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What the Bible says about Would Jesus Vote?
(From Forerunner Commentary)

Genesis 10:8-10

After the Flood, human society apart from God began when Nimrod, a grandson of Ham, organized the first secular government in the city of Babel (Genesis 10:8-10) and expanded it to Nineveh and other cities (Micah 5:5-6). He instituted a system whereby one or a few at the top profit from the labor of the majority under them. Soon there were many cities, each ruled by a self-willed king. Not content with one city, ambitious rulers, seeking greater wealth and power, armed a portion of their manpower and by aggression subjugated adjoining cities. Thus nations were born and then empires.

This grasping, enslaving principle of government, intertwined with economic manipulation, has dominated the world ever since. Whatever form human governments take, they display the same Babylonian style of rule. Governments have risen and fallen, but their basic principles have remained—competition and strife based on greed and pride (Psalm 10:2-11).

Regardless of form, human government is based on exploitation of people and resources, power, aggression, and deception. The entire system began and continues with the idea of cramming people together into cities. As a world order built on strife and competition, each of the four phases of human civilization—political, economic, religious, and social—has tried to dominate the others. In ancient Rome, politicians ruled over religion, business, and society. After AD 554, the Roman Catholic church dominated the others. In America, where self-rule is enshrined in the Constitution, big business and avaricious politicians have constantly struggled for dominance. Communism, as with all forms of socialism, induces the laboring class to support a suppressive government for the benefit of the elite.

Regardless of the particular form of administration, the civilization that now holds the entire world under its sway is the same Babylonian system initially established by Nimrod. Babylon means “confusion.” Competition and strife have produced confusion throughout the world (James 3:16), but “God is not the author of confusion” (I Corinthians 14:33). Therefore, this world's system of government is not God's.

Martin G. Collins
Would Jesus Christ Vote? (Part One)

Daniel 2:20-21

If God sets up the leaders of nations and removes them according to His will (Job 12:16-25), why would Christians presume to take such matters into their own hands and vote for this or that candidate? Even among ourselves, church members disagree on which political party, candidate, or leader should be in power.

Jesus teaches, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand” (Matthew 12:25). God's house should not be divided (I Corinthians 1:11-13), yet if we were to vote for a candidate who loses, we would have voted against God's will. If a professing Christian is trying to vote a man into office, and God is diligently working to install another man, then the Christian's vote is working against God.

Martin G. Collins
Would Jesus Christ Vote? (Part Three)

Matthew 22:15-22

Though people in the world heard what Jesus taught, marveling at it (Matthew 7:28-29), they did not believe what He said. Moreover, He intentionally taught principles in the form of parables so that they would not understand, but His disciples understood because He opened their minds (Matthew 13:10-17). His message, we can conclude, was not directed at the world at all.

When the Pharisees questioned Jesus about paying taxes to Caesar, He replies, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” He points out a clear distinction between God's Kingdom and the nations of the world: They have authority here on earth now and should be obeyed, but they were given that authority by God (Romans 13:1). He, then, is the ultimate authority. Though Jesus paid taxes to them (Matthew 17:24-27), His first loyalty was to God. As He said, we should follow Him.

Martin G. Collins
Would Jesus Christ Vote? (Part Two)

Related Topics: Rendering to Caesar | Would Jesus Vote?


 

Matthew 22:17-21

Speaking of taxes in Matthew 22:21, Jesus taught His disciples to “render . . . to Caesar the things that are Caesar's,” enjoining His disciples to pay them. This teaching parallels the general principle that Christians are to be subject to the governments of this world (Romans 13:1) yet to obey God rather than man (Acts 5:29). In doing so, we are to be good citizens appreciating the privileges and opportunities extended to us. We are to submit to the nation's laws and regulations as long as they do not conflict with the commands of God. If they do, we must be willing to submit to their penalties.

Above all, Christians must follow Christ's teaching and example. Jesus neither attempted to reform human government nor use political means to forge a better world. Rather, He preached the doctrine of a radically different world to come, calling His followers out of this present evil world and to allegiance to His coming Kingdom.

Jesus told Pilate that His Kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36)—that is, of this age or present time. This is Satan's world, and Christ came, not to reform Satan or improve his handiwork, but to save His followers from Satan and his system. A Christian is a citizen of the Kingdom of God (Ephesians 2:19), and since that Kingdom is not yet set up on earth, our citizenship is now reserved in heaven (I Peter 1:4).

This fact means that Christians are to be separate from the world and its social, political, economic, and religious affiliations (II Corinthians 6:14, 17). We live by God's laws and give Him our sole allegiance, since we cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24).

Martin G. Collins
Would Jesus Christ Vote? (Part Three)

Mark 1:14-15

Jesus taught the good news of the coming Kingdom of God to anyone who could hear Him, and the world rejected it. He knew that most would not pay heed to His words, as this was part of God's plan from the beginning: Only those whom the Father called would follow Christ (John 6:44) because He opens their minds to the truth.

Since the Garden of Eden, God has allowed Satan to deceive humanity. During this time, He has allowed people the freedom to choose to live from the work of good or suffer from the toil of sin. The first Adam failed to depose Satan, and every human has failed similarly ever since. God allows people to choose because it is necessary to accomplish His purpose.

Then, in keeping with the principle of “in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed” (Exodus 31:17), in the seventh millennium, humanity will rest from sin, and those who have been converted will enter into God's spiritual rest. At Christ's return in all His power and glory, Satan will be chained, unable to deceive the world any longer. Christ, King of kings and Lord of lords, will rule through His now-immortal saints, forming the world-ruling Kingdom of God. God's benevolent government will replace every government on earth and its evil religions, economies, and society. Then, His future “political” policies will be established forever.

Martin G. Collins
Would Jesus Christ Vote? (Part Two)

John 17:16

What would Jesus do in a time of political election? He would not take part. He would warn true Christians, “Come out of her [this world], My people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues” (Revelation 18:1-4). Jesus calls Christians out of the ways of this world, including its political systems.

Just as Jesus did, we are expected to provide a true witness of God's way of life. We are to support what God is doing on earth so that the good news of Christ's return to establish God's Kingdom is proclaimed. Our focus needs to be on God's plan and His gift of salvation and eternal life so that we and all those He has called are prepared to participate in God's government on earth when it is established (Daniel 7:18, 22; Revelation 2:26-27; 5:10).

An ambassador of Christ is not to involve himself in the politics of this present evil world. Human governments, corrupted by the ruler of this world, are doomed to be replaced by the benevolent rule of the Kingdom of God. Though we are in the world, we are not of it.

Our mission—as advance emissaries of His Kingdom—is to give a true witness of God's way of life (Proverbs 14:25; Isaiah 43:10-12; Matthew 5:13-16; Acts 1:8; Revelation 20:4) and to warn the world of its predicament and present danger, proclaiming to all nations the good news of the Kingdom of God.

Martin G. Collins
Would Jesus Christ Vote? (Part Three)

John 18:36-37

Pilate was concerned that Jesus was interfering in the politics of his day, but Jesus told him that, even though He was born to be King, His Kingdom was not of this world. Christ will establish His rule on earth as King of the world at the appointed time He returns.

While Jesus did preach to the world by warning it (Matthew 4:25; 5:1), He remained separate from its politics. His primary audience was His disciples, whom He taught God's way of life. He called them out of this present, evil age—out of its customs, philosophies, and ways—to a life of separation from the world (II Corinthians 6:17). He told them, “Follow Me.”

He did not mean for Christians to leave the world physically. He knew they must live in it, but He taught that they should not be of it. In His final prayer, He requests, “I do not pray that you should take [My disciples] out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world” (John 17:15-16). Thus, Christ's disciples live in this present world as if they were foreigners, guests of the nations where they reside, as ambassadors for Christ and His coming Kingdom.

When God calls a person to repentance and conversion, He summons them to forsake former allegiances and transfer all loyalty to Christ. As Paul writes in II Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

Martin G. Collins
Would Jesus Christ Vote? (Part Two)

2 Corinthians 5:17-20

Though they live in a foreign nation, ambassadors take no part of their host nation's political or military institutions, yet the ambassador is expected to adhere to the laws of the foreign land. An American ambassador to China knows well that his host government is seriously opposed to his own. He does not serve the Chinese government, enter into its politics, try to eradicate the evils of its system, vote in its elections, join its army, or advocate for its causes. Yet he subjects himself to Chinese laws that concern him while there, endeavoring to behave in a way that will best represent the interests of the U.S. government.

In the same way, Christian's are ambassadors of the Kingdom of God. We are called to become part of a totally different society, and while living in this world, we must represent God and abide by His laws and standards, which supersede those of men when they conflict. Like the worldly ambassador, a Christian should not involve himself in the affairs of an opposing government but must abide by its rules as best he can. He must live as a citizen of heaven and an ambassador for Jesus Christ first and foremost.

Martin G. Collins
Would Jesus Christ Vote? (Part Three)

Galatians 1:4

Many professing Christians view everything from the perspective of this world, blindly assuming it is God's world. They see certain forces of evil in it, which they feel they must oppose. In this vein, they see the Christian duty as working to make this a better world.

However, this concept does not square with Scripture. The Bible speaks of Christ “deliver[ing] us from this present evil age” (Galatians 1:4). Human society is not of God's making, but Satan's, as are its systems of government, basic philosophies, and business and religious practices. All nations are deceived, swayed, manipulated by the Devil (Revelation 12:9; 20:2-3). In other words, our civilization is Satan's handiwork, not God's.

God's Word tells us to flee from the midst of Babylonian society (Isaiah 52:11; II Corinthians 6:17; Revelation 18:4). Speaking to the Jews, Jesus says, “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world” (John 8:23). Later, when questioned by Pilate about His Kingdom, “Jesus answered, 'My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here'” (John 18:36). Although Jesus lived in this world, He clearly saw Himself as a “citizen” of God's heavenly Kingdom. The same holds true of those who follow Him (Philippians 3:20).

Martin G. Collins
Would Jesus Christ Vote? (Part One)


 




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