Who's in Charge?

Well it’s all over! The votes have been cast, the ballot papers have been counted and the citizens of the different regions of the United Kingdom now know who will have their hands on the levers of power for the next few years.

Election results for some bring delight and for others they bring despondency but how should the Child of God view these things? I have always had an interest in what’s going on in the world of politics whether regional, national or indeed international politics. There have been issues that I have felt very passionately about and as a result there has never been an election since I turned 18 years of age where I have not made the trip to the polling station.

The Lord Jesus has taught us that as God’s Children we are ‘the salt of the earth’ (Matt 5 v13) and as such we are to have a preserving influence. I believe that one way in which we can use this preserving influence is by supporting candidates who will make the right legislative calls on the ‘Big Moral Issues’. However, we should never delude ourselves into thinking that God’s Kingdom or indeed the Church of Jesus Christ will ever be advanced by politics.

While my interest in politics is as strong as ever it was I have to say that in recent years I have become less and less exercised about it. I think of myself more as an interested observer these days and don’t shout at the TV anymore. You may conclude that this is the mellowing of maturing years but I don’t think that’s the case. I put the change down to a deeper appreciation of the truth of God’s Sovereignty.

If anyone ever grasped the truth that God is in control it was King Nebuchadnezzar of the Babylonian Empire, the first ever World Empire. Due to his pride God had struck him down with a mental illness where he thought that he was an animal. When God allowed his reason to return Nebuchadnezzar said these words.

‘And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?’ Daniel 4 v 34-35

As I have already mentioned many people can become despondent at the results of elections. They don’t particularly like some or indeed any of those who have been elected. However, as Christians we have to acknowledge that although we may not like some of those who have the rule over us that God in His permissive will has allowed those people to be in positions of authority. In the early days of the Church it was living in a world dominated by Imperial Rome. The Caesars who sat on the throne in those days were despots who thought nothing of feeding Christians to the lions or imprisoning them in penal colonies. These despots make our modern political leaders (even the worst among them) look like reasonable people and yet despite the harsh reality of life for a 1st Century Christian Peter wrote.

‘Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.’ 1 Peter 2 v17

The Apostle Paul for his part said.

‘Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates,’ Titus 3 v1

The Apostles make clear that as God’s people we ought to honour and obey those whom God has put into positions of government. We of course must qualify this obedience to state that if the government should ever seek to force us to do something that is against God’s will then ‘we ought to obey God rather than men.’ Acts 5 v29

Over the centuries there have been many different forms of government from Autocratic where one man ruled the roost to Democratic where the people decide who rules. All of these systems have failed and will continue to do so because of man’s wicked nature. I look forward to the day when the government will be Christocratic, government by Jesus Christ. In that day ‘the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.’ Habakkuk 2 v14

‘Even so, come, Lord Jesus.’ Revelation 22 v20