Sometimes we seem to have a split personality as Christians, and we often do not think critically or logically about our faith. What do we really believe about our Lord Jesus Christ?
When He says, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth,” how do we understand that? Do we think He means, “All authority that men choose to give Me I will take”? Or do we understand the Father gave Him all authority, and there is nothing that is not under His authority?
We have fallen victim to a progressivist trick called “separation of church and state” by which we have come to believe that religion and politics shouldn’t mix. The church is for religion, the state house is for politics, and don’t drag religion into political conversations or preach about politics from the pulpit.
But if Christ is head over all things, does that not mean He is not only head of the church (Ephesians 1.22) but also head of the civil government?
If Jesus really were head over the governments of men, you would think we would find clues in the Bible about it.
What Does the Old Testament Say?
Why did God tell Israel to devote seven nations of the Promised Land to complete destruction in Deuteronomy 7.1–2? They had become intensely wicked, serving gods made by their own hands. God had told Abraham 400 years before Israel entered the land that “the wickedness of the Amorite was not yet complete” (Gen. 15.16), implying that it would be complete by the time God brought Israel in to destroy them. Was God judging those nations? By what standard was He judging them? Was He judging them for following false gods or for their sexual immorality or their tendencies to violence and murder? Yes—all of the above. And what law were they breaking, then? God listed those evils in the Ten Commandments; the commandments were not a new morality the world had never known before. God held all the nations to the same standard of morality.
The prophet Amos wrote oracles against many cities and nations. Notice why God planned to punish each nation:
- Damascus: because they had “threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron” (Amos 1.3–5)
- Gaza: “because they carried into exile a whole people to deliver them up to Edom” (Amos 1.6–8)
- Tyre: “because they delivered up a whole people to Edom, and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood” (Amos 1.9–10)
- Edom: “because he pursued his brother with the sword and cast off all pity, and his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever” (Amos 1.11–12)
- Ammon: “because they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead, that they might enlarge their border” (Amos 1.13–15)
- Moab: “because he burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom” (Amos 2.1–3)
- Judah: “because they have rejected the law of the Lord, and have not kept His statutes, but their lies have led them astray” (Amos 2.4–5)
- Israel: “because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals—those who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and turn aside the way of the afflicted; a man and his father go in to the same girl, so that My holy name is profaned; they lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge, and in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined” (Amos 2.6–8)
God held Judah and Israel to a higher responsibility than the other nations because they had been taught of God in a way the other nations had not been. They had more light of revelation, and with more knowledge came more responsibility.
But God held all nations to a moral standard. None of them could say, “God didn’t give me His law, so I’m not under it.” All men know there are moral absolutes, and when they cross the lines, they are guilty. One can only be guilty of something if there is a law, and there can only be law if there is a lawgiver. Could Moab just make up its own standard of morality? Could Ammon write whatever laws they chose? No, they did not have the authority to write the moral standard—only God retains that authority.
The Psalmist often recognized the all-encompassing authority of Yahweh God. Here are a few examples:
- Psalm 2.7–8: “You are My Son; today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will make the nations Your heritage, and the ends of the earth Your possession.”
- Psalm 2.10–11: “Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and trembling.”
- Psalm 86.9: “All the nations You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, and shall glorify Your name.”
- Psalm 102.15, 22: “Nations will fear the name of Yahweh, and all the kings of the earth will fear Your glory…when peoples gather together, and kingdoms, to worship Yahweh.”
- Psalm 110.1: “The Lord says to my Lord: ‘Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies Your footstool.”
- Psalm 110.5–6: “The Lord is at Your right hand; He will shatter kings on the day of His wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; He will shatter chiefs over the wide earth.”
- Psalm 117.1: “Praise Yahweh, all nations! Extol Him, all peoples!”
- Psalm 82.9: “Arise, O God, judge the earth; for You shall inherit all the nations!”
Daniel interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of a stone which shattered a great statue and then expanded and grew to fill the whole earth (Dan. 2.35, 44–45). It represented a kingdom God would set up, one which would never be destroyed and which would break in pieces (overcome) all the kingdoms of the world.
Years later, Daniel had a night vision: “and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a Son of Man, and He came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom one that shall not be destroyed” (Dan. 7.13–14).
In case you have not made the connection, these prophecies concern the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ! He has been given dominion over all nations.
What Does the New Testament Say?
- “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” (Rom. 13.1)
- “Therefore Go has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil. 2.9–10)
- God “raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 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.” (Eph. 1.20–21)
- “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent, 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.” (Acts 17.30–31)
- “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever” (Rev. 11.15).
- “They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, ‘Great and amazing are Your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the nations! Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. All nations will come and worship You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed’” (Rev. 15.3–4).
All of this being the case, what about our country’s president, congress, and supreme court? What about the congress and governor of our state? What about the local mayor, city council, etc.? They all are subject to the Lord of Lords!
Does that mean they must obey His laws? Yes, it does. Does that mean they have no authority except that which God has given them? Yes, it does. Does that mean they have no right to act outside of God’s authority? Yes, it does. Does that mean God will hold them accountable when they don’t do what God told them to do or when they act in ways God told them not to? Yes, it does.
Church and State are different entities and have separate purposes, and in that regard they should be kept separate. The Church does not have authority over the State, but neither does the State have authority over the Church. Both are set up and authorized by God, and Christ is Head of all things. However, the Church surely can, should, and must preach and teach about God’s law as it pertains to civil government and politics, because Christ reigns over politics!
“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28.18).
What part of “all authority” have we not understood?