by Eugene Higgins
A Lesson from Ancient History
Christians have always been obedient citizens. Rather than searching for how many ways we can resist authority, we try to “honor honour the king” (sorry Noah Webster), or Premier or President. I read once that there are only 6 instances in the whole of scripture where disobedience to the powers that be is presented in a positive light. I can only recall 4 of them so perhaps one of the readers or someone with a better memory than I (but I repeat myself) will supply other instances.
- The disobedience of the midwives: Shiphrah and Puah, (whose names are great for the “Bible Names Game” on long trips with your children), refused to commit murder and were rewarded by God.
- The refusal of the three Hebrews to bow to an idol: In honoring their loyalty, God sustained them through the blistering fiery furnace.
- The ignoring of the law to cease praying to God and to pray to a man: Daniel is preserved through the night in the den of lions.
- The disregarding of the command to stop preaching the Gospel: All the disciples joined Peter in the bold statement, “We ought to obey God rather than man.”
Almost everyone reading this would have to confess that we have had it pretty easy so far. We have “practiced” our Christianity in more of a Constantinian than a Neronian atmosphere. Protected by law, we have held meetings and evangelized our neighborhoods with little persecution. The cost has been minimal, the sacrifice miniscule, the reproach marginal. But even a cursory reading of prophetic passages, or of Paul’s “2nd” epistles outlining end time conditions, would be sufficient to convince us that these favorable circumstances would not last indefinitely. We know that once the church is gone, persecution will result in a bloodbath for those who believe in the true God and who are waiting for the King to return. How much of those conditions will be in force just prior to the rapture, I do not know. Wiser men and women than I have said that coming events cast their shadows and there are some ominous shadows stretching out over many countries right now.
Not being as intelligent as I should about conditions elsewhere, I can only speak for my country. The crisis here is very real, and I am not speaking about a virus from China. There are powerful people who wish to tear this nation apart and rebuild it in their image. Perhaps there always have been people thinking like that, but this is the first time in my almost 70 years as an American citizen that people of this persuasion are in power and are saying it openly – openly, unashamedly, and boldly. Those who imagine that communism died with the disintegration of the Soviet Union are wandering, soporifically, in Bunyan’s Enchanted Ground. As the lockdowns extend on and on, the reactions to this virus – the demands for national (if not global) compliance, the emptied city streets, and the abrupt end to normal life – seem to tend toward one thing: creating havoc with the economies of the nations, increasing the number of people dependent on government support, ousting the current US President, squelching any possible dissent, and leveling the playing field.
I think Christians have been extremely considerate, cooperative, and submissive. Initially, no one thought there were ulterior motives or hidden agendas. But of late, worrisome things have been happening that make one wonder what the end game really is. In this country, some very unconstitutional and “unamerican” behavior has been on display – mothers hassled for allowing their toddlers to play with neighborhood friends; drones with mechanical voices sternly warning pedestrians who got too close together to observe safe distancing; weddings and funerals disrupted with heavy-handed measures. The shut-down of some Christian services – even where transmission of any disease or sickness was not possible – could hardly have been imagined just a few weeks ago. It is all so surreal and 1984-ish. Ben Franklin warned the first generation of US citizens, “You have a republic if you can keep it.” John Adams warned what would happen if morality and religion disappeared, “We have no government armed with powers capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” I fear there are gaping holes in that net just now as, instead of preserving a republic, we plunge toward a kakistocracy.
What to think?
In Room 52 in the British Museum in London, there is a barrel-shaped cylinder of baked clay measuring approximately 9 inches by 4 inches on which is written a declaration in Akkadian cuneiform script. “The Cyrus Cylinder” chronicles the kingdom and reign of the man history calls Cyrus the Great. That may be what history calls him; God called him “My Shepherd” (Isa 44:28). Cyrus worshipped numerous idols, credited the god Marduk with his victory over Belshazzar, and referred to himself as a favorite of that particular false god. Yet the true God said Cyrus would accomplish what God decreed – “My pleasure.”
Going into another museum room and stepping just a bit farther back in history, visitors can view “The Babylonian Chronicles,” which record Babylonian history. Part of the record describes the reign and conquests of Nebuchadnezzar, grandfather to the man Cyrus defeated. This Babylonian king wrote, “The defences of Esagila (the shrine to Marduk, the city god) and Babylon, I strengthened and secured for my reign and enduring name.” Yet God called Nebuchadnezzar “My servant,” (Jer 25:9) and used him to accomplish His purposes for the nations.
This becomes all the more stunning when we realize that the term “My Shepherd” only occurs three times in scripture, twice of the Lord Jesus (Ps 23, Zech 13) and the third time of this pagan, idol-worshipping king. “My servant” is the honored title bestowed on people like Moses, David, Eliakim, Job, Isaiah … and Nebuchadnezzar!
Both of these heathen kings imagined they were doing what they wished, accomplishing their own purposes. But God guided their armies and governed their actions for His own glory. One writer said, with more than a little bewilderment in his words, “Speculation abounds as to the reasoning for Cyrus’ release of the Jews from Babylon.” It was inexplicable to human logic – unless you realized God was working behind the scenes through these pagan potentates. And God had dealings with each of these kings, causing Cyrus to say, “The LORD God of Heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and He hath charged me to build Him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.” Nebuchadnezzar’s bitter experience recorded in Daniel 4 led him to confess, “Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven …”
Students of Bible prophecy have told us frequently that there is no mention of America in the end times scriptures. Unless you foolishly wish to play a sort of “Where’s Waldo” game with the inspired Word, the western world is not there – not Canada, Mexico, South American nations, or the US. Will the rapture have decimated the economies of many of these nations (as all the believers are caught up to meet the Lord)? Will terrorism, biological or thermo-nuclear war end any meaningful contribution from this side of the Atlantic? Will this require Israel to search elsewhere for super-power protection and a covenant to assure it? All these are mere speculations and, if you live over here, have children and grandchildren over here, they are depressing speculations at that.
So as an American who is patriotic head to foot, and liable to despair over the attempted ruin of a country he loves, I am writing this more for me than for you. Whether apparent or not, God, the Living God, is always at work. It was Baal, the false God, whom Elijah mockingly suggested was distracted: “Either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.” But our God is never distracted, unaware, asleep, preoccupied, or too busy. “Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” If God can use polygamous, pagan, polytheistic kings to accomplish His purposes, to serve His goals, and to shepherd His people, we ought to be able to trust Him for where we are just now in the history of the world and on the calendar of God. He is on the throne. He is sovereign. He is in control. He is “the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God” and therefore “to Him be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
“Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck. For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the Judge: He putteth down one, and setteth up another” (Psalm 75:5-7).