Some Biblical Descriptions of the Institution of the State

[Invisible Man]

Throughout the Bible there are many descriptions of the institution of the state. I don't have an exhaustive or systematic list. But I thought it would be helpful to collect some here. Feel free to add others.

"And he said, 'This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots. He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties, will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants. And he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants. And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day.' ” (1 Sam 8:11-18)

"The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the rulers take counsel together,
Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,
'Let us break Their bonds in pieces
And cast away Their cords from us.' ” (Psalm 2:2-3)

"If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent perversion of justice and righteousness in a province, do not marvel at the matter; for high official watches over high official, and higher officials are over them." (Ecclesiastes 5:8)

"You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them." (Matt 20:25//Mark 10:42//Luke 22:25)

"Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.And the devil said to Him, 'All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.' And Jesus answered and said to him, 'Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve." ' " (Luke 4:5-8)

The state's judges are "unrighteous," "have no standing in the church," and are "unbelievers" (1 Cor 6:1, 4, 6)

"These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast.These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful....For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled." (Rev 17:13-14, 17)

"'Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the]abundance of her luxury.' And I heard another voice from heaven saying, 'Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.'" (Rev 18:2-5)

"The kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her will weep and lament for her, when they see the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’" (Rev 18:9-10)

 

[ClaytonB]

[FONT=&]Throughout the Bible there are many descriptions of the institution of the state. I don't have an exhaustive or systematic list. But I thought it would be helpful to collect some here. Feel free to add others.[/FONT]

[FONT=&]"And he said, “This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint [/FONT][FONT=&]them[/FONT][FONT=&] for his own chariots and [/FONT][FONT=&]to be[/FONT][FONT=&] his horsemen, and [/FONT][FONT=&]some[/FONT][FONT=&] will run before his chariots. He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties, [/FONT][FONT=&]will set some[/FONT][FONT=&] to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and [/FONT][FONT=&]some[/FONT][FONT=&] to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters [/FONT][FONT=&]to be[/FONT][FONT=&] perfumers, cooks, and bakers. And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give [/FONT][FONT=&]them[/FONT][FONT=&] to his servants. He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants. And he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put [/FONT][FONT=&]them[/FONT][FONT=&] to his work. He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants. And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day.” (1 Sam 8:11-18)[/FONT]

[FONT=&]"The kings of the earth set themselves,[/FONT]
[FONT=&]And the rulers take counsel together,[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Against the Lord and against His Anointed, [/FONT][FONT=&]saying,
'[/FONT][FONT=&]Let us break Their bonds in pieces[/FONT]
[FONT=&]And cast away Their cords from us.' ” (Psalm 2:2-3)[/FONT]

[FONT=&]"If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent perversion of justice and righteousness in a province, do not marvel at the matter; for high official watches over high official, and higher officials are over them." (Ecclesiastes 5:8)[/FONT]

[FONT=&]"You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them." (Matt 20:25)[/FONT]

[FONT=&]"Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.And the devil said to Him, 'All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for [/FONT][FONT=&]this[/FONT][FONT=&] has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.” And Jesus answered and said to him, [[/FONT][FONT=&]e[/FONT][FONT=&]]“Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve." ' " (Luke 4:5-8)[/FONT]

[FONT=&]The state's judges are "unrighteous," "have no standing in the church," and are "unbelievers" (1 Cor 6:1, 4, 6)[/FONT]

[FONT=&]"These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast.[/FONT][FONT=&]These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those [/FONT][FONT=&]who are[/FONT][FONT=&] with Him [/FONT][FONT=&]are[/FONT][FONT=&] called, chosen, and faithful....For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled." (Rev 17:13-14, 17)[/FONT]

[FONT=&]"'Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! [/FONT][FONT=&]For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the]abundance of her luxury.' And I heard another voice from heaven saying, 'Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.'" (Rev 18:2-5)[/FONT]

[FONT=&]"The kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her will weep and lament for her, when they see the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’" (Rev 18:9-10)[/FONT]

The State-worshipers in the pews of Churchianity clearly have never bothered to read their own Bible to understand the final fate of the idol they worship:

Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh. (Rev. 19:19-21)

The State and the wicked one in whose image the State was created are both going to be eternally destroyed by Jesus Christ when he returns.

Beware what you worship!

 

[Invisible Man]

It's only fair also to mention that Romans 13:1-7 and 1 Peter 2:13-17 also both include descriptive statements about the institution of the state.

I left these out of the OP partly because I felt that they already got an out-of-balance level of attention given to them whenever this question comes up, which passages like those in the OP might help to recalibrate, and partly because I thought they would require more commentary as opposed to simple quotation.

One point that is often missed about both Romans 13:1-7 and 1 Peter 2:13-17 is that the statements they make about the powers that be/human institutions/rulers/etc., indeed are purely descriptive and not at all prescriptive. The passages do have prescriptions to Christians living as subjects under the rule of those powers. But they include not a single word of prescription given to those powers themselves. This makes perfect sense, of course, given that the prescriptions given in those epistles should naturally be given to the audiences of the epistles, which were generally speaking not members of the ruling class. When these passages make statements about the powers, they are not talking about what the powers *ought* to be, or would be in some ideal situation, or will be in some future messianic age when Christians take over the government. They are talking about the very same rulers who were at that time persecuting Peter, Paul, and the members of their churches.

Recognizing this fact should make readers of those passages ask, "How can this be? We obviously know all too well that these rulers often reward evil and punish good."

I think when readers allow themselves to register that thought and think through what Peter and Paul are saying and mean to accomplish in those passages, they are better able to notice and understand what they actually do and don't say. I may comment more on this point in a future comment.

 

[ClaytonB]

purely descriptive and not at all prescriptive.

In the depth of the doomsday virus:



Earlier in the doomsday virus:

Recognizing this fact should make readers of those passages ask, "How can this be? We obviously know all too well that these rulers often reward evil and punish good."

I think when readers allow themselves to register that thought and think through what Peter and Paul are saying and mean to accomplish in those passages, they are better able to notice and understand what they actually do and don't say. I may comment more on this point in a future comment.

When we get there (the New Heavens and New Earth), the State itself will be obliterated. Note that the Crown/Throne will not be obliterated. What's the difference?

The Crown/Throne is "the seat of power" and, in the end of all things, this will be revealed to the whole creation to be Jesus. The seat of power is eternal and cannot be destroyed. The State, however, is the fallen world's attempt to administer the powers of the Crown in the (apparent) absence of the Crowned One. It is a zombie government, a headless beast, a blindly flailing monster whose only real instruments of regulation are fear, ignorance, subjugation, abuse, enslavement, hatred, and so on. It is created in the image of Satan himself, and it answers only to him. It is diametrically opposed to the fruits of the Spirit in every fiber of its being. Every atom of its existence is pure and utter hostility and opposition to God and everything that is good, true and beautiful. The fallen State is, at its core, absolutely reprobate and irredeemable, and this is why the Beast of Revelation (the personification of the fallen State) is hurled into the lake of fire along with his master, the Dragon, in whose image he is made.

Violence cannot substitute for reason. It can only destroy reason.

Violence cannot substitute for morality. It can only destroy morality.

Violence as the final threat for the enforcement of public law is flatly incompatible with God's good order. In this present evil world, the reason to obey is not that you are morally obligated to God but, rather, to avoid the policeman's nightstick, the jailer's bars, and the judge's fines. The need for such blunt instruments in this present fallen world is real -- that much is beyond dispute. But that's like saying that the need to chain a vicious rabid dog where it cannot bite you is real. The real solution is that the rabid dog must be put down, and then the chains can be beaten into something that is actually useful to the ends of peace and prosperity.

And that is precisely what Scripture says is going to be done to the kings of the earth and the Beast, who are the personification of the fallen State-principle, that is, "order" through violence. It is not real order, it is simply a global condition of such weak existence (we are all barely clinging to life, whether righteous or wicked) that the wickedness that men intend to bring about is constantly disintegrating, like sand flowing through their fingers. It is the violence of the State which is the evil that accomplishes this, and that is why God has permitted it to exist at all. It is merely the lesser of two evils -- the pre-Flood wickedness which it restrains would be even worse. It is like the use of radiation in chemotherapy... it is literally destroying the Creation, but God has permitted this temporary age of universal near-destruction in order to set up the conditions to completely destroy all sin and bring about the New Heavens and New Earth.

Those "Christians" who talk about the State with bated breath and reverential awe either do not understand what the State is, or they do not understand what Scripture teaches about it, or both. Or, they are just lying hypocrites (a lot of religious neocons fall into this category). The corrupt fiat monetary system is Satan's beating heart, and the State is his bones. Certain critically important logistical structures are maintained by God through the auspices of the wicked State (and it is strictly a use-relationship) while we await the end of the Age, but it and all of its works will be destroyed. Anything and everything of the State which is not subject to the Lord Jesus (publicly, on record, by that name) will be completely obliterated. Nothing will remain, not even the memory of it (Isaiah 65:17). This is what Scripture actually teaches and everything I have said here can be completely backed up with chapter and verse.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. (1 Corinthians 4:20)

 

[Invisible Man]

[FONT=&quot]“The trees once went out to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, Reign over us.’ But the olive tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my abundance, by which gods and men are honored, and go hold sway over the trees?’ And the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and reign over us.’ But the fig tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my sweetness and my good fruit and go hold sway over the trees?’ And the trees said to the vine, ‘You come and reign over us.’ But the vine said to them, ‘Shall I leave my wine that cheers God and men and go hold sway over the trees?’ Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You come and reign over us.’ And the bramble said to the trees, ‘If in good faith you are anointing me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade, but if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’ “ (Judges 9:8-15)[/FONT]

 

[Invisible Man]

"3 It shall come to pass in the day the Lord gives you rest from your sorrow, and from your fear and the hard bondage in which you were made to serve, 4 that you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say:

“How the oppressor has ceased,
The golden city ceased!
5 The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
The scepter of the rulers;
6 He who struck the people in wrath with a continual stroke,
He who ruled the nations in anger,
Is persecuted and no one hinders.
7 The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
They break forth into singing.
8 Indeed the cypress trees rejoice over you,
And the cedars of Lebanon,
Saying, ‘Since you were cut down,
No woodsman has come up against us.’

9 “Hell from beneath is excited about you,
To meet you at your coming;
It stirs up the dead for you,
All the chief ones of the earth;
It has raised up from their thrones
All the kings of the nations.
10 They all shall speak and say to you:
‘Have you also become as weak as we?
Have you become like us?
11 Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
And the sound of your stringed instruments;
The maggot is spread under you,
And worms cover you.’

12 “How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
13 For you have said in your heart:
‘I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.’
15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,
To the lowest depths of the Pit.

16 “Those who see you will gaze at you,
And consider you, saying:
‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
Who shook kingdoms,
17 Who made the world as a wilderness
And destroyed its cities,
Who did not open the house of his prisoners?’

18 “All the kings of the nations,
All of them, sleep in glory,
Everyone in his own house;
19 But you are cast out of your grave
Like an abominable branch,
Like the garment of those who are slain,
Thrust through with a sword,
Who go down to the stones of the pit,
Like a corpse trodden underfoot.
20 You will not be joined with them in burial,
Because you have destroyed your land
And slain your people.
The brood of evildoers shall never be named.
21 Prepare slaughter for his children
Because of the iniquity of their fathers,
Lest they rise up and possess the land,
And fill the face of the world with cities.”

22 “For I will rise up against them,” says the Lord of hosts,
“And cut off from Babylon the name and remnant,
And offspring and posterity,” says the Lord.
23 “I will also make it a possession for the porcupine,
And marshes of muddy water;
I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” says the Lord of hosts."
(Isaiah 14:3-23)

Regardless if you take this passage as being about the fall of Satan, or only a human ruler of Babylon, or both, notice how along with this figure whom God judges so severely, the passage also mentions "the scepter of the rulers" (v. 5), "all the chief ones of the earth" and "all the kings of the nations" (v. 9), and again "all the kings of the nations" (v. 18). Clearly, the institution of the state belongs to the same moral class as the paragon of wickedness who is condemned in this passage