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Jesus: President of presidents and Prime Minister of prime ministers?

Religion and Politics Do Mix?

Should Christianity and politics be united rather than separated? It seems that, even amongst the Christians who participate in TrueU Coffee Shop discussions, the answers to that question are mixed. I contend, however, that the answer should be the same as that of this question: Is Jesus King of kings and Lord of lords? If we answer this question in the affirmative, we must answer the first question in the affirmative as well. You can't attribute this title to Jesus without acknowledging that He belongs in — or more accurately, He owns — the political sphere.

Some might argue that this title shouldn't be stretched beyond the spiritual (or sacred) realm because it is only in this private sphere that His kingship and lordship are relevant. In response, I'd have to ask, then, who are the kings and lords over which He is King and Lord? There certainly aren't any in the spiritual realm.

Since this realization, my worship has begun to change. I know that when we sing "King of kings and Lord of lords," most of us probably don't mean that George W. Bush, Tony Blair, Hu Jintao and all the rest are subservient to the rule of Jesus Christ. What I'm beginning to grasp, however, is that this is one of the primary meanings that we should be aiming at; otherwise, these proclamations have lost the power that was originally invested in them.

To see what I'm getting at, let's look at two different biblical attitudes, one from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament (although, of course, there is continuity between them).

Yahweh Installs Kings

Ever since Genesis 1 (see especially vv. 26-28), the clear understanding of creation was that since Yahweh created everything, He is ultimately in charge of it and any amount of dominion that we have as humans has been given to us by God.¹

Thus, if Yahweh is ultimately sovereign, then it makes sense that when any human — especially those in ruling positions — starts to think that they are in charge, all they've done is deluded themselves. We are reminded time and again that it was God who appointed those who ruled (even if they were evil rulers²). Consider these descriptions of His power:

The Lord has broken the rod of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers …. (Isaiah 14:5, NIV)

The Lord Almighty has sworn, "Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand. I will crush the Assyrian in my land; on my mountains I will trample him down. His yoke will be taken from my people, and his burden removed from their shoulders." (Isaiah 14:24-25)

I will hand the Egyptians over to the power of a cruel master, and a fierce king will rule over them," declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty. (Isaiah 19:4)

And these verses only scratch the surface. Basically, there is a very clear message throughout the Old Testament that any challenge to Yahweh's rule and power cannot stand.

I have to admit that there have been many times when I caught myself getting very anxious when political powers were moving. I started to fret, wondering if God's Kingdom would suffer incredible setbacks because of these "movers and shakers." I suspect that if I believed the following words of Psalm 2, these fears would not have had a foothold:

Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. "Let us break their chains," they say, "and throw off their fetters." The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, "I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill." (vv. 1-6)

Now, if you're anything like me, you've glossed over those verses in a fit of familiarity. If you did, please go back and take them in slowly.

Notice what happens when rulers think they're all that. Notice who is not even remotely threatened by their united "power." Notice who installs the King. (Now, it might be tempting to conclude that since God is in charge anyway, why get involved? Well, God's being sovereign should never deter us from involvement. For example, just because God chose the temple priests did not mean that Israel was exempt from making sacrifices.)

Jesus is Lord

When I was in high school, my friends and I would often engage in a brief (and very loud) exchange. Basically, one of us would shout out, "Attitude Check?!" to which the rest of us would respond, "Jesus is Lord!" It was more or less meant to resemble a pep rally.

Recently, however, I've found out that this simple declaration has very weighty political implications. For example, in Romans 10:9, Paul calls his hearers to confess with their mouths that "Jesus is Lord." This statement is important for a number of reasons, but I just want to draw your attention to the political circumstances in which Paul's readers found themselves.

At this time, Israel was within the Roman Empire, which was ruled by a Caesar who did not stand for competition. Caesar alone was lord and to proclaim otherwise could have very fatal consequences. This is why Paul's exhortation cannot be belittled by treating it like a cheer or an incantation, as if he just expected them to mouth the words "Jesus is Lord," and then they were in the Christian club. No, when one declared that Jesus was Lord, one was simultaneously — and dangerously — declaring that Caesar was not.

To grasp the weight of this, let's imagine the following scenario: The president has declared himself to be god, setting himself up as greater than any other ruler. Therefore, he alone is the Lord and the greatest political power. There may be other lords and powers, but they all bow before him.

Now, imagine that Jesus' first coming has occurred in our day, and that He has died and been resurrected, conquering sin and death. When His disciples see that He has defeated sin and death, they realize that "Jesus is President;" that is, He is the President of presidents, the Prime Minister of prime ministers, the Political power of political powers. Of course, He is so much more, but in reference to all these rulers, and especially this one who has set himself up as god, He is the master.

There's much more to this scenario, but hopefully, you understand the basic idea of what it means politically to declare that "Jesus is Lord." It is not a description of one's personal spiritual walk (i.e. "Jesus is Lord of my heart"), though it includes that; nor is it a description of His position in heaven (i.e. "Jesus is the Lord of heaven"), though this is true also. It is that, just as Yahweh is above the kings of Babylon, Assyria and Egypt, so Jesus is exalted above Caesar, as well as the kings and queens of Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and the Americas. They are kings, but Jesus is the King of kings. They are lords, but Jesus is the Lord of lords (see Revelation 17:14 and 19:16³).

King of kings and Lord of lords

As I alluded to several times, there is so much more that can be said, but hopefully this will get us thinking in a more biblical direction about Jesus' relationship to the political realm, namely, that He owns it and rules over it (even if it doesn't always look like it⁴).

C O F F E E  S H O P

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This, of course, makes the notion of separating church from state (or vice versa) an absurd one, at least, within the biblical worldview. In fact, if you had pitched this idea to anyone living before a few centuries ago, this would have made no sense. So, we must ask ourselves, do we believe that Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords,⁵ or is He just King of heaven and Lord of our hearts? If the former, then we must seek to proclaim this through both our words and actions in the political realm.