The Greatness of Christ’s Government and Peace
By Dave Kubal
Isaiah also said that this son’s government—his rule—would increase, and that it would keep right on increasing, without end. Not only that, but his government would also bring in universal peace, and this too would be without end (Isa. 9:6–7).
The Bible teaches that God is the Almighty Sovereign over all kings and all nations—for all time. His rule is all-encompassing, transcendent, and supreme.
But here’s a surprise: He is also pleased to give His Church divine authority to rule along with Him—to help direct the nations in accordance with His will and as He pleases. He makes His chosen people co-regents in His peaceful worldwide rule.
Probably the most important way we’re to be Christ’s co-rulers and His joint-heirs of all things can be summed up in just one word: prayer.
That’s right: ceaseless, fervent, faithful prayer—that’s our chief means of exercising Christ’s divine authority in the earth. Our calling as intercessors is paramount. And it’s non-negotiable.
It’s our divine calling and privilege to pray to the holy Sovereign of the universe for the prophesied increase of Christ’s rule among all the nations, and for the spread of His peace, principally by means of advancing His gospel of salvation throughout the whole earth. This is our first responsibility as Christian believers.
Fulfill or Forfeit
But, especially here in America, God has given us yet another means of exercising His dominion and authority in the governance of all things. This can be summed up in two words: the vote.
I really can’t stress strongly enough the vital importance of those two things for us as Christian citizens and believers: to pray fervently and to vote wisely.
Let’s look at these things a bit more closely. The increase of Christ’s rule in the earth certainly has a personal or individual component. We see this in the worldwide advance of the gospel of His Kingdom—soul by soul, person by person.
Remember, this aspect of Christ’s dominion began in the first century with just 120 believers in Jerusalem. Today, only 2,000 years later, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ number nearly 2.5 billion worldwide. That’s what I call increase!
But the increase of Christ’s rule also has a civil component. And that means nations.
Patrick Henry once said, “There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations.”
Did you catch that? Entire nations have destinies, just as individuals do. That is both exhilarating and sobering: It tells us that we as a nation have a destiny before God that we can either fulfill or forfeit. This is an awesome responsibility.
Every nation is unique, and every national destiny is unique. And the most unique thing about America’s destiny is our system of government, and that can be described in one word: freedom.
America’s Unique Destiny
We Americans have cherished our freedom since the very founding of our republic in 1776. We thank God for our freedoms to speak and think and worship—and we thank Him for our freedom to choose our leaders by voting.
Maybe the very best thing we’ve been able to give the nations of the world is our model and example of a free and electoral system of government. Not quite 300 years ago, not a single nation in the world had any chance to participate in electing any of those in authority over them. But the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution helped us, by God’s grace, to establish ourselves as the first nation to choose its leaders through a democratic process. And that initial model of freedom has been growing in the world ever since.
Today, in 2024, more than 60 nations—totaling nearly half the world’s population—will hold elections to choose those who govern them. This represents more voters in total than ever before in history. It’s extraordinary.
God has blessed America in allowing us to bless other nations by means of our unique destiny.
All of this brings us back to this: Our responsibility to exercise Christ’s heavenly Kingdom authority, as His co-heirs and co-regents and also as citizens of the earthly kingdom, involves equally our prayers and our votes. We must be fervent and faithful with the first, and wise and prudent with the second.
God has ordained the Church to foster our spiritual lives, and He has ordained the government to administer our civil lives. The Church is not to seek to be a theocracy, and the government isn’t charged with providing spiritual leadership to the people. There needn’t be any kind of a “wall of separation between Church and state,” as we often hear, but in Scripture God has instituted a clear distinction between the roles and functions of the two.
Still, it’s clear that the Lord expects government leaders to have integrity, to be worthy of respect, and to have a fear of God. The Church, for its part, is not to enforce law, but it is to inform morals and teach a proper understanding of civics.
Relentless Prayer
We are now entering an election season in our country that many are rightly calling unprecedented in its scope and significance. Politically, this country is vitriolic, divided, and polarized as never before. Corruption is rampant. Public trust is at an all-time low. We can’t even trust the legitimacy of our own elections. And we can’t trust the news media, either. In too many ways, our national security has been compromised, jeopardized, and imperiled.
Not only that, but powerful elites in our culture and government grow increasingly bent on silencing all non-establishment opinion and dissent, up to and including the public expression of religious values and opinions—especially Christian ones.
This is quite a fall for the nation that was the first in the world to hold democratic elections and to have constitutionally established freedom of speech, of religion, and of the press.
So, what do we do?
We approach our voting and this election season in the power of relentless intercessory prayer. We dare not do any less. We must not waver. This is no time to quit praying. If anything, we’ll have to press in all the harder—maybe harder than we ever have before. We’ll have to pray and keep praying as if everything depends on it.
Because it does.
In Order to Thrive
Good government is essential, even vital, if any nation is to thrive. Even some reports from such decidedly not American or Christian entities as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank suggest that nations thrive when their governments focus on enforcing the rule of law, decreasing corruption, and ensuring trustworthy elections. These actions on the part of governments tend to produce citizens who are economically productive and live satisfied, peaceable lives.
Equally important, religious faith is imperative for a healthy society. One Pew Research study of 25 nations found that people who are actively religious as part of a faith community are about 50 percent more likely to describe themselves as fulfilled or even “very happy.”1
In taking on our responsibilities as free citizens of what we’ve always known as a free nation, we need to vote prudently and with all the wisdom that comes from God. We need to stay informed from trustworthy sources, and we must always vote our values—as formed by the Word of God.
Above all, we must vote with a heart that is after God’s own heart. That matters more than anything else.
Pray and Vote
Let’s remember: ours is a unique calling. We’re called to declare the greatness of the Kingdom of Christ and the increase of His government and His peace. We’re called to spread His dominion. We’re called to exercise His authority in all aspects of human life. And we’re called to pray for the establishment of His rule in all things.
And our nation still has a unique destiny—a destiny that has come direct from the Divine Sovereign Himself. What if our prayers make the difference between forfeiting that destiny and fulfilling it?
Vibrant church life and lawful civil government are both important, and both are necessary if America is to continue to thrive.
That’s the way we ought to pray and to vote going forward.
1Pew Research, “Religion’s Relationship to Happiness, Civic Engagement and Health Around the World,” January 31, 2019, https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2019/01/31/religions-relationship-to-happiness-civic-engagement-and-health-around-the-world/.
DAVE KUBAL is CEO and president of Intercessors for America. He also serves on the boards for America’s National Prayer Committee and the National Day of Prayer Task Force. His recent book, We Declare: 31 Days of Intercession for America was recently published by PrayerShop Publishing.
Taken from Prayer Connect magazine. To see rest of the articles in Issue 57 – The Shaping of a Nation, click here. To subscribe to Prayer Connect, click here.
