One of the principles of war is pursuit. When the enemy is on the run, it is not a time to sit and relax. It is a time to advance after them. In his kindness, God has overturned Roe v. Wade. That was a big victory and those who love death are on the run. There is much to do in the wake of this victory. Particularly, the saints must engage in their states to protect unborn life. In addition to this state work, I’d like to point out the next big game that we must hunt. And that next, big, abominable Supreme Court decision is Obergefell v. Hodges.
Overturning Roe was a long game. And overturning Obergefell will be a heavy lift. So consider this post merely one of the early huddles on the issue. We’re charting the course here. And if someone says, “Don’t you know that there is a mountain of obstacles between us and turning over Obergefell?” The first thing I would say is, “OK, fair enough.” And the second thing I would say is, “Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain” (Zechariah 4:7). And the third thing I would say, for the brethren who would like to hear it from the New Testament is, “If ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive” (Matthew 21:21).
Jesus: King of Nations
Now the first thing to be laid down as we pursue the toppling of Obergefell is the fact that Jesus is King of Nations. And this claim is going to get you labeled a Christian Nationalist. My recommendation is that you have a good laugh at this charge, and while chuckling you could say something like, “I make the daring claim that we are one nation under Yahweh, which is far better than being one nation under an arrogant group of people who think they are Him.”
This truth that we are one nation under the Triune God is becoming more and more plain, and the fact that it is becoming more plain is a sign of God’s grace to us. The sons of Korah were not mistaken when they said, “For the LORD most high is terrible, he is a great King over all the earth . . . God reigneth over the heathen” (Psalm 47:2, 8).
God the Father told the Lord Jesus that he would inherit the nations, “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession” (Psalm 2:8). And we see the fulfillment of that promise, not at some future date when Christ comes again, but at his resurrection and ascension, “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, ‘All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefor, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:18-20).
Now there is no way of escaping the Lordship of Christ over the nations given these texts cited. Notice, the point is not merely that the second member of the Trinity is Lord over the earth. The point is that the Virgin-born Son of God, the God man who took upon flesh, is presently Lord over the nations of the earth. It is on this very basis that he commissions his people to baptize the nations and to teach them all that he has commanded.
So the United States must be baptized. And the United States must obey all that Christ has commanded. And given these necessities, the Christian Church will not be up in arms about Christ informing our marriage practice and laws. A recent opinion piece at MSNBC was worried about this Christian influence in the public square—
“Christian theocracy is not far-off specter but an emerging reality in America. Fueled by a radically reactionary Supreme Court that is two-thirds Catholic, Thomas Jefferson’s already-dilapidated and graffitied “wall of separation” between church and state is crumbling. The overturning of Roe v. Wade means the lives of women across the country are being held hostage by a conservative Christian conception of life.”
Interestingly the title of this MSNBC article is titled, “Why America Needs a New Kind of Atheism Right Now.” And the subtitle is even more to the point, “An energetic atheism can tackle the twin crises of creeping theocracy and the death of conventional religion.” You have to appreciate the honesty of this title. The article could have well been called, “It Is Not Whether, But Which.” In one sense, you have to commend MSNBC for seeing what some evangelicals have been slow to see. MSNBC must have been reading their Abraham Kuyper, “The conflict has always been and will be until the end, Christianity or Paganism; the idols or the living God.
Jesus: King of the Supreme Court
Once we have the Lordship of Christ over the nations thoroughly established, then we must also see his Lordship over lords. Evangelicals are very familiar with the phrase and so we simply need to press the point home that Jesus is King of Kings. It follows that every state governor is subject to King Jesus. Every Supreme Court Justice must serve as a justice under the Lordship of Christ. And every legislator at all levels of government must legislate according to the proclamations of their King, and his name is Jesus.
Obergefell Must Fall
Now the question can be set squarely before us. Does the Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges accord with the word of King Jesus? And the simple answer to that is, no, not at all, not even close. Obergefell ruled that gay-marriage is a fundamental right protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. But the Lord Jesus, who rules over the Supreme Court, has granted no such right. And this is the critical part. The Lord Jesus has not granted such a right because gay-marriage does not exist. To say that a man has a right to gay-marriage is to say that he has a right to no-thing.
Many have spoken of marriage as a pre-political institution. That is a very good point to make. But it does not say enough. The phrase “pre-political institution” merely tells us where it is (before politics). It does not tell us the nature of marriage, beyond calling it an institution. So in addition to saying that marriage is a pre-political institution, we must speak to its very nature by saying that it is a divine covenant. God says so himself—”Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant” (Malachi 2:14).
That word “covenant” involves a real bond or league that is formed by God himself—”And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” (Mark 10:8-9).
Notice God’s language in Malachi 2:14. God is witness between a man and his wife. And this does not mean that he simply observes the wedding like a family member or friend who attends the ceremony. In the context of covenant, God says he is witness between thee and the wife of thy youth. He is witness in the sense that he himself does the joining.
The payoff of all of this is the fundamental truth that God simply does not join together a man with another man, or a woman with another woman in marriage. Gay marriage is no-thing.
So as the saying goes, politics is downstream from culture, and culture is downstream from doctrine. And here is the central doctrinal claim that Christians must contend for in the public square: Gay marriage is no marriage at all. It is not marriage at all because all marriage is covenantal. God joins man and woman together in marriage. If God does not join together, then no marriage exists.
This truth is a foundational one, a central one, a critical one that the saints must teach the nation. Christ indeed has commanded it.