One great benefit of this presidential election is that it may cure Bible believing Christians of putting their hope for change in political action. It certainly has done that for me. I wish there was a “none of the above” line on the ballot. Daniel the prophet had a vision that is so relevant for us. He saw a huge dazzling statue that represented human civilization. Its head was of gold, its chest and arm was sliver, its middle and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. the differences in composition represented a series of four kingdoms which would rule the known world. Then he saw a rock cut out of a mountain but not by human hands. The rock struck the statue’s feet and the statue collapsed, disintegrated into dust and was blown away by the wind. Then the stone grew and became a mountain that dominated the earth. Daniel gives this interpretation: “In the days of those kings (the fourth kingdom i.e. Rome), the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed….It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever….”
During the Roman empire our Lord Jesus inaugurated his rule by defeating the power of sin and Satan on the cross and now rules as Lord. He is advancing the rule of God through his people the Church one conversion at a time. The governments of this world, no matter how good, will be supplanted by Jesus’ Rule. His kingdom is our only hope and the world’s only hope. So this election has made my need to focus on that all the more clear. It has also shown me the importance and urgency of our work for Christ in this world. We are representatives of his rule, pointing people to his grace by what we do and what we say.