Yesterday, April 9, 2024, the Supreme Court of the State of Arizona handed down a landmark ruling affirming that an 1864 law banning abortion was enforceable given the 2022 Dobbs decision and its overturn of Roe v. Wade. The reaction to the decision was predictable. The Left gave vent to its anger and outrage — Arizona’s governor and Attorney General quickly announced they would defy the ruling and refuse to allow any prosecutions related to abortion. Meanwhile, “conservatives” on the Right clutched their pearls, clucked their tongues, and demurred in grave and subdued tones — “When we said we were pro-life, that’s not exactly what we meant. We don’t want to be perceived as radical or fundamentalist. We’d hate to endanger our polling among the Gestapo because of unnecessarily expansive protections for Jewish and minority rights.” When “conservative” and “Christian” leaders insist that they favor a 15-week abortion ban, not a complete ban on abortion except in cases where it may be necessary to save the life of the mother, we may credibly ask: Exactly what is “Christian” about this position, and what are they preserving besides their position and influence?
“I signed the 15-week law as Governor because it is thoughtful conservative policy, and an approach to this very sensitive issue that Arizonans can actually agree on. The ruling today is not the outcome I would have preferred, and I call on our elected leaders to heed the will of the people and address this issue with a policy that is workable and reflective of our electorate.”
Why 15 weeks? Why not 25 weeks, or 5 weeks? What is the basis for the restriction? Either this is simply an elective medical procedure or it is the termination of a human person without due process. If it is the former, there is no basis for any restriction on the option, if the latter, any permission is unconscionable.
What if we were talking about a law to kill a mentally retarded child in the first 15 weeks after birth? You could have the kid and take a four month test run before deciding whether it is worth the hassle of caring for a special needs child.
Change the context slightly but keep it focused on abortion en utero. What if we were talking about a law permitting abortion based on the child’s sex? Sex can sometimes be determined as early as 14 weeks, so parents would still have a week to decide if they really want another boy or will instead dismember and flush this one and try again for a girl.
Kari Lake, a Republican candidate for the US Senate, responded to the ruling:
“I am the only woman and mother in this race. I understand the fear and anxiety of pregnancy, and the joy of motherhood. I wholeheartedly agree with President Trump — this is a very personal issue that should be determined by each individual state and her people. I oppose today’s ruling, and I am calling on Katie Hobbs and the State Legislature to come up with an immediate common sense solution that Arizonans can support. Ultimately, Arizona voters will make the decision on the ballot come November.”
So each state should decide for themselves… and Arizona did, 160 years ago. But times have changed, and now we realize that we should be more flexible and permissive when it comes to laws about taking human life, so we need to decide again, and clearly our Republican candidate believes a decision to uphold a total ban on abortion is wrong. It’s not that we think abortion is murder, because that would be wrong at any time. We just think it should be illegal at certain times, and perfectly acceptable at others.
This is the difference between being pro-life and being (arbitrarily) anti-abortion in some, but not all, contexts. It is the difference between believing abortion is a moral question and believing it is a medical one. If the unborn child is a human person, then his life is sacred from conception until death. Either it is a human being or not; there is no third alternative. What is the difference between a 15-week fetus and a 16-week unborn child? Why do “conservative” leaders think it is acceptable to kill one but not the other?
The “conservative, pro-life” movement is deeply compromised and has been for a very long time. While we should welcome (and support) any reasonable restriction on abortion, the goal must be its complete abolition. Either the unborn baby is a human being or not. Either abortion is murder or not. You cannot have it both ways. You cannot claim that it is murder at 16 weeks but only an elective, medical procedure at 14 weeks. You must decide whether your position relative to abortion is based on objective, moral convictions or relative and arbitrary compromises that can be negotiated for political expediency. If the fetus is a human child, then no elective option to terminate its life is morally permissible. –JME
There is no place for rank political partisanship in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, but every declaration of the gospel, every ministry of the visible Church, and every confession of faith by God’s people is inevitably, inescapably, and necessarily political. Immediately we must make a qualification, because we are accustomed to associating the word political with political parties and politicians, and political debates. Our word political comes from the Greek word polis referring to city. The Church is political in the sense that it is the manifestation of the City of God which stands in distinction to the City of Man. The Church is not a political action committee, and the pulpit is not a platform for politicians to pontificate, prevaricate, and pander. But the Church is a political institution because she is the earthly manifestation of the everlasting kingdom of the living God. Every faithful sermon is political because Christ is at the center of them all, and therefore, the Lordship of Christ is the key issue. Our confession that Jesus is Lord necessarily means that Donald Trump is not and Joe Biden never will be. Neither are the leaders of Russia and China, the governors of states, or the nine justices on our Supreme Court. To say that Jesus is Lord is to acknowledge there is a higher authority to which all earthly authorities are subject. The rulers of this world are only servants with delegated authority, and they will one day give an account of their stewardship to him who is Lord over all.
In previous years the conservative, evangelical church was too closely wed to political parties and movements. There is no place for an American flag on the church’s stage. We should be ashamed of churches that explicitly adopt a “God and Country” focus on their ministry. But the reaction to this kind of Republicanity is no better, a Christianity so winsome as to make peace with social justice movements and platforms which sanction abortion. Some Christians are trying hard to be accepted by angry totalitarians whose worldview and ethics are hostile to the Christian faith. We should not be surprised if such an enterprise results in their eventually losing faith altogether.
Is there an alternative? What does Scripture say to us in the midst of political unrest and controversy in the City of Man? Our text today helps us navigate these issues. It appears within the larger context of a contrast between Israel’s experience at Sinai and the Church’s experience at Mt. Zion. God shakes the earth in order to remove what is shakable, so that only what is unshakable may remain. The kingdoms of this world will totter and eventually fall, but the kingdom of God established in his Son shall abide forever. We are citizens who belong to that kingdom.
The Church is Receiving a Kingdom
First, we need to know we are receiving a kingdom. The Bible says so. This kingdom does not appear on a world atlas or a list of nations. It is not the United States or the British or Roman Empires. It does not have a President or three branches of government. It is the kingdom ruled by our Lord Jesus Christ. That kingdom has already been established, and Jesus is ruling it right now.
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” (Matt. 28:18)
He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. (Col. 1:13-14)
To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings [a kingdom -Majority Text] and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (Rev. 1:5b-6)
What authority does Jesus now lack that he will one day be given? He already has all authority in heaven and on earth. Where have we been placed by the grace and power of God as his redeemed servants? In the kingdom of his Son. What have we been made by the blood of Christ? A kingdom of priests! The kingdom of God is not a future hope; it is a present reality actualized by grace.
Now, of course, this kingdom has not reached its full expression. It has been inaugurated, but not consummated. It was planted like a mustard seed, but it is still growing toward maturity. One day Christ’s kingdom will be the only kingdom that remains, and the history of this nation and of the rest of the world cannot change, delay, or prevent the Lord’s promise it will be so.
Every Lord’s Day we pray as a congregation: Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Do we believe that prayer will be answered? Or are we only mouthing the words? Are we praying in faith or in vain repetition? May God give us grace to pray in faith!
That Kingdom Cannot Be Shaken
Second, we need to know this kingdom of God cannot be shaken. It can be persecuted. It may be “sometimes more, sometimes less visible” and “particular churches… more or less pure, according as the doctrine of the gospel is taught and embraced, ordinances administered, and public worship performed more or less purely in them” (WCF 25.4). But no matter the outward or inward circumstances, the kingdom of Christ remains unshakable because she is the result of God’s work and grace, not man’s effort.
The kingdom has survived despite the Devil’s best efforts to overthrow her. He has used at various times violence, sexual contamination, worldly enticements, false doctrine, political power, disenfranchisement, and a host of other forms of opposition against the Church of Christ. Yet she still stands. There have been periods in Church history when the faithful may have despaired of an orthodox Christianity surviving, but it always has, and it always will. We are not restorationists, thinking the Lord’s Church fell into apostasy and disappeared for more than a thousand years. Jesus promised he would build his Church and that the gates of Hades would not prevail against it (Matt. 16:18). He has, he is, and they have not and never shall. You and I are not responsible for fulfilling that promise. We could not if we tried. But we are responsible to believe it, so please do.
I don’t know what the future holds for America, but I do know what the future holds for the Lord’s Church, and that is vastly more important. I hope America may long survive her present woes, but whether she does or not, the hope of the saints is secure, because our hope is not in the kingdoms of men but in the kingdom of the living God. Nothing that is happening in America right now or at any future point can shake the Church. It may shake particular churches, but it cannot shake the true Church of God. God may shake the elements to separate the wheat from the chaff. He may use controversy and division to help us identify the true people of God (1Cor. 11:19). But the kingdom will stand, unshakable, immovable, invincible because the strong Lord defends her.
Let Us Have Grace to Serve God Acceptably with Reverence and Godly Fear
You will notice differences in wording in English versions at this part of v.28. The Greek is most literally translated here in the KJV/NKJV: let us have grace. Others translate it as: let us show gratitude (NASB), let us be grateful (ESV), and let us be thankful (NIV). The original text could be taken in either sense, and I would not be dogmatic since both make good sense. But I prefer the KJV/NKJV here which would suggest grace ought to fill our hearts with wonder and awe at the salvation which God has brought to us. It would be an exhortation to marvel at the grace which has ushered us into an everlasting, unshakable kingdom.
Does our position in God’s kingdom fill us with grace and lead us to the gratitude described in these other translations? Regardless of how we translate the passage, we certainly should give thanks to God for this indescribable gift! Let this grace pervade your heart and mind and lead you to worship, transform your thinking, and bear fruit of godly obedience in your life.
While the world is in bondage to fear, frustration, and futility, the servants of God have hearts full of grace and gratitude because we belong to Christ’s kingdom. There may be some (not so peaceful) protests regardless of the outcome on Tuesday. But you and I can rest in grace on Tuesday, Wednesday, and every other day for the rest of our lives. It is not that we are indifferent to the outcome of this election. Most of us probably do care and have strong preferences about it. But in the larger scheme of things, we know it doesn’t matter, because God’s plan will be unaltered by it. His kingdom will advance. Its fate does not depend on any election.
I want to encourage you (and myself) to think about this passage on Tuesday and beyond. Whatever the outcome may be, let us have grace or let us be grateful for the glorious kingdom to which we belong. Let us resolve not to allow earthly circumstances to rob us of the peace and joy which are ours in Jesus Christ. Let us fix our minds so that we will not be drawn into frustration, anger, or despair like the rest of the world but rather be calm and content in our Lord Jesus Christ.
For Our God is a Consuming Fire
The last part of our text, v.29, is a sobering reminder: For our God is a consuming fire! We serve God with reverence, we have hearts full of grace, we rest in Christ’s unshakable kingdom, because we know our God is a fire that will consume his adversaries! The fires set by protestors and rioters can be extinguished. Wildfires that swept through so much of Arizona and California this summer will eventually burn out. But the fire of God’s judgment, the consuming heat of his wrath, will never burn out and cannot be extinguished by anything other than the lifeblood of his sinless Son. Jesus died because God is a consuming fire, and we have been spared by his sacrifice. But those who do not find refuge in Christ but reject his grace and mercy, will find themselves cast into an everlasting, unquenchable flame.
How can we live with injustice? We are not made to do so. The human heart cries out for justice, even the heart of the reprobate, because he too is made in the image of God. But there is no perfect justice to be found anywhere in this world. It cannot be found in politics. It will not be found in our “justice system,” which though it may be the best in the present world, is still far too often far from just in its application. But believers are able to endure injustice, not by indifference, but by knowing there is a righteous God who is a consuming fire and who will execute justice on all evildoers on the last day. We can live in an unjust world because we know it will not always be unjust; one day it will be purged, the darkness will be overcome, and righteousness will reign.
Do you see how angry people become over political controversies? You do not have to be! “But what if they get away with it?! What if the bad guys win?!” They won’t. They can’t. It may seem like they do for a time. They may sweep an election. They may hold power for hundreds of years. But it won’t last. They won’t last. Because our God is a consuming fire. And while I may wish to see their wills conquered now and their souls converted to Jesus Christ, I know if they are not then the Righteous Judge will do what is right in the end. None shall escape. No wrong will go unaccounted. No evil unpunished. Justice will be done, harmony restored, and the world saved.
Pastoral Application: On November 4th, Jesus is Still Lord
No matters what happens in the election this week, Jesus is still on the throne. He is Lord of all lords and King of all kings, and he certainly presides over all presidents. If President Trump is re-elected, it will be because God put him there. If Joe Biden is elected, it will be because God put him there. In either case, God will have his reasons, and your preference will not change his sovereign plan. No matter what party has a majority in the House or Senate, no legislature can ever alter God’s unchangeable laws. They may deny, defy, or disobey God’s law, but they can never unseat, redefine, or change them. What God says is true, even though all men may prove liars.
I sympathize with Christians who say they cannot vote for a proud, immoral, and unrepentant man with a clear conscience. I have no sympathy for believers who say because they find such a man objectionable, they can vote for a party and platform that promotes murder of the unborn, celebrates sodomy, sanctions sexual rebellion and madness by normalizing transgender disorders, sanctions theft by government power, and excuses violent scoffers who set fire to cities. I can find common cause with worldly and profane people who are excluded from membership in the church. I have no common cause with those whose purpose, plan, and priorities are demonic.
It is not my place as a pastor standing in a pulpit to tell you whether you ought to vote or for whom you ought to vote. As far as I am concerned, the most important vote you cast will be on your knees, and whether and to what extent you participate in our political process beyond that belongs to your liberty of conscience. I can tell you that while voting is not a sacrament, and we are voting on civil magistrates and not spiritual pastors, nevertheless, your participation in the civil sphere needs to be consistent with what you affirm in the ecclesiastical sphere, because Jesus is Lord of all. You cannot confess Christ on Sunday and deny him on Tuesday. You should not recite and affirm his moral law on the Lord’s Day and entirely disregard it on election day. We do not expect any President, Senator, Representative, Governor, or Councilman to meet the biblical standards for elders. We do not ask that they abide by the theological truths and strict ethics that guide our own lives. That does not mean we should celebrate, value, or endeavor to promote secularism. You may be willing to grant freedom of conscience to the goblins, but the orcs and Uruk-hai will not return the favor. I am not hoping for an administration that will establish the United States of Presbyteria. I will continue to hope, pray, and advocate for an administration that does not offend the holiness and justice of God.
God ordained three spheres of authority: the Home, the State, and the Church, but he has retained authority and control over each of them. You may be the head of your household, but you are there to do God’s will, not your own. The same may be said of leaders in the Church, and it is just as true of leaders among the nations. God raises men to positions of authority for his own purposes, and when he is finished with them, he puts them down in the same way a craftsman sets down a tool. That is all our civil magistrates are: tools in the hand of the true King, whether they know it or not. The Church’s proclamation of Christ, in part, reminds rulers who they are.
The Church and State ought not to be conflated, but Jesus is Lord of them both. Each must remain in their distinct spheres of responsibility, but the Church has a prophetic role to speak God’s law and Word to those in the State and in the Home. If we do otherwise, we are failing in our duty. If we are content to allow a secular state to go its own way apart from the will of God without rebuke, then the Church will answer for her negligence. The Church must serve as a teacher and guide to both the State and the Home. The spheres of authority are separate. The divine authority by which all three are to be governed is not. God’s Law applies equally to all; it transcends time, place, and people group. The Bible may be the Church’s book, but God’s revealed Word governs every creature and all of creation. We are not campaigning for America to be a Christian nation in the sense some might use that term. But we will continue to pray for God’s kingdom to come and for his will to be done, on earth, in this church, in our homes, and in America, as it is in heaven.
Conclusion
We are citizens of an heavenly kingdom, the New Jerusalem, the City of God, but we also have a kind of dual citizenship. I am an American citizen and patriot. If I did not love my country, then I would not be so concerned about what is happening in America right now. But while this world is my home, eschatologically--the well-meant but misguided theology of familiar hymns notwithstanding--the kingdoms of this world are not my true home, and my place here will not be fully realized until America and every other nation of men have passed away and the kingdom of Christ rules over all and in all.
You belong to an unshakable kingdom, and it will still be unshakable on Wednesday.
It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes. (Psa. 118:9)
Do not put your trust in princes, Nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help. (Psa. 146:3)
Make vows to the LORD your God, and pay them; let all who are around Him bring presents to Him who ought to be feared. He shall cut off the spirit of princes; He is awesome to the kings of the earth. (Psa. 76:11-12)
Trust in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. Be strong in the Lord. And be at peace forevermore in him. Amen.
The Reformed tradition has historically identified three uses of the Law. Although sometimes numbered differently, they are:
1st - Pedagogical: as a mirror to display the perfect righteousness which God requires, convicting the sinner of his sin and driving him (under the influence of grace) to repentance and faith in Christ
2nd - Civil: as a code to restrain the exercise of evil within human society
3rd - Moral/Normative: as a rule of life to reveal what pleases God and how believing persons ought to live in love and gratitude
It is important to recognize these are not three different parts of the Law, only three different functions by which it operates upon the hearts of human beings. The three uses are not in order of sequence or priority. Calvin regarded the third use as the primary function of the Law, but this application is only made in the lives of regenerate persons. Likewise the first use is primarily experienced by elect persons brought under conviction as they are drawn by the Spirit from death to new life in Christ--though reprobates will experience the terror of the first use without any redemptive result. But the second use applies in the same way to everyone, whether the Law is encountered as written on tablets of stone or in the moral consciousness of man where it is written upon the heart (Rom. 2:14-16).
What we see on the news in cities throughout our nation right now is illustrative of what happens when the second use of the Law is abandoned. This is not to say the Law is no longer written upon the hearts of rioters, looters, and violent men. But the conscience can be seared, and when it is, the influence of the moral law written upon the heart is diminished. This is why God appointed governments and gave them the power of the sword: to protect the innocent, uphold justice, and punish evildoers (Rom. 13:1-7). That all human governments do this imperfectly and some do it abusively and wickedly does not change the divine mandate. The same Law that says, “Thou shalt not murder” also says, “Thou shalt not steal.” If civil law enforcers turn a blind eye to violations of the Law, societies should expect to see lawlessness abound.
The Law cannot save anyone. It cannot convert. It cannot atone for or forgive wrongs. It cannot justify. It cannot change the human heart. The Law can only do two things: tell us what the standard is, and define penalties when that standard is violated. Grace is required to accomplish anything more. But that does not mean the Law is powerless or pointless. On the contrary, even if the Law does not convict the conscience of every evildoer and even if it cannot convert anyone, it does serve as a powerful restraint to the expression of greater and greater lawlessness.
If a burglar knows a particular house is guarded by a powerlifting insomniac with a baseball bat, he will probably seek a softer target on which to set his sights. If a criminal knows his actions will likely result in him being caught and incarcerated, there is a chance he will modify his behavior in order to preserve his liberty. The reverse is also true. If a burglar knows I am a diamond merchant and a pacifist who eschews the use of door locks and believes wealth is communal property, I should expect to find my inventory relocated soon. If civil leaders order law enforcement to retreat when windows are smashed, stores are looted, radio cars flipped over, and police stations burned, they can expect to see such incidents increase. The Law is given to restrain sin, to deter sinners from acting on their worst impulses. You can expect to get more of whatever you reward, and make no mistake: refusing to restrain and punish evil is rewarding it and inviting more.
The fact the Law cannot save does not make it unimportant. It confronts us with real and painful consequences for foolish, selfish, self-destructive behavior. We ignore it at peril to our own lives and souls. Any society which discards its usefulness, no matter how well-intentioned, will not long survive.
When the serpent spoke
to Eve in the Garden, he called into question the content, context, and
consequences of God’s revealed word. “Did God actually say…?” the Devil asked.
In doing so, he sought to insert doubt into the woman’s mind. Was God’s word
really as settled as her husband, Adam, seemed to think? Was God protecting
Adam and Eve from something dangerous, or was he actually holding out on
something good? Was God’s word really an absolute law, or was it only a
guideline or rule that could be disregarded with little or no ill-effects? It
did not take long for Eve to decide God’s command about the tree could be
disobeyed, and humanity has suffered the consequences ever since.
What worked for the serpent
in the Garden continues to work in his devilish mission today. The Devil calls
into question the integrity, beauty, and authority of the divine word, and
fallen humanity is more willing to embrace the Devil’s lies than the Divine Lord’s
law. The Bible is full of controversial, politically incorrect statements and
decrees, to which men and women ask, “Did God actually say this?” By the time
enlightened man finishes deconstructing the Word of God, Paul was a misogynist,
Jesus was prone to make mistakes, and Adam was a fictional character.
Has God actually said?
You and I have to make a decision about that. Will we trust what God has said
in His word? Will we trust what the Church has confessed to believe from the
mouth of God for the last two thousand years? Or will we decide we know better?
Will we abandon our former confidence in the goodness of God’s revelation,
discarding what we now deem as a simple, unenlightened faith for a more
exciting adventure outside the borders of the Garden? Does it matter what
Scripture says, or are we willing to re-interpret, revise, or otherwise ravage
it?
There was really no
question that day in the Garden what
God had said, but Adam and Eve decided that was not enough for them. They were
no longer sure God’s Word to them was for their good. They wanted something
else, something more. They certainly got something else, but not anything more.
Indeed, humanity has enjoyed less ever since we decided that it doesn’t really
matter whether God said it or not. –JME
The righteous
man who is blessed by the Lord and whose life is favored by his God, is
described in Psalm 1 as a man both of abstention and action. There are certain
things he does not do (v.1) and others things he does do (v.2). Negatively, he
does not follow the advice of the wicked or take his stand in their way or sit
comfortably among those who scoff at God. Positively, he delights in God’s law
and meditates on it night and day.
Can it be truly
said of you or of me that we delight
in the law of the Lord? Some who read the Scriptures superficially and only
grasp the gospel slightly shudder to think of God’s law. For them it is only an
instrument of death and condemnation, a cause for sin and a burden which the
Christian can gladly discard. But is this a biblical view of God’s law?
The apostle Paul
was an advocate of the divine law and its role in the Christian’s life. Does
the gospel destroy or set aside God’s law? “By no means!” Paul answers, “On the
contrary, we uphold the law” (Rom. 3:31). “The law is holy, and the commandment
is holy and righteous and good” (Rom. 7:12). No, the law cannot save (Rom. 3:20).
It was never intended to (Gal. 3:24). But Christ came to fulfill the law, not
destroy it (Matt. 5:17-20). He came to fully satisfy its prophecies and
requirements, not to nullify it (Rom. 8:1-4). He is the end of any attempt to
find justification or righteousness in keeping the law, but he does not
terminate the law (Rom. 10:4). On the contrary, Jesus consistently pointed men
to the law as a guide for belief and life (Mark 10:2-3, 17-19; Luke 10:25-28;
John 5:46-47). Yes, he fulfilled it and in so doing ended the Mosaic covenant
and removed the ceremonial and national requirements (Eph. 2:14-16; Col.
2:13-17). But this does not mean the moral requirements of God’s law have
changed (cf. Rom. 13:8-10). God’s people are still, in the New Covenant, “under
the law of Christ” (1Cor. 9:21).
God’s law is not
our enemy. While it cannot save us, it has much to teach us. So delight in the
divine law, meditate on it, and endeavor to obey it, just like the blessed man
in Psalm 1. -JME
