IBL06: Sixth Commandment

Origins of the State: It’s Prophetic Office

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Prerequisite/Law

Genre: Speech

Track: 35

Dictation Name: RR13T36

Location/Venue: ________

Year: 1960’s-1970’s.

The 11’th chapter of Numbers, verses 16 and 17, and verses 24 following. Our subject is the origins of the state; it’s prophetic office. Numbers 11, origins of the state; it’s prophetic office.

First, verses 16 and 17.

“16 And the Lord said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee.

17 And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone.”

Verses 24 following.

“24 And Moses went out, and told the people the words of the Lord, and gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round about the tabernacle.

25 And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease.

26 But there remained two of the men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the spirit rested upon them; and they were of them that were written, but went not out unto the tabernacle: and they prophesied in the camp.

27 And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp.

28 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them.

29 And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all theLord'S people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!

30 And Moses gat him into the camp, he and the elders of Israel.

31 And there went forth a wind from the Lord, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were a day's journey on this side, and as it were a day's journey on the other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth.

32 And the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp.

33 And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague.

34 And he called the name of that place Kibrothhattaavah: because there they buried the people that lusted.

35 And the people journeyed from Kibrothhattaavah unto Hazeroth; and abode at Hazeroth.”

Our subject this morning is the origin of the state. Now normally when theologians deal with the origins of the state they trace the state to the fall. And it is held that the state is necessary because man being a sinner must be kept in check by the law of the state. Moreover it is held that before the fall man had no need for a state since man was sinless. After the fall sin entered the world and the state was created to keep mans sin in check. The state is thus, we are told, God’s hangman. An institution for the era between the fall and the second coming to keep man in order.

A number of modern theologians like Whohamond[?] say that the state is something provisional. It is not necessary we are told for the state to be Christian. In fact, Whohamond[?} says that the idea of the theocratic state such as the Jews held in New Testament times was satanic. Others especially of the scholastic tradition and of the Lutheran tradition, hold that the state is to be grounded in natural reason and hence it is not necessary for the state to be Christian. The church they claim is grounded in revelation, the state in natural reason.

Now with all of this we must very strongly disagree. Because the state is in scripture very definitely ordained of God to fulfill his purpose. And if we say that any area of life, the state, the schools, or any vocation, is outside the calling of God we are members of the death of God school of thought! We are declaring that it is not necessary for any area to be under God. And to that extent we affirm the death of God philosophy.

Now it is true that in a sense we can agree with Cumon that the state is provisional but we have to say that the church too is provisional as to it’s form. There will not be elders and bishops and deacons in heaven. Nor will there be judges and police officers in heaven. But this does not mean that the true church is not in heaven or that the true state is not in heaven! Because church, state, school, every area of life is an aspect of the kingdom of God, and therefore is under God and must be faithful to Him.

Christ came to reestablish the true kingdom of God. The true kingdom of God prevailed in Eden. Adam and Eve were directly under God as their king, they disobeyed the laws of the kingdom of God and were cast out of Eden. The laws of the kingdom were set forth again in their fulness by Moses declared anew by Christ. All authority whether it is in state or church, in school or in the family or in any other area is grounded in God and must be apart of his government. The direct government of God in thee world is mediated through church and state, through family, through vocations, through the schools, through every area of life. Hence, authorities are called as we have seen previously, God’s in scripture because they fulfill the work of God.

Calvin declared and quote “To despise the providence of Him who is founder of civil power is to carry on war with him. Understand further that power is from God not as pestilence and famines and war and other visitations for sin are seen and are said to be from him, but because he has appointed them for the legitimate and just government of the world. In other words we cannot think of the government as a plague, something God has sent to punish us just like famine and flood and war. It is a part of his just and legitimate government of the world. The state thus is not a visitation for sin. There will be government in heaven as there must be on earth. In heaven it is necessary for all to be righteous. The laws of righteousness do not disappear in heaven, though there is perfect obedience in heaven, as the response to God’s perfect government.

The basic duty of the state is to further the kingdom of God by recognizing the sovereignty of God in his word, and conforming itself to the law word of God. The state has a duty to be Christian, even as man the family, the church, and the schools must be Christian. If we hold otherwise we do assert as I have stated, a death of God philosophy. To see the state simply as a judgement on sin is to fail to reckon with the word of God. If the state is separated from the kingdom of God, from the necessity to be Christian how long will this non Christian state have any idea of sin? In other words those who say the state is simply God’s hangman; it’s there to deal with sin... cannot preserve an idea of sin if the state is no longer christian!

Without God there is no sin because sin is an offence against God. And of course, the essence of humanism is that there is no such thing as sin, it denies the doctrine of sin because it believes that man is good and the world is good. If it accepts the fact that the world is evil it will not, it will never deny the fact that man is good. It’s faith is in man. Therefore if the state is not apart of the kingdom of God it will become a part of the kingdom of Man and it will be anti Christian, it will be humanistic to the core. Calvin said that without laws the state cannot, and I quote “the laws cannot subsist. As on the other hand without magistrates, laws are of no force. No observation therefore can be more correct that this: the law is a silent magistrate and a magistrate of speaking law.” Unquote.

Whenever any state maintains any degree of law and order it witnesses against itself. Because that extent it is denying it’s humanistic premises. A humanistic state cannot have law and order because as we have seen on previous Sundays, because without God there is no law, no crime. Man is then his own God and he is above any law. And so a humanistic state, if it were true to it’s premises, would have to favor anarchy. Karl Marx admitted this. Karl Marx stated very frankly that the logical conclusion for humanists, and he was a humanist, was anarchy. And he espoused to egalitarianism[?] not because he found any ground for it in his humanism, but because he said anarchy was not acceptable. To that extent he denied the logical conclusion of his own thinking.

Now we saw several months ago that Roman’s 13 declares that the state is a ministry, they are ministers of God unto thee for good. A ministry of justice. It is wrong for us therefore to see it’s work as bare negation. It’s work is not merely punishing criminals, it is protecting life, liberty, and property. That’s a positive task. When the state makes it possible for you to walk down the street at night in safety, that is a positive function. When it protects your property from theft this is a positive function, it is enabling life to flourish, and this is the positive function of the state. To protect life liberty and property so that the state indeed must be a terror to evildoers. But paul also made it clear that it must be the praise and protector of the good.

It is true that in our day the state is by and large humanistic and anti Christian, but we cannot despise the state because it is in corrupt hands any more than we have any right to despise gold and silver because very often the wrong people possess them. This does not make gold and silver bad, because bad people have them, on the contrary they are still good. And so it with the state. The state is the state is the state and it is of God and destined to be a part of the kingdom of God. The charge of king Jehoshaphat to rulers of his day I think is still a tremendous sentence: “Take heed what you do, for you judge not for man but for the Lord, who is with you in the judgement. Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord be upon you, take heed and do it. For there is no iniquity with the Lord our God nor respect of person, nor taking of gifts.”

Now to turn to our scripture, Numbers 11, there’s a tremendous point here that has long been neglected for the past century and longer by the church. In fact the church has gone so far as to deny what this text says! What is this text about? Moses was told in a crisis of the nation when there was a great deal of insubordination and it became necessary as we see in the latter part of the chapter, to punish the people. ‘God send them their hearts desires and judge them with it.’ But God confirmed the fact that the authorities in Israel were of God. He ordered Moses to call forth the seventy elders who represented the twelve tribes, to stand before him at the tabernacle before the throne room of God. And there, the Holy Spirit descended upon them. What was this? It was the civil pentecost!

Now we’re all familiar with the day of pentecost, when after Christ’s resurrection the disciples gathered in the upper room and were filled with the spirit and the gifts of the spirit manifested themselves. This is a great event in the calendar of the church and it sets forth the divine ordination of the church. How God witnessed to the divine establishment of the church, the New Testament church as the true church of God by conferring upon it the special gifts of the spirit. And yet the church has very wickedly denied the text of scripture which cite the civil pentecost. When God to manifest to a rebellious people that the civil authorities the state of Israel was of God’s ordination, had the seventy elders of Israel summoned before him and conferred upon them the spirit. Sixty-eight were assembled, two were detained in the camp, but as the scripture makes clear even those two in the camp prophesied.

This happened then at the inauguration of the commonwealth of Israel. But again, later, when Saul was anointed as king you had again a civil pentecost. In that even though Saul was not as God knew, a true believer, he was possessed of the holy spirit and prophesied to indicate that the state even as it was being re-established now as a monarchy was of God’s ordination. A Christian concept {?}. The oath the queen took at her inauguration was thus, as administered by the archbishop: “Will you to the utmost of your power maintain the laws of God and the true profession of the gospel? Will you to the utmost of your power maintain in the United Kingdom the Protestant Reformed religion established by law? Will you maintain and preserve inevitably the settlement of the church of England and the doctrine worship discipline and government thereof as by law established in England, and will you preserve unto the Bishops and clergy of England and to the churches there committed to their charge all such rights and privileges as by law do or shall appertain to them or any of them?”

Then after that the moderator of the general assembly of the church of Scotland brought forth a Bible which was presented to the Queen with these words, “Our gracious queen, to keep your majesty ever mindful of the law and gospel of God as the rule for the whole life and government of Christian princes we present you with this book, the most valuable thing which this world affords. Here is wisdom, this is the royal law. These are the lively oracles of God.”

The service continues and it recalled the coronation of Solomon, it involves many references to the old and new testaments, and then there is the presentation of the sword of state, with these words, to the queen. “Receive this kingly sword, brought now from the altar of God and delivered to you by the hands of us bishops and servants of God though unworthy. With this sword, do justice. Stop the growth of iniquity. Protect the holy church of God. Help and protect widows and orphans. Restore the things that are gone to decay, maintain the things that are restored, punish and reform the things that are gone amiss, and confirm what is in good order, that doing these things you may be glorious in all virtue and so faithfully serve our Lord Jesus Christ in this life, that you may reign forever with him in the life which is to come. Amen.”

Then the orb with the cross is given to the Queen and the archbishop declares on presenting the orb, “Receive this orb set under the cross, and remember that the whole world is subject to the power and empire of Christ our Redeemer.” This then, is a Christian service. It is a Christian observance of the civil pentecost.

A declaration that the state is under God and a ministry from God. In the United States, beginning with President Washington, the oath of office was taken on the Bible. Originally the Bible was opened to the law, in fact, to Deuteronomy. To the chapters 28 and following which pronounce the blessings and curses upon one for obedience to or disobedience to the law. And the oath of office was taken in terms of a solemn duty to obey God as the primary lawgiver, and the constitution under God. So that, it too was a commemoration of the civil pentecost. And yet, the sad fact is that a century ago when the apostasy from this faith began, a prominent anglican scholar in England, Rev. R. Winterbobin, declared in commenting on this text in Numbers and I quote. “The gifts of the spirit are not independent of ecclesiastical order.” Unquote.

In other words if God’s going to confer his holy spirit on anyone it has to be the church. And out of this wickedness which permeated our churches, the idea that God didn’t talk outside of the church, the world was given over to the devil and the state divorced from God. But the state is a ministry of justice. The state therefore has a prophetic office! Remember, our scripture declares that when the Holy Spirit was conferred upon these civil officers at the civil pentecost they prophesied.

Now, the essence of prophecy is to speak for God and although the special gift of prophecy was only given on three occasions in scripture; to Saul, and at this time to the seventy rulers of Israel, and then to the church at Pentecost... It is continuously given to all officers of state in that they must speak for God they must declare his law. They must enforce God’s law order. In this sense, they are prophets. And the oath of office, the laying on of hands, or the anointing of oil, the service of coronation, all of these services whereby civil officers are inducted into office lay upon them the duty to speak for God, to prophesy in other words for God.

This is the duty that is laid upon everyone in this country from Nixon on down. And if they fail to discharge that duty they are under judgement of God. The spirit is not limited to the Church. The gifts of the spirit are not independent of God’s order, they are independent of the church’s order. The church, the state, the schools, the family, every man in his calling must serve God as a prophet of his area. Fulfilling the law of God for his domain, for we are so called to be kings priests and prophets under God, and the state in it’s domain has a prophetic office. Let us pray.

Almighty God our heavenly Father we give thanks unto thee for thy word, and we thank thee that thou hast spoken plainly, we pray our Father that men may again see that in every area they are called to speak for thee. We pray especially that again we may have a Christian state. That men from the highest to the lowest office might know that they are prophets unto thee, and must declare thy law and thy order in every domain. Enable us O Lord to reconstruct again things in terms of thy word. That thy spirit may prevail, that thy law order may govern. That the kingdoms of this world might become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ. Bless us to this purpose in Jesus name, Amen.

Are there any questions now? Yes?