The (Dis)United Kingdom: My Attempt at a Biblical Take on The State of the Nation

 The (Dis)United Kingdom: My Attempt at a Biblical Take on The State of the Nation

Context

Firstly, as I often say, Jesus unites people of differing backgrounds. Men and women, old and young, Jews (religious) and Greeks/Gentiles (irreligious). 

Jesus unites us under his banner. His banner over us is love. His cross isn't the St. George's cross or the St. Andrew's cross. 

The cross of Jesus was a rough, wooden, Roman instrument of torture. Why did Jesus go through that? To save revolutionaries and tax collectors alike. His inner circle included the traitorous Matthew who had been a tax collector for the Roman oppressors; and Simon the Zealot who wanted to kick the Romans out.

I could draw parallels with the UK today, but I want to do so through the lens of first century Israel. Matthew and Simon were able to put their political differences aside for the sake of King Jesus, but I'm sure Christians were divided in AD70 when the Jews revolted against Roman rule.

By then, Christianity was a largely Gentile organism, but I suspect there were Christians on both sides of the conflict. Some, like Simon the Zealot, would have wanted to throw off the shackles of the oppressive Roman Empire. Others, like Matthew the tax collector turned Apostle, wouldn't have ruled out working with the Romans, many of whom had come to faith in the Jewish Messiah and Saviour of the world,the Lord Jesus Christ.

The British Isles Today

Okay so fast forward 2000 years to the 21st Century British Isles. What does 1st Century Israel have to do with us?

To be honest, we have our own Zealots and tax collectors nowadays, even within the church of the Lord Jesus. The Zealots would be the Nationalists, the Patriots, the Radicals, the Roundheads, the Parliamentarians if you like.

The tax collectors might be Christian refugees who rely on government handouts to survive. Yes, ‘if a man will not work, he will not eat’, but if an asylum seeker is forbidden to do paid work, by the state, he is forced to rely on government handouts from taxpayers money.

Simon the Zealot and Matthew the tax collector had more in common with each other than other Zealots and tax collectors.

Nationalistic Christians have more in common with Christian refugees than their fellow Patriots. Christian asylum seekers have more in common with native Christians than with the Muslim asylum seekers they may have to live amongst.

Sadly, the way the UK is going it seems like civil war is brewing. Yet I'm mindful of Solomon's saying that those who watch the wind will not reap. We could pontificate about whether Muslims will succeed in turning Britain into an Islamic State, or whether the racists will kick out the foreigners. It would be better to simply preach the gospel.

What is the Gospel?

The Gospel is the Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

The Good News is that sinners like us, whether religious Muslims or irreligious Brits, can be forgiven of our sins by trusting in Christ crucified for us. 

There's a prayer that's guaranteed to be answered: ‘All who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved’. The name of the Lord is Jesus Christ. The Lord saves by his anointed King Jesus.

He doesn't necessarily save us from Civil War. He does save us from sin and death and hell. We still face death, but for the believer, death is simply falling asleep until the Lord awakes us to enjoy eternity with him in his everlasting Kingdom.

The ‘United’ Kingdom will cease to be. Islamic States will crumble. The United States will fall. The People's Republic of China will be forgotten. Yet the Kingdom of God will endure when this world has been destroyed by fire and recreated into the new heavens and the new earth.

How do we get to become part of eternity? Simply by trusting in Christ crucified on our behalf. Jesus is a friend of sinners, whether tax collectors or religious hypocrites who repent of their arrogant pride.

P.S. I won't end without returning to the gospel, but you may be wondering where I would stand in a civil war scenario. To say I've probably been punched by the patriot/racist terrorist/freedom-fighter Tommy Robinson (before he got more famous and I discovered who he was), I am a bit of a Simon the Zealot at heart. 

To be honest however, if it came to it, I think I would side with the tax collectors. Let me explain why. In Romans 13 Paul commands us to obey the powers that be. They might be oppressive. They might be imperialistic. They might be throwing us to the lions, burning us at the stake or chopping our heads off. 

Yet they have been put there by God. So even though I think our rulers are like Herod the fox as Jesus put it, or Pilate, Annas and Caiaphas the pack of wolves as it were, I don't want to rebel against them. As Jesus said, I could call down 72,000 angels, but I won't. He said his Kingdom is not of this world. 

So I will live for the heavenly, everlasting Kingdom of God. I won't live for the doomed, (Dis)United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. 

What are you living for? Are you living for some earthly polity that's doomed to destruction? Are you relying on collecting taxes? Repent and trust in Ch

rist crucified and risen, to receive eternal life.