Do you not see that all your talk is just as much an exercise in self-deception here and now as it was to your British forerunners of Jones’s day? Your desired nationalism is a delusion, a fantasy to which you flee all the more as society worsens around us. It’s probably not going to happen that we re-establish a Christian Commonwealth any time soon, and given the actual history of such places and how they have been some of the foremost persecutors of people whose Christian faith seems sincere, that might be just as well.

Whether the term in the title is your own or that of others, it is clear you form a group that is sufficiently large (or at least vocal) to merit acknowledgment. No one can deny that you abound in zeal, and that you are eager to be hard men of thought who leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of truth and right. Neither do you revel in the advance of wickedness and infidelity that is so abundant around us, nor try to rationalize it (as some professing believers), but rather feel aghast at it and the many cruelties it brings. I wonder then if you might answer the following questions.

Why do we think that things will go well with the church in this world? Did Christ say, “When the Son of Man comes, he will find that all men have faith?” Was it not this blunt question that he posed to his disciples: “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Lk. 18:8)? And in that famous discourse of the last things that we call the Olivet, where did he say that the church would conquer the world and make it his before his return? Were these not his words?

See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. (Matt. 24:4-13)

Quite the vision of earthly triumph and ‘winning the culture’ there. Or again, he said:

For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. (vv. 21-24)

“Great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now.” What a marvelous Christendom this shall be! Ah, but perhaps you will say this refers to the Fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. Tell me, do God’s prophecies not often admit of multiple meanings? Are they not often fulfilled in part as a sort of proof of God’s sincerity, and then later in their final form? Could it not be that Jerusalem’s destruction is a foretaste of Christ’s final return?

And there are other difficulties. It may have been a disaster to have been an inhabitant of Judea during Rome’s retribution against her, but actually this was part of the empire’s return to stability (and its accompanying Pax Romana) with the rise of the Flavian dynasty of Vespasian (a Roman general in Judea, whose son Titus completed the conquest). Why would Christ speak of this in such general terms as the end of the age if it was actually part of something that he was providentially using to allow his church to expand? Unless, that is, it found only partial fulfillment in Jerusalem’s fall and has a wider meaning that awaits a final fulfillment.

On that, compare also vv. 29 and following. “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken,” it says. This did not occur after Jerusalem’s fall, nor did he “send out his angels with a loud trumpet call” to “gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (v. 31). The thing refers to his final coming, in other words. And that is not preceded by earthly triumph and glory but “tribulation,” and “the tribes of the earth will mourn” (v. 30) at his coming. Why would they do that if they were Christian nations faithfully doing his will?

But perhaps you will appeal to v. 14 and its promise that “this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” But I bid you not forget that God’s testimony is often not believed, as it is written: “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people” (Rom. 10:21). And as Israel did not repent but persecuted the prophets, leading to Christ’s lament: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” (Matt. 23:37).

Or perhaps you will say that you are the faithful servants of the parable of the talents laboring to do Christ’s will (Matt. 25:14-30). Tell me, then, where he said to seize earthly power, and how it is that you are doing his will by pursuing it? He says that “religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (Jas. 1:27). How is it then that I have heard that some of you argue that it is permissible to lie and cheat in elections to seize power? How is that keeping oneself unstained from the world? And lies being of the devil, how is that doing Christ’s will?

And have you forgotten that Christ said the cares of this life choke the word of the kingdom of God (Matt. 13:22)? What is the holding of civil and cultural power, if not a continual preoccupation with the cares of this life? Or again, have you forgotten that Christ said even of many who do good works, that “on that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’” (7:22), and that he will reply “depart from me, you workers of lawlessness” (v. 23)? Not all that is done in Christ’s name accords with his will or is truly done in his service (comp. v. 21). (A terrifying thought.)

But if you will not accept my testimony on this point – for I am a man of no eminence or learning, and a vile sinner – hear then the words of a proven man of God. Preaching on Lk. 13:23-28, Martin Lloyd Jones said:

To be interested in Christendom is not enough. In other words, to be interested in the Christian view about this, that, and the other is not enough. And oh, how the devil ensnares millions just at that very point. People still talk about Christendom, Western civilization, Western culture with its Christian values. I say in the name of this word, it is all stuff and nonsense. If you are only interested in Western culture and the so-called Christian civilization, you can be walking straight in the direction of hell.

It seems the United Kingdom had its own Christian nationalists in his day, and that in spite of the godlessness of their nation, which is far more pronounced today. The true church is of no account there, a remnant with no political or cultural power whatever.

Ah, but she had established churches for centuries, and your vaunted Christian magistrate! Even now, about one-fourth of the Church of England’s bishops sit in the House of Lords as the ‘lords spiritual.’ And what is the upshot of it all? The churches of England and Scotland are bywords for apostasy and of no account, shrinking by the hour as the people of those lands harden themselves in unbelief or turn to the false teaching of Rome, Mohammed, or Paganism. All that occurred under professedly Christian magistrates and in an explicitly Christian Commonwealth. For half a millennium England had the opportunity to be a Protestant Commonwealth. Surely good came of it in earlier centuries, but at this point its effect has been to alienate the nation from the faith and quite probably to lead most of such few as attempt faith to hell—all in Jesus’s name.

And so it is with all the nations of Western Europe. They had Christendom under Rome, which showed its conformity to the image of the lamb of God by torturing people to death in his name for such things as owning scripture in their native tongues (Jn. 16:2), and which chained the people in superstition and tyranny. Some of them had an established Christendom under the Reformation, which has resulted in repelling people from the faith rather than attracting them to it, or else corrupting true doctrine. There are your Christian magistrates and princes, your vaunted and much-coveted earthly power and cultural influence! All stuff and nonsense indeed!

Do you not see that all your talk is just as much an exercise in self-deception here and now as it was to your British forerunners of Jones’s day? Your desired nationalism is a delusion, a fantasy to which you flee all the more as society worsens around us. It’s probably not going to happen that we re-establish a Christian Commonwealth any time soon, and given the actual history of such places and how they have been some of the foremost persecutors of people whose Christian faith seems sincere, that might be just as well.

In short, this is a rebuke and an earnest appeal, and if you are wise you will heed it. Stop fantasizing about earthly power and strive to enter by the narrow gate (Lk. 13:24) yourselves. Be faithful witnesses in your churches, families, and communities. Do works of mercy and witness as the opportunity permits. And where appropriate, be politically involved. If there is an outbreak of some sickness and casinos or stores are allowed to operate but churches cannot, by all means protest the hypocrisy of those whose oaths of office include promises to uphold constitutions that guarantee freedom of assembly and religion (and are often silent about rights related to commerce and gaming).

But put everything in the right place. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12), and seek the good of those nearest (especially family, immediate neighbors, and one’s local church), and quit this angry obsessing on the Internet about earthly power. You’re only making yourselves obnoxious and preventing yourselves from doing actual good work, and driving all love of enemy and neighbor out of your hearts.

And if you will not listen but harden your hearts, priding yourselves that your reading and your casuistry allow you to walk rightly where so many before you have failed, then take heed: for God’s kingdom is spread by His Spirit, and his “power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9), not earthly power. And it may be that your learning is not so deep or accurate as you believe, and that your efforts serve rather to alienate outsiders than to win them or otherwise accomplish the aims you desire.

Tom Hervey is a member of Friendship Presbyterian Church in Laurens County, SC. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not of necessity reflect those of his church or its leadership or other members. He welcomes comments at the email address provided with his name. He is also author of Reflections on the Word: Essays in Protestant Scriptural Contemplation, and helped modernize Volume I of James Hervey’s classic dialogue on evangelical faith, Theron and Aspasio, available now at Monergism.