English historian Lord Acton said, “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.” He also said, “Be not content with the best book; seek sidelights from the others; have no favorites.”
It seems to me that Lord Acton didn’t know what the best book says. For instance, Mark 16:19-10 says, “So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs.”
No one on earth has the absolute power of Jesus Christ. He sits not only in the ultimate place of honor, but also the ultimate place of power at the right hand of the Father. Through Him, His disciples turned the world upside down. Through Him, lives are changed, human events are governed. Jesus Christ is the Lord of all, yet no one is more pure, more holy. There is no trace of corruption in Him.
Further, His Word is the best book, not merely because it is an annual best seller, but because through it, He speaks. God uses His Book to soften hearts, judge sin, and change lives. If I could have no other book, I would be content with this one, the best book.
Other points of importance come out of this passage in Mark. One is that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and my blessed Lord sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high in the same human body which He wore upon earth. While glorified beyond my imagination, He reigns in heaven “with the same pure, spotless, holy, and immortal humanity which He assumed in the womb of the Virgin, and which He offered as a sacrifice upon the cross” (from today’s Ears from Harvested Sheaves).
There Jesus is at the right hand of God as mediator between God and me. This man Jesus is fully God yet fully human and as both He serves as my advocate with the Father. He is for me a brother, counselor, leader, guide and friend. He is enthroned in glory and His power is absolute, yet He holds all this in purity, not corruption.
What a contrast to today’s leaders. World news is filled with the violence of powerful people who use their strength to overthrow, maim, and murder even the innocents who stand or happen to be in their way. The leaders in my own country are threatened by those who oppose them, not for the greater good, but so they can be in power instead.
Lord Acton’s quote is well known and most think it means that when a person has power, then that power corrupts him or her. I think it is power itself that corrupts. Everyone who wants it loses sight of all things fair and good. Everyone who thinks they must have it forgets the needs of others. Everyone who grabs for power loses all sense of right and wrong, that is, everyone but Jesus Christ.
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