One way church and state must mix

Sometimes the Old Testament prophets seem to speak in riddles. I had to do a little homework to understand the ideas expressed in my devotional reading for today. It is Isaiah 28:16-17 and says:

So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed. I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line; hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie, and water will overflow your hiding place. Your covenant with death will be annulled; your agreement with the grave will not stand. When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by, you will be beaten down by it.”

In those days, the people of Judah had developed a carelessness in their spiritual lives. The leaders were responsible to guide and keep the people concerned about godliness, but they were not doing their job and instead boasted of several things. One was that they claimed to have made a covenant with death so the scourge (punishment God was going to send via the Assyrians) could not touch them. In their deceived and deceptive state, a lie had become their refuge.

One of my books explains that in this passage, Isaiah was using imagery rich with the symbolism of Semitic mythology. For example, the Ugaritic pantheon personified death as the god of the underworld. The leaders of Judah were trusting such gods to save them from the coming Assyrian invasion. History proves that their faith in these false gods was entirely futile.

In these verses, God speaks of a stone and the sure foundation. Most Bible scholars say that is pointing to Jesus Christ, the only basis for physical and spiritual salvation. (Isaiah may have understood that this cornerstone was the Messiah, or maybe understood it as genuine belief in the Lord, but other passages point to Christ as the Cornerstone, such as Zechariah 10:4, Ephesians 2:20 and 1 Peter 2:6.)

In these verses, the Lord also responds to their boasting. He was not going to let them get away with shoddy leadership. He says their covenant with death would be annulled, their lie swept away, and their defeat was certain.

In today’s world, our political leaders are supposed to be concerned with what is best for the people too. To do that, they must care about justice and they must set a good example. Unfortunately, separation of church and state leaves spiritual care off all political to-do lists, but this rule about separation seems to go even farther and give some leaders an excuse for thinking they are exempt from the laws of God.

I can’t point fingers but I read that a government official in Washington, D.C. once quipped, “We have three parties in this city: the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, and the cocktail party.” The same story (from Willpower’s Not Enough, Harper & Row, 1989; p. 13) says that Washington, D.C. is high on the list of cities noted for alcohol consumption.

This same source says (at that time) alcohol and nicotine kill 450,000 people annually, while illegal drugs kill about 6,000. Of course illegal drugs are unacceptable, but this raises a question: Is there any hope for the leaders of an affluent, pleasure-loving society that gives lip service to religion and ignores the tragic consequences of their own behavior? If God is going to judge us on the basis of our behavior, what will happen to them, and to us?

My devotional book comments on the way God will measure a person’s religion. These verses in Isaiah hint that it will be by the Cornerstone, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the plumb line that determines what is straight and what is crooked. While He was often seen eating and drinking with sinners, His leadership was not marked by alcohol consumption or nicotine. Instead, He was “anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power, and went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him” (Acts 10:38).

Today’s political and religious leaders are bedfellows in one sense; far too many leaders in both realms are more concerned with popularity and power than they are with doing good and opposing evil. I’m wondering if God will deal with both in the same manner that He dealt with His people in Isaiah’s time? Will He annul all false hopes, sweep away all lies? Will He send another nation (even one more evil) to defeat all arrogance and self-confidence?

I hope not. I hope that there are many honest leaders in our land, people of integrity who want to do what is right and want to lead the people with justice, leaders who are without spiritual idolatry, covetousness, presumption, false hopes, and vain props.

For those who are, leading as God desires leadership is not easy. I’m not a leader, just an ordinary person who wants to do what is right and just, and who wants to be personally moral and live a godly life, yet I am in a continual battle to do so. If this is tough for me, those who are on the front lines must struggle even more to do what is right. How can I be an influence for good in all of this? 1 Timothy 2:1-4 gives me the answer:

Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Christians, even ordinary ones who feel that they don’t know a thing about political or spiritual leadership, can pray for those who are up there, even those who are not doing their job very well or those who are resisting goodness. We must do this, first that they know and live the truth, but also remembering that when God deals with their folly, it will not only affect them, but us as well.