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!
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