearts of the leadership and citizens of the nation so that they will come to their senses and repent of their wicked ways, but they cannot repent before the Lord on behalf of the nation, for that won’t work. There is an account in scripture of the city state of Nineveh repenting at Jonah’s warning of God’s impending judgement (Jonah 3:1-10). And so we see that it is possible for a nation to come to its senses and repent of their wickedness when confronted with God’s judgement. Whether anyone petitioned the Lord on behalf of the citizens of Nineveh we don’t know, for the scripture makes no mention of that happening. We do know however that Jonah certainly didn’t pray for them, because he was upset when God relented from the disaster that He had pronounced upon them.
Michael E.B. Maher
Comments