“And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” – John 2:2

What that verse means is this: “Jesus satisfied (appeased, turned away) the wrath of God concerning our sin, but not only our sin, but the sin of the whole world.”

God’s wrather towards sin has been appeased; He isn’t angry at sinners! That means that you don’t have to gather up with millions of people to pray and sacrifice yourselves to God to get Him to turn His wrath away from your nation. You and your intercession prayers are not the propitiation for the sins of your nation, the cross of Jesus is. You cannot repent for anybody’s sin besides your own. You’re not the one who “stands in the gap” or holds God back from sending judgment on your nation. Jesus is the mediator between God and man, Jesus is the advocate for mankind, and Jesus has already finished the job.

If God were to punish a single person in this world for their sin, Jesus died for nothing. Does that mean that the whole world is automatially saved, and that the whole world is going to heaven? No. But what it does mean is that God is not punishing people for their sin – i.e. not holding their sin against them (2 Cor. 5:19).

He’s not sending earthquakes to California over homosexualityl He’s not sending flood to Brazil over ignorant parades. If God started doing that, He would be holding people’s sin against them, and going back on the reason He sent His Son. Why did Paul waste time and ink to say that God is reconciling the world to Himself by not holding men’s sin against them?

Stop Praying For What You Already Have

A lot of the things we pray for and beg God for are already rightfully ours as an inheritance for being His sons (Gal. 4:7). If I could cry out to God and get Him to hold back His wrath or pour out His spirit, or heal my body, or send revival, I have bragging rights over anyone who has never cried out to God, or worked to get God to do things for them, because I caused it to happen with my own efforts. More than that I don’t need Jesus because twist God’s arm myself.

However, God’s anger towards sin is satisfied because of Jesus’ work on the cross. He pours out His spirit because He loves us, not because we beg Him to. His kindness stops him from killing us, not our prayers.

Christianity is not about us getting God to do stuff for us, it’s about what God has already done for us and doing what He told us to do because He has given us the ability to do so. If we are lacking anything, then we can ask and He will provide, but to be honest, if you really learn about the benefits of being in a new covenant with God, you’ll see that most of the stuff Christians pray for and cry out for (“God send revival!” “God forgive America!”) has already been done. It just hasn’t been made a reality in people’s minds, hearts, and actions because people are still trying to make things a reality through faith in their works instead of making it real through faith in His.

The good news is that grace has already made available everything that we need to be successful (Eph. 1:3, 2 Peter 1:3). All of it is from God, through Jesus, so we will never be able to boast over another person.

The news is very good!