Lex, Rex: or the Law and the King
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Every Fourth of July, many American Christians are troubled by the question, “Was the American Revolution justified and lawful in God’s eyes?” On the surface, Romans 13:1-2 seems to prohibit any rebellion against civil authority. It reads:
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. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.
However, a closer reading of Scripture reveals to us that the American Revolution was not only justified and lawful, it was ordained and enacted by the providence of God. Since this Lord’s Day is only one day prior to the Fourth of July, I have decided that I am going to jump ahead as I did on Mother’s and Father’s Day and cover another aspect of the Fifth Commandment. For our Scripture lesson we will read from Deuteronomy 17:14-20:
“When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’ And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold.
“And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.
May God bless this the reading of His holy and infallible Word.
The Law Precedes the King
The Law Precedes the King
Before anyone accuses me of plagiarism, I want to freely admit that I am borrowing my sermon title from the famous Scottish Presbyterian Samuel Rutherford. In 1644, Rutherford wrote Lex, Rex in response to King James I’s political and doctrinal theory known as “the Divine Right of Kings”. In this doctrine, King James argued that the king embodied the law itself, which in turn was identical to his will. Obedience to God required obedience to God’s appointed rulers on earth, leaving no justification for resistance or revolt.
However, Deuteronomy 17 is very clear, the law precedes the King. The law is not what the king says, but what God says! This is clearly seen by the fact that the kings of Israel were to take an approved copy of Deuteronomy and then make their own personal copy to be read by them every day.
Now, let us go to the time of the American Revolution. King George III, the reigning monarch at the time, was not required by God to make his own handwritten copy of the book of Deuteronomy. This is because he lived in the dispensation of the New Covenant, the King of Israel is Jesus Christ, and because He is the author of all Scripture, Deuteronomy is written on His heart! However, this did not mean that King George and the British Parliament were not under God’s Law. In Romans 1-3, the Apostle Paul makes it clear that all human beings, (even those without the written Law of God) know that there is only one true God and He is to be honored and worshipped (Rom 1:18-23). In addition, all have God’s moral law written on their conscience (Rom 2:12-16), and will be judged accordingly. As a result of this, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23).
When the Founding Fathers wrote in the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”, they were referring to this Natural Law. This was the shared belief of all the Founding Fathers, including the most radical deists, such as Thomas Jefferson.
As further proof, that the law precedes the king, one only has to look at Romans 13 itself.
for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.
All those who have civil authority are servants to God. God makes the laws and the authorities are to enforce those laws.
This subservience of civil authorities brings us to the second truth Deuteronomy 17 teaches us:
Civil Authority is Limited and Subservient to God
Civil Authority is Limited and Subservient to God
Not only is the king a servant, his authority is limited:
Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’ And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold.
As I was reading and meditating upon these two verses, I could not help but think of David’s son Solomon. His downfall, and the downfall of the United Monarchy of Israel occurred because Solomon violated all three of these commandments. Solomon started out his reign with such promise. We are told that he “feared God” as a young man, and as a result of his humility and servant heart God granted him supernatural wisdom. How could the such a godly and wise man, fall so completely that God vowed to tear away from his dynasty the ten Northern Tribes? Our text gives us the answer:
And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them,
Clearly in later life, Solomon was not daily reading God’s Word and as a result he no longer “learn to fear the LORD”. Is it any wonder that Scripture repeated tells us, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom?” Without the fear of the Lord, even the wisest person becomes a fool!
Brothers and sisters, let us take this to heart. Are you daily reading and meditating upon God’s Word? This is the only way to “learn to fear the LORD” and to preserve that fear. This truth should also lead us to daily pray for others, pray especially for civil authorities, that they would learn to fear the LORD. Paul exhorts us to do this very thing:
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.
Under the New Covenant, prayers for the repentance and faith of our civil authorities is much more urgent than under the Old Covenant. The reason for this is that under the New Covenant, the Messiah has sat down on His throne! Although Christ’s reign is not fully consummated and the Forces of Darkness are contesting His reign, nevertheless, He has all authority in Heaven and Earth! The most important words of the Great Commission are these, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me” (Mt 28:18). As a result of Christ’s humility and obedience, Paul writes:
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Notice that Paul is using the past tense, not the future tense. Every knee should bow and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord NOW, not just in the future! Therefore, Psalm 2 is reality NOW, not just in the future!
Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
This brings us to the final truth Deuteronomy 17 teaches about civil authority:
Unrighteous Civil Authority Will Be Overthrown
Unrighteous Civil Authority Will Be Overthrown
The Scripture on the cover of our bulletin this morning is Is 60:12. It is a part of a passage which speaks of the reign of the Messiah. As I pointed our, Christ’s reign is NOW. Isaiah 60:12 reads as follows:
For the nation and kingdom
that will not serve you shall perish;
those nations shall be utterly laid waste.
If you would but read history with the eyes of faith you would see the truth of this time and time again.
Let us go back to the story of King Solomon and also look at his son Rehoboam. I have already pointed out that Solomon did the very things God says a king should not do. In addition, he unjustly conscripted the people into forced labor, thus breaking the Eighth Commandment. Because of these sins, God ordained that Solomon’s kingdom would be divided when his son Rehoboam took the throne. The full story of what happened can be found in 1 Kings 12, but for now let me give you a brief synopsis.
Prior to King Solomon’s death, God raised up and anointed a man by the name of Jeroboam to be the first king of the Northern Kingdom. Solomon got wind of this and Jeroboam fled to Egypt. After Solomon died, all Israel gathered at Shechem to make Rehoboam their king, but first the people called Jeroboam back to represent them along with their elders. They came with this message, “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you.” Rehoboam ask for three days to consider the matter.
Rehoboam first took counsel with the old men, and they advised him to ask the people positively. Then he sought the advice of his young friends and they counseled him to say, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to my yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” Needless to say, at that moment all but the tribes of Israel, with the exception of Benjamin and Judah abandoned Rehoboam. All that God had ordained came true!
I tell this story, because it so closely parallels what happened in our American Revolution. During the French and Indian Wars there was not part of the British Empire more loyal to the Crown than the Thirteen Colonies, yet is less that twenty years America was in full revolt! What happened?
The Declaration of Independence lays out all the abuses and crimes the Crown and Parliament had inflicted upon the colonists. Secular historians scratch their heads wondering how the British could be so stupid, but those who read history through the eyes of faith understand at God not an idle bystander. The only explanation for the hard-heartedness and stupidity of the British is the providential hand of God. God ordained that the Thirteen Colonies would be ripped from the hand of King George, just as He ordained that the ten Northern Tribes would be ripped from the hand of King Rehoboam.
Getting back to the original question: yes, the American Revolution was just and lawful. As American Christians we can and should be thankful for what happened on July 4, 1776. We can give God thanks that He gave America victory over the most powerful military at the time. However, this should not give us pride. Throughout history God has providentially raised up nations and torn down others. If you have listened carefully to this message, you should be filled with fear and alarm. The sinfulness of our nation’s citizens is great and the sinfulness of our rulers is even greater. Christ sits upon the throne; this present state of lawlessness will not be tolerated for long.
Our closing song is based upon the words God spoke to King Solomon after he had completed the Temple. Sadly, Solomon did not heed these words, by God’s grace, let us make sure we do.
Let us pray.