Kingdom Voting (Part 2): Steward Your Authority

God established authority structures in four main spheres—family, church, occupational, and government—and each sphere has its own structure. In the family, the children submit to the parents, and the wife submits to the husband. In the church, the people submit to the pastor and any leaders he may appoint. In occupational spheres, people submit to their bosses, coaches, teachers, and others with legitimate authority. Finally, in government, people submit to laws and leaders.

God communicated His government authority structures by giving His people laws, priests, judges, and kings throughout the Old Testament. Each of these had a different purpose in God’s plan for government. The law delineated acceptable and unacceptable behavior from people living as neighbors in community with each other. Priests provided a means of atonement between people and God when they violated His law. The judges provided means of arbitration for individuals who could not resolve their differences among themselves. Finally, kings acted as super-judges and led the nation to defend itself against its foreign and domestic enemies.

Daniel 2:21 says God enthrones and deposes earthly kings. The United States of America is a constitutional republic, and the true king of a republic is the individual citizen, who manifests his or her political power in the electoral  process. These citizens vote to elect representatives to act on their behalf, much like a king would appoint an ambassador to act on his behalf. These legislators are not the leaders of the republic, but constituents send them to the capital to execute their will. You can think of your elected  representative as your political errand-boy or errand-girl, who goes off to do the work you are too busy to handle. It is an imperfect system for several reasons, but that is generally the way representative governments function.