Articles
Ambassadors of Christ
Last week, I published an article in this space titled "Civic Duty is a Christian Duty." It laid out a general, biblical case for participating in civic life. I lay out the opposing case this week.
Meddling in civil affairs distracts us from our Scriptural purposes on this earth. Human empires have always been the enemies of God. We are therefore reclining in the enemy camp when we engage in earthly politics. Today, we consider that God calls us into a heavenly kingdom unlike the earthly kingdoms which He will destroy.
The apocalyptic literature makes this enmity between God and empire perfectly clear. Babylon is the earthly empire par excellence in Scripture, a prophetic icon for every empire. It crows, "Is this not Great Babylon?" (Dan. 4:30). It is "Great Babylon" that uses vessels stolen from the house of God to toast idols of gold and silver (Dan. 1:2; 5:2-4). It is "Great Babylon" that demands that Judah worship a golden image (Dan. 3:8-12). It is “Great Babylon” that claims for itself what belongs solely to God: power over history. It is thus "Great Babylon" that God shatters (Dan. 7:12, 17-18). Babylon will never be great again.
Babylon's hubris shouldn’t surprise the careful reader of Scripture. The Book of Daniel tells us that Nebuchadnezzar hauled Daniel and his friends off to "Shinar" (Dan. 1:2). This is an anachronism. No one in Daniel's day would have called Babylon "Shinar." Daniel expects his readers to recognize the name of the home of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11. Calling Babylon "Shinar" reminds us that Babylon, like Babel, represents a triple idolatry: unifying mankind under a human kingdom, elevating man to heaven, and making a name for man (Gen. 11:4). The Shinar connection explains why Nebuchadnezzar calls his empire together to worship an absurdly tall golden image and challenges Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, "Who is the god who can save you out of my hand?" (Dan. 3:15). The enmity between God and Babylon is baked in.
This is to say nothing of Egypt, Assyria, Greece, or Rome, or of all the times that Israel itself pretended to their kind of imperial power. The Bible declares God’s victory over each of these empires. We refer you only to the glorious judgment against all empires in Revelation 18, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!"
Why should we dedicate ourselves to serve a doomed, false power when we are called to serve the True Power who lives forever? Jesus, the true King, calls His people out of the world (John 15:19). We are citizens of a heavenly kingdom with a heavenly agenda, not the worldly agenda of human politics (John 18:36; Eph. 6:12; Phil. 3:20-21).
Our heavenly citizenship calls us to true civic duty, not the false "civic duty" of the world. Paul calls Christians "ambassadors of Christ" (2 Cor. 5:16-21). We are foreigners representing the interests of Christ to this world. What business do we foreigners have meddling in this world's affairs? Better we go about our Father’s business as our Lord did (Luke 2:49).
And what business do we have placing stumbling blocks in front of our own feet and our children's feet? Have we forgotten that "friendship with the world is enmity with God" (James 4:4)? Better we heed the heavenly voice calling to us, "Come out of [Babylon], my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues" (Rev. 18:4).
Civil affairs are a distraction from the Faith. Paul likens us to soldiers for Jesus. He writes, “No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him” (2 Tim. 2:3-4). What does he mean, “No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits”? Christians must stay on-mission. What is the point of being a Christian? What is the point of the Church? The King Himself tells us this: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19-20). We ought not depart from this mandate, since it is our aim to please the King who has enlisted us.
The world is running amok in its debauchery and rebellion. It burns us to watch, just as it burned the prophet Habakkuk, but bringing the world to heel is not our job. God will do it Himself in His own way. We should rejoice that God has appointed His own Son as the arbiter of justice, for, “God has highly exalted him… so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow…” (Phil. 2:9-10), and “Then comes the end, when [Christ] delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power” (see 1 Cor. 15:22-28).
We have now briefly and generally considered two sides of the question, “How does the Faith guide our politics?” There is much more we could say, but this must suffice for now. Next week, Lord willing, we will consider a biblical synthesis of these two positions.
