One of the more challenging issues ever faced by Christians is to be patient and submissive when suffering at the hands of ungodly tyrants. In the West we have been "spoilt" for many years because, under the influence of Christian doctrines pertaining to civil government, biblical freedoms have been recognised in law, and various freedom rights have been enshrined in constitutions.
This means that the ultimate earthly ruler of citizens in the West is the law of the land. It also means that if a government were to move to reduce or strip away our freedom rights, the law itself recognises rights and duties of redress against ungodly and tyrannical laws and rulers. We have rights of freedom of speech; we are lawfully entitled to campaign for public support to overturn unjust or immoral laws through tossing out incumbent rulers and replacing them with rulers more faithful to God. We can ourselves stand for public, elected office.
But these freedoms we enjoy, based upon, and derived from, fidelity to the Living God and His covenant, are rare when set against the longer history of the human race.
Nowadays, when Christians are in a minority, and the vast majority of the population think, speak, and act as atheistic secularists, these freedoms are under attack. A genuine revolution is occurring--a velvet, soft revolution--but a revolution nonetheless. When a Supreme Court justice in the United States, writing the majority opinion recognising homosexual "marriage" as a fundamental human right, can appeal to the ongoing development of public opinion and the evolution of human rights as justification for the evil decision, we observe the depth, extent, and power of the change. But this is not a brand new radical departure. It has been in train for some time. After all, in Roe v. Wade, the Court manufactured a new "human right"--viz, that a woman has absolute rights to privacy over her own body, and at the same time, out of thin air, ruled that the infant in the womb was not a human being and had no legal protections whatsoever.
At the present time, the historical constitutional frameworks in which we still operate provide means of redress. We are lawfully granted rights of protest, political mobilisation, and other branches of government to seek to overturn ungodly and unjust laws. When we are acting thus, we are engaged in submissive, lawful and loyal behaviour. Just as the Apostle Paul was able to use the privileges and rights afforded to him as a Roman citizen by law to open up the doors of a prison in Philippi, or to protest against unlawful floggings, or to ensure his transport to Rome to bear witness to Caesar--yet all the while acting as a patient, submissive citizen--so the foundations and vestiges of government constitutions in the West offer many opportunities of lawful resistance. For these blessings we must remain ever thankful to our Lord; we must also be faithful in resisting unjust and ungodly tyranny.
But, we must avoid all temptations to triumphalism. Because we are God's servants does not guarantee that we will be successful in our efforts. We are called to be faithful, not successful in such matters. God's purposes are bigger, higher, and greater than the temporary travails of our generation. Unless God grants the nation repentance (as He did the Ninevites under the preaching of Jonah) evil will grow on power and boldness and the judgements of God will inevitably fall. The most likely form of that judgement will be from the inside out. The ugly fruits of rebellion against God were first tasted by innocent babies in their mothers' wombs. Now our very laws enshrining freedoms for redress are under attack. Lawful protesters are being fined. It is only a matter of time before they are imprisoned. The lawless mobs, such as "Black Lives Matter", are baying for innocent blood and the state expresses sympathy for them.
The tyranny we fear may well arise from our own people, rather than external assaults (terrorists, invading armies, pandemics, pestilence, and so on). As these oppressions arise and as they take control we Christians, as private citizens, are to be both patient and submissive. We must acknowledge that the power of the ungodly is from God Himself. Calvin is so helpful and biblical on this matter:
For despite the Lord's testimony that the magistrate's office is the highest gift of his beneficence to preserve the safety of men, and despite his appointment of bounds to the magistrates--he still declares at the same time that whoever they may be, they have their authority solely from him. Indeed, he says that those who rule for the public benefit are true patterns and evidences of this beneficence of his; that they who rule unjustly and incompetently have been raised up by him to punish the wickedness of the people; that all equally have been endowed with that holy majesty with which he has invested lawful power. John Calvin, Institutes, iv:xx:25).As proof texts, Calvin cites Romans 13: 1-2; Titus 3:1; I Peter 2: 13-14 and I Timothy 2: 1-2. It is salutary that these apostolic commands are given with respect to rulers and authorities which were more often than not--according to the testimony of historical records--venal, violent, cruel, mercurial, and oppressive. Think of Emperor Nero for one.
Patient, submissive, quiet endurance, whilst not joining in public evils, is a vital part of lawful Christian resistance. As is lifting up our voices to God for mercy and deliverance when under such straits.
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