By Dr. Josh Wilson
Introduction
Having lived in Park Hills, MO for 12 years now, I would say that it is a “somewhat” rural town. It’s close enough to St. Louis that some people from the area drive up to the city to work, but it is also far enough away from the city that some people support themselves by farming and raising livestock. As a matter of fact, we have people within our own congregation at FBC Park Hills who farm and raise livestock or have extended family who do so. Now because of this rural connection, there have been a handful of times that the Wilson family has purchased a whole or half cow that was raised by a member of our church or one of their close relatives. The way such a transaction usually takes place is that the live cow is taken to the butcher, fattened and ready for slaughter, and we pick it up from the butcher in packages of ground beef, roasts, and steaks.
Now we all know that when a butcher slaughters a cow, its meat is fresh, tasty, and nourishing to the body, but only for so long. Just a couple of days after a cow is butchered, the meat will begin to break down and eventually become inedible. Unless measures are taken to preserve that meat, it will eventually rot and stink like roadkill on a hot summer day. Although the Wilson clan is ten strong, with seven of us being incessantly hungry boys, it still takes us quite a bit longer than a couple of days to eat a whole or half cow. Thus, our means of preserving the meat of that butchered cow has been the deep freeze down in our basement. Thankfully, our deep freeze can keep the meat preserved for a number of years.
Mankind, however, has not always had a deep freeze at their disposal. It is a relatively new invention. So how then did people preserve the meat of a slaughtered cow before the invention of the deep freeze? Salt! A good salt cure can preserve meat for up to 5 years, and this method of meat preservation has been used by mankind for millennia. Salt, as a preservative, keeps meat from degrading, rotting, and stinking like roadkill.
The reason I bring up the preserving properties of salt is because Jesus compares Christians to those preserving properties in Matthew 5:13. Christians are the salt of the earth. According to Jesus’ teaching, God has made Christians to be a preserving agent in society. Now, as we have discussed in the previous articles, God has indeed instituted civil government as a means of preserving society through upholding and enforcing the Moral Law. However, the last article has shown that even civil governments and magistrates can lose their preserving properties and can become derelict and subversive in this work. This rebellion against the Lord and His Christ invites the judgment and wrath of God upon such rulers and their people. Yet, God has made Christians to also be a preserving agent in society in that they might hold back such judgment and wrath. Yet, how do they carry out this preserving work? What does it look like for them to be the salt of the earth?
Citizens of Heaven Living in Exile
Let us begin this inquiry by examining a time in biblical history in which the people of God lived as strangers and aliens in a foreign land. During the reign of King Jehoiachin (2 Kgs 24:8-16; 2 Chr 36:9-10), the king himself, many court officials, many of the nobility, and many commoners were taken from their homes in the promised land and were brought as exiles into Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. Sometime after their deportation, the prophet Jeremiah wrote the following words to those Jewish exiles who were hoping for a quick return to their homeland.
Jeremiah 29:4–7 (ESV) — 4 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 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. 7 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.
The main point of Jeremiah’s words to the exiles was this: get used to living in exile because that is where you will be for the rest of your lives.
Notice how this point is communicated by Jeremiah’s words. The exiles were to build houses and live in them. They were to plant gardens and eat their produce. They were to take wives and have sons and daughters. They were to give their sons and daughters in marriage in order that their sons and daughters may also have sons and daughters. In other words, Jeremiah was telling the exiles to do all of the things in Babylon that they would have done in their homeland. The only difference in how they were to live their lives was that they were to be lived in exile, as strangers and aliens in a foreign land.
Notice also, however, how Jeremiah instructed them to act toward the place and people where they were living in exile. They were to seek the welfare of the city of their exile. They were to pray to the Lord on its behalf because in its welfare they would find their welfare. In other words, they were to be a preserving agent in the place of their exile.
This picture that we see of Israel in exile in the Old Testament is comparable to the descriptions of the church in the New Testament. According to the New Testament, Christians are residents of a homeland that is not of this world. They are citizens of Heaven.
John 18:36 (ESV) — 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”
Philippians 3:20 (ESV) — 20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
Thus, because of their otherworldly citizenship, Christians are living as exiles in this present world just as the Jews were living in exile in Babylon.
1 Peter 1:1 (ESV) — 1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
1 Peter 1:17 (ESV) — 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,
1 Peter 2:11 (ESV) — 11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
Christian exiles look forward to and long for the day when their King, Jesus Christ, will bring them out of the exile and into the fullness of their eternal homeland.
Hebrews 11:13–16 (ESV) — 13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 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.
However, while Christians, the citizens of Heaven, are in exile, they, too, are called to seek the welfare of the earthly city and country in which they are living. Consider the words of the apostle Paul in 1 Timothy.
1 Timothy 2:1–3 (ESV) — 1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior,
Notice the parallel in this passage with that of Jeremiah 29:7. First, just as the Israelites were to pray for the land in which they were in exile, Christians are to pray for the people and the governing authorities of the land in which they are in exile (verse 1-2). Second, just as the Israelites were to seek the welfare, or peace, of the land of their exile so that they might find their own welfare, or peace, Christians are to seek a peaceful and quiet life in the land of their exile (verse 2).
We should certainly affirm that the citizenship of every Christian is in heaven, and that their hope, joy, longing, and security are in Christ and in his second coming when he will gather his citizens into his kingdom. However, we should also affirm that until that day, Christians have a charge from God to seek the welfare of the city, the state, the country, and/or the kingdom in which they are living in exile. Another way of putting it is that Christians have a charge to be a preserving agent in the land of their exile. Doing so is pleasing in the sight of God (verse 3).
The Old Testament Kingdom of Priests
What exactly does it look like for Christians to seek the welfare of the city? How does that make them a preserving agent in society? When we look back to the Old Testament, we see that God had set apart the Israelites to be a kingdom of priests. Consider God’s message to the Israelites in Exodus 19.
Exodus 19:5–6 (ESV) — 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
What does it mean for the Israelites to be a kingdom of priests? To answer this question, we must first understand that within the nation of Israel itself, a priest functioned as a mediating figure between God and the nation. The priest represented God to the people by instructing them on behalf of God, and the priest also represented the people to God by offering to God prayers and sacrifices on their behalf. These priestly responsibilities that took place within the context of the nation of Israel were then also priestly responsibilities that Israel as a nation was to carry out on behalf of the other nations.
The nation of Israel was to represent God to the nations by blessing them and ministering to them on God’s behalf, and they were to represent the nations to God by offering up prayers to God on their behalf. At the dedication of the Temple, Solomon stood as the kingly representative of the nation of Israel, the kingdom of priests, and he offered up priestly prayers to God on behalf of the other nations.
1 Kings 8:41–43 (ESV) — 41 “Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for your name’s sake 42 (for they shall hear of your great name and your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this house, 43 hear in heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name.
In the book of Ezra, Darius the Persian King, sent a letter to the Jews in Judah that they should continue their work of rebuilding the Temple in order that the Jews might offer up prayers to God on behalf of him and his family.
Ezra 6:10 (ESV) — 10 that they may offer pleasing sacrifices to the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons.
The nation of Israel acted as a Kingdom of Priests by representing the nations to God through their prayers and offerings. Thus, the Jews of Jeremiah’s day were fulfilling their role as priests to the nations by seeking the welfare, or peace, of the land of their exile and by offering up prayers to God on its behalf. They were acting as a preserving agent in the land of their exile.
The New Testament Priestly People
Now just as the Old Testament communicates that Israel was to be a kingdom of priests to the nations, the New Testament communicates that Christians now fulfill this role of being a kingdom of priests. Three times in the book of Revelation, Christians are described with such priestly language.
Revelation 1:5–6 (ESV) — 5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Revelation 5:10 (ESV) — 10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”
Revelation 20:6 (ESV) — 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.
In the book of 1 Peter, the apostle also describes Christians in this way.
1 Peter 2:9 (ESV) — 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Christians today have the same priestly responsibilities that the nation of Israel had in the Old Testament. First, as a priestly people, Christians are to represent God to the nations by ministering to them on God’s behalf, sharing with them the good news of Jesus Christ. Second, as a priestly people, Christians represent the nations to God by offering up prayers to God on behalf of the nations. This priestly duty explains why Paul commands Christians to make supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings to the Lord for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions in the places where Christians are in exile (1 Tim 2:1-4). In this way, Christians, like the exiled Jews before them, seek the welfare, or peace, of the city of their exile, and in so doing they act as a preserving agent in the land of their exile.
The Welfare of the City
What exactly is this welfare that Christians are to seek after and pray for? How also are Christians functioning as priests and a preserving salt when they do seek after and pray for it? Let us consider again the words of Jeremiah 29:7. More specifically, let us examine the translation choice of the word “welfare.”
Jeremiah 29:7 (ESV) — 7 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.
The word welfare is a translation of the Hebrew word shalom, the well-known Hebrew word many associate with the concept of peace. By itself, the Hebrew word shalom communicates the idea of a wholeness or completeness. When the word is applied to individuals it can describe a personal wellness, wellbeing, health, or contentment. When it is applied to nations it can describe a civic welfare, prosperity, or a peaceful order and stability that is both internal and external to the nation. Consider the use of the word in the following passages:
Psalm 147:13-14 (ESV) — 13 For he strengthens the bars of your gates; he blesses your children within you. 14 He makes [shalom] in your borders; he fills you with the finest of the wheat.
1 Kings 4:24-25 (ESV) – 24 For [Solomon]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 [shalom] 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.
A nation that has internal shalom is a nation where the governing authorities are upholding law and order, and its citizens are living in peace with one another. A nation that has external shalom is a nation where there is no war or strife between itself and other nations, but there is instead a peace and cooperation between itself and its neighbors. The shalom of a nation is a peaceful order and stability in which human society might grow and flourish, much like the exiles were commanded to do in Jeremiah 29:4-7. This kind of shalom is a common grace from God that He gives to nations and sustains through civil government and magistrates.
This is the shalom, or welfare, that God’s people are to seek after and pray for as priests to the nations. This shalom, or welfare, describes the peaceful and quiet lives that Christians are to seek in the land of their exile (1 Tim 2:2).
The Loss of Welfare
How then do Christians also function as a preserving salt when they seek after and pray for the shalom, or welfare, of the land of their exile? Let us consider a picture of the shalom of the nation of Israel. The following passage from the book of Leviticus describes it both internally and externally.
Leviticus 26:3-6 (ESV) – 3 “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, 4 then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 5 Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely. 6 I will give [shalom] in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land.
In this passage, there is a civil peace, order, and stability that provides a context for the flourishing of Israelite society.
Consider now a contrast with the Leviticus passage, where instead of peace, order, and stability, there is strife, disorder, and destabilization.
Hosea 4:1-3 (ESV) – 1 Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel, for the LORD has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land; 2 there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. 3 Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it languish,
Notice in this passage that there is no internal shalom, or welfare, in the nation. There is no sense that the civil magistrates are upholding law and order in the nation, and as a result, citizens are not living in peace with one another. In fact, civil society seems to be breaking down to the state in which it was prior to the flood of Noah (bloodshed follows bloodshed). Consider also the following passage from Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 28:30-34 (ESV) – 30 You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall ravish her. You shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it. You shall plant a vineyard, but you shall not enjoy its fruit. 31 Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat any of it. Your donkey shall be seized before your face, but shall not be restored to you. Your sheep shall be given to your enemies, but there shall be no one to help you. 32 Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and fail with longing for them all day long, but you shall be helpless. 33 A nation that you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labors, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually, 34 so that you are driven mad by the sights that your eyes see.
Notice in this passage that there is no external shalom, or welfare, for the nation. There is only war and strife coming upon the citizens from the outside. In fact, notice how the good actions of Jeremiah 29:4-7 (take wives, build houses, plant and enjoy fruit, have sons and daughters) are used in Deuteronomy 28:30-34 to paint the opposite picture of shalom. This is a picture of disorder and destabilization.
In the Deuteronomy passage, this disorder and destabilization of society is a judgment from God. The picture of this judgment is that of God taking away from Israelite society the common grace of shalom. Consider other judgment passages from the Bible that describe this disorder and destabilization of society as God’s removal of shalom.
Jeremiah 16:5 (ESV) – 5 “For thus says the LORD: Do not enter the house of mourning, or go to lament or grieve for them, for I have taken away my [shalom] from this people, my steadfast love and mercy, declares the LORD.
2 Chronicles 15:5 (ESV) – 5 In those times there was no [shalom] to him who went out or to him who came in, for great disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands. 6 They were broken in pieces. Nation was crushed by nation and city by city, for God troubled them with every sort of distress.
Disorder and destabilization in society are the opposite of shalom, or welfare. They are descriptors of a nation where the shalom, or welfare, has been lost.
God can give a nation either the common grace of shalom, welfare, or the judgment of disorder and destabilization. Therefore, since Christians are the priests of God to the nations, they are to seek the shalom of the nation in which they are living in exile. They are to pray for its shalom. They are to pray for its rulers that they also would preserve the shalom. They are to pray that God would sustain the shalom of the nation in grace and not remove it in judgment. This is the priestly duty of Christians, and it is through this intercessory work that Christians are a preserving agent in the land of their exile.
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 shalom, their welfare, and by bringing upon them the calamity of strife, disorder, and destabilization. However, the citizens of heaven are the salt of the earth. They are preserving agents in society. They are to carry out their priestly duty to seek the welfare of the nation in which they are living in exile, and they are to carry out their priestly duty by praying to the Lord on behalf of that nation and its rulers.
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.