28 December 2022
In chapter 12 of his gospel, Matthew tells us that Jesus healed people, and then told them not to make a bunch of noise about it. It wasn't secrecy, but privacy. Keep track of the wider context; Jesus told the Gadarene Demoniac to go home and testify. So Jesus wasn't telling the crowds He healed not to testify, but that this was not a movement to change the political situation. Thus, Matthew then quotes from Isaiah 42:1-4:
“Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold;
My chosen one in whom My soul delights.
I have put My Spirit upon Him;
He will bring forth justice to the nations.
He will not cry out or raise His voice,
Nor make His voice heard in the street.
A bruised reed He will not break,
And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish;
He will faithfully bring forth justice.
He will not be disheartened or crushed,
Until He has established justice in the earth;
And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law.”
The symbolism in Isaiah was well established. The image he drew was a Messiah who would not be a political figure. This is consistent with other Messianic prophecies, particularly in Isaiah. He will not go out into the streets and call for a regime change. The justice He brings will be private, not a matter of human government. He will not interfere in the natural course of things. If a reed is bent, He will not break it off and make it all neat and tidy. If an oil lamp wick is smoldering, He won't put a wet finger tip on it to put it out. Let it smoke. His concern is not with the physical setting, but the restoration of peace with God in human hearts.
Don't get confused here: Healing people was a restoration of the Covenant blessings. They would not need healing if the political leadership had been faithful to the Covenant. The afflictions came upon the people because they had been led out from under the divine covering. They were no longer distinguished from the Gentiles. Indeed, they received an extra dose of sorrow because they were Satan's primary target since they had the Covenant that Gentiles didn't have.
So the Messiah would come to restore the Covenant in hearts. The political situation could take care of itself. The blessings would be personal, restoring the true power and influence of the Covenant. The personal is not political; the political situation wouldn't matter any more. The people would embrace the Covenant regardless of their human rulers. This is how true holiness works; it doesn't wait on some fallible leader to make it happen.
Luke in chapter 14 carries it farther when He quotes Jesus talking about taking up your cross to follow Him in the "count the cost" parables. In the context of warning the Pharisees about jockeying for rank in human reckoning, Jesus says several things about the tactics of staying humble. It's a sort of "don't take yourself too seriously" -- you can still do stuff, but it's not just about you. Jesus mentioned later in that same chapter that He didn't want big crowds following Him around for the usual reasons. This wasn't a traveling miracle show or a personality cult; Jesus was restoring the Covenant.
It's the same with building a tower; this wasn't some personal project. When your choices affect others, it's a different game. He mentions military tactics, and describes leaders who aren't arrogant. Instead of blindly plunging into expansion of their domain, as if God had called them to rule the world, they had to give thought to the welfare of their people. Was it worth facing a larger force? Did he have some advantage he could exploit? Would his troops hold their ground and make the enemies flee? This wasn't a matter of the leader's ego. It's the same on a personal scale. You represent the Kingdom of Heaven; you are not serving your personal needs any more. You have to forfeit your self and all your possessions to get involved; it's not just about you.
Oddly enough, the broader implications of the Code of Law do include a lot of wisdom and good advice like that on doing politics. Human advice is to be bold and arrogant for your own glory so as to win a following. Divine advice is to be bold for your Father's glory and not worry about a following, but about your stewardship on behalf of God. Those are His people and assets; they are on loan from God for His name's prosperity. The Fruit of the Spirit is not just bodies, but eternal people who belong to the Kingdom of Hearts.
All of this reflects the ancient Hebrew culture. You know, that culture that God built with His own hands as the context in which He wanted to reveal Himself. It is our duty to go back and understand that culture and embrace what God intended. No, not the resulting culture as Israel perverted it, but the culture God intended they carry on His behalf. That's why Paul told Timothy (2 Timothy 2:14-15) to study the Old Testament and discern what belongs to the Messianic Kingdom of Heaven and what doesn't belong. Same with the writer of Hebrews:
There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:9-12 NASB 1977)
While the New Testament had not yet been published, the Old Testament was "the Word of God" for these writers. Any fool can ape the Old Testament particulars, but it takes divine discernment to recognize what God was getting at when He spoke through Moses into that setting. Some of that is for us today, but it's a matter of knowing the God behind the Law. The issue of politics is just the implementation of God's personal divine moral character in His people. There is a right way to do politics; you won't see much of that in our world today. But we should see that right way in how Covenant people relate to each other.
Yes, we could get together and change the political landscape of America, if God called us to do so. I contend that He did not. This is one of those times when we aren't going to break off a bent reed or put out a smoldering wick. Let things run their course and try to stay out of the way. The people who propose to change politics in America are not talking about God's way of doing things. Unless our Lord raises up someone who does things by the Covenant, we need to stay out of it.
Don't pray for a leader in the same sense of those seeking a political Messiah. Pray for a revival of the Covenant and let God work out the details.
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