Elections, winding rivers, and a sovereign God

There was a time, not that long ago, when the political process in the western world was marked by stability and peace – what the Bible would call shalom. People may have held differing positions and argued for them passionately, but for the most part, treated their ideological opponents with thoughtful civility. Regardless of who was in power or won an election, people rested in the knowledge that the sun would still rise tomorrow.

Those days now feel like a distant memory. After years of polarization fuelled by various crises and given vent on social media, the political climate is anything but thoughtful or civil. Fear and anger boil over into hatred and political violence, with many people convinced that if the other side wins, it will be the end of the world as we know it.

The church is not immune to this baleful trend. Indeed, professing Christians are too often in the thick of it, claiming “Jesus Is Lord” while lobbing abusive insults at those with whom they disagree – many of whom are their fellow believers.

For genuine followers of Jesus, this is heartbreaking, and ought not to be so. If we truly wish to honour our Lord, then we need to bring our approach to political engagement in line with his Word. The following handful of biblical principles can help us begin to do that.

The best and worst leaders

This word is by decree of the watchers, and the decision is by command from the holy ones. This is so that the living will know that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms. He gives them to anyone he wants and sets the lowliest of people over them. (Daniel 4:17)

God spoke these words in a dream to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, concerning the difficult times that lay ahead for him. Under Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon became the chief superpower of the Ancient Near East. The king created magnificent public works, including the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. He was also a brutal tyrant who built his empire through ruthless wars of conquest waged against neighbouring nations. When Nebuchadnezzar became arrogant, God humbled him so he’d recognize that everything he’d achieved was given him by God.

The Scriptures repeatedly declare that God rules over every nation and appoints all rulers, good and evil, through whatever means, whether peaceful or violent. As Daniel stated earlier, “He changes the times and seasons; he removes kings and establishes kings” (Daniel 2:21a). Facing Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, Jesus told him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above” (John 19:11a).

This divine principle wasn’t limited to Bible times and Bible lands. In every nation throughout history, God has appointed every person in power, from Genghis Khan to Lady Jane Grey, from Abraham Lincoln to Mao Zedong. Every king, queen, emperor, president and prime minister – past, present and future – has been raised to their position by God and derives his or her authority from the Lord.

Of hearts and rivers

The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.
(Proverbs 21:1)

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may do these miraculous signs of mine among them.” (Exodus 10:1)

God’s sovereignty over those who govern doesn’t end with their appointment to power. In his evocative proverb, Solomon compares a ruler’s heart to a winding river which God channels as he sees fit. This is true of good rulers as well as bad. At several points in Old Testament history, where a king makes an unwise decision or acts wickedly, the author comments that this turn of events was from the Lord, so that he might fulfill a promise, display his judgment, or demonstrate his power and glory.

The most explicit example is during the Ten Plagues of the Exodus, where God repeatedly tells Moses he has hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that he wouldn’t let the Israelites go, and so that God might display his miracles and execute judgment on the Egyptians and their gods. The apostle Paul reiterates this in the New Testament: “For the Scripture tells Pharaoh, I raised you up for this reason so that I may display my power in you and that my name may be proclaimed in the whole earth” (Romans 9:17).

This is not to suggest Pharaoh had no moral agency in the matter. Exodus mentions the hardening of his heart 13 times; 10 times it says God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and three times that Pharaoh hardened his own heart. The account holds the mystery of God’s sovereignty and human responsibility in tension, and so must we, if we wish to be faithful to the Scriptures. Neither we nor our politicians are puppets or zombies; we make real choices which have real consequences. Yet we can rest in the reality that God ordains them and is in control over their outcome.

The privilege of a voice

Submit to every human authority because of the Lord, whether to the emperor as the supreme authority or to governors as those sent out by him to punish those who do what is evil and to praise those who do what is good. Honor everyone. Love the brothers and sisters. Fear God. Honor the emperor. (1 Peter 2:13-14,17)

About five centuries before the time of Jesus, the Ancient Greeks in Athens flirted with democracy. It was an outlier, more limited in scope than our modern Western versions, and it didn’t last. Most of the Ancient World continued to be governed by autocratic kings – and occasionally queens – often regarded as descended from the gods or as gods themselves, whose word and whim was law. The idea that common people should have a say in who ruled them would have been utterly incomprehensible.

When Peter and Paul wrote to Christians in the 1st century, urging them to obey the authorities and honour the emperor, they weren’t speaking of an enlightened democratic ruler. They were writing during the reign of the emperor Nero who, like several of his predecessors and successors, was murderously cruel and possibly insane. Yet the apostles recognized that even rulers such as these had been appointed by God to administer justice and serve the common good, poorly as they may have.

It was Jesus’ radical, countercultural teaching about the value and dignity of every person which eventually gave rise to our modern democratic values recognizing the basic human rights and freedoms of all people. God has placed us in a historically privileged position where we have a political voice; we get to choose our leaders, give them a mandate for how to govern us and replace them when they fail to do so. Even if our choice doesn’t win the election, we’re still called to respect them and submit to their authority, knowing that God has given it to them.

We are not the endgame

From one man he has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live. He did this so that they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
(Acts 17:26-27)

The audience for Paul’s speech at the Areopagus was largely made up of Gentile philosophers who were thought leaders and cultural elites of the Greco-Roman world. They had an air of superiority about them, seeing their circle as the pinnacle of philosophical and intellectual excellence. They neither knew nor cared about the Jewish Scriptures, so Paul didn’t quote any directly. Instead, he began with God as Creator and Sovereign Lord of the universe, the one who made every nation and culture, and who has determined where each would flourish, and for how long.

Our Western societies hold much in common with the Athenians Paul was addressing, not least our belief that we’ve arrived at the peak of human social and cultural development. The apostle’s words bring us down to earth by reminding us that we’re not the endgame. Civilizations have come and gone before ours, and if the Lord wills it, others will come and go after we’re gone, cultures who will look back on us as a distant historical memory.

It's humbling to realize our civilization is not the telos, the end goal, of human history. Our world may change, our societies transform in ways we’d never expect or choose. Like God’s people in much of the world, we may experience genuine persecution. Whatever the future holds, we know that God, who knows the end from the beginning, holds all of it – and all of us – in his wise and sovereign hand.

Looking for a better country

If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
(Hebrews 11:15-16)

It’s natural to feel a sense of rootedness and loyalty to the place where we were born and grew up – after all, God put us there. It’s just as natural, if we’ve moved from somewhere else, to feel the same about the new home we’ve embraced, perhaps in search of a better life for ourselves and our families. This too is from God. However, like any of God’s good gifts, our nationality can be turned into an idol; our way of life and our political beliefs can become our chief identity markers, which we defend at the cost of all else.

This is why God’s Word reminds us, over and over, that we’re foreigners travelling through this present world. If we know and love the Lord, then our true citizenship is in heaven and we’re ambassadors on earth, representing the Kingdom of God and Jesus our King. By faith, we’re looking forward to a better country and city, our eternal home which our Lord has prepared for us, a place whose beauty and joy we can barely begin to imagine (Acts 7:6; Philippians 3:20; 2 Corinthians 5:20; Hebrews 11:13-16; John 14:2-3; 1 Corinthians 2:9).

As ambassadors of Jesus, we can neither make our earthly nation and its politics our highest priority, nor can we turn our back on it. Our King has commissioned us to promote his Kingdom, make disciples in all nations, and proclaim peace and forgiveness through faith in him. His Word also instructs us to actively pursue the well-being, or shalom, of the land where he’s placed us, to obey its laws and pray for its people and leaders – even if we didn’t vote for them – that they might govern well.

We live in a fragmented culture marked by fear and anger. This is a cause for legitimate concern, but as followers of Christ, we’re to be salt and light in the midst of it, rather than being drawn into the darkness ourselves. By God’s grace, the western world has enjoyed generations of peace and stability, as well as the privilege of a political voice, through which we can choose our leaders and advocate for the marginalized and oppressed. Whatever direction our society turns, we can trust God to channel its course according to his wisdom and perfect will.

The sun will still rise tomorrow, and while we’re here, we have a royal mandate from Jesus to love our neighbour and treat everyone with compassion and respect – even those with whom we disagree. We can do this, empowered by the Holy Spirit, secure in the knowledge that we’re citizens of a better country, prepared for us by our kind and sovereign God.