God's Boundaries on Government

[Read Deuteronomy 17:14-20, Daniel 4:28-33]

The constant battle of the parent is the battle of drawing lines. The constant pull of a child is to see how close to those lines they can get without getting in trouble. Or, should I say, the constant pull of the child is to see how far over the line they can go before they get in trouble. This is particularly noticeable during the phase that is commonly called "the terrible twos." It's called the terrible twos because the child has entered into a phase where they've found out they have the power to rebel in new ways, and with this new found power has also come the curiosity of how much rebellion they can get away with. You tell them not to touch something and they will see how closely they can get their finger to the object without touching it. You tell them to sit on a chair in timeout and they will sit on the floor. It's a constant non-stop battle of trying to figure out how close they can get to the line, or how far they can cross the line without any punishment.

This doesn't get any better with age either. As many of you know, I was a youth pastor for over ten years. What do you think was the number one question I was asked by middle schoolers and teenagers? How far is too far? That's the question. Often, because hormones are raging, the question was related to matters of sexuality. How close can they get to the line without crossing the line? That's what they wanted to know. This is no different than the terrible twos. They're just bigger, have more ability to rebel and disobey, and are trying to figure out how much rebellion they can get away with.

This doesn't get any better with adults. This same question comes up regularly with adults when it comes to matters of sexuality. To bring up my point from my last sermon, this comes up when talking about speeding. How much can I cross the line and still be alright? This time of year, it comes up with adults and taxes. How much can I fudge the numbers in order to pay less taxes? How close can I get to the line without crossing the line? It comes to matters of tithing. It comes to matters of drinking and drugs. It comes in matters of lying. Really, we start having this conversation in our brain whenever we begin evaluating any of the ten commandments. How close can I get to the line, or how far can I cross the line, without getting in trouble? It's really part of our rebellious, human nature.

And because this is a human problem, and governments are made up of humans, this is also a problem with governments. There is a tendency for governments to see how close they can get to the line, or how far they can cross the line without getting in trouble. That's what we see happening in our passage from Daniel. I think it's really important to remember what has already happened in the book of Daniel up to this point. In chapter one, Nebuchadnezzar sees how God has blessed Daniel and his friends for their faithfulness to their God and continues to promote them in his kingdom. In chapter two, Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar his dream and interprets it for him, which results in Nebuchadnezzar praising God and proclaiming him as God of God and Lord of kings. In chapter three, we have the fiery furnace incident with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abdenego, where God protects them and it again results in Nebuchadnezzar praised God again and makes a public declaration that praises God for having an everlasting kingdom that will never end. Now, in chapter four, Nebuchadnezzar has another dream which Daniel interprets, warning him about his pride and arrogance and refusal to submit to God. If he doesn't, something bad is going to happen. All of this is important for setting up what's about to happen. Nebuchadnezzar knows! He knows who God is and how powerful he is and that he is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and that he has an everlasting kingdom and is the ruler of the earth. He knows these things.

Yet, we read this: “At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, and the king answered and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?”” (Daniel 4:29–30, ESV). This is that tendency I was talking about. It's this tendency in the human heart to cross lines. Even though Nebuchadnezzar knew all of those things about God, he still stood on the roof of his palace and proclaimed two things-two major tendencies for governments to cross lines: power and glory. Nebuchadnezzar says, "I build this with my power and I build this for my glory." This is why the Belgic Confession makes this statement: "[Governments] should do this while completely refraining from every tendency toward exercising absolute authority..." There is a tendency for governments to cross lines when it comes to their power and authority. I would also add that there is a tendency for governments to cross the line when it comes to their glory. This is why Calvin says, "For we know how insatiable are the desires of kings, inasmuch as they imagine that all things are lawful to them. Therefore, although the royal dignity may be splendid, God would not have it to be the pretext of unrestrained power, but restricts and limits it to legal bounds."

This is why God responds to Nebuchadnezzar the way he does. We read, “While the words were still in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you, and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.”” (Daniel 4:31–32, ESV). This was God's way of telling Nebuchadnezzar that he had crossed the line. It was God's way of reminding Nebuchadnezzar who was King of Kings and Lord of Lords and whose kingdom would last forever and ever. It was God's way of reminding Nebuchadnezzar who really had the power and the authority.

Another way to say all of this is that God has not only created government to provide restraint to the wickedness that runs rampant on the earth, but God has also placed restraints on the government itself. They are not given absolute authority. They are not able to do whatever they want to do. There are limits placed on them. That's why the Belgic confession goes on to say, "[Governments] should do this while completely refraining from every tendency toward exercising absolute authority, and while functioning in the sphere entrusted to them, with the means belonging to them." It's reminding us that governments are going to have a tendency to overstep their bounds, to cross lines, but that God has given them a sphere to operate within. He placed boundaries on what they can and cannot do. He's also given them tools that they can use, and has told them they cannot use other tools (We'll be getting into that next week). In this passage in Daniel, God is reminding Nebuchadnezzar about those limits and punished him when he crossed the line and went beyond the limits.

In our other passage this morning, we see God doing something similar but in a completely different way. Remember my last sermon, how I talked about how God had promised his people a king? I want you to see one of those places. We read this promise from God to Abraham: "I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you.” (Genesis 17:6, ESV). So, we see this promise that kings will come from Abraham's line, which is a promise that eventually there will be kings. Yet, because of the sinfulness of Israel, this didn't all come about smoothly and in the proper order. In my last sermon, we saw how God eventually allowed them to have a king. In this week's passage, we see God setting the entire thing up way before it happened. Saul became a king around 1000 BC and this is being written somewhere around 1400 BC. So, we're talking about this happening about 400 years prior to Israel finally getting a king. God says, “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.” (Deuteronomy 17:14–15, ESV). So, God is helping them see what's going to happen. Eventually, they are going to ask for a king, and he's going to give them a king. However, notice how he immediately sets boundaries on the entire situation. God says, I will choose the king. This is a reminder that Israel doesn't get to do whatever they want to do in this situation, and neither does the king. God is still on the throne and God is still placing boundaries around this institution.

I mean, the rest of this passage is all about God placing boundaries around the role of the king. Not only are there limits and boundaries placed on who can be king, but also on what the king can do. The king is told not to acquire too many horses, which is talking about acquiring too much power. The king is told not to acquire too many wives, because it will not work out well for him or the nation. The king is told not to acquire too much wealth. All of these restrictions placed on the king.

God also gives the king some commands. We read, “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,” (Deuteronomy 17:18–19, ESV). The king is told that he is supposed to hand write his own copy of God's Law and read it every day of his life and then govern accordingly. Ultimately, the king is commanded to fear God and keep his commandments as he carries out his duties. These are all clear boundaries that God is placing upon the government. God has given them a sphere to operate it and they are not to go beyond that sphere.

There's been quite a bit of thought about this over the years. One of the primary names known for this is a guy named Abraham Kuyper, a Dutch guy who has deep connections with the CRCNA. He was a pastor, a theologian, AND the Prime Minister of the Netherlands. So, he's thought a lot about these things. He coined this term called "sphere sovereignty" in talking about all of these different spheres in society and the roles they have and the authority they have in those roles. It can get kinda complicated at times, but the basic idea is that God has given certain entities, certain jobs, certain tools, certain authority to do their job with the tools they have been given, and those entities are not to go beyond those limits. Kuyper talks about a wide variety of spheres, but I just want to talk about three obvious ones: Family, Church, Government. I think we recognize that each of these spheres has different levels of authority, differing roles to fulfill in the world, and differing tools given to them. I think we clearly understand that the church should not be doing the work of the family, nor the work of the government. It's also the case that the government should not be doing the work of the church, nor the work of the family. These are all different spheres with differing roles in society that have been given to them by God, with different tools to accomplish those roles.

Now, I realize that I'm speaking in somewhat vague language right now. That's because we're going to get into this in more detail next week. So, come back next week to hear more :-) However, the point of this message is to focus solely on this portion of the Belgic Confession: "They should do this while completely refraining from every tendency toward exercising absolute authority, and while functioning in the sphere entrusted to them, with the means belonging to them." It's a reminder to us that governments have this tendency toward exercising authority and power beyond the sphere God has given them-they have a tendency to cross those lines. But God has given them boundaries. He has told the government what its job is, what tools it is to use in doing it's job, and they are not to cross those boundaries. They are not God. He is God. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and his kingdom is the everlasting kingdom that will not end. Or, as I begin each worship service, it's a reminder from Revelation 1: “Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood” (Revelation 1:4–5, ESV).

This is also the continual reminder of why we do not put our hope and trust in governments, or political leaders, or elections. They have failed over and over and over again. In many ways, we could say that Adam was the first king because he was told to rule and reign over the earth and take dominion. How did that work out? He failed. What about the first legitimate king of Israel, Saul? He failed. How about David, the man after God's own heart? He failed. How about the next one, Solomon, with all wisdom? He failed by literally doing everything God told him not to do in Deuteronomy. And every king and every government has failed from Adam until this day...except one.

Jesus is the ruler of the kings of this earth. The failure of kings and governments creates a longing in us for a greater king, a greater government, a greater ruler. That's Jesus. He's the only one in whom we can place our hope because he hasn't failed as a king. Rather, he laid down his life so that we could enter into his everlasting kingdom, a kingdom that will be filled with justice and mercy and peace forever and ever. A kingdom that will surpass any earthly kingdom that has ever existed. That's where we put our hope, that's the kingdom we long for and pray for every day as we pray, "Your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."