When you look through the history of Israel in the Old Testament, you see that occasionally, God would raise up a good king, w...
When
you look through the history of Israel in the Old Testament, you see
that occasionally, God would raise up a good king, who would launch
political reforms, and try to purge the nation from sin. As long as the
king was alive, the nation would have some degree of conformity to the
will of God. However, as soon as the king died, or if he changed his
views, the nation would quickly digress right back into their idolatry.
Politics is not a good way to make lasting change in people’s hearts.
You may win an election here or there, and get some legal reform on
issues that concern you, but only the gospel has the power to change
men’s hearts, and bring about lasting change in society and politics.
The
Bible says our responsibility as far as politics goes, is to pray for
kings and those in authority, that we may lead a quiet life, in all
godliness (Timothy). We should also vote for politicians who come
closest to what we understand the will of God to be.
That
said, I do believe current events can serve as good, relevant
illustrations to spiritual truth. For example, Jesus mentioned two
current events in His preaching. He asked His audience if they thought
the Galileans Pilate killed were greater sinners than other Galileans,
just because they suffered such things. Again, he asked if they thought
the 18 people killed in Siloam were greater sinners, just because the
tower fell on them (Luke 13:1-5). He used that to show them their need for salvation,
lest they “likewise perish”. A lot of current events and politics can be
used as illustrations for Biblical truth, and how we should live.
Jesus
also told us we are to act as salt and light to the evils in society.
Although we should seek to lead a quiet and godly life, we should speak
out against abortion and the ills of society, and not just be silent. 1
Chronicles 12:32 says the men of Issachar “understood the times and knew
what Israel should do”. We should understand how current events relate
to us, and what we should do about them. But again, we should not rely
on politics, or major on them. We should use these as
illustrations of our need for the gospel, which has the true power to
change men’s hearts and politics.
Photo by Benjamín Gremler on Unsplash
COMMENTS