Jesus is Lord. He is not trying to become Lord. He is not running for office. He humbled himself and took the lowest place, taking the curse of our sin and death, and therefore God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name that is above every name. Jesus has been given all dominion, glory, kingdoms, people, nations, and languages.
This means that Jesus is Lord of our land right now, this minute. Nothing happens in our cities, counties, states, or in Washington D.C. that is outside of the authority of Jesus Christ. And this means that all of the evil that is being celebrated and perpetrated in our land – the slaughter of the unborn, the pride of perversion, the idolatry of the state, and every form of unjust and senseless violence – all of it is happening because the Lord Jesus has permitted it to happen.
Throughout Scripture, the pattern is utterly clear: when God’s people turn away from Him and worship idols, God gives them over to the power of their idols. God has given us over to our idols. This means that while it is good and right to bear witness to the truth of God’s word in every area of life: working toward the end of abortion, the honoring of the marriage bed, and freedom from government tyranny, it must be fixed in our hearts and minds that nothing will change this current regime except the worship of the Triune God.
The Church has so little authority and power because we have turned to false gods, particularly the idols of Respectability, Niceness, Trendiness, and the Hip-Cool. These insidious demons have infected everything in the church. Everything must be nice, up to date, sensitive, respectable, and according to the tastes and preferences and whims and lusts of the people. And so it is that the Lord Jesus has given us over to the oppression of these gods.
The answer to all of this is to turn back to Christ. The answer is to fall on our faces before the King of the whole earth and cry out for mercy and grace. The answer is to repent of all our idols and worship the only true God, the Triune God. And if we will worship Him alone, He will pour out His Spirit of true authority and power, and then the numbers will not matter, and sanity will return to our land.
Photo by Emiliano Bar on Unsplash
Gray says
My intent is to ask this respectfully; I hope my execution accomplishes such.
This is, admittedly, a small quibble, but one which I think that can have forceful implications. It is with the premise of “all of it is happening because the Lord Jesus has permitted it to happen.”
Do you think that it might be more accurate to say that, instead of permission, He has ordered it so?
Whenever I hear permitted it strikes me (perhaps mistakenly) as a term for semi-disinterested observation instead of the active rule of an absolute sovereign. (I think of things such as Isaiah 10:5, and Amos 3:6 et seq).
The reason that I think of this as an important distinction is directly in your aforementioned: “Jesus is Lord of our land right now, this minute. Nothing happens in our cities, counties, states, or in Washington D.C. that is outside of the authority of Jesus Christ…” He is King and Lord, even if any man “…does not so intend, and his heart does not so think”.
Thank you sir.
Toby says
Gray, Thanks. I agree that Christ has “ordered” this current distress. I think that “permitted” can sometimes be used as a term for a more disconnected state, but I also think that the language of “giving us over” is fully biblical (e.g. Judges, Rom 1) and in that sense, He has “permitted” it. So I would say it’s both, but I certainly mean “permitted” as a fully engaged, active Sovereign. Cheers!