Independence Day, Face Mask Mandate and Romans 13.1-7

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On this 244th birthday of the United States of America, many of her citizens are living under a face mask mandate as a response to the rising cases of Coronavirus infections. Setting aside the problems with media sensationalization, test result reporting, false positives, data collections and conflicting results of Hydroxychloroquine treatments, in this blog I want to form an educated Christian worldview on individual rights, personal liberty and submission to government authority in light of Romans 13.1-7:

Let everyone submit to the governing authorities, since there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are instituted by God. So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God’s command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the one in authority? Do what is good, and you will have its approval. For it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because it does not carry the sword for no reason. For it is God’s servant, an avenger that brings wrath on the one who does wrong. Therefore, you must submit, not only because of wrath but also because of your conscience. And for this reason you pay taxes, since the authorities are God’s servants, continually attending to these tasks. Pay your obligations to everyone: taxes to those you owe taxes, tolls to those you owe tolls, respect to those you owe respect, and honor to those you owe honor.

Christian Standard Bible (Holman Bible Publisher: 2017)

At face-value, the imperative “submit to the governing authorities” sounds absolute and universal, meaning regardless of the form of governance―be it democratic, republic, authoritarian, totalitarian, fascist, monarchy and/or dictatorship―as Christian, we are to always submit to the governing authorities. At least, that is how it was explained to me growing up in the American church. Yet, when I read the news of a governor threatening that “the state will record the license plates of any people at a mass gathering, including in-person church services” or that a state’s Department of Public Health encourages the “snitching” of church gathering, I cannot imagine, theologically or logically, this was what Paul had in mind when he wrote his letter to the Roman Christians during Nero’s reign. Furthermore, I cannot fathom that through this view all Chinese Christians who are worshiping in secret in spite of their government’s anti-Christian stance are indeed “opposing God’s command” (Rom 13.2).

In this passage, Paul states governing authorities are “God’s servants” three times. This is a significant clue to aid our understanding. Human authority is an institution established by God to function as his intermediary in maintaining civility in society (this was so in the Old Testament days after the Israelites rejected theocracy, God as their King). God’s servants are those who accomplishes the will and purpose of God―however indirectly or unintentionally. We see in verse 3 that “rulers are not a terror to good conduct”; verse 4 tells us they serve for our good and an avenger for wrongdoers; and verse 6 we are commanded to fund their function through taxes as keeper of good conducts and punisher of wrong actions.

So, immediately, we see that there is a qualifier built-in to the imperative to limit the power of human authority. They are to function by upholding moral values―good and evil―and moral duties―right and wrong―as God has defined it. This implies that when government exceeds its limits of authority by defining what is good and evil, right and wrong according to it own standards, in defiance to what God has established (cf. Rom 13.1b) then we are free to disobey this rogue regime. This is the reason that Martin Luther King’s civil disobedience to the injustice of racism was the righteous thing to do; and this is the reason that Dietrich Bonhoeffer should not be condemned for his participation in the failed Hitler assassination plot in order to preserve the lives of Jews and fellow Germans by shortening the war.

But, in 2020 what am I to do as a Christian, one who tries to imitate Christ, with municipal face mask mandate and the infringement upon personal liberty in light of spiking cases of Coronavirus?

I can confidently say that whether I choose to wear a face mask or not is not part of moral value. We cannot rightly say that mandating face masks to prevent the spread of Coronavirus is moral, otherwise there must also be a mandate to wear masks to prevent spreading other similar infections such as seasonal influenza or tuberculosis or common cold. However, libertarian freedom is a moral value as it prevents mankind from oppression, and therefore, it is the government’s role to preserve the freedom to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, as stated in the Bill of Rights. Since wearing a face mask is not a divine moral value in which I must uphold, then I do not have a moral duty to wear one. Furthermore, infringing on one’s libertarian freedom is a moral evil, therefore, it is my moral duty to speak against it (and against the shaming, manipulating or coercing others into wearing one).

For you see, the partiality that James speaks of includes me being partial to myself as well.

But wait… there is a mandate that I must submit to and obey. Paul adds to the duty of submission to civil authority with another duty, the duty to observe the law of love (Rom 13.8, 10). It is the same as the royal law that James speaks of, “Indeed, if you fulfill the royal law prescribed in the Scripture, Love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well” (Jas 2.8 CSB). For you see, the partiality that James speaks of includes me being partial to myself as well. What it means is that as an act of service in love for my “neighbors”―those who are at-risk of fatality as result of Coronavirus infection―I will self-quarantine should I contract the virus (just as I have done when I had the flu) and I will wear a face mask voluntarily when I am worshiping at church, sitting next to someone who is in the at-risk group if social-distancing isn’t possible, or when I am asked to wear one.

Hopefully I have clearly stated my case for the proper Christian worldview regarding to liberty, face mask mandate and Romans 13. Please feel free to comment and respond (with civility) below with your thoughts of agreement or disagreement.

Where Is God in Times of Distress?

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In the midst of the health and economic turmoil that is in the world today, I woke up this morning anxious and in distress. I am in virtual exile from my brothers and sisters in Christ and from my coworkers. So, in my quite time I cried out to the Lord to speak to me… I need to sense his presence more than ever. As I prayed, the Lord directed me to Psalm 42 (and 43) for today is 4-2. He lifted me up with the exact words I need to hear right now: hope in God!

In Psalms 42-43 the psalter longs for God to come to his aid during a time when he can’t sense God’s presence. He is exhausted and spent―his soul thirsts and hungers for the life-giving, life-sustaining living God (Psa 42.1-2). Yet God is nowhere to be found. He felt he is in this crisis all alone as these accusatory words taunting and mocking him, “Where is your God?”

The psalter’s memory of the past only brought sorrow in his present condition (Psa 42.4). His soul (his emotional state) is downcast―he is depressed and in despair, and feels hopeless. Yet his mind (his intellectual state) reminds him of God’s steadfast love, comfort and security that he experienced in the past. Remembering life in the past only brings sorrow for today; but remembering God’s character and his works in the past brings hope for now and beyond. He is a promise-making and promise-keeping God, and he has promised to never leave me nor forsake me. And that is why he is praiseworthy.

The psalter’s present situation seems bleak and hopeless―he feels he’s drowning under the crushing weight of the storm, unable to breathe. He is overwhelmed without relief in sight. In spite of his feeling of loneliness and despair, he experientially knows through prayers, God will faithfully sustain him through the day and comfort him through the dark nights (Psa 42.8). Therefore, I will not allow my fears of the present to rule over my soul. This is not some sort of cavalier claim or empty hope on the unknown; rather, it is a hope built on my trust and confidence in God’s character, in who he is. Of all the “Why?” and “Where?” and “How?” questions asked by the psalmist, the most important (and implied) question is the “Who?” question: Who is God?

So, who is God in these two psalms (they are one psalm in the Hebrew Bible)? God is:

• He is the living God who gives and sustains life (42.2)
• He is my salvation (42.5)
• He is a faithful and compassionate God (42.8)
• He is my fortress and my safe place (42.9; 43.2)
• He is my defender (43.1)
• He is light and gives light, i.e., understanding (43.3)
• He is truth and what he says is true (43.3)
• He is my guide who brings me safely from exile (43.3)

Because he is all these things and more, I have hope in him!

So, what am I to do during a crisis to see God at work? I am to:

• Pursue God relationally (42.1-2)
• Remember God’s deliverance in the past trials and that he does not change (42.4)
• Hope (have confidence) in God that he has promised to come through for me and sustain me just as he promised (42.5)
• Pray for his faithfulness and compassion to sustain me through the difficult day and frightful nights (42.8)
• Pray for his defense against false accusers―those who taunt cast doubt about God’s character, i.e., my mind of the flesh and the enemy (43.1)
• Pray for understanding (light) of His Word (truth) so I can walk in confidence as he guides me in navigating the treacherous terrain (43.3)
• Praise God when he shows up and when I get to the other side of this present troubles (43.4)

As the Apostle Paul tells us, this is a constant battle of the mind: the trust in a faithful God (what I cannot see) versus the fears of the flesh (what I fix my eyes on). There are days when the flesh wins, but there are also days when his grace is sufficient for me. Regardless of the present circumstance and my mental and emotional state, I will hope in God and in his character, for he alone is praiseworthy.

Magi: the Kingmakers

In the Book of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar referred to Daniel by an interesting title: the chief of the magicians (Dan 4.9). You may be familiar with the story: around 600 BC Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judea as part of his campaign to stake claim to the former Assyrian empire. His objective was to impose Babylonian dominion over what remained of Israel a vassal state. In doing so, the Babylonian army pillaged Jerusalem and its temple, and took Jehoiakim, the last king of Judah, along with 10,000 of the best and brightest Jews into Babylon, in which Daniel was among them.

Nebuchadnezzar ordered some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility into his court’s service. He found Daniel to be among the best of the bests, the brightest of the brightests—having possessed extraordinary insight and intelligence, and wisdom and a keen mind and knowledge and understanding, and also the ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles and solve difficult problems—thus, he appointed Daniel the chief over all his magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners (Dan 1.6; 5.11-12). In essence, Daniel was in charge of all the wisest of men of Babylon, i.e., the magi (see Mat 2.1).

Even when Darius the Mede (Dan 5.32) and Cyrus II the Persian (Dan 1.21; 6.28; 10.1; Ezr 1.1) succeeded Babylon as the dominant powers, Daniel continued to serve in their courts. It was during this time Daniel received the vison of the coming “beasts,” those nations that would rise up following Babylon (Dan 7-8), studied the writings of Jeremiah (Dan 9.2; Jer 29.10) which foretold the return from exile after 70 years, and the vision of the forthcoming of the Son of Man—the divine-human judge, the Messiah—487 years after the return from exile to vindicate and liberate God’s people, and to punish the wicked (Dan 7; 9-12). So, for the greater part of his time in exile, Daniel educated and trained all the wisest men of Babylon. Throughout the centuries these wise men coronated and counseled their kings—they were in fact the kingmakers.

In 538 BC when Cyrus II gave the Jews permission to return to Jerusalem, only approximately 42,000 of the Jews returned to their homeland, whereas millions of the Jews, including Daniel, who was too old to make the journey, chose to remain in Persia (2Ch 36.22-23; Ezr 1.1-8). During this time, this Persian diaspora was the largest Jewish community outside of Judah. This contingency of Jews maintained their cultural and religious identity into the first century. And just as the Jews in Palestine were looking forward to the coming of the Messiah (see Luk 2.25), there were no doubt some Persian Jews who did likewise.

It is, therefore, my hypothesis that the magi who followed the star and came to celebrate the birth of Jesus were indeed Jewish descendants of those who remained in exile. They weren’t just some random pagan astrologers from the East who saw the star and followed it out of curiosity. Rather, they continued the tradition that Daniel had instituted through studying the Scriptures for signs and calculating the timing for the coming of the Messiah (Dan 9.25-26). It was during the course of their studying and seeking that they observed the Christmas star as it was foretold in Numbers 24.17. They journeyed to Palestine and found the Christ-Child (now around age 2) precisely because they were looking for him. And they came prepared to coronate him as the King of the Jews, and more importantly, the King of their hearts (Mat 2.2).

So, on this Christmas Day as you read the familiar Christmas story, when you come to these mysterious magi, take a moment to reflect who they were, and may you also find Christ the King and crown him to be the King of your heart.

Christ and the Five Cups of Seder

“Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.‘”          ― Exodus 6.6−7

In the passage above the Lord God explained to Moses of what he was about to do for the Hebrews, to redeem them from bondage. In this dialog God uses four expressions to describe his redemptive actions:

1. “I will bring you out…”
2. “I will deliver you…”
3. “I will redeem you…”
4. “I will take you to be my people…”

The Jewish tradition instituted over the Seder is to drink a cup of wine for each of these expressions. First, they recite the Kiddush over the first cup, read the Exodus account from the Haggadah over the second cup, recite the Grace after Meals over the third cup and sing psalms and hymns over the fourth cup. While there are numerous explanations as to the significance of the various steps of the redemption, but when we consider the atoning work by Christ on the cross, we can see their ultimate significance in regards to our salvation:

1. Salvation from harsh labor — we no longer have to work to achieve our own salvation by meeting its demand, for it is impossible for any of us to do so in the first place.
2. Salvation from servitude — we are no longer slaves to “Egypt,” a symbol for all that is worldly, i.e., sin and our selfish desires; instead we have been freed from its consequences and conquer over the flesh.
3. Salvation from enemy — we are no longer under the threat from our enemy since he has been defeated by the blood of the Lamb just like the Egyptian army was decimated by the raging Red Sea.
4. Becoming a nation — we who are followers of Christ are part of God’s family, his children and inheritance.

However, there is actually a fifth expression in the dialogue between the Lord and Moses, “‘I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the LORD’” (Exo 6.8). The fifth cup (also referred to as Cup of Elijah) is left untouched for a very simple reason: the Jews are waiting for the arrival of Elijah to announce the arrival of the Messiah for their redemption and enter into their permanent land that God first promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Now, fast forward to Jesus’s Last Supper with his disciples. They most likely observed their Passover meal in similar manner. At the end of the Passover feast, Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper. Interestingly he ends their meal by telling them, “I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Mat 26.29). Here Jesus made it clear that he will return one day to redeem his people once and for all, and return with them to his Father’s kingdom. That is the day of his Second Coming which will be the day when we will finally drink from the fifth cup of wine.

And it will be a day of great celebration for we are finally home!

Was Christ Abandoned by the Father?

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” — Psalm 22.1

On the cross the Lord Jesus was heard crying out these words from Psalm 22 (Mat 27.46). Over the years I’ve heard many preachers explain that God the Father abandoned his Son because he cannot look upon sin, which Jesus bore the sin of the world upon him on the cross. However, this explanation has always bothered me. If I were to believe that Jesus is divine and part of the Trinity (and I do) then how can he divest himself from being a member of the Godhead at this moment? Does that imply that God’s nature became a duality from a triunity for a mere moment? Of course not, otherwise that would be heresy!

Some attempted to respond by explaining that this was Jesus the human speaking, not Jesus the divine. Again, if I were to believe that Jesus is the God-man (and I do), that he uniquely possessed a nature that is both divine and human, then neither can he separate his divinity from his humanity. This is referred to as his hypostatic union (hupostasis), the union of his divinity and his humanity into one essence. It means he does not have two separate essences but rather a singular divine-human essence, much like when mixing cream in coffee where the liquid is not part cream and part coffee but rather an insoluble homogenous coffee-cream mixture. Therefore, Jesus can no more divest himself from his humanity and remain the Second Person of the Trinity than the Godhead can divest the Son from the Trinity and remain God.

Finding these explanations unsatisfactory, I began to study Psalm 22. In my study, I discovered that the Hebrew verb “forsaken” (ȃzab) means to loosen, that is, relinquish or permit. In this context it can be understood as refusal to help. David was crying out to God, begging him to come to his aid but no one came, as he cried out, “Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help” (Psa 22.11). We know that David did not believe he was abandoned by God since later he wrote, “For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him” (Psa 22.24). Thus, the feeling David had was not the actual abandonment by the Lord but rather he felt alone because there is no one who can help in time of trouble.

By applying this understanding of the meaning of forsaken, now I am able to resolve the main tension from these agonizing words of Christ on the cross. Jesus was crying out to the Father in agony because he must endure the cross without the Father’s help of deliverance. In other words, he must endure the agony of death on his own in order to redeem all humanity as the final sacrifice foretold in Isaiah 53.10.

Furthermore, I believe Jesus may have recited Psalm 22 in its entirety. You might ask how I arrived at this conclusion. Psalm 22 ends with, “they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.” Take note of the last four words, “he has done it.” It literally means “It is finished!” which were the same last words spoken by Jesus (Joh 19.30).

Therefore, it is important to look at the theme of Psalm 22 in order to understand Matthew 27.46. Despite of his feeling of abandonment, David continues to place his trust in the Lord for he has shown himself to be faithful and trustworthy to his people. He says, “The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the LORD! May your hearts live forever!” (Psa 22.24). No, the Father did not abandon Jesus on the cross. It was his steadfast love for all humanity that kept him from rescuing his Son from a torturous death. As you reflect on the work of Christ this Easter, thank the Father for his steadfast, extravagant love that it was his will to crush him to redeem you for all eternity. Take hope and be encouraged, for the same God who did not despise or forsaken David in his time of trouble is the same one who will hear you when you cry out to him in distress.