I'll comment on how Christians are to live under governments in the final post, but I wanted to lay a foundation for why we are to live that way in this one.
Along with the debate concerning Christian Nationalism seems to be an understanding that Christians should physically dominate every sphere of life in the way that God promised Israel to physically dominate every sphere of life in the old covenant if they remained faithful to Him.
God states in Deuteronomy something that will be echoed throughout the Prophets, namely, that Israel, if faithful, will dominate every aspect of physical life in this world. In Deuteronomy 28, God declares to them the following.
28 “Now it shall come to pass, aif you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God bwill set you high above all nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and covertake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God:
3 d“Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be ein the country.
4 “Blessed shall be fthe 1fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
5 “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
6 g“Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
7 “The Lord hwill cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.
8 “The Lord will icommand the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you jset your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
9 k“The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. 10 Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are lcalled by the name of the Lord, and they shall be mafraid of you. 11 And nthe Lord will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the Lord 2swore to your fathers to give you. 12 The Lord will open to you His good 3treasure, the heavens, oto give the rain to your land in its season, and pto bless all the work of your hand. qYou shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. 13 And the Lord will make ryou the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you 4heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them. 14 sSo you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
The very first promise here is that Israel will dominate the nations. In fact, this is where the kingdom of God idea comes from. Israel will be the empire that rules the world. The nations will bow down to it and acknowledge the Lord through them. Along with this is the promise of prosperity and riches in this life. They will be physically protected and so no one who seeks to do them physical harm will be able to overcome them. Their very lives are protected by the promise of God that none of their enemies will be able to physically harm them or kill them. They will have no miscarriages. They will have no famine. Everything will prosper and they will be on top of the world and below no one and nothing else in this physical world. Again, this is offered if they are faithful and in a good standing relationship with God.
In contrast, the people of the new covenant who are in good standing with God through faith in Christ's perfect work and obedience are promised none of this in this world. There are no physical protections of their lives promised. Instead, we are told that the devil is given authority and gives that same authority to overcome the faithful physically and not only harm them, but kill them, i.e., to take away their physical lives completely (Rev 13:7-8). The ruling authority over all nations is not given to the new covenant saints but rather to the devil and the beast (Eph 2:2; Rev 13:7-8; 2 Cor 4:3-4). Paul, who could be seen as the most faithful among all early Christians is plagued with sickness (2 Cor 12:7-10; Gal 4:13-14), has no authority over anything physical in the world, whether humans or animals, and is on the run from them, even being in danger at every moment, in contrast to the Deuteronomic promise that all enemies will run from God's people and they will flee from no one (1 Cor 15:30-32; 2 Cor 4:6-13). We are told that the normative Christian life will be suffering, oppression, being at a loss of physical possessions, slandered to the point of losing our very names and being without honor rather than being feared/revered (again, as promised in Deuteronomy), being beaten, and even killed (Rom 8:17, 36; Heb 12:2-11; 13:12-13; Rev 13:7-8; James 5:6; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 4:12-19). As Paul and Barnabas tell all of the believers in various places, "through many hardships we must enter the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22). Christ Himself, before leaving the apostles, stated, "“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). The entire book of Revelation is a testimony that faithfulness for a Christian means the opposite of receiving the Deuteronomic blessings in this life. It actually looks like receiving the curses.
Now, why is this? Why such a stark contrast between the promises of both covenants? I have said this many times. It is what the New Testament teaches. Please hear it loud and clear. ISRAEL IS A SHADOW OF THE NEW HEAVENS AND NEW EARTH, NOT A PICTURE OF THE CHURCH IN THIS AGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know why this is hard to understand other than we have been so influenced by the health and wealth cult in our society that we can't get this through our thick skulls. The promise of Deuteronomy is for Christians to the utmost, but not in this world. In fact, if you've read through the verses I quoted above, you'll actually see that.
For instance, in Hebrews 13:13-14, he states, "Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come." Peter says that we are strangers and aliens here, i.e., this isn't our world, so we are just resident aliens like people from other nations residing in a foreign land (1 Pet 2:11); and that we suffer various trials for the purpose of preparing us for the new world that will be revealed when Christ comes again (1:7-13). This text also states that the stuff in the Prophets was about revealing of Christ and the kingdom to come. Paul states that we are heirs of all things, but only if we now suffer with Christ in this world so that we may share in His glory in the one to come (Rom 8:17). These trials aren't viewed as possible or optional. They are said to be a necessity in each of these passages: "even though, now, SINCE IT IS NECESSARY, you have been besought with all kinds of troubles," "through troubles we MUST enter the kingdom of God," "if we suffer with Him" we are heirs to all things, "everyone who is a son is disciplined," etc.
These sufferings prepare us for the world to come, and that is the world that Christ died for. That is the world that God so loved. It is the world to come. It is the world that He made this world as a means to create that one (Gen 2:3 - שָׁבַת מִכָּל־מְלַאכְתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר־בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים לַעֲשׂוֹת "He rested from all his work which he created in order to create"). Christ's kingdom is the world to come. The already-not yet, clearly, does not include the literal physical promises of the shadow to the already. Suffering is promised for the already because we are Christ's body in this world and Christ had trouble in this Satanic and fallen world. Hence, we will have trouble, as Christ, in this world. Instead, the promises of the shadow are cast from the world to come, and it is this world that Christ seeks to fill up with a people who have been prepared for it through the gospel and sufferings in this world. Hence, as Christ did not rule over the nations in this world, neither will we. As Christ did not have immortality in this world, neither will we. He could be slandered, under oppressive and unjust rulers, hungry, thirsty, and even die in this world. Hence, so will we. We look like, as Paul said, the dregs of all the world, scum, losers, cursed because our Lord bore the reproach of the world and became a loser in this world for our sakes and the sake of the world and the glory He would inherit, a world and glory to come.
What does this have to do with understanding the Christians role when it comes to nations? It means that there is no promise to take over this world and that rather it would be contrary to the Christian promise to suffer, which, as shown above, means not ruling, fleeing from enemies, not being honored but slandered and accused falsely, not being physically unharmed but beaten, made sick, and even killed. Victory in the Apocalypse is actually being persecuted and killed because a saint would not deny Christ verbally or through his or her actions. Success is losing in this world, not because one is trying to lose but because the devil will make sure that any faithful Christian does lose in this world and God has so predestined to use that suffering for the Christian's ultimate victory in the world to come.
It would be nice to rule nations. It would be nice for lions and bears to bow down when we walk by. It would be nice to always have food and drink, clothing and shelter. It would be nice to have the respect of all men, to never be slandered/lied about, to never have a miscarriage, to never have to be afraid of harm and run from enemies. But that isn't the promise that we are given, and therefore, pursuing these things in this world as such a major part of the Christian message soon becomes another religion. The Israelites under the old covenant are promised success as a shadow of the world to come. We are promised the opposite because we need to be molded into the people who are fit to live in that world. Our promises are not the same.
So what then? It means that political domination might be possible, but not promised or even probable. It is not a coincidence that when Christians gain the comforts and power in this world, success in this world, that truth and morality are almost always compromised. Corruption sets in because the program of God is to bring about loss in this world in order to gain our souls, the losing of our lives in order to find them, picking up our crosses that we might one day pick up our crowns. We will rule upon the earth (Rev 5:10), but not until we suffer, overcome, and Christ returns with our reward (Rev 3:21).
What then am I saying? I'm saying that there seems to be some idea that we're supposed to rule here, and that if we don't, it's because we've denied our birthrights and adopted some sort of defeatist Christianity that lacks the full power and promises given to us.
I became a Christian in the early nineties, which was the height of the health and wealth cult that was spreading everywhere within the church. No one was ever saying that those who didn't seek success in this world weren't Christians but what they were saying is that those who don't are missing out on the full gospel and everything that God has promised to give us. My people, do not miss out on everything God has for you by spending one more minute with this false gospel. It distracts from the true one, and it discourages and even shipwrecks the faith when false expectations are unfulfilled. Our hope and promises are not of this realm because Christ's kingdom is not of this realm (John 18:36). We are a strange people who are citizens of an invisible foreign land (Phil 3:20-21). We await, not a Christian prince of this world to bring us our sabbath, but rather the King of Kings who will wipe away every tear born of suffering, every loss in this age, and will restore every life from death and bring eternal light into this dark place. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
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