LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1983, Page 109

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110 DEVOTIONAL ESSAYS

force. Itis a kingdom of love, love from God to us who as
the holy Christian church, the communion of saints, are
the objects of this rule, love from us to God, love from us
to each other. It’s a reality for us right now, in this life,
but because we are still sinners we will not experience it
in all its fullness until in the life to come, when this
present kingdom of grace becomes the kingdom of glory.
So we might say that for us the kingdom is here for us
through faith in Christ, but not wholly fulfilled in us
because we're still this side of our eternal destination.
We are, Peter says, “pilgrims and strangers.”

And there, of course, is the rub. You and I are citizens
of the kingdom of the right, God’s rule of grace and love;
but as long as we are in this world we are also ruled by
God’s kingdom of the left. That’s a traditional term to
designate God’s powerful rule over this world.

II

The rule of God’s left hand is quite a different matter
than His rule in the hearts of believers through the
Gospel. There He is revealed to us in His Word as our
loving, heavenly Father. But here in the kingdom of the
left He rules with reason and law, to keep order in the
world. The instruments of His rule are fully visible to us:
the whole civil order, from parents to police officers to
Judges to mayors and governors and presidents. This
order embraces the entire collective wisdom and experi-
ence of the civil realm. It has nothing to do with the
salvation of souls; it has everything to do with keeping
this world a safe and civil place in which to live. Thus
even the most secular wisdom of the pagans can be
turned to the divine purpose in maintaining order and
security in the world. Here Christians can cooperate
with worldlywise unbelievers in the promotion of the
common good. For all people who accept their civil
responsibility are what Luther called the “masks” of the
invisible God. Indeed, he could view a decent civil order
as a kind of symbol of the heavenly kingdom (WA 51,
41-42), the instrument through which God works His
sovereign will.

Martin Luther was able to visualize an ideal Chris-
tian community in which the rule of reason and law
would not be necessary and people would simply live
together as Christians. Sometimes his language is
almost utopian. But he was finally a realist, who knew
that Christians too remain sinners and that they are not
only participants in and beneficiaries of the civil realm,
but they also must be ruled by law when they fail to live
up to the commitments of their faith. “Now since no one
is by nature Christian or righteous,” he wrote, “God
through the law puts them all under restraint so they
dare not willfully implement their wickedness in actual
deeds” (“Temporal Authority,” op. cit., p. 280). We are
part of the rule of reason and law, bag and baggage.

There is a dark side to the kingdom of the left, and
this should be boldly admitted. Underneath the rule of
the two kingdoms there lie another “two kingdoms,” the
kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. All the good
things that God wants for His human creation are the
objects of the insidious efforts of Satan to undermine

them. He plants the seeds of pernicious teaching in the
minds of the very people who are God’s instruments to
proclaim the Gospel of the kingdom of love. And he
corrupts the very people who are to serve as God’s
masks to preserve order in this world. One of the most
touching aspects of American life in recent times was
the discovery on the part of so many people, especially
the youth during the ’60s, that the ruling powers, the
whole establishment that seems to be in control of
human affairs, is tainted with hypocrisy. Of course itis!
The establishment has always been. Even the religious
establishment can be so tainted, for it partakes of the
nature of a human organization. The civil order is a
superficial, forced kind of order among people and does
not necessarily or consistently have anything to do with
true humanitarian love, let alone Christian love. It can
even become grossly evil.

Therefore even though the people who are the
“masks’ of God’s civil rule are clearly visible, God’s rule ‘
and purpose for this world are often hidden to us. Tha’
He rules is, like our confidence in His forgiving love, to “
be believed rather than clearly seen. So often it appears *
to us as though the forces of evil are in control. But faith {
knows that God has the world on a leash. He holds the
nations in derision, the psalmist says. He laughs a
their childish attempts to play god with each other, for
He is Himself in control. Man sets himself up, plays his
little games; and then, when He determines, God enters
in and says, “This game is over.” This too is an aspect of
His kingdom of the left, for it is a rule of power.

Ill

So there they are, the kingdoms of the right and‘
the left, God’s rule of grace and love and His rule’ i
reason, law, and power. You and I live, by faith, in the
kingdom of the right. We have experienced the JOYS 0;
God’s peace and love which He offers us in our Lo
Jesus Christ. In Him, God offers us forgiveness for the:
past and the ever-new potential to love Him and live for:
Him, to love and serve our fellow human beings. Where’
His forgiveness and love abound in our lives and tak
possession of us, there no force of law is needed to mov
us to serve God and man. But we are pilgrims in th
world, sinners still. We are both instruments and obje
of His rule of law and reason. We have an obligatio:
serve this civil realm, and are ourselves ruled by i ;

As we participate in both kingdoms, one of |
greatest challenges is to distinguish between the
Muddying the waters of the two kingdoms has alwa,
been a pernicious problem. And yet, the basic princi
is clear and simple:

1. You don’t make Christian believers by force
law. ‘
2. You don’t rule the civil realm by the Gospel.

Let’s let Luther speak to this:

For this reason one must carefully distinguish betw'
these two governments. Both must be permitted to remé
the one to produce righteousness, the other to bring ad
external peace and prevent evil deeds. Neither one
sufficient in the world without the other. No one:€