The Arc of History

 

I grew up in an era of political violence.

I was in second grade when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas and watched the coverage repeatedly on TV, because we only had three channels back then and it was a story that rightfully dominated every channel.

I remember Bobby Kennedy, the president’s brother who was running for president, being shot in 1968, the same year Martin Luther King was gunned down while in Memphis. And then there were the riots – the northern and west coast cities that were in flames, and the chants of “Burn, Baby, Burn.” There were the murders of Medgar Evers and Fred Hampton, and the three civil rights workers - James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner – who were kidnapped and killed by members of the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi. I watched images of police dogs on children marching in protest in Birmingham, of beatings and bus burnings and church bombings, and “Four Dead in Ohio,” when the Ohio National Guard opened fire on a crowd of unarmed students, killing four and wounding nine, during an anti-war protest. Huey Newton and Malcolm X and Che Guevara, Viet Nam war, and so much, much more.

During the Black Lives Matter/Antifa riots of a few years ago, a young lady I know said she didn’t think this country had ever been more divided. She hadn’t grown up in the period I did. And of course, there was the whole Civil War thing – a nation that was truly divided, a division that devolved into real, actual war.

I am sure that growing up in the 1960s affected me. I’m sure there are books and articles and scientific studies on the impact those events had on my generation. I don’t know what seeing those things did to me. But I know my parents lived through World War II and the Great Depression, and their parents through World War I, and their parents through the Civil War, and so on.

In writing this series called “God and Me,” I have intentionally tried to stay away from politics. And I’m not wanting to get to far into politics now.

Except to say, even with the political violence we’ve seen recently, the events in Minneapolis with ICE agents and assassination attempts on the life of President Trump and so many others, I know this country seems almost hopelessly divided.

Again.

But the point I want to make is this: as out of control as the world may seem, God remains in control.

I can’t see it. I don’t understand how it can be. I can’t really imagine how all of this is going to work to accomplish His will. But as Theodore Parker, a preacher from the 1850s, said, “I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways… But from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice.”

You may be more familiar with that from Martin Luther King’s speech on the steps of the Alabama state capitol in 1965, shortened to just “The arc of moral justice is long, but it bends toward justice.”

Indeed, the arc of history is astounding. And if you believe, as I do, that God is the author of all history, then all events move toward accomplishing His end. And, as Joseph so famously said in Genesis 20, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.”

Sometimes it just becomes hard to understand how God could possibly get anything done with the people who are running this country – regardless of political party. It seems helplessly hopeless.

But then I go back to an Old Testament story, the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem after the children of Israel had been captured and carried off to Babylon for 70 years. It’s an amazing story when you consider the political ramifications, and how different kings who did not believe in the God of the Israelites were used by God in a way that you’d have never believed if you didn’t see it – or, in this case, read about it.

The Israelites are captured in 586 BC by Nebuchadnezzar II, a Babylonian king, and dispersed throughout his empire. The Book of Daniel also tells the story of the eventual fall of the Babylonians, who are overrun by the Persians and Cyrus the Great in 539 BC.

In 538 Cyrus has this vision in the middle of the night to allow the Jews to return and build a temple for their God. There is no indication that Cyrus has converted and become a faithful follower of the God of Israel, but Ezra does record “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: 'The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has appointed me to build a house for Him at Jerusalem in Judah. Whoever among you belongs to His people, may his God be with him, and may he go to Jerusalem in Judah and build the house of the LORD, the God of Israel.'" So, there is some measure of respect for God by Cyrus, although the king doesn’t seem to identify himself as one of His followers.

Zerubbabel and Jeshua the high priest lead the first group of exiles back to Jerusalem around 538 BC to begin rebuilding the Temple. Cyrus dies, and we get the story of Nehemiah who is cupbearer to the new king, Artaxerxes, who allows a second wave of Israelites to return to begin rebuilding the city.

But the people who were already living in and around Jerusalem before these exiles return don’t like what they see happening, and they write a letter to Artaxerxes, saying this rebuilding is really to start a rebellion. Artaxerxes orders the building to be stopped. It looks like the plan to rebuild the Temple and Jerusalem is dead.

The Jews decide to get back to building anyway, and the people who oppose them write yet another letter, this time to yet another king, Darius. This is the third king, and every step of the way back to Jerusalem has been start-stop, start-stop. This time there seems no way this return from exile can continue.

However, Darius (in Ezra 6) reads about this conflict going on in Jerusalem and tries to figure out where it all started. He goes back through the palace records, and discovers the original decree made by Cyrus authorizing the rebuilding of the temple. After reading what Cyrus said, Darius sends word to the enemies of the rebuilders and says “Let the work of this house of God alone. Let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild this house of God on its site. Moreover, I make a decree regarding what you shall do for these elders of the Jews for the rebuilding of the house of the God. The cost is to be paid to these men in full without delay from the royal revenue, the tribute of the province from Beyond the River.” (Ezra 6).

Get this. The whole return from exile to Jerusalem started and stopped, and kept running into roadblocks with new kins over the Persian empire. The whole thing seemed like a pipe dream that just wasn’t in the cards, so to speak.

And yet here Darius not only gives his permission for the Jews to rebuild the temple, but actually PAYS for it! And it’s done in 516 BC, 70 years after the initial exile, exactly as Jeremiah predicted, based on what God told him.

None of these Persian kings seem to have become converts to Judaism, or followers of the God of Israel (Nebuchadnezzar II, who took the Jews into exile, was not Persian: the Persians under Cyrus overthrew the Babylonians).

It’s rather amazing, from a human perspective. You have these different leaders with different purposes with different beliefs, and yet in the end everything they do leads to the accomplishment of what God said would happen all along.

The point is that no matter who the king is, or in our case the president, God is still in control. The president – be it Trump, Biden, Obama, Bush, Clinton, pick a name – may not actually be followers of God, but they are doing exactly what God needs to have done to accomplish His purpose and plan.

I guess what I’m saying is that no matter how bad things can look, no matter how lost the world seems, no matter how corrupt you may think the leader of government is, God can use even those who don't fully know Him to accomplish His purposes.

There is one thing God tells his people to do when they find themselves in places where it seems they are not welcome. When the children of Israel were first captured and dispersed into exile, Jeremiah wrote “Pray for the peace, prosperity, and welfare of your city, for in its well-being your own well-being is connected.” (Jeremiah 29:7)

Paul, several times, tells us to pray for the leaders of government that rule over us, and remember he was talking about the emperors of the Roman Empire – not exactly nice guys.

That doesn’t mean we have to agree with everything our elected leaders do. We’re fortunate in this country to be able to protest, to vote, to be actively involved in changing government that we don’t like, as well as promoting what we feel is right. And we should do that.

But we don’t do it as people who are losing hope, or even basing our hope on the success of the government as we understand it. We do it knowing that God’s Will is being accomplished, even if we can’t possibly understand how.

Our response should harken back to another speech Dr. King gave, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963, the “I Have a Dream” speech.

He said, “In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force….”

Regardless of how you feel about King’s politics or personal life, that part of his message, I believe, is Biblical.

As I said, I grew up in a period of violence in this country, a level of violence that rivals, if not surpasses, what we’re experiencing now.

I’m not saying who is right in this political divide, or who is wrong.

What I’m saying is, we need to remember that if you want to see God at work in this country, it starts with you. Not a political party, not the destruction of the other side, not by unflinching devotion to a leader, not the people who you disagree with.

You.

And me.