Thoughts on Tuesday

With the election a day away, in light of all the rhetoric coming from social media, CNN, and Fox News, I thought it would be helpful to gain something that has been missing from the public dialogue the last few weeks: perspective. Regardless of who you are voting for tomorrow, remember that neither candidate will bring the change that we as humans really need. While we venerate these candidates as messiah figures, we forget that the real messiah has come and brought about real change: a new creation. No political party will ever bring the kingdom of heaven to earth, because Jesus Christ has already brought heaven to earth in his death and resurrection. Broadly speaking, the entire Bible is a political text. From beginning to end, it proclaims the kingdom of God as spreading throughout the whole earth, a kingdom to which all other kingdoms are being made subject to (cf. Psalm 110:1; 1 Corinthians 15:24)Thus, every king, governor, or president, while appointed by God (cf. Romans 13), are still regents who rule until "the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ (cf. Revelation 11:15)." Therefore, we are not primarily citizens of America but are citizens of a heavenly city from which we await a savior (cf. Phil. 3:20). America is not the best thing that has happen to this world. Jesus is. America is not even the best nation in the world. The church is. She is a people who has been called to proclaim the excellencies of him who called her out of darkness and into light (cf. 1 Peter 2:9). The gospel is inevitably a political message then. It is political in this way: the King has come and the King rules. Jesus is here. Jesus is King. Our response is to either "kiss the Son" by faith or "perish in the way (cf. Psalm 2)." Those who have forsaken empty works and believed in Christ for eternal life are transferred into a kingdom of light (cf. Colossians 1:15ff). And the rule of Jesus is better than the rule of any political candidate. That my friends is good news.