Intro
Here in England, we’re on the eve of a general election to decide the government for the next few years, and we look across the water to the States that have their presidential election later this year, too. It seems like we have a year of potential change ahead.
Government and leadership can sometimes have the effect of polarising people, meaning that opinion is split, generally just two ways. The ‘blue’ and the ‘red’ camps, or the ‘elephant’ and the ‘donkey’ camps, often create tension across the country that sometimes spills over into incivility and even aggression.
I find this quite intriguing. I understand how people can become so impassioned about the election of government officials because it affects many aspects of our lives.
Let me give you an example – I used to work in the defence industry, and during the last general election, Jeremy Corbyn was running for the Labour party and was famously anti-nuclear weapons. I worked in a business whose key revenue came from the maintenance of submarines carrying these nuclear weapons, and so great swathes of people were hugely against the Labour Party because of this. This was despite whether one leant towards a socialist or a capitalist society (traditionally Labour and Conservative tendencies, respectively). It just goes to show that local people care about local issues like jobs and education just as much as general themes within a political party.
I know many people on both sides of the political spectrum, and have been in earshot of many a conversation saying derogatory things about one side or another! Opinions are important, but should we let them become central to our identity, or let them cause argument and discord between friends? I have seen people in Church judge because of a political persuasion.
As Christians, what are we to make of all this? How are we to respond to general elections and relations between people during this process? How should we act if the Party we support does not make it into power?
Let’s see what the Bible has to say about it.
Jews in Exile
When the Jews were sent into exile by God around 600 BC , they ended up serving foreign kings in almost complete opposition to the Jewish beliefs, their King and Priestly ordinances. You might think that God would have wanted them to dwell in these lands, keep themselves to themselves, and maintain a segregation between God’s chosen people and the pagans whose land they found themselves in, but this was not to be the case.
In fact, God instructed the Israelites to integrate with their captors and actively seek their welfare!
“Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”
Jeremiah 29:4-27.
In other words, God told the people through the prophet Jeremiah they were to live life as normal in Babylon, not to intermarry–so there were some measures to stay nationalistic (in line with the Mosaic law)–but they were to pray for their captors.
The welfare of the Israelites was tied up with the welfare of Babylon and its leaders.
But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. (Jeremiah 19:7)
Daniel
A teenager named Daniel was among the first to be taken into exile and was selected by the Babylonian king to join his court because he saw that even as a young man, he and his friends were already wise and full of potential. The king’s idea was to take these wise boys and indoctrinate them with Babylonian practices, beliefs, literature, and religion. Daniel was an amazing example of someone who integrated and served his foreign (pagan) ruler while standing firm in his religious beliefs.
He refused to eat the rich food from the king, so he did not break the food laws.
His friends refused to bow down to a gold idol set up by the king, and they were prevented from burning inside a furnace that may have been used to melt metals—it was seven times hotter than usual!
Daniel refused to stop praying to God and was put in a den of lions, again surviving.
All the while, he served first the kings of Babylon, and then the kings of Persia who defeated the Babylonian empire.
Nehemiah
Nehemiah was a cupbearer for a Persian king called Artaxerxes, who, because of his faithful service to this foreign king, was permitted to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the city. Only because of his integration was he permitted to do so.
Esther
Esther was a Jewish woman who was taken into another Persian king’s court, Xerxes, to be his wife. Because of this integration, she foiled a plot by a jealous court official to destroy the Jewish people living under Persian reign.
So we see a pattern of service to rulers that we find ourselves under; whether or not we agree with their politics, religion, or laws, we are still to live in peace under them, so long as we do not break God's moral laws.
The Church Age
In the New Testament, Paul teaches us we must obey our earthly rulers.
“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.”
Romans 13:1-2
This was addressed to the Church in Rome, and the Roman rulers were notoriously pagan and against God! This would have been a shocking message to Paul’s readers, but the premise is this:
God is in control. All history is his history and his making. Nothing happens in this world without his knowing and his decree.
God's Sovereign Rule
We can look back at the outcome of trust in foreign kings: Daniel’s rise to prominence in the courts of King Nebuchadnezzar, Nehemiah’s permission to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple, Esther’s saving of the Jewish people, and Joseph’s rise from Egyptian slave to prisoner to prime minister of the most powerful nation on earth, saving millions from starvation across the world during a seven-year widespread drought.
The one to set the Israelites free and send them back to the promised land was not one of their own, a prophet or one in the line of Jewish kings, but a pagan king called Cyrus.
In 1 Peter, he also commands us to bey the rulers (the Roman Emperor at the time), because in our obedience, we are doing the will of God.
Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.
1 Peter 2:13-15
God uses our earthly rulers for his purposes. At the time, we will likely not know why.
God used President Trump in his term (and may yet again)
God has used the Conservative Party for over a decade, through some of the most challenging times in recent history (Brexit; Covid)
God is using Vladimir Putin
God used Hitler.
We may not know at the time, and in some cases, we may never know why exactly, but we can trust God that he knows and that his plans are good, righteous, and holy, and they will bring about his greater glory and good.
So, leading up to our general election, you will have your opinion, others’ opinions will be different to yours, and we thank God that we live in a democratic state not ruled by a despotic dictator, so we will have our vote!
But even if you are reading this and living in a state ruled by a dictator or an unelected government, the Jews were in the same position in Babylon, and then Persia. All Christians are in the same positions, we are citizens of the Kingdom of God, but ruled in this life by earthly leaders.
I call on you to recall Paul’s words to the Romans: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God.”
You may not like our next government, or you might look across and not like the US Presidential result either. But know that it is God’s result. We should glorify God in his plans and submit to his authority as the author of history, no matter what.
For some more reading on this subject, my good friend Andrew Larkin at Redeemer Plymouth has recommended this book by Patrick Schreiner: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Political-Gospel-Public-Witness-Politically/dp/1087755174
Incidentally, Patrick is speaking at the Theology Matters Conference at Redeemer Plymouth this june. Check this out on their website: https://www.theologymatters.co.uk/conference
