Meditation – Who Should I Vote For?
by Isaac Overton
As you well may know, 2022 is a busy year as far as elections are concerned. It’s a voting year for our national parliament, but we also have an election here in our state parliament of Victoria. A few folk at church have talked about this with me, and were wondering how to approach our responsibility to vote from a biblical perspective. With that in mind, for the next little while I’m planning on writing a series of articles addressing this issue. Perhaps some of you are a little apprehensive, and think that faith ought to be kept out of politics. If that’s the case, let me just start out by trying to anticipate and allay a few potential concerns.
The first thing to say is that I’m not going to try and tell you exactly who I think that you should vote for. I don’t think it’s particularly helpful to wholly align myself, as a minister of the gospel, with any particular political party or ideology. There is a basic distinction between the Kingdom of God and the kingdoms of men in a fallen world. In John 18:36 the Lord Jesus said: “My kingdom is not of this world.” Does the kingdom of God have any relationship to the kingdoms of men? Certainly (just read Psalm 2). But it’s also important to recognise that it’s a fundamentally spiritual kingdom, rather than a temporal, earthly kingdom. Furthermore, the ideologies behind many political movements, both on the right and the left of politics, are fundamentally opposed to the Christian worldview. In that sense, we must assess and engage with them carefully – above all maintaining faithfulness to the Lord as we do. So, don’t think I’m here to tell you how to vote in that sense. My aim here is rather to equip you to think biblically about this whole area, so that you can wisely use your vote and make your own decision in good conscience before God.
The second thing to say here, and this may surprise some of you, is that the Belgic Confession has a whole article dedicated to the issue of civil government. When I was ordained as a Teaching-Elder in our denomination, I made a commitment to preach and teach in accordance with the confessional standards of our denomination. In this sense, it would actually be negligent of me to overlook this area of life. In 1 Corinthians 10:31, we are called to “do all to the glory of God.” The implication of that verse is that we need to think about how to glorify God in every single thing that we do – including voting. Again – I want to try and equip you in these articles to do that. In addition to that, I might add that our reformed heritage has a strong tradition of not neglecting the political realm. The late, great Abraham Kuyper, who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1901-1905).
If you’re still concerned about hearing a preacher comment about anything related to politics, then I would simply commend you to read these articles with your Bible in hand, and see if these things are so! If nothing else, consider this an opportunity to think and discuss this issue in the context of Christian love. You may not agree with everything I say here, that’s ok! We’ve talked about some of these issues on Session over the last couple of years, it has been fruitful.
At times we’ve agreed, and at times we’ve had differences, but there is nothing wrong with that as each of us seeks to honour God and understand his will. Iron, indeed, sharpens iron! (Prov 27:17). So with all that in mind who, then, should you vote for?
In this first article, I wish to lay out one very simple Biblical truth. Here it is: civil authorities are appointed by God as his servants, and are answerable to him for their conduct. The Belgic Confession, in Article 36, says: “We believe that because of the depravity of the human race our good God has ordained kings, princes, and civil officers.” We see this taught clearly in scripture in a number of places, but certainly it is very clear in Romans 13:1, which says: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” Verse four goes on to describe the civil authorities as “God’s servant”, which translates the same word we use for “deacon.” In other words, civil authorities are put in place by God, and have the responsibility to serve God – executing his will in the area of civil justice (which is why verse four says that they “bear the sword”, and verse three clearly implies that they are a “terror” to evildoers).
Psalm 2, which is a key passage for our doctrine of the civil authorities, deals with a similar issue, calling the kings and rulers of earth to “Serve the LORD with fear”, and to “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way.” Kissing the Son was to be a sign of submission and fealty to God’s Messiah – Christ. Any king or ruler, therefore, who resists God’s authority over them, is answerable to him and subject to his judgment. We see this principle worked out in Daniel 4. in the judgment of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. As the king boasted of his glory, the Lord humbled him, and brought him to see and know the LORD’s “dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation.” Daniel is a wonderful book for meditating on the supremacy of God over the kingdoms of men.
Now, before we close here, let’s pause for a moment and ask: what bearing does this all have on us in our lives? The main relevance is this: it gives you a basic orientation in how to think about civil authority. As the many voices of our politicians are blaring out around us, trying to entice us to vote for them (or not to vote for their opposition, as it were), they use a certain kind of argument to attract us. Namely – they commonly (not always, or universally, but commonly) try and show us how their political opponents will bring bad outcomes for us, and how they themselves will bring good outcomes for us and our area. When we measure this approach to what we’ve learned in our study today, we see how truly far away from the mark our society is at this time. Those in power ought to be trustworthy, God-fearing folk, seeking to serve God in their office. Consider this as you consider your vote, and as you pray for those who rule or will rule over us (1 Tim 2:2).
And consider too how starkly this reveals the dire state in which our nation finds itself. We live in a time and a place where the Most High God has been resolutely omitted from almost every area of public life. We live in a time and place where many deeds of profound darkness are committed day by day. The blood of infants flows freely behind closed doors in abortion clinics, sexual perversity is widely defended and celebrated, saving faith in Christ is mocked as being the foolish imaginings of the simple-minded. We could rehearse a great many other evils that are taken as common place in our times. These are fearful things to consider, for our governing authorities are answerable and will answer to God for these policies. Australia is in a desperate and dire state, and the upcoming elections will not save us from it.
Following on from this, another application is that we need to realise that we cannot place our trust in political salvation, which may be a temptation for us. Perhaps our hopes are overly set upon the success of this party or that, or upon the election of this candidate or that. But the great hope of Australia lies not in the candidates on election day, but in the hope of the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven. Gospel ministry in the church is as pressing as it has ever been, and should remain the urgent hope and priority of God’s people. In Psalm 146:3 we read: “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.” Similarly in Ps 118:9 we find that “It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.” Brothers and sisters, consider these things as you prepare to vote. There will be more to follow in the next series of articles! May God give us great wisdom and insight in all these things. SDG.