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Teach All Nations

Matthew 28:19-20 say:

19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

I ask you to notice above, “teach all nations.”  The Great Commission requires teaching all nations.  We want entire nations to follow Christ.  Will that always occur?  No, but it is a goal.  It is a holy ambition for true churches and believers in those churches following Christ.  How does this relate to Christian nationalism?

In verse 20, part of teaching all nations is “teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.”  Christians should wish the nations in which they live would observe all things Christ commanded.  God’s Word is still the standard for all of mankind.  God will judge everyone based on His rules or laws.

True Christians and their true churches should repudiate all the ways that a nation does not follow the Lord.  They should strive for a nation that follows the Lord.  What Christian would not want a “Christian nation”?  Would that not be a nation that follows Christ in all things?  When Christians go to judge their nation, they should judge it based upon scripture.  They should vote for representatives with the greatest opportunity or possibility of their nation following the standards of God.

Imagining a Christian Nation

What I’m writing so far in this essay is not a form of amillennialism or postmillennialism.  I’m not talking about someone other than Jesus bringing in His kingdom.  Romans 13 says there is “no power but of God” (verse one).  It goes on to say that “rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil” (verse three).  Good works are not arbitrary.  They are only biblical good works.  Evil is as God defines it.  People have liberty only in the context of scriptural regulation or accurate interpretation and application of the Bible.

Rulers in a Christian United States would terrorize evil and elsewise “minister . . . for good” (verse four) only in a biblical or Christian fashion.  Making disciples of the nation requires observing everything Christ wants observed.  Right before His commission in Matthew 28, Jesus said that He possessed all authority for all of heaven and all of earth.  Jesus will judge the world like He owns it and always has owned it.  If we want His judgment to go well for everyone, we must let them know in no uncertain terms.

For sure, Christians of a nation start with the gospel.  No one observes whatsoever Christ says without surrendering first to the gospel.  A nation won’t be Christian without Christians, but when they are Christians, that means what some people have said, “All of Christ for all of life.”  This means Christ rules in the home, at work, and in government.  The words of Christ apply to every earthly institution if Christ will rule.

Jesus and the Christian Nation

Will Christ rule over this world?  Yes, He will.  He will begin a rule with a rod of iron (Psalm 2) when He returns to set up that kingdom on the earth for a thousand years.  So is that it?  Is that all anyone could hope for?  Mainly, yes.  Jesus said in Matthew 18:36, “My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight.”

When Jesus said what He did in Matthew 18:36, one could take it as the following:

Look around.  Does this look like my kingdom?  Of course, not.  This is not anything like my kingdom.  My kingdom is not of this world.

Jesus’ plan was not to force everyone into His kingdom.  He does not coerce people into His kingdom.  His subjects would subject themselves to Him voluntarily.  That’s His plan for His kingdom.

Internal Rule First

External rule of Jesus proceeds from internal rule of Jesus.  The spiritual precedes the physical.  It isn’t mere conformity.  It is transformation.  If a nation skips this transformation step, it’ll probably get something like the seven demons possessing the swept out house (Luke 11).

Kingdoms of this present world, the one Jesus talked about in Matthew 18, as a whole would not come to Him.  That’s why in Matthew 7:13-14, He said the broad road leads to destruction and the vast majority go down that road.  Jesus did not since rescind that statement.  He has not said:  “At some point the broad road would be full of true believers on their way to heaven.”  If Jesus said that, then it is true, no matter what your desires.

Yet, anyone following Christ will follow Him in every arena of life.  A Christian nation can come, but it will come through faith in Christ.  The way to a Christian nation is faith in Christ.  Before nations behave in their governments as if He rules, they will receive Him to rule their own personal lives.  One should expect that true Christians in a government would function like Christians.

Christians don’t want a pagan government.  They don’t want an idolatrous government.  True Christians as much as possible want a Christian government.  To the degree that it is one, it can be a Christian nation.

How a Christian Nation Might Occur

If churches are barely Christian, and if all of Christ is not even all of the church, no one should expect that of the whole nation.  This is a simple less than and greater than — not about what is most important, but sheer population size of the institution.  Jesus should rule each Christian — one.  Then He should rule each family — two to fifteen (let’s estimate), then each church — ten to five thousand, and then each government or nation — several thousands to a billion.  The order matters.  The latter won’t occur without the former.  You can’t get to a Christian nation without getting to quite a few single Christians, who received a true gospel.

No Christian should hope to see a Christian nation without making one disciple.  Yet, Jesus commanded, “Teach (make disciples) all nations.”  In other words, “Make all nations disciples.”  He didn’t command, “Make disciples of, as in part of, all nations.”  The goal is whole nations.  BDAG says concerning the Greek term translated “nations”: “a body of persons united by kinship, culture, and common traditions.”

What Christ Would Have It

The goal, all of Christ for all of life for all of the world, must envision whole nations.  Scripture must get to every institution God instituted.  Scott Aniol, who has written a book on this subject (that I have not yet read), it seems, would call this position, “Christian Faithfulness.”  Scripture does envision a kingdom of Christ on earth to come and tells us what it will be.  Anything that might call itself a Christian nation should not be something less than what Christ would have it.

Christians can’t skip steps to get to Christian nationalism.  It starts with internal rule, spiritual transformation.  Anything else would essentially say, “Christians fight.”  Get armed and loaded and ready for when the pagans who saturate our government take our power away.  Without true Christians, what would that nation or government look like on the other side of that fight?  Christ has us here now as pilgrims and strangers.  Anything beyond that, that might come before the kingdom Christ sets up, will come in an organic way.  It will be obvious, which right now, it’s not even close to obvious.

More to Come