A Better Kingdom: From the Declaration of Independence to the Millennial Reign of the Messiah
This is the week that we as Americans celebrate the birth of our nation with fireworks, family gatherings, patriotic speeches, and prayer for our country. We remember that, on July 4, 1776, the courageous men of the Continental Congress officially adopted the Declaration of Independence, declaring the thirteen colonies free from the tyrannical British Crown. This was the beginning of a new government, one that the colonists determined to be founded on the principles of liberty, justice, and equality.
Yet as hopeful as the colonists were about the creation of a nation characterized by “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” the best human governments in the world can be only a dim reflection of the greatest government that is still to come. In Isaiah 11, the prophet glimpses a vision of this coming kingdom, one ruled not by mere men, but by the Man, the Messiah. His government and his reign will not be limited by human failure, short-sightedness, or weakness. According to Isaiah, the Lord will reign over the earth with a kingdom unlike any other, because he will be a King unlike any other.
What will make the Messiah’s reign better than our own democracy?
The Right to Govern
The Declaration of Independence declares, “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” As Lincoln later immortalized in his Gettysburg Address, the U.S. is a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” When it comes to who rules over the nation, we are the locus of our own authority.
But this individualistic model can produce a benevolent and righteous government for the good of all people—even a government that exalts God and the gospel—only as long as those governing are themselves benevolent and righteous. But in a fallen world, with fallen human leadership, we know that this model of government will ultimately fail to produce a righteous nation. Thus, we can easily trace our own nation’s history to see both good and evil, righteousness and unrighteousness.
In the coming kingdom, the authority to rule will not rest with those who are governed, but with the righteous King himself. As Isaiah 9:6 says, “The government shall be on his shoulder.” All power and authority will reside with him. “He shall judge” (Isa 11:3) and he alone. In Isaiah 11, this King is described as a Man of wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, righteousness and faithfulness. Isaiah says that “his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord” (11:3). The Declaration anticipates checks and balances to curb human corruption. But Isaiah 11 presents a righteous ruler who is impervious to human corruption.
What kind of government will this King oversee?
A Better System of Justice
The Messiah will bring a better system of justice because he will be free from all of the imperfections that limit our ability to rule ourselves.
One of the centerpieces of the Declaration’s argumentation accuses the King of Great Britain of refusing “his Assent to Laws.” In other words, King George had refused to recognize the Colonies’ right to pass laws that address the real and immediate needs of the people living there. Among other grievances, the Declaration censures King George
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
In declaring their independence, therefore, the Colonies were asserting their right to make their own laws create their own system of justice. According to the Declaration, the Continental Congress envisioned a justice system based on trial by jury and upholding the rule of law fairly and equally for all people.
But the Messiah will one day rule with an unprecedented, penetrating judgment where goodness is always rewarded and evil is always punished. Isaiah says,
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins (Isa 11:2–5).
Peace, Security, and Prosperity
The result of this coming kingdom will be peace, security, prosperity, and the worship of God all over the earth.
The colonists desired these same virtues. The Declaration says that, “as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.”
This language indicates a desire to defend security and promote peace, and to pursue prosperity through trade and commerce. Who could have known at that time that the U.S. would become truly one of the most prosperous nations in history with a military might that is the envy of the world! Yet, our peace comes through military strength and imperfect diplomacy. And our prosperity does not mean that everyone in our nation prospers. And if “peace” means wholeness, across the land we still see much brokenness.
But when Jesus reigns, Isaiah foretells,
The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
9 They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea (Isa 11:6–9).
The Declaration of Independence and Isaiah 11 both envision governments that aim to see righteousness and goodness flourish in the earth. But these governments diverge sharply in their ability to realize such a hope.
The U.S. is a great nation to the extent that its leaders and its people live out the virtues of the coming King and govern themselves in the “fear of the Lord.” As we celebrate our country this week, and we’re reminded of how God has preserved and prospered us, let’s also live in hope of the great and coming reign of the Lord Jesus, whose kingdom will truly glorify God and prosper God’s people.
