43 There is one final purpose for government, and though we will only touch on it briefly, it may be the most critical, at least in the cosmic sense. God instituted government, but He did so as part of His creation. Government has a role to play in God’s plan for the world. God does not do things by accident. He does not make mistakes, nor does He make things up as He goes along. God, the Bible tells us, sees all of reality — past, present, and future. Time is even part of His creation. I think, if we look at the Bible, government is one tool God uses to achieve His divine will. Let’s take a look at the book of Daniel to see this spelled out clearly. In Daniel 1, we see that God used the Babylonians to bring justice to His own people. We see throughout the book that God even worked among the Babylonians through His servant Daniel, who gave faithful counsel and witness to King Nebuchadnezzar. We see similar things in Egypt, where God used Pharaoh, and even the hardness of Pharaoh’s heart, to both enslave and free Israel. These are all critical parts of God’s divine plan and these parts involve God’s use of government for His own purposes. In fact, I think this is part of what Paul is referencing back in Romans 13. When God institutes government, He does so for His own purposes. Our governments, as instituted by God, have a role to play in the drama of history. Those governments can glorify God and earn His blessing, or they can dishonor God and earn His punishment. Just as government dispenses God’s justice in the here and now, God dispenses justice, both in the here and now and in eternity. However, I do not think we can always determine when a government is behaving well or poorly. Nor do I think we can easily draw a line between government activity A and outcome B and call it “God’s Judgment.” This way of thinking is too simple and presupposes we have God’s view of all events or that we understand His reasons. We are, after all, meager creatures when compared to the one who created us. What Is the Christian Response Toward Government? Romans 13:1–7 spells out some of our obligations to government. Paul exhorts the Roman Christians to “be subject to,” “respect,” and “honor” those in authority as we “do what is good” and “pay taxes.” Paul sets a high standard for how we must approach those in power. For the sake of simplicity, let’s boil these notions down to two ideas: obedience and honor.
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