Sean Redfearn looks at what the Bible has to say about God’s role in establishing rulers of nations
Pontius Pilate gave in to the crowd’s wishes (Mark 15:15), and though finding no guilt in Jesus (John 18:38), he corruptly sentenced Jesus to be crucified (Matt. 27:26; Luke 23:25).
Pilate was clearly not the most noble of leaders.
And this makes it all the more interesting that Jesus said to Pilate, “you would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above” (John 19:11 NIV).
In fact, the Bible does seem to teach that all rulers, whether righteous or unrighteous, are only in authority because God has allowed them to be in authority.
God says to Pharoah, Egyptian ruler responsible for the oppression of the Israelites, in Exodus 9:16 (NIV):
But I have raised you up or this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
And Paul writes in Romans 13:1 (NIV):
… there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.
Why does God establish leaders who are opposed to his commands?
The United Kingdom’s new Prime Minister is an atheist, and his party’s manifesto “is far from recovering Christian values and principles in our nation.”
So how do we make sense of God “establishing” a Prime Minister and government that is disinterested in obeying the Christian scriptures – and even seemingly interested in directly disobeying it, with the promotion of things like transgender ideology and the liberalisation of abortion laws?
After all, we know that God doesn’t orchestrate things that go against his good will (for example, see Jer. 19:4-5; Rom. 9:14; James 1:13; 1 John 1:5) – even if he does allow such things to take place under his watch as he sustains the universe in its existence every single second.
And we also know that God works on a different timetable to us, and can bring unforeseen good from situations (Gen. 50:20; Rom. 8:28) in a way that humans simply cannot.
God is eternal and omniscient and really does have the whole world, and everything in it, in his hands (Psalm 24:1-2; Col. 1:17).
So yes, Keir Starmer has been established by God in the sense that he relies on God to simply exist in his new role as Prime Minister.
I mean, who allowed our Prime Minister to be born in the UK in the twentieth century, to have the appropriate education, to have the mind to do well at school, to have the means to run for office, and to be even able to breathe every second (Acts 17:25, 28)?
Keir Starmer is operating under God’s plan, and has risen to the rank of Prime Minister only because the Ruler of the Universe has permitted him to.
But it’s a ‘both-and.’
Yes, Keir Starmer is Prime Minister because God has sovereignly permitted him to be so under the divine eternal plan that we can’t always make sense of.
But Keir Starmer is also Prime Minister simply because his party received the largest share of the popular vote. Included in God’s eternal plan are the real decisions of human agents.
If we go back to the death of Jesus, we see another example of this ‘both-and’ contrast between God’s decree and man’s decision.
It was God’s will for Jesus to enter this world and die on the cross. And, at the same time, men are fully responsible for putting Jesus to death. Acts 2:23 NIV (Peter’s Pentecost sermon) reads:
This man [Jesus of Nazareth] was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.
God is so supremely sovereign that he is able to achieve his eternal plan even when we do things that God commands us not to do (humans are commanded not to murder – Ex. 20:13 – and people murdered Jesus).
Jesus came into the world to save sinners
Does God want Keir Starmer to be our Prime Minister? The Bible doesn’t answer that question directly.
But the Bible does warn us about nations and leaders who reject God’s good plan for a flourishing society.
What we do know from the Bible is that God wants sinners to be saved (Luke 19:10; John 3:16; 1 Timothy 1:15).
While Keir Starmer and the Labour Party are uncommitted to obeying the Bible, there are no reasons for Christians to be overly despondent, because the gospel always wins.
The gospel always wins
We know that those nations which have structured themselves under the authority of the Bible, and have had high numbers of Christians in the population, have flourished the most in history.
But at the same time, many nations throughout history that have been the most restrictive towards Christian freedoms have also had to contend with rapid rates of Christian conversions. For example, just think about the booming underground church in China right now, or the visions of Jesus that people are currently having in the Middle East.
Here is the working-out of what it means to say that the gospel always wins:
Christianity brings abundance to societies that submit to its ethos. But, at the same time, Christianity often thrives under persecution when societies reject its ethos.
That is some tension to have that only makes sense on a divine scale.
And God has appointed a year, month, day, and hour for Jesus to return (Acts 17:31).
2 Peter 3:8-9 NIV says:
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
As long as people have breath in this life, there is hope for people to be saved by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
No matter what government is in office, that truth is relevant.
So why not pray that God would be sovereignly at work behind the scenes, and that more individual lives would come to faith in Jesus during this term of Labour government than have ever come to faith in any other term of government?
While we’re at it, why not pray for Keir Starmer to be among those who encounters Jesus?
