John MacArthur: Is It Too Late for America?

Welcome back to Defender’s Voice. This is Dr.Paul. Thank you for joining us today. Defender’s Voice is about defending the truth against the falsehoods of our time. Please visit our website at www.doctorpaul.org. There you can subscribe to our podcast. Every day we pick up a current event and analyze it in the light of the Bible. 

Today’s question: Is it too late for America to escape judgment? In a message entitled, Too Late for Grace, John McArthur said, America went too far down the road of depravity, it is too late for her to repent and get saved. We have abandoned God’s Word in so many areas of life, we turned ourselves into so much sin and depravity, we went beyond the point of no return. 

    I highly respect John MacArthur. My library is full of his books. I spoke to him through a common friend. I was thrilled that the most famous pastor in America spent a few minutes talking to me. Then he sent me a beautiful, autographed, leather bound MacArthur study Bible. I thought that it was very nice of him to send me a copy of his best selling Bible for free. I do my daily devotions from that Bible. I enjoy reading the notes MacArthur wrote on each page. I consider him among the greatest of Bible scholars in our generation. Still, that does not mean I agree with him on everything he says. In this video, I will explain why I do not agree with John MacArthur on his assertion that it is too late for America to get saved. 

    If you listen to John’s sermon, it is titled Too Late For Grace. It is a beautiful sermon weaved from the Bible. He starts with Jesus proclaiming judgment over Israel. Israel is God’s vineyard. MacArthur talks about God’s judgment over Israel through prophets of the Old Testament. God proclaimed judgment over Israel through Isaiah. They have eyes but they do not see, they have ears but they do not hear. It is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.” Romans 11:18

    Jesus wept over Jerusalem like Jeremiah did as the imminent judgment of God approached. When Israel’s sins became so egregious, God judged them. The northern state of Israel was punished by Assyrians in 722 BC and the southern state of Judah was punished in 586 BC by Babylonians. 

      God’s final prophet Jesus was sent to the nation of  Israel two thousand years ago. It rejected him and killed him. So, God’s judgment came in AD 70 when Romans destroyed Jerusalem, its temple and took Jews into captivity. Since AD 70, the Jews had no temple, no sacrifices, no priests, no sadducees, no Pharisees. 

   MacArthur’s conclusion was: During the ministry of Jeremiah in 6th century BC, it was too late for Israel to get saved. After rejecting Jesus the Messiah in the first century AD, it was too late for Israel to get saved. The same thing is true for America. It’s sins are so egregious and it is too late for America to get saved. 

   First, let me explain why I don’t agree with Mr.MacArthur on this. The fundamental difference is Israel is God’s covenant nation, America is not. We love America. It is also true that God has been using America over the last two hundred years. But, still America is not a covenant nation. There is only one nation in human history with which God ever made a covenant, and that is Israel. America, India, China, Kenya, Malaysia..we are all Gentiles. 

    God made an eternal covenant with Abraham, the father of Israel. God punished Israel when it’s iniquity went beyond the point of no return. God is a God of order. He is the first mathematician of the universe. Mathematics is about the study of patterns in nature. You will find a mathematical pattern in the prophecies of the Bible. God follows a pattern in His dealings with Israel. It is a good thing that God did not make a covenant with America because if we fail to fulfill our obligations, the judgement will surely come according to the stipulations of the covenant. That is what happened to the nation of Israel. 

   God’s major judgments over the nation of Israel, let us call them Catastrophes. In each Catastrophe, we see the destruction of the temple and dispersion of the people. In 586 BC, during the First Catastrophe, God destroyed the temple using Babylonians and dispersed the Jews through the Babylonian empire. In AD  70, during the Second Catastrophe, God destroyed the second temple using the Romans and dispersed the Jews across the Roman Empire. In the Third Catastrophe, which is in the future, God will again destroy their temple and disperse the Jews across the world. We can read those details in Daniel chapter 9 and Matthew chapter 24. There is no God’s temple in Jerusalem today. But in the future, the Jews will build a temple for God, it will be desecrated by the AntiChrist, God will destroy it and disperse the Jews. So, God has a pattern in his dealings with the nation of Israel during the First, Second and Third Catastrophes. He destroys his desecrated temple and he disperses his chosen people across the world. Such a pattern is unique only toward God’s judgment towards the nation of Israel because God made a covenant only with the nation of Israel. 

    God did not make a covenant with America or any other gentile nation. So, we should not apply God’s dealings with Israel to America. We love America. When Israel was established in 1948, America was the first nation in the world to recognize the State of Israel. Harry Truman was the US President who made that decision in favor of Israel. He was from Democratic Party. Today’s Democratic Party is becoming less and less supportive of Israel. More and more Americans are becoming ignorant of God’s prophetic plan. More and more American young people are leaving Christian faith. We will have ramifications from this cultural trend that soon America may not support Israel as it has been in the past. 

     It grieves our hearts to see America leaving God and going in its own way. It grieves our hearts that so much sin God hates is being legalized and celebrated in America. Yet, it is never too late for America to return to God. It is never too late for grace. That is the beauty of grace. When Jesus was hanging on the cross, one thief repented of his sins and prayed to Jesus for forgiveness. In those last moments of his life, our merciful Savior forgave him and received him into the family of God. So, the sinners in America and in other nations can still come to God and experience God’s grace and salvation. 

   So, with all due respect, I have to say that John MacArthur is not right in applying God’s covenant with Israel to America. That is my answer to that question. Please share your views on this matter. Please subscribe to our channel. Leave your comments. 

God bless you.