![]()
EARTHLY AUTHORITY LIMITED
No earthly kingdom will perfectly reflect the character and authority of God, and we see that when authorities clash. That is when it becomes crystal clear. That is what is going on with the disobedience of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Adam had authority in the garden, but Adam and Eve didn’t use it well. Theirs was the most revolutionary disobedience in all of human history; far more momentous in its consequences than any revolution that has happened since. Everybody else has just been moving around the deckchairs on the Titanic. That one changed everything. They were the revolutionaries of all revolutionaries. Since then, this pattern of rebelling against God’s authority has continued and it is sadly well represented in the scriptures by a number of pagan rulers. Pick just one example from Exodus 5 verse 2: “Pharaoh said, ‘Who is the LORD, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD and I will not let Israel go.’”
Well! Things didn’t turn out quite as he thought they would. Pharaoh, we have to understand, had legitimate authority. He was a legitimate ruler of Egypt, but his authority was being abused as he opposed God Himself, and that is why we end up with the story again and again in the Old Testament of the human oppression that goes on through government. That is why the psalmist can write in Psalm 119 verse 134, “Redeem me from human oppression, that I may obey your precepts.” Not all authority is used for good, though authority in its very essence is good by its very nature. Authority is not always used for good in a fallen world.
In the New Testament, we see this with Jesus’ own disciples, after His ascension in Acts chapter 4, the Sanhedrin ordered Peter and John not to speak or preach anymore in the name of Jesus of Nazareth and in Acts chapter 4 verse 19 Peter and John responded “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges!” And then in the next chapter, when in fact they had disobeyed the instruction and are again brought in before the Sanhedrin, and are again ordered not to do this, Acts chapter 5 verse 29 says, “Peter and the other apostles replied, ‘We must obey God rather than human beings!’”
How do we know when our will conflicts with God or His will? How do we know when government does something that is wrong? How do we know that it is wrong? Well, we learn in the Bible that God is never wrong but human governments do err, just like in these examples I have just given you from the book of Acts. That means that we necessarily have to leave some space for civil disobedience when an authority commands something that is morally wrong. As a pastor with a congregation, I would tell them, you should not obey the government if the government tells you to do something that God has told you not to do. You should not obey, because by obeying you would be obeying a true but lower authority and contravening something which the highest authority, God Himself, has told us, and that would be morally wrong.
Our congregation in Washington DC was begun in 1878 with 18 articles about what we believe to be true. Article 16 says this, “We believe that Civil Government is of Divine Appointment, for the interests and good order of human society; that magistrates are to be prayed for, conscientiously honored and obeyed.” And you think, good, that is a good biblical statement, but that’s not all. There is one last phrase, “Except only in things opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only Lord of the conscience and the Prince of the kings of the earth.”
We understand there is a legitimate role for government and we are thankful for it, and we understand that earthly governments are not the ultimate authority. So if Romans 13 tells us about the good of the state, Revelation 13 gives us a picture of what happens when the state clashes with God and opposes God and persecutes Christians. We must not be surprised by that. Jesus had already told His disciples in Mark 8:34, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Crucifixion was an action of the state. To follow Jesus means to imperil yourself in a fallen world and He was about to teach them in John 15:20, “Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.”
The Bible is clear that all people are made in the image of God and that people are fallen and guilty before God. And every single one of us will have to give account ultimately not to the government of the district of Columbia, not to the government of the UK or whatever country you come from, we will all of us, whether or not you believe in God, one day give account to the one true living God who created us and who will judge us.
If your conscience is alive at all, you know you have got things to answer for, you have not always done what is right and the God who really is there is perfectly holy, perfectly good, perfectly loving, perfectly true, perfectly reliable and trustworthy, He is the one that we have to give account to. I love what my friend Vijay Menon says: “All religions lead to God, no question about that. All empty out there right in front of the judgment seat of God. But there is only one religion that has a Savior. Jesus Christ is the Savior you need.”
THERE IS ONLY ONE RELIGION THAT HAS A SAVIOR. JESUS CHRIST IS THE SAVIOR YOU NEED.
That is why Jesus came. This is one of the problems with referring to any country as a Christian nation. Just because the principles of Christianity clearly influenced a nation’s founders, and they often did, even if the Supreme Court or judicial...
