“THE NATION WHOSE GOD IS THE LORD.”
By G.
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; the people whom He hath chosen for His own inheritance.” Ps. 33:12. This is one of the texts of Scripture often used in support of State religion. The National Reformers have quoted it many times to sustain their plea for a formal recognition of God in the Federal Constitution. But the use of such a scripture for such a purpose is sheer perversion of the Word of God. The Lord never pronounces blessing upon a merely formal religion, or upon a profession in which there is no heart. Therefore this text could not apply to any government on account of a perfunctory acknowledgment of God in its fundamental law, nor on account of a formal recognition of any religious institution. And, inasmuch as human governments can be religious only in the most formal manner, it is clear that such a declaration of the Lord could not have reference to any human government at all. The only nation “whose God is the Lord,” in the light of the scripture to which we allude, is composed of “the people whom He hath chosen for His own inheritance.” These are not, nor ever will be in this world, confined to any one government; nor will any human government ever be all composed of such a people. The people whom the Lord chooses for His inheritance are taken out of “every nation, kindred, tongue and people.” They are gathered by the proclamation of the “everlasting Gospel,” and not by the decrees of human governments. The promise was made to Abraham that he should be “heir of the world” (Rom. 4:13), and the spiritual seed—they that are Christ’s—are to be heirs with him “according to the promise.” Their characteristic is not formal profession, but keeping “the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” in deed and in truth. They are subjects of Him whose “kingdom is not of this world;” and of them He says, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” Another proof that “the nation whose God is the Lord” is not, and can not be, any nation of this world, is the fact that spiritual “Babylon” (Rome restored to universal sway through the aid of apostate Protestantism) is to make all nations drunk with her false doctrines—principal among which is State religion, the State governed by the church, national profession of Christianity. This evil, of which all nations will eventually partake until they are in a condition of drunkenness, is described by the prophet John as “the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” And this terrible condition of all nations is brought about in the name of Christianity. So that a national profession of Christianity is no mark of a “nation whose God is the Lord.” Still another testimony is given in the prophecy of Daniel. The nations of earth were shown to Nebuchadnezzar in a dream of a great image; and a stone cut out without hands fell upon and crushed the whole structure out of existence, and filled the whole earth in its stead. This stone, as interpreted by the prophet, stood for the kingdom of God. Is it fair to suppose that the coming of Christ would utterly annihilate any nation whose God is the Lord?—No; blessing is the portion of such a nation. The “nation whose God is the Lord,” composed of “the people whom He hath chosen for His own inheritance,” is as yet the spiritual kingdom of Christ. And “when the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory.” Then there will be a grand, general division. The subjects of His spiritual kingdom, the “nation whose God is the Lord,” will be set on His right hand, and He will say to them, “Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” All other nations are subjected to everlasting destruction. The prophet saw that “no place was found for them.” Reader, let no man deceive you. No matter how many religious laws the nations of earth may place upon their statute books, it ought to be plain to even a casual observer that the Lord is not the God of any of them. They are all worshiping the gods of mammon and self-aggrandizement. Just now they are making great sacrifices to the god of war and trade, and the commandment of God, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” is the farthest from the thought of any nation. It is time now to be seeking citizenship in “the nation whose God is the Lord.” Perilous times are abroad, because the commandments of God are neglected and formal service is substituted. But through it all the subjects of the blessed nation can say, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” G.