Saturday, June 27, 2015

Who Will Be Our King




When I listen to and watch what is happening during this debate and legal challenge to the traditional definition of marriage, I'm reminded of what the Bible says regarding our basic problem as human beings. We are in fundamental rebellion against God and against His right to reign. Jesus told a parable in which He describes Himself as a nobleman who goes away to receive a kingdom and in the meantime places His estate in the hands of some servants. The citizens rebel saying, "We will not have this man reign over us" (Luke 19:14). That's the problem in a nutshell. It's not a matter of whose preference wins in some legal debate. It is a matter of submitting or not submitting to the Lord and Creator of the universe as the rightful ruler.

 The writer of the Psalms describes this same thing in Psalm 2, "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,  'Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us'" (Psalm 2:2-3). We are in revolt. We will have our way! We will sever the bonds that tie us down and keep us from having the total freedom we want and believe we deserve.

What's God's response? "He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision.  Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His deep displeasure" (Psalm 2:4-5). The passage goes on to explain that the God of the Universe has installed His Son as Lord and has given Him the nations as His inheritance. The earth is the Lord's, not ours and He will govern it in any way He pleases and establish any laws and rules He chooses. Who can say to Him, "What are you doing?" (Job 9:12). Our responsibility is to find out what the King wants and do it.

What does the Psalm writer say is going to happen when God's Son receives the nations as His inheritance?

"You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.  Now therefore, be wise, O kings; Be instructed, you judges of the earth.  Serve the Lord with fear, And rejoice with trembling.  Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, And you perish in the way, When His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him" (Psalm 2:9-12).

Notice what the prudent course of action is for the kings and the judges of the earth. Submit to the King of the universe, the one who made the earth and everything and every person in it. But people scoff. They say these are archaic beliefs to be relegated to the past. It reminds me of something St. Peter wrote,

 "...knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts,  and saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.'  For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water,  by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.  But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men" (2 Peter 3:3-7)

We cannot flagrantly violate God's created order without paying the consequences-- if not now, later. Peter tells us why there is a delay in the judgment, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).

It's time to repent!