10/12/08 - Pentecost 22 - Isaiah 45:1-7

THE LORD RULES THE RULERS
- There is no other leader than the Lord
- He always leads for the sake of his people

Who’s going to win? Who will be the next president of the United States of America? November 4th is only a little over 3 weeks away, after all! And it’s been a long campaign for both sides, hasn’t it? A lot of money has been spent. A lot of advertisements have been run. A lot of issues have been discussed. And a lot of claims have been made. So after all of this is done, who’s going to win? Who will be the ruler of the most powerful nation in the world of our lifetimes? I’m not about to predict who will win this coming election, but I will tell you this: it doesn’t matter. In the end, it doesn’t really matter who becomes the next president of the United States for one reason: because the Lord rules the rulers. No matter who the next ruler of our country will be in less than a month, the true Ruler, the real Ruler will still be the same. There is no other leader than the Lord and he always leads for the sake of his people.
One of the clearest examples of this scriptural truth is found in Isaiah 45. And here the Lord not only gives us this promise, he even gives a specific name of a specific ruler of a specific country whom he would use to carry out his will. The name is Cyrus, the country is Persia, and the will of God that Cyrus would carry out for the Lord was sending the Israelites back from exile to the Promised Land so that they could rebuild the Lord’s temple. And the incredible thing about this is that the Lord said these words about Cyrus through his prophet Isaiah 150 years before it happened! When Isaiah spoke these words to the people, they were still in the Promised Land! Babylon hadn’t even come to take them away into exile yet! Not to mention Persia - from where Cyrus would come - was not even close to being a world power at that time. And yet Isaiah was already talking about the Israelites coming back from the exile they had yet to experience. “This is what the LORD says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut.” The Lord promised to lead Cyrus, a foreign king, in the direction he wanted him to go. And the Lord even calls Cyrus his “anointed” here, the one he has chosen. That’s a fitting title for any ruler, because the Lord rules over them all. Even those who do not believe in him.
Cyrus certainly did not believe in the Lord. He was a heathen king who did not necessarily care about the one in whom the Israelites believed. But the Lord ruled over him anyway. God even said to him, “I call you by name and bestow on you a title of honor, though you do not acknowledge me… I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me.” Cyrus did not acknowledge the Lord as being the one and only true God of the world. He had no intention of carrying out the Lord’s will during his reign. And yet the Lord used him to carry out his will nonetheless. That’s why the Lord saays right in the middle of this prophecy, “I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God.” The Lord wanted to make sure his people understood that no matter what human being had been given the authority to rule on this earth and no matter how anti-Christian they may be, there is no other leader than the Lord.
The same is true today. There is no other leader in this world than the Lord. The worst and cruelest of dictators is ruled by the Lord. The most insignificant of figure heads is ruled by the Lord. The current president of the United States, the next president of the United States, and all future presidents of the United Sates after him will be ruled by the Lord. And since the Lord rules over them all, these current-day leaders have just as much pull and authority in this life as Cyrus did over 2500 years ago: only as much as the Lord allows. Because what God said then he still says now: “I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God.” The Lord rules. He is in control. He decides when leaders begin their reigns and he decides when their reigns end. They do nothing, say nothing, and think nothing without the Lord’s knowledge. There are no “hidden agendas” that escape the Lord’s notice. There are no conspiracies or secrets that go undetected before the Lord’s throne. The Lord knows all things and he is completely and fully in control of all rulers at all times.
And yet despite that fact, elections and changes of leadership and new policies and new rules and new directions always seem to cause a lot of consternation and worry even among Christians. And the devil loves that! He loves when Christians are worried and apprehensive and even angry because of new leaders and what they may or may not do. He loves that because that means our trust is shifting away from the Lord for the time being and onto a person or a government or a system. I’m sure the devil is thrilled when these presidential elections come around every four years in this country, because every time they occur the 1st Commandment - fearing, loving, and trusting in God above all things - is challenged. It is hard to keep that commandment when presidential changes or state management or city decisions or your own company’s policies are not heading in the direction you would like them to be. It is hard to put your trust in God and his promises when things don’t seem to be looking so good with the authorities or the government institutions you are under.
But should it be that hard to trust in God during these times? Haven’t we seen both from Scripture and from history that the Lord has always ruled over all rulers in every situation? Hasn’t he proved to us time and time again that no matter how “bad” a ruler may be that the Lord is still in complete control? So how could we doubt him? How could we not trust that he would still be in control now regardless of who is elected president or placed on a board or hired as a supervisor? But we do, don’t we? We get worried and apprehensive and angry at what will happen or what is happening even though the Lord has promised that he rules in every way.
In fact, the Lord not only rules over the rulers, he even appoints those rulers over which he rules. Daniel says that the Lord is the one who “sets up kings and deposes them” (Daniel 2:21). Any ruler in any country is appointed to that position and ruled over by the Lord. He may use a democratic election to appoint a leader. He may use a line of succession to appoint a leader. He may even use a military coup to appoint a leader. But in any case, the Lord is still in charge. And so worrying about a leader is actually breaking the 1st Commandment. Because the Lord appointed that ruler and he is in charge. Being apprehensive about what is to come because of that leader is breaking the 1st Commandment because the Lord appointed that ruler and he is in charge. Being angry that one particular leader was appointed rather than another is breaking the 1st Commandment because the Lord appointed that ruler and he is in charge. We are no longer fully trusting that the Lord knows what he’s doing. We are not confident that the Lord is still completely in control of the situation. We are showing a little bit of doubt that the Lord, the real Leader, will still be able to use even a seemingly disastrous situation for the good of his people.
Our Leader, the Ruler of rulers, the King of kings, always leads for the sake of his people. And he has used every ruler that he has ever appointed for the good of his children. King Herod, who ruled during Jesus early years, tried to kill Jesus by ordering that all male children two years old and younger be murdered. But the Lord used that ruler he appointed to send Mary and Joseph and that very special child down to Egypt so that the words of the Lord spoken hundreds of years ago by the prophet Hosea would be fulfilled. The Jewish leaders ruled the spiritual lives of the Israelites during that time, but the Lord used the trick questions and false accusations of those rulers that he had appointed to demonstrate his knowledge and his power and his truth to the crowds that were always around him. Pontius Pilate, the Roman ruler of the area, ended up condemning Jesus to death on a cross. And, of course, the Lord used that ruler he had appointed to do just that: send him to the cross. Pilate thought he was in control. Pilate thought he held all authority. He even said to Jesus, “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” And how did Jesus respond? “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above” (John 19:10-11). Pilate wasn’t in control after all. The Lord was. The Lord was in charge. Now that doesn’t mean Pilate should have done it, and he wasn’t forced to do it, but the Lord used that sinful action of that sinful person to wipe away all sins forever. The Lord used Pilate and the Jewish leaders and King Herod and all the rulers of that time who tried to thwart his plan of salvation to actually help bring it to completion! Your sins are forgiven because the Lord rules all rulers. Your sins are forgiven because the Lord rules all sin. You are forgiven because the Lord rules death, the devil, your sinful nature, and everything else. Your sins are forgiven because not only does the Lord rule, he loves. He is powerful enough to forgive you sins and he is loving enough to forgive you sins. And he will continue to do it as long as his children live on this earth.
There will be quite a few angry and disappointed people in this country in 23 days - people who will be apprehensive about the future and dejected about the implications of who holds that presidential title. But you don’t need to be. Because you know who is really in charge. You know who is really in the lead. And you know why he leads. “For the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen,” your Leader says. And then your Leader adds, “I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things.” And so although there may be some new policies that you don’t agree with, the Lord will guide them for the sake of his people. Although there may be some new taxes that might burden us even more than we already are, the Lord will allow them for the sake of his people. Even if the economy never recovers from the slump that it’s in and destroys the way of life that we have come to know and enjoy in this country, the Lord will still handle it for the sake of his people. He is our Leader. He never makes a mistake. He will never harm you. He will never let something happen unless it benefits you. And he has appointed earthly rulers here to carry out that gracious will for his people.
Of course, that doesn’t mean you are to be irresponsible in this life when it comes to the election of those rulers. You have the duty both as a Christian and as a citizen of this country to vote for the candidate you think will carry out the responsibility of leadership in the best way. Vote responsibly. Vote intelligently. But after you cast that vote, leave it in the Lord’s hands. And understand that whatever happens, no matter who is elected, no matter what ruler comes to power in this country or any other: there is really no other leader than the Lord. And he always leads for the sake of his people. And so relax. Don’t get too worked up. Don’t get too disappointed or too excited when you read the paper on the morning of November 5th. Because whatever name happens to make that headline, nothing will have really changed. Everything will have stayed the same. Because the Lord will still rule over the presidency. The Lord will still rule over all rulers. The Lord will still rule over everything. And he always will.
Amen.

“God, the blessed and only ruler, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.” - 1 Tim. 6:15-16