What Should We Think While We Wait?

The outcome of the presidential election has not yet been determined. We know that major news sources have called the election for Joe Biden, and we know that Joe Biden has called the election for Joe Biden. But, a football team and their fans cannot determine who wins the game. The players might be dancing in the end zone, and the fans might be celebrating in the stands, but it is the referees who determine who wins, not the players or fans. The referees can call a last-second touchdown back because of an infraction and the other team wins. In the same way, a presidential candidate and his supporters cannot determine who wins the election. There is a constitutional process to determine the winner of a presidential election, and that process includes verifying the legality of all the ballots cast. Right now, there are a number of official challenges to the legality of ballots in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Nevada, and possibly eventually others. There is a constitutional due process to be followed in determining the winners in Federal elections, and until that process is completed, the election will not be called. It is too soon to know how it will turn out, but there is increasing evidence of potential massive voter fraud on such a scale that it cannot be kept hidden. If that potential evidence turns out to be true and the ballots are discounted, there is every possibility that Trump will be declared the winner. Until then, we are in limbo, waiting for the constitutional process to play out. Waiting is always hard. But, here are things we need to remind ourselves of, regardless of the outcome of this battle.

1. God is still on the throne

This election did not catch God off guard, the forces of evil have not overwhelmed Him, God is not in heaven trying to calculate Plan B. Listen to these passages:

• “The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, His sovereignty rules over all.” (Psalm 103:19, NASB)
• “He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; ... the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will...” (Daniel 2:21; 4:17)
• “His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will not be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:14, CSB)

  Regardless of who wins the election, it will not be a surprise to God, it will not be something that He has no control over. It will not change his plan for guiding history to his ultimate and predetermined conclusion.

2. The Bible is still true

No Scriptures will change as a result of this election.

• All Scripture is inspired by God … (2 Timothy 3:16)
• Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. (Mark 13:31)
• Until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter shall pass from the law, until it is all accomplished! (Matthew 5:18)

  Not a word of the Scripture will change, no matter what the final result of the election is. No prophecy will be altered. No promises will be withdrawn. No instructions will be changed. No commands will be omitted. Everything in the Bible will remain as it is.

3. Our Job is still the same

The church will continue to be the bride and body of Christ. We will still have the great dual-purpose of advancing the great commandments and the great commission. The great commandments are to love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-39). And the great commission is to take the gospel to the entire world, and make disciples of all the nations (Matthew 28:19-20). To those who live in faithful obedience to him, He will still pour out in our lives the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Husbands and wives are still the love one another, parents and children are still to love one another, Christians are still the love one another, Christians are still to love the world as God does (Ephesians 5:25-6:9). None of the things that Christians are to be and do will change.

4. Our ultimate citizenship is in heaven.

Nothing will change our eternal destiny and ultimate hope.

• For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ… Philippians 3:20
• In Hebrews 11, we have a Hall of Fame of those who lived by faith… going back to Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, and a host of unnamed giants of the faith. And in Hebrews 11 beginning with verse 13 we read:

  All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth. ¹⁴ Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own. ¹⁵ If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back.¹⁶ But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. That is the trick… keeping your focus on the next world even as you are living in this one. This is not as contradictory as it may seem. C. S. Lewis once wrote: “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. The Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who abolished the Slave Trade, all left their mark on Earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with Heaven. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so in effective in this. Aim at Heaven and you'll get the earth "thrown in": aim at earth and you'll get neither.” So, we wait. We wait until the election results are finalized. And... while we wait... we pray. Conclusion Some Christians are counseling us to accept God’s will, His sovereignty, and the fact that He will “cause all things to work together for good,” including a Trump loss. And that is true. That is what we must do if we should learn that he indeed has lost. But until then, I say, hammer on heaven’s door. In Luke 11, we have the example of the man who hammered on his neighbor’s door until his neighbor finally got up and gave him what he needed. Jesus gave His disciples this parable after they asked Him to teach them to pray. Then again, in Luke 11 18 (updated, corrected reference), Jesus gave the parable of a woman who continued to visit a judge until he finally gave her what she was asking for. Jesus taught them this parable to show that they ought to pray at all times and not become discouraged. This is such a huge issue with so many unresolved legal question marks surrounding it that I say, “pray!” Hammer on heaven’s door until we know the answer. The constitutional process tells us that the election is not over yet, and the parables from Scripture tell us that, until it is, we are free to call upon the Lord to extend to us His mercy and grace. So, let's pray:

• that any voter fraud will be brought to light and properly dealt with,
• that the true winner will be fairly determined and
• that God allows America to step back from the edge to repair our great nation, to restore the foundation that was built with biblical values of life and religious liberty,
• that there would be not further erosion and impediment to our ability to speak the truths of the Bible and the Gospel of Jesus Christ that sets men and women free from the bondage of sin.

 

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