p. 6 | Untitled article by W. N. G.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 4, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 43.

"THE MOST HIGH RULETH." NO. 2.

By W. N. G.

PEOPLE who deem it the province of the church to reform the government, and the duty of the government to patronize the church, are wont to cite the government of Israel as proof of the doctrine. They would fain imitate Israel in the Government of the United States, in their zeal to honor the Lord by formal statute, with themselves as lawgivers and executives. The various factions of National Reformers point to Israel as the notable example of a nation honoring God in its laws, and therefore God directing its prosperity. They seem to forget that no nation ever suffered a more ignominious fall than did Israel.

God chose the people of Israel because they were the seed of Abraham (Deut. 7:8), that through them he might fulfil the promise to Abraham that in his Seed (Christ, Gal. 3:16) all the nations of the earth should be blessed. It was necessary that they be set apart from other nations in order that the Messiah might be identified as the son of Abraham; and the first thing in the New Testament is the genealogical record showing this fact. Israel was also a typical nation; its sanctuary was a typical sanctuary, the service of which was a typical service. The yearly round was typical of the work of salvation, including that of the High Priest in heaven. Therefore there could not be another such nation.

The old covenant, which was made especially with that people, was a national covenant. The people as a whole were formally included. See Ex. 19:5-8; 24:3-8; Deut. 26:16-19. But they broke that covenant by disobeying the law of God, which they promised to keep. The new covenant is not national; it is an individual covenant. Like the law of God, it is universal; it is in force wherever there is an individual that will receive the law of God in the heart. Christ had the law of God in his heart as an individual (Ps. 40:7, 8), and "if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Gal. 3:29. Then the service of God is an individual matter, and not national. The Lord has not given temporal laws direct to any other nation, nor has any man or set of men been commissioned to do so for him. If they feel that they have been so commissioned, they ought to be able to show their credentials.

Of Israel and its laws Moses said: "For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?" Deut. 4:7, 8. Yet all this did not keep them from idolatry. Under all these advantages they many times turned away from the Lord. God would have cut them off entirely but for his promise to Abraham. Ex. 32:1-14. He also spared Judah, at the time of the division of the kingdom, because of his servant David, to whom he had made a like promise. 2 Kings 11:29-36; Acts 2:29-31. Those good laws did not keep even Solomon from gross idolatry, although in addition to them he was endowed with special wisdom from heaven. No law can be given, either human or divine, that will make men righteous. Rom. 3:20. If the universal law of God, or the righteous statutes given by him to his own chosen people, fail to make men religious at heart, how can it be expected that political statutes will do so? The most that any law to compel men to observe religious rites can do is to make them hypocrites. Even under "statutes and judgments so righteous" as those given to Israel, that people went so low into sin that in the days of Manasseh, they became "worse than the heathen, whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel." 2 Chron. 33:9.

Because of the sins of Solomon, the kingdom was divided by Him who ruleth, and was afterward known as the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. From this time on not one of the kings of Israel, and but few of the kings of Judah, were loyal to the God of heaven. But in his own time and manner he ruled; nor did he rule by compelling them to serve him. His long-suffering mercy was extended in marked degree. Prophet after prophet was sent to warn, to entreat, to plead with them to turn unto God; but the people, with individual exceptions, were deaf to these appeals. So the Lord ruled in Israel's case by allowing them to be taken captive by the Assyrians. 2 Kings 17.

Although there were some partial reformations in Judah, her downfall as an independent nation also came. The warning voice of the prophets was unheeded. See Jeremiah 7. Of the people Christ declared with weeping, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stones them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" Matt. 23:37. All this, too, notwithstanding the good statutes which God had given them. They thought their own statutes better than the law of God, and so it is with humanity to-day.

Toward the close of Manasseh's wicked reign, the Lord brought upon Jerusalem the hosts of Assyria, and Manasseh was carried away to Babylon. Then he repented and turned to the Lord, and, as a consequence of his humility, he was again restored to his kingdom, and did what he could to undo his former evil deeds. So the Most High was able to rule both against and for King Manasseh; he did not lack the power to bring a heathen nation against his wayward people, nor to deliver them when due repentance was manifested. But when Manasseh's son Amon came to the throne, he returned to the former wicked course of his father. He reigned two years, and was then assassinated by his servants. For the records of these two kings see 2 Chronicles 33.

Next came Josiah's good reign (chapter 34); but "after all this" he came to an inglorious end by meddling in other people's affairs. He interfered in a war between Egypt and Assyria, and was killed in battle. The people made his son Jehoahaz king, but the king of Egypt, in retaliation for Josiah's interference, deposed him and placed Eliakim on the throne. The king of Egypt also placed the land of Judah under tribute of "an hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold" (chap. 36:3), and changed Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim. But Jehoiakim did evil in the sight of the Lord, so the king of Babylon was permitted to come against him and carry him away captive. Some of the vessels of the house of the Lord were also carried to Babylon.

Then came Jehoiakim with a short evil reign, and King Nebuchadnezzar took him also to Babylon, with more of the goodly vessels of the temple, and made Zedekiah king. The record says that Zedekiah also "did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God," and rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, into whose hand the Lord had given the kingdom. "And all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the Lord which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. . . . They mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy." Verses 14-16.

Zedekiah was the last king of that chosen people. Nebuchadnezzar put out his eyes and took him to Babylon, where he died in captivity. The story of his downfall is more fully told in 2 Kings, chapters 24 and 25. Whatever measure of independent government Judah afterward enjoyed was as a province subservient to the great kingdoms that ruled the world. The prophet Ezekiel said of Zedekiah: "And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, thus saith the Lord God: Remove the diadem, and take off the crown; this shall not be the same; exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it; and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him." Eze. 21:25-27.

Thus we see there can be no more genuine theocratic government on earth till Christ shall come, whose right it is, and whose subjects will all have his law in their hearts, doing his will in the spirit, and therefore from free will. Then "he shall reign over the house of Jacob

[the spiritual seed] forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end." Luke 1:33. This does not mean his first advent, for he declined a kingly position then (John 5:41; 6:15; 18:36); his purpose at that time was to "bear witness to the truth" (verse 17). But "when the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory; . . . then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Matt. 25:31-34.