During the Easter season, we Christians celebrate the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Whether or not you like the name Easter, or whether or not you believe we should celebrate a holiday that isn’t in the Bible, it is good to celebrate the resurrection. After all, Jesus was “declared to be the Son of God” by rising from the dead (Rom. 1:3-4). But the burial and resurrection of our Lord were not the only important events to take place after His death. Though they happened a while after Christ’s death, we must not forget His ascension and coronation. Sometime after Jesus rose from the grave, He also rose from the earth to return to heaven. When He returned to heaven He was crowned as King, and sat down to rule at the right hand of His Father.
This is what is being described in Daniel 7:13-14. Many think this passage is referring to Christ’s 2nd coming, but look carefully and you’ll see it’s clearly referring to Jesus’ return to heaven after His resurrection. It says “one like the Son of Man” (obviously Jesus) was coming with the clouds (v. 13). But where is He coming to? Daniel says that the one like the Son of Man came “to” the Ancient of Days, not “from.” If you’ll remember, Jesus returned to His Father in a cloud (Acts 1:9). So, what we see in Daniel 7 is not Christ returning to earth, but rather Him returning to His Father after His time on earth. When Jesus returns to the Father, He is given rulership over “peoples, nations, and languages” (v. 14).
Jesus is now ruling the nations. That is what the Son of God does. The resurrection showed that Jesus is the Son of God (Rom 1:3-4). When we hear the term “Son of God,” we are rightly reminded of His deity. But this title means more than that, it describes one of the major roles that Christ has. In Psalm 2, we read that the nations of the earth are in rebellion to God the Father (vv. 1-3). In response to this, God coronates a King (v. 6). This King will be given authority over the nations and their rulers (vv. 8-12). This nation-ruling King is God’s Son (v. 7, 12). The title “Son of God” is a reference to the one who rules all the nations on earth.
This is why Jesus is also called “the King of kings.” King Nebuchadnezzar ruled over the kings that he had conquered. This is why he is described as a king of kings (Dan. 2:37). Since Jesus is now ruling over all the kings of the earth (Rev. 1:5), He is called the King of kings (1 Tim. 6:15; Rev. 17:14).
Understanding this fact will have a profound impact on your view of foreign policy. A king is the highest official in a nation. God has ordained government authorities at the local and national levels, but the only authority above the national level is His Son. To seek to give authority over multiple nations to any person or group of people, is to try to dethrone God’s Son. This is no small sin.
Since humanists don’t acknowledge the God of the Bible (or His Son), they seek to give His nation-ruling authority to the United Nations. Whereas, in the Bible, the answer to the bad behavior of the nations is Jesus the Messiah, for the humanist, the U.N. is the messiah who will (they hope) usher in world peace.
But humanists aren’t the only ones guilty of this sin. Modern Christians and conservatives can also be guilty of placing their faith in another messiah. Many conservatives are really just as humanistic as their liberal counterparts. These conservatives are obviously not going to acknowledge Christ as the King of kings. But many Christians are confused on this issue as well. The majority of modern American Christians do not believe that Jesus is now ruling the earth. They believe that Satan is now ruling, and that Christ will only rule the world when He returns to earth.
The verses we have looked at, and several dozen other passages, prove this view to be wrong (I deal with this issue in some of my lectures on eschatology). But since many Christians and conservatives don’t believe that Christ is now ruling the nations, they believe that it is the job of the United States to keep the peace, punish the bad nations, protect the good ones, etc. This is the view that I used to have. I thought that it was the job of the United States to keep nations from harming one another. I thought that we Americans had the right to tell the other nations what weapons they can or can’t have. I thought that since we are the good guys, we have the moral obligation to bring peace, liberty, and justice to the rest of the world.
However, I now know that our President is not the President of presidents, Christ is. Our federal government doesn’t have legitimate authority over the other nations. It can, of course, defend our nation against aggressors, but it doesn’t rule the world.
Furthermore, I no longer believe that “we” do that much good in the world. Remember that when people say “we” need to get involved in policing the nations, what they really mean is that our government needs to get involved. Our government isn’t good and moral. It doesn’t promote liberty, righteousness, etc., here at home, so why should we think that it is making the rest of the world better? God has commissioned the church to make the world a better place (Matt. 28:18-20), not the government.
I can already hear the objection to my thesis: “If Jesus is running the world now, He’s not doing a very good job!” Oh be careful what you say. For years, the U.N. and the U.S.A. have been failing miserably in their attempts to run the world, don’t blame their mess on Him. But if He’s in charge, can’t He stop them from making a mess?
Yes, He can. And that brings me to my next point. Just because He doesn’t rule the way you or I would want, doesn’t mean He isn’t ruling. Psalm 2 says that if the nations and their rulers don’t “serve the LORD with fear” they will “perish” (vv. 11-12). Why are the economies of Europe in so much trouble? Why is American society getting worse and worse? Because they aren’t serving the Lord and neither do they fear Him. When a nation turns its back on the Son of God, He turns them over to their own sinful desires, and if they don’t repent, they will perish. The fact that godless nations are in trouble shows me that Jesus is punishing them for their refusal to acknowledge His rule. He is the ruler of the nations, and they ignore Him at their own peril.