By Dr. Josh Wilson
Introduction
When I was in junior high, my parents moved our family away from Colorado, where I had grown up, in order to move us to Missouri, where they had grown up. The move came about because my father had received a good job offer from an employer in Missouri, so my parents did not pass up the opportunity for all of us to return to the same state as my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. However, a couple of years after our move, my father received another, much better job opportunity that would have moved our family even further away from Missouri.
My father’s place of employment in Missouri had been training him in a software program that was becoming widely used in several major companies throughout the United States. In fact, my father had become so proficient with the program that the software company itself was seeking to recruit him as a software consultant. In this capacity, the software company would have sent out my father to other companies throughout the United States in order to train their own employees in using the software as a development tool. As a consultant, my father would have spent months at a time working in these other companies, although technically he would not have been an employee of these companies. In each company, he would have been considered as an outside expert, offering up his knowledge, skills, time, and labor for the company’s benefit. Now as great of a career opportunity as this was, my father ended up turning down this consulting job because it would have taken away time with his family and it would have required relocating his family again, this time to the state of Oregon.
What I just described in the above paragraph is typical work for consultants, and this type of work is why they are paid so well. However, this type of work is also illustrative of work that Christians themselves can carry out in the sphere of civil government. Yes, Christians are in exile and their true citizenship is in heaven. However, like consultants, Christians can act as outside experts offering up their knowledge, skills, time, and labor for the benefit of civil society as operatives within civil government. Yet, what is the biblical rationale for this? What would this even look like for a Christian?
In the preceding articles, we established that while Christians are living in exile, they are to be salt and light, they have a priestly and prophetic responsibilities toward the land of their exile and the rulers who govern them. As priests, they pray for their nation and its rulers asking that God would preserve the welfare (shalom) of the state. As prophets, they exhort their nation and its rulers that they should serve and submit to the Lord and His Christ, and they warn them of the consequences if they do not. However, the Bible also communicates that Christians are not only to exercise priestly and prophetic duties in this world, but they are to exercise kingly duties. As we will see, they are certainly called to exercise these kingly duties in the church, but they are also free to exercise these duties in sphere of civil governance. Like consultants, they are not of this world, but by the Spirit, they have been given a true expertise in governing that they can pass on to the nation and its rulers where they are living in exile.
The Old Testament Kingdom of Kings
When we look back to the Old Testament we can see that Israelite kings, like Israelite prophets and priests, were also mediating figures. The kings represented God to the people by ruling over them on God’s behalf, by imposing upon them obedience to the Law of Moses, and by inflicting the wrath of God upon the wicked who would cast off the Law.
Now in our modern, mostly democratic culture, this kind of kingly governance seems too autocratic, but the Old Testament described it as a great blessing for the Israelites.
Psalm 72:1-3, 6-7 OF SOLOMON. Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the royal son! 2 May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice! 3 Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people, and the hills, in righteousness!
6 May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth! 7 In his days may the righteous flourish, and peace abound, till the moon be no more!
Isaiah 32:1 Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule in justice. 2 Each will be like a hiding place from the wind, a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.
Proverbs 29:2 (NKJV) — 2 When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan.
In the Old Testament, righteous kings promoted peace, order, prosperity, and stability within the nation of Israel. These righteous kings also preserved the nation from the wrath and judgment of God.
This kingly function that took place within the nation of Israel was also a kingly function that Israel was to carry out toward the other nations. Consider these words that God spoke to the fledgling nation of Israel just before they took possession of the promised land.
Deuteronomy 15:6 For the LORD your God will bless you, as he promised you, and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.
Deuteronomy 28:12b–13a (ESV) — 12 And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. 13 And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down.
Now we need to be clear that Israel’s rulership over the nations was to be expressed specifically through their own, individual king, and we do see a partial fulfillment of this national task during the reign of Solomon.
1 Kings 4:21, 24-25 (ESV) — 21 Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.
24 For he had dominion over all the region west of the Euphrates from Tiphsah to Gaza, over all the kings west of the Euphrates. And he had peace on all sides around him. 25 And Judah and Israel lived in safety, from Dan even to Beersheba, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, all the days of Solomon.
Although Israel partially ruled over the nations through Solomon, the Old Testament prophet Isaiah made it clear that this ultimate rulership over all the nations was to be expressed most specifically in God and through His coming Christ. In other words, the people of God were to reign over the nations through the Christ whom God would set in place.
Isaiah 2:2-4 2 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, 3 and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.
Isaiah 11:1–10 (ESV) — 1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. 2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, 4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. 5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. 6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. 9 They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. 10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
Isaiah 42:1 (ESV) — 1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.
Isaiah 49:6–7 (ESV) — 6 he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” 7 Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
Isaiah 49:22–23 (ESV) — 22 Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and raise my signal to the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders. 23 Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you, and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord; those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.”
Isaiah 60:1–3 (ESV) — 1 Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. 2 For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. 3 And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
The New Testament Kingly People
Now just as the Bible communicates that Israel was to be a kingly people through their earthly king, it also communicates that Christians are now God’s kingly people through their heavenly king, Jesus Christ. Consider the words of the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Ephesians.
Ephesians 2:4-6 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ- by grace you have been saved- 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
What Paul describes here is a present reality for Christians. They have been seated with Christ in the heavenly places, and the preceding passage of Ephesians 1 communicates what that means for Christians. In speaking about Christ and his Kingship, Paul writes the following:
Ephesians 1:18–21 (ESV) — 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
As we saw in the first article of this series, this passage from Ephesians 1 is a reference to the session of Christ, and notice the comparable language between it and the passage from Ephesians 2. Christians have been raised up and seated with Christ in his kingly session. Thus, Christians have this kingly status through their union with King Jesus, God’s Christ. This kingly status of Christians is communicated in several other passages of the New Testament.
2 Timothy 2:11-12a 11 The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; 12 if we endure, we will also reign with him;
Revelation 5:9-10 9 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, 10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”
Revelation 20:6 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.
The important question to ask, however, is how does this kingly role work out for Christians in the here and now since this present world, in which Christians are in exile, is not a part of Christ’s future Kingdom where Christians have their true citizenship? How does their kingly role work out in a world that is passing away and is being reserved for a future final judgement? Let us consider again the nation of Israel and the work that was carried out by its kings.
Wise Judgment
In the monarchy of Israel, and in most earthly monarchies of the past, all power and all governance was vested in the king: the enforcement of laws, the making of laws, and the interpretation of laws. (These are the separate powers and governances that exist in the three branches of government in the United States: The Executive Branch of the Presidency, the Legislative Branch of Congress, and the Judicial Branch of the Supreme Court.) For example, not only did the king make and enforce the laws, but he also stood as the final judge and arbiter on all matters of governance. In other words, the king acted as the supreme judge of the supreme court, and thus, one of the most important duties of a king was that of being a wise judge.
Consider King Solomon in 1 Kings 3. God commended Solomon for asking for wisdom from Him by which he could discern between good and evil and rule the people of Israel well (1 Kings 3:9). In the same chapter, Solomon’s first successful test of rulership was to act in his capacity as a judge.
1 Kings 3:28 And all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.
Thus, according to the Old Testament, rendering wise judgements was a kingly duty of kingly rulership, and rendering wicked judgments was a dereliction of this kingly duty (see Psalm 82:1-2, 6-7; Prov 17:15; 24:23-25; Micah 3:1, 9-12).
Consider also the Old Testament passages that look forward to Christ’s reign and rule as King. In them, he is also depicted as a righteous judge over the nations.
Isaiah 11:3–5 (ESV) — 3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, 4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. 5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
Psalm 110:6 (ESV) — 6 He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth.
Even in the New Testament, Christ the king is also depicted as the end-time judge of all men and all angels.
Acts 17:31 (ESV) — 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
Romans 2:15–16 (ESV) — 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.
Jude 6 (ESV) — 6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— (see also Matt 8:29)
Thus again, according to the Old Testament and the New, rendering wise judgements is a kingly duty of kingly rulership.
Now if rendering judgments is a kingly duty, then how might this kingly duty relate to Christians? How are Christians to exercise this kingly duty when they are exiles in a foreign land with foreign rulers? At the very least, the New Testament makes it clear that Christians are to exercise this kingly duty of judgment within the context of the local church.
In the book of 1 Corinthians, Paul shames the members of the Corinthian church for taking civil disputes among themselves before unbelieving judges rather than before the saints of the church. (Criminal cases are of course to be brought before earthly, civil magistrates, even if the magistrates are unbelievers, since God has given the power of the sword of retributive justice to them, not the church.)
1 Corinthians 6:1-6 When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? 2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? 3 Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! 4 So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? 5 I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, 6 but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers?
Notice Paul’s shocking disclosure in verses 2 and 3. He reveals that when Christ executes his kingly duty at the end of the age and judges men and angels, then the saints, Christians, will also execute that kingly duty with Christ! Notice then Paul’s logical application of this disclosure to this problem that had arisen within the Corinthian church. If Christians will judge the world with Christ at the end of the age, then Christians can and should carry out this kingly duty in the church.
Governmental Service
We can certainly affirm that the Christians’ kingly reign with Christ over his kingdom will be fully realized in the age to come, but God has given them a kingly wisdom and kingly duties that are to be used in the here and now. So let us take Paul’s logic a step further. Since God has given Christians a kingly wisdom and kingly duties that they are to carry out in the here and now, then Christians can exercise that same wisdom and those same duties not only within the context of the church, but also within the separate context of earthly civil governance. In other words, since Christians are a kingly people, they are well qualified to be soldiers, police officers, judges, legislators, city council members, mayors, county clerks, governors, presidents, and even kings. Who better to serve in these earthly offices than those who are the subjects of Christ Jesus who is seated at the right hand of God and now reigns and rules as the highest governing authority over every citizen and every system of government in this world (article #1)? Who better to serve in these earthly offices than those who know that civil government exists as a temporary, delegated authority in order to preserve society from moral breakdown and the judgment of God (article #2)? Who better to serve in these offices than those who have the Moral Law of God written upon their hearts (Jer 31:33-34) and know that it is the standard of governance that is to be upheld and enforced (article #3)? Who better to serve in these offices than those who know that civil government must only operate in service and submission to the Lord and His Christ or suffer their wrath and judgment (article #4)?
The scriptures are filled with examples of the saints who occupied such offices even while living in exile. In the Old Testament Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) served as officials to the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar (Dan 3:30). The prophet Daniel served in the courts of the kings of Babylon and Persia. Ezra, Nehemiah, and Mordechai served in the courts of the kings of Persia, and Esther was the queen of the Persian King Ahasuerus. Cornelius was a Roman centurion (Acts 10). Sergius Paulus was a Roman proconsul (Acts 13). One of the converts to Christ in Acts 16 was a prison keeper. Members of the praetorian guard, the personal body guards of Caesar and other high Roman officials, were converts to Christ (Acts 28:16; Phil 1:13, 4:22).
Consider the message of John the Baptist to the tax collectors and soldiers in Luke 3. He exhorted the tax collectors that they should collect no more taxes than that to which they were authorized. He exhorted the soldiers that they should not extort money from anyone by threat or false accusation, but that they should instead be content with their wages. In other words, his message to these government officials was not that they should quit being a part of civil government, but rather that they should fulfill their positions in civil government rightly. (One major Christian confession of faith states: Christians may lawfully accept and carry out the duties of public office when called to do so. In performing their office they must especially maintain justice and peace, according to the wholesome laws of each kingdom or other political entity.) Who better to serve in such God-ordained, earthly, temporal offices of human civil government than the citizens of heaven?
Should only Christians then occupy such positions? While it would be nice, we must remember that Christians are not building their end-time kingdom in the here and now. That work belongs to Christ who is building it in the age to come. Thus, it is not required that only Christians occupy such offices since God has given civil government as a common grace to all men everywhere for the temporary preservation of this present world. However, serving in such offices is another way in which Christians can seek the welfare (shalom) of the nation in which they are living in exile (Jer 29:4-7).
Voting
Now, not all Christians are called to serve in the area of civil government, but many Christians today live in democracies where they are able to exercise their kingly duties in the voting booth. In such governances, Christians have been given the civic privilege to decide how their government operates. Who better to have this privilege than the citizens of heaven, the kingly rulers of the age to come? Who better to have this privilege than those who have the wisdom of God in knowing how human civil government is to operate?
But how should Christians exercise their kingly duty in this civic privilege of voting? Let us consider two major ways. First, Christians should vote in such a way that they promote a government that will uphold and enforce the Moral Law of God by punishing those who do evil and praising those who do good. Again, such governmental service and submission to the Lord and His Christ preserves civil society from moral breakdown and the ensuing judgment of God. Second, Christians should vote in such a way that they curtail a government that does not uphold and enforce the Moral Law of God either through dereliction (not punishing those who do evil and praising those who do good) or subversion (punishing those who do good and praising those who do evil). Again, such governmental rebellion to the Lord and His Christ hastens civil society toward moral breakdown and the ensuing judgment of God.
Therefore, in the voting booth, before Christians exercise their kingly duties toward any ballot measure, referendum, law, candidate, or political party, they should ask themselves these simple, theological questions: Is this law, ballot measure, or referendum in submission to or in open rebellion to the Moral Law of God laid down by the Lord and His Christ? Is this candidate or political party going to govern in submission to or in open rebellion against the Moral Law? If the answer is submission, then Christians are free to promote any such candidate or political party into an office of governance with their vote. If, however, the answer is open rebellion, then Christians should use their vote to keep that candidate or political party from any office of governance.
When the choice between such candidates or parties is this distinct (submission or rebellion), then no Christians should knowingly use their vote to promote any political parties or candidates to the office of any governance who openly declare that they will make and enforce laws that are in open rebellion to the Lord and His Christ. For any Christian to do so would be itself both an open rebellion against Christ their king and a dereliction of their own kingly duties. However, when the choice between such candidates or parties is not so distinct or even remotely possible, then Christians should use their God-given, kingly wisdom to either abstain from the voting process entirely or to vote for whichever candidates or parties that will be the least rebellious in their service and submission to the Lord and His Christ.
Conclusion
Let us not forget what we have covered in the earlier articles. God judges kings and nations who cast off the bonds and cords of service and submission to Him and His Christ. God judges kings and nations who do not uphold and enforce the Moral Law. God judges these kings and nations by taking away their welfare, and by bringing upon them the calamity of strife, disorder, and destabilization. However, the Christians are the salt of the earth, acting as preserving agents in society (priests), and they are the light of the world, shining into and exposing the darkness (prophets). Alongside these priestly and prophetic duties, the kingly work of a Christian also shows what it looks like for Christians to seek the welfare of the land to which they have been sent into exile, and it shows how Christians may live peaceful and quiet lives, godly and dignified in every way. They can do this work by serving in the sphere of civil government and by voting in a way that are in service and submission to the Lord and His Christ. Who better to do so than those who have a consultant’s expertise in these areas? Who better to do so than the citizens of heaven?
Josh Wilson is the pastor of First Baptist Church in Park Hills, MO, and is a professor of Bible at Missouri Baptist University, professor of Old Testament at International Reformed Baptist Seminary, and professor of Hebrew at Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a part of the leadership team for Founders Midwest and has been a speaker at the Founders Midwest Conference. If you would like more information about Founders Midwest and the annual conference, be sure to check out our Facebook page or visit our website for more information.