THE spectacular election defeat of the Conservative Party, and the Labour Party’s landslide victory, are striking evidences that God rules in the affairs of men. Although political pundits may focus on party policies and personalities as the causal factors in the victory of the one and the defeat of the other, there is something far more important to be taken into account. The ultimate fact is that God exercises His power so that those who will rule in a nation are those whom He ordains should rule – when and for how long He determines.
This fact was brought home to Nebuchadnezzar, the heathen king of Babylon, so that he was constrained to acknowledge that God “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 4:35. In the days of the pagan Roman Empire, the Apostle Paul wrote these God-given words: “For there is no power but of God; the powers that be are ordained of God,” Romans 13:1. As we view recent political changes we must acknowledge, “But God is judge; he putteth down one, and setteth up another,” Psalm 75:7.
It does not necessarily follow that, when God ordains that a particular person or political group will be in power, their policies and programme are in harmony with the His mind. In fact they may be far otherwise in many respects. We must therefore deem it a chastisement from God when He ordains that ungodly rulers be set over a people. On the other hand it is an incalculable blessing when those who are raised to power, rule in the fear of God and according to His word.
When the powers that be are ordained of God, it follows that God requires that both rulers and ruled conduct themselves in a certain manner toward Himself and toward one another. As the present new Government takes up the reins of power it is timely for us to remind ourselves of Scripture teaching about the mutual obligations of those who govern and those who are governed.
It is a sign of the times that the majority of the electorate thinks in terms of its rights under government rather than its obligations to government. The Bible leaves us in no doubt that the principle duty of citizens to their rulers is a proper subjection. By proper subjection we mean that subjection which is both required and circumscribed by God in His word.
The principal duty required by God is seen in the instruction which Paul the Apostle gave to Titus: that in preaching to the people he was to “put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,” Titus 3:1. So Scripture requires, as we see also in Romans 13:1, that “every soul be subject unto the higher powers.”
At the same time, the Scriptures circumscribe this subjection by teaching that it must not contravene the law of God. Truly Christian citizens are convinced, as Peter and the other apostles were, that when a demand of the state upon its people is contrary to the law of God, that they “ought to obey God rather than men,” Acts 5:29. It is a deplorable fact that some of the laws of this country are diametrically opposed to the law of God, and that some people with Christian convictions are being forced, on conscientious grounds, to forego certain kinds of employment: for example because they would be obliged to do unnecessary work on Sabbath..
Another duty laid upon us by God is that we should be praying, in public and private, for those who have the awesome responsibility of governing the land, irrespective of their political hue. Paul exhorted that “supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty,” 1 Timothy 2:1, 2. And this duty is to be performed even when those in authority are godless and enemies to the truth of God. The Israelites in captivity in pagan Babylon were commanded by God, “Seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace,” Jeremiah 29:7.
This is not to say that we are to be complacent about the unscriptural legislation of a government, or to be silent when it enacts laws which are an affront to the God of heaven because they are contrary to His law. It is the duty of Christians individually, and collectively as the Church of Christ, to show themselves to be the Lord’s witnesses. This is the reason why we, as a Church, from time to time make representations or send protests to government about such matters as anti-Sabbath legislation, abortion, unscriptural divorce laws, the National Lottery, the mooting of euthanasia, and threats to the Protestant constitution of the nation. The fact that succeeding governments in this secular age have given scant or no heed to such representations does not absolve us from the obligation to continue making them.
On the other hand, rulers must have, above everything, a conscientious regard for what God requires of them with regard to those over whom they rule. “The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel said, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God,” 2 Samuel 23:3. This means that rulers must frame policies, programmes and laws consistent with the Scriptures. To do otherwise is to incur the just displeasure of God which manifests itself in all its detrimental consequences in our national life.
Indeed, government has a duty not only to govern in harmony with Christian principles, but also to protect and foster the Christian faith which the nation was privileged to receive through the faithfulness of the Reformers and self-sacrifice of the Protestant martyrs. The “faith once delivered to the saints” is the foundation of all spiritual and material prosperity. The brightest and best days in the history of Israel were those in which she believed, obeyed, guarded, and transmitted the truth. It fared ill with her when “every man did that which was right in his own eyes”.
One of safeguards of the Protestant Reformed faith in our land is our Protestant constitution. It is therefore imperative that the government do nothing which would in any way remove or weaken our constitution and make provision for a Roman Catholic to ascend the throne. We fear that this may yet happen when we see evidences of increasing Romanist influence in the life of the nation. Nor does it augur well for the Biblical Christianity that we are becoming more entangled in the European Union. We believe it is the duty of the Government to distance itself from this Rome-inspired confederacy.
A government which is committed to Christian principles will reverse laws which are offensive to God and a disgrace to the nation, and especially a disgrace to this nominally Christian nation. We must therefore pray for the coming of the day (and come it will) when the government of the day will face up to its responsibility to repeal laws which legalise abortion, sodomy, Sabbath desecration, no-fault divorce and the National Lottery. When rulers are ordained by God “for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well”, 1Peter 2:14, it is a measure of the depths to which we have sunk when legislation favours such wicked practices as slaying unborn infants in the womb, committing the unmentionable sins which brought destruction upon Sodom, and gambling on an unprecedented scale; and when other laws hinder and prevent the keeping of the Christian Sabbath, or ultimately lead to the breakdown of family life.
The nub of the matter for both rulers and ruled is our attitude to God and our relationship to Him. We cannot expect any substantial or enduring improvement in the spiritual and moral state of the nation, or welfare of our people, until we return to God. We have forsaken Him, and He has hid His face from us. The principal responsibility of those who rule and those who are ruled is that we heed His call, “Return unto me, and I will return unto you.” Then it shall be well with us; and then we shall have reason to say from happy experience, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,” Psalm 33:12. □