God's Final Say

From our Tuesday Morning Bible Study:

A former Supreme Court Justice once said of the court: "We are not final because we are infallible. We are infallible because we are final." He was speaking of how the Supreme Court's rulings are unimpeachable because the Court has the last say. While theoretically, he was wrong because of the checks and balances of the Constitution; in reality, a U. S. Supreme Court ruling is about inviolable as any decree of man that exists today. In many ways, the Supreme Court has close to absolute power. That should be scary to people.

You may be wondering now how this relates to the Tuesday Bible Study on the Exodus. The connection is this; Pharaoh had absolute power. It is doubtful that anyone has ever dominated a nation as the Pharaohs dominated ancient Egypt. The Pharaohs had such power and self-focus that they would spend a great deal of their reign, not to mention the national budget, building monuments to themselves, many of which still stand today. Not only that, Pharaoh was considered to be a god so his decrees were not just the decrees of a king but of a divine being. The power of modern-day presidents and congressmen pales in comparison to the power of Pharaoh.

Pharaoh's absolute power is probably the reason Paul uses him as the prototype for those who would oppose God's purposes but who must ultimately bend to God's will.

For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” (Romans 9:17)

When Pharaoh refused to release the Israelite slaves, his mighty power was of no concern or consequence to God whose divine purposes do not require the cooperation of man. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, another mighty man who opposed God, realized this when God turned him insane for a period of time. Afterward, He wrote of the Lord God:

I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” (Daniel 3:34-35)

We need to remember these lessons today. Our hearts grow burdened when we see many in the leadership of our nation promoting ideas and policies that directly and explicitly contradict God's word and His divine law. Though the power of these people cannot be compared to the power of a Pharaoh or a Nebuchadnezzar, they arrogantly presume to change laws and customs that have existed for centuries, if not millennia.

As an example, last week, the Supreme Court of the state of Iowa ruled that marriage must be redefined to extend beyond a man and a woman. Yesterday, the Vermont state legislature did the same thing, overturning thousands of years of law, not to mention explicit commands of God, in establishing homosexual marriage. These judges and legislators claim to be doing good even as they despise God's law.

We also see the increase in government funding for those brutal organizations that profit from the killing of unborn children. All the while, the political leaders who support them speak of the "service" these murderers provide as if it was a virtue. In all of this, the condemnations of Scripture are made more clear:

Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5:20)

Though we may be frustrated and dismayed by much of what we see in our nation today, we need not dispair. We must remember the lesson of the Exodus. As with Pharaoh, God will have the final say. He will not allow His laws to be violated with no consequence. In fact, such evil only exists because God permits it so that He may gain greater glory over its inevitable defeat. Let us remember this and praise God through the difficulties knowing that He still rules the hearts of men and the destinies of nations.

Tony

Audio from Tuesday's Study (right click to save)
An End and a Beginning
Handout