Courtney Gilmore Does the Bible have anything to say about nationalism? Let’s look at some of what God said when He was setting up His own nation?
God promised Abraham that his family would one day inherit what we now call the Promised Land. God rescued the Israelites from Egypt & sent them into this new land to create their own nation. They would have their own laws, traditions, & set of beliefs. The Lord gave these laws to Moses & he wrote them down in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. God was not exclusionary in regard to race, gender, or culture, but there were guidelines about who could live within the boundaries of His nation. Some of these are recorded in Exodus 12-13.
On the night that the Israelites left Egypt, they practiced the first Passover. God told them to celebrate that day every year thereafter by sacrificing & eating the passover lamb. Then, for the next week, they would also celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread since they had been rushed out of Egypt & had no time to let their bread rise. Everyone that belonged to the Lord HAD to participate in these holy days of memorial. Anyone that did not, would be cut off from the nation of Israel. Their servants & those among them that were not born to their family, could also participate if they were willing to profess their faith in God by circumcising their men. The Israelites had already been commanded to set themselves apart from the other nations by circumcising their sons. It was the outward show of their inward faith in God. But if they wanted to be saved from the last plague of Egypt, they also had to reveal their faith by sacrificing a lamb. With this action, the angel would see that death had already come to that house & passover it, sparing their lives.
Everyone that wanted to be a part of the nation of Israel had to profess their faith in God & go by the same laws as the Israelites. Anyone, no matter their origin, that did not want to participate in its traditions or follow its laws, could not be a part of the nation of Israel. So, God did seem to believe in sovereign nations. By having a core set of beliefs & an agreed upon government & law, the nation would have unity. At the onset, everyone had to agree about how the government would be set up & adhere to its fundamental beliefs. Furthermore, anyone that wanted to enter thereafter, had to go by the existing traditions & laws of their nation.
What this tells me, is that God does not care about skin color or what family or area we were born into. But He does care about what we believe. When someone desires to participate in the benefits of an already existing nation, they should unify around its founding principles & go by its laws. That does not mean that everyone has to agree about everything. There are way too many thoughts in the world for that! But there does have to be a core set of standards & ideas that everyone rallies around, otherwise you are a divided nation. Jesus told the people in Matthew 12:25 that any kingdom divided against itself would be brought to desolation. No nation can be strong & lasting if there are divisions at its core.
I think that most of us understand this. Most likely we choose to move to a new town, job, or school, because the people there share our primary beliefs. But it has always confused me why some people will move into a town, or choose a school or job, that doesn’t believe anything that they do & then expect the people there to change everything for them. They seem offended by the way everything is run, yet still choose to be there. Personally, if I disagree with the way that everything is being done in a particular place, then I do not want to be there. There are always choices & I would much rather be in a place where we are all in agreement as much as possible over the important things. I do not think that I have a right to force others to do everything the way that I think it should be done. I can only control myself. So, I choose to place myself where most of the people share my core beliefs & I appreciate others that do the same. We will never agree on everything & it is good to have discussions & listen to other points of view on most things. But if we don’t have a foundation on which to base those things, then we will surely fall like the house that was built on sand. Matthew 7:24-27
The Bible is God’s way to talk to all His people universally. It may not specifically speak to our personal circumstances, but it does hold the foundations for our lives. It seems to me, that if God believed in the sovereign nation of Israel, then He also believes that every country has the right to set up its own government, laws, & fundamental beliefs. Consequently, each nation should also have the right to expect everyone that wants to enter or remain there, to abide by them.
United we stand. But divided we fall.
Excerpt 1 from Episode 57 “Redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb” on Podcast & YouTube
