Whether you live in Australia, Brazil, Slovakia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Mexico, Belize, United States, Zimbabwe, Germany, France, South Africa, or Canada, you share one thing with every other reader. You have national pride. We all have it. Some stronger than others, but we all have it. If we perceive our own nation changing, or turning away from the things we love about her, we find it extremely disturbing. We all share that. too.
        In that light, though, the Lord has really been working on me the last few weeks, and the result for me has been fantastic. In the past few nights a new idea has crystallized in my mind that should have been so obvious, but for some reason has always been obscured. Therefore, in just a few paragraphs I will endeavor to explain a radical change in my thinking that you, too, might find refreshing.
        As I said, we all probably occasionally see changes made in our own nations that bother us a lot. As a conservative Christian American I personally have been experiencing that quite a bit lately. Being a child of the 40’s my views of what the United States should be like are firmly ingrained, and the rapid departure from that image of late has both saddened me and even filled me with pure anger. Since so much is happening so quickly on a global scale, you may have experienced the same feelings about your nation. 

        The last few nights I have been studying the book of Jeremiah. In it God directs the prophet in things concerning the Babylonian captivity, but in so doing God also talks to us about the upcoming end times period, the following Millennial Kingdom, and heaven. While digging into these scriptures some verses jumped up at me and gave me a whole new view of everything in our lives today that has radically changed my emotions about what is going on around me. Let’s look first at one thing God said to the nation of Israel:

        “Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy you.” Jeremiah 30:11.

        Since God has not destroyed as of yet all of the nations in which the Jews have been scattered, this prophecy obviously deals with a future time. And although most books talk about the Jews having been scattered throughout seventy nations, I think we can agree that in reality there were at least a few Jews in every single nation on earth before the ingathering began in 1948. Therefore, at some point in the future, God will destroy every single nation on earth, except for Israel. At some point, Germany, Belize, Japan, United States, Slovakia, Australia, and every other nation listed above will cease to exist. In fact, no nation but Israel will exist at some time in the future. Actually, let’s read further:

        “This is what the Lord says,

        ever cease to be a nation before me.”  Jeremiah 31:35-36.

        It makes so much sense if we ponder it. When Jesus returns, he will reign over the whole world from Jerusalem for the next thousand years. We all know that. His reign will be that of King. We are told that people will live in towns and cities all over the world during that time, but it would be ludicrous for us to imagine that these towns and cities would be parcelled into national boundaries like they are now. Jesus will be King of it all. It will be a kingdom. One kingdom. And it will be called Israel, which literally means “who strives with God.”

        For me, an American, to get myself in a big dither about the US changing is ridiculous. The United States is not an eternal entity. It is destined to be completely dissolved anyway. Only God’s Kingdom is eternal. And after all, that is where my citizenship lies. The same is true of your country and your citizenship. In the last article we read, “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await our Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.” Philippians 3:19-20.

        Yes, the whole world is changing. The Bible tells us that a global world government is coming, even before the Lord returns. Then when He returns and takes His throne in Jerusalem, there will be one world, one nation, one Kingdom. It will be called Israel, and its citizens will be those of us “who strive with the Lord.” So, like me, calm what is churning in your belly about your nation and this world. Our true citizenship nation is truly glorious, unchanging, and everlasting. We can let our “national pride” soar to the heavens. We are but witnesses of this changing world. Our true nation will never let us down or disappoint us. Our true citizenship is in the everlasting Kingdom of Christ Jesus.