God's supreme dominion over all nations.
"The kingdom is the Lord's," etc. The second clause of this verse defines the meaning of the first. God's supreme dominion, in right and in fact, is over all nations. He reigns and he rules. There is a wide view of God's kingdom, as embracing the universe (Psalms 103:19; Psalms 93:1; Psalms 97:1). There is also a spiritual view, in which the kingdom consists of individuals, ruled not by force, but by truth, love, and the Spirit of God (Luke 17:21; John 18:36). Nations have no place here. None the less, God's government of nations is a sublime fact and undoubted truth, holding a prominent place in Scripture. "All authority in heaven and earth" (Matthew 28:18) must include this. The nations are promised as Christ's inheritance (Psalms 2:8), and are to be blessed in him (Galatians 3:8).
I. GOD GOVERNS THE NATIONS BY HIS ALL-CONTROLLING, WISE, JUST, AND MERCIFUL PROVIDENCE. This is one main lesson of the whole of Old Testament history—specially enforced in Jeremiah 18:7-10; Jeremiah 1:1-19.!0; Genesis 15:16, etc.; Deuteronomy 9:4. The ordered succession of empires, in Nebuchadnezzar's and Daniel's visions, emphatically enforces the same truth (Acts 17:26). The history of our own nation is a marvellous example, only second to that of Israel.
II. THE AUTHORITY OF NATIONAL GOVERNMENT RESTS ON DIVINE AUTHORITY. (Romans 8:1-6.) No human being can claim authority over another human being; no majority, any more than a single despot, over a minority or a single citizen, but by Divine ordinance. This is not merely revealed in Scripture, but imprinted and inwoven in human nature.
III. NATIONS, AS MUCH AS INDIVIDUALS, ARE SOUND BY GOD'S LAW. Human laws lack sanction when they contradict justice; they may he enforced, but cannot be reverenced. Government which outrages mercy, virtue, truth, purity, equity, denies the very end of its existence, and forfeits allegiance. On this ground of natural right, the American colonies revolted. "Natural right" is but another name for God's justice.
IV. NATIONAL LIFE AND CHARACTER, which are very far wider than government or state action, are within the province of Divine government; either conform to or disobey God's Law and revealed will. Private, family, social, morality; religion, trade and industry in every branch; amusement and society; education; literature; art,—are all favouring or hindering the formation of a "righteous nation" (Isaiah 26:2; Psalms 144:15). (This touches the great question of state religion. Are the aims and means of the Church and of the state the same? It is possible to have an established Church, yet an irreligious nation; or many Churches, all free, yet a religious nation.)
V. THESE WORDS ARE PROPHETIC OF WHAT SHALL YET BE. (Psalms 72:8, Psalms 72:11, Psalms 72:17; Revelation 11:15.) Christ holds the sceptre of providence as well as of grace (Ephesians 1:22); and "he must reign" (1 Corinthians 15:25).
CONCLUSION. Practical lessons.
1. The character of a nation depends on the character of its individual citizens. A truly Christian nation would be one the bulk of whose citizens are personally real Christians. Its laws, institutions, and policy would then be moulded by principles learned from God's Word.
2. Public duty, political, municipal, etc; far from being inconsistent with the Christian calling (as some teach), is, when rightly performed, religious—part of the service we owe to God.
HOMILIES BY C. CLEMANCE