As the stakes are raised, elections are becoming more and more contentious while worry over the outcome grips people from all sides. Yet for all of the fear, fighting, campaigning, and even vote-casting, it is ultimately God alone who determines the winner. Still, we are not set free from our responsibility to honor God with our vote. In this article, we look at what Scripture says about God’s role in the rise and fall of rulers, how His purposes control who wins and loses elections, and why we are still accountable for our vote.
Table of Contents
God is Sovereign
When we say that God is sovereign, we mean that He is in complete control of everything that takes place. Nothing can prevent God from doing what He purposes to do. Likewise, no being can do anything that God purposes to stop. This is critical to grasp and important for the understanding of some of the most often quoted verses by Christians. The only way it is possible that “all things work together for (our) good” (Romans 8:28) is if God is in complete control of everything that takes place. Further, there can be no such thing as prophecy without God’s sovereignty.
In Scripture, God’s sovereignty is a major theme of some books (such as Isaiah & Daniel) and chapters (like Proverbs 16), and is explicitly stated in scores of passages. Here are but a few examples:
- 2 Chronicles 20:6–God is ruler of all kingdoms and nations
- Job 42:2–No purpose of God can be stopped
- Psalm 33:9-11–God nullifies the plans of people, but His plans stand forever (also Proverbs 19:21)
- Psalm 115:3–God does whatever He pleases (also Psalm 135:6)
- Proverbs 16:1–God determines the success of man’s plans (see also Proverbs 16:9)
- Proverbs 16:33–God is in charge of what is seemingly random
- Proverbs 21:1–God directs the hearts of rulers
- Isaiah 46:9-10–God’s purposes were established before time began, and nothing can stop them
- Daniel 4:35–God does whatever He wants in heaven and on earth; no one can stop Him
- Matthew 8:27–God (Jesus) controls nature
- Matthew 10:29–God controls the life of animals
- Ephesians 1:11–God works all things according to His will
- Ephesians 1:20-22–God the Son rules over all things ever created
Just because God is sovereign, it does not mean that we are not responsible for our actions (yea, even our thoughts). We will look at this in a moment.
God Appoints Leaders
When most think of the book of Daniel, their minds immediately go to images of the fiery furnace or den of lions. But Daniel is a book primarily about governmental kingdoms and rulers, culminating with the rule of Messiah in His perfect kingdom (see Daniel 2). One of the recurring themes in Daniel is that it is God who raises up rulers and kingdoms, and it is God who brings them down.
In Daniel chapter 4, we are given a first hand account of a dream by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. The king tells of how he saw a tree grow to a massive size, reaching to the sky and providing enough food and shelter for all people and beasts of the earth (Daniel 4:11-12). However, this tree gets chopped and stripped (Daniel 4:14) and a man is represented as turning insane for 7 years (Daniel 4:15-16).
Daniel interprets the dream and tells us that the tree (Daniel 4:22), and the one driven mad (Daniel 4:25), is Nebuchadnezzar himself. But the purpose of the dream is repeated several times in this exchange, that being so the “living may know that the Most High is ruler of the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whom He wishes” (Daniel 4:17, 25, 26, 32, 35).
This theme is illustrated throughout the book of Daniel and is repeated often in both the Old and New Testament. This even extends to evil rulers. It is God who “raised up Pharaoh” (Exodus 9:16, Romans 9:17). Jesus said to Pilate, “You would have no authority over me unless it had been given you from above” (John 19:11). Paul, under the Roman rule that would execute him, said “there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God” (Romans 13:1).
God Uses Rulers for His Purposes
As with all things, nations and their respective leaders are instruments for God’s purposes. In addition to the God-given mandate to all governments to protect life and punish unrighteousness (Romans 13), the Lord will use specific rulers and nations at specific times for other specific purposes. Generally these involve being instruments of judgment.
While righteous leaders are a blessing to a people, the Bible and history together show that God will give unjust and wicked rulers to a nation as part of His judgment. If a nation becomes materialistic, God might place leaders who confiscate money through taxes or inflation, making the people poorer. To a nation that isn’t outraged at abortion, God may give leaders who have such a disregard for life that the government ceases to protect the vulnerable and gives criminals free rein.
Often the Lord will use wicked rulers to punish and purify a lukewarm or sinful church. Both the United States and the visible church within it are primed to experience these types of judgments.
God will use nations to punish other evil nations. We have witnessed this in world history of the last century. Israel can be seen in this position often in the Old Testament, where the Lord instructed His people to obliterate the evil nations around them. This also served to protect Israel from having the neighboring wickedness influence them (See Deuteronomy 20:16-18).
But God will also use evil nations as His instruments to judge other wicked peoples, and to judge those whom have received His light and are drifting away from it. In Scripture, Assyria was used to punish Israel, Babylon used to chastise Judah, and the Romans used to crush the Jews who had rejected and crucified their Messiah.
God Holds All Accountable for Intentions
As mentioned above, even though God is sovereign, He holds mankind accountable for its motives.
God used the Chaldeans as instruments of judgment (Habakkuk 1:6) then declared they were guilty of the violence (Habakkuk 1:11). The Lord used Babylon to punish Judah, then punished Babylon for it (Jeremiah 25:12). He called Assyria His “rod of anger” to be used against godless Israel (Isaiah 10:5) then brought devastation upon Assyria for doing it (Isaiah 10:12; 24-26)
What makes God’s punishment just on nations and rulers who are carrying out His will is the doctrine of concurrence. Much could be said about concurrence, but in brief it is when God’s will is brought about through the desires and actions of men who most often have no intention (or care for) what God has planned.
Scripture is replete with examples of concurrence. In the life of Job, Satan had a purpose for Job’s trials that was much different from that of God’s, but the Lord used Satan’s purpose to bring about His own. Assyria was punished in the previously mentioned instance because it did not intend to be God’s rod of punishment, rather having wicked motives in attacking Israel (Isaiah 10:6-7).
The two most famous examples of concurrence are the life of Joseph in the Old Testament and the crucifixion of Christ in the New Testament. Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery out of envy and spite, but it was God’s plan. Joseph gives perhaps the best definition for concurrence when addressing his brothers in Genesis 50:20: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive.”
The crucifixion of Jesus shows concurrence in that evil men killed him for evil reasons, yet it was all to fulfill God’s plan that was determined before the world was created (Acts 2:23). The repeated New Testament teaching is clear, that even if we take the exact action the Lord wants, we will be held accountable if we do it for the wrong reasons.
Final Thought
The outcome of any election is determined by God, but we still have a responsibility to use our vote to honor and glorify Him. God may purpose to bring evil and oppressive rulers to punish a nation or cleanse His church, but we will have to answer to Him if that is who we seek to place in office.
Related reading: