Recent days have shown how far some judges will go to impose their views on the majority of citizens. Just yesterday, one solitary judge in Utah by fiat overturned that state’s constitutional amendment to define marriage as between one man and one woman. This right on the heels of the same in New Mexico. On a purely political level, this trend ought to be alarming.
And yet, this cannot be alarming merely because the will of the citizens of Utah or other such states has been steamrolled. In our democratic America, it is ever and always “we the people.” If a judge overrules the will of the people, then there is a defiant outcry. But if a judge rubber-stamps the current of popular opinion, applause erupts. Yet, what if the majority of the people are wrong? (Cue gasps.) Yes, I did just suggest the unthinkable. But there it is. And if they ever are wrong, a judge could and should overrule their wrong decisions. And deal with the fallout unflinchingly.
What happened in Utah should outrage the people, within and without the state. But not because a single judge crossed their will, enshrined by law. What should shock the folks of Utah and the rest of the United States is that God’s law has been overturned.
That is evident for those who do not willfully close their eyes. Nature speaks. The male and female bodies were designed for each other. Pick up that anatomy book again and review. In detail. Behold the signature craftsmanship of God! The unnaturalness of man and man or woman and woman is obvious. How? Barrenness is not a painful exception in such unions; it is an inflexible law. This barrier to conception and childbearing is a clear stamp of God’s total disapproval.
To this testimony of nature, God adds His revealed Word. “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination” (Lev. 18:22).
Judges who overturn God’s law will have to reckon with God. And citizens who – by their elected representatives – overturn God’s will will answer to Him as well. We have great reason to fear, both people and officials, elected and unelected. We have been transgressing God’s law for decades, flagrantly disregarding His commandments and sanctioning them after the fact by law or decree. Yesterday was but another step in a long process. Having given our stamp of approval to sex outside of marriage, to no-fault divorce, and even to the inhumanity of abortion, it is not terribly surprising that same-sex marriage eventually gets a pass. Most heterosexuals have abandoned their moral high ground to critique anything they may not prefer.
We are effectively writing a new declaration of independence. From God. And the real alarm should be that we are sorely trying His patience, and that His patience will at some point come to an abrupt and jarring end. How long will God withhold His hand of judgment? How long will He indulge our prodigal orgy of lawlessness? I genuinely fear that our day of reckoning is coming. Whether by cyber-terrorism, or by an unstoppable epidemic, or by some other fearful national calamity, it is coming. And that is only the beginning, when one reckons with the fact that temporal judgments are omens of those beyond death. “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Psa. 9:17).
O, that we might come to our senses! All of us – “we the people.” And with broken hearts and tears of sorrow, that we might pledge our allegiance to God once again, and to His Christ.
The Reformed Parish 