Why does a civil ruler carry a weapon?...

To control the lawless.

Many nations are becoming lawless. Their governments have lost the will to rule. One of the symptoms of the loss of the will to rule is an unwillingness to punish the guilty. Men may commit heinous, multiple murders but the government is persuaded easily that to put such men to death is immoral and too harsh.

Secular governments, in their efforts to justify their release of the guilty, may quote from the words of the Lord Jesus: "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you" (Matthew 5:44).

Unlearned people, some secular and some Christian, maintain that since the Lord told us to love our enemies the wicked should get light sentences and never the death penalty.

In this they are illogical and unscriptural. In the first place, to pursue this line of reasoning is to let all criminals go totally free because the Lord said we should love our enemies.

In the second place, the words of the Lord concerning forgiveness do not apply to a governmental system of criminal law. The words of the Lord have to do with the individual who is tempted to harbour hatred in his heart, not with the criminal justice system.

The verse that applies to governmental systems of criminal justice is Romans 13:4: "He beareth not the sword in vain." He bears not the sword in vain because he is God’s minister to put a stop to sin.

The only reason for the existence of secular government is to enforce God’s laws of morality.

Paul teaches us that the last days of the present age will witness a revolt against all authority.

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away [revolt against authority] first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition destruction (II Thessalonians 2:3).

The teaching that the Christian "will not be here" during the "falling away" (revolt against authority) is refuted by the above verse. The Day of the Lord shall not come until the nations have rejected all authority and the man of lawlessness has been revealed.

The lawlessness, as we understand the forces that are operating, will come from two sources that will become one source of lawlessness.

One source of lawlessness is secular. It stems from the fact that ancient authoritarian government has been rejected in favour of individual liberty. The problem here is, the rule of the individual is based on the self-control of human beings, and human beings are not able to control themselves. Satan steps in and controls people who are not controlled by the government. This is Antichrist.

Another source of lawlessness is Christian. It rises from the change from Law to grace, from leaving the Law of Moses and moving to the law of the Holy Spirit. But Christian believers, while they do leave Moses, do not bring themselves under the law of the Holy Spirit. Therefore they are married neither to Moses nor Christ, and Satan assumes control of their personalities. This is the False Prophet. The False Prophet is undisciplined Christianity, cross less Christianity.

We notice in the Book of Revelation that the False Prophet (lawless Christianity) will support the Antichrist (lawless secular society) in the last days.

And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed (Revelation 13:12).

A lawless Christian Church and a lawless secular society will support each other. The result will be a humanistic secular world and a babylonish (manmade, man-cantered, man-directed) Church. The babylonish Church will no doubt have its world headquarters at the site of ancient Babylon. The lawless Church and the lawless world government will rule the nations until the secular nations finally destroy the babylonish Church.

And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire (Revelation 17:16).

God is a God of government, of rule, of order. The believer, even in the present evil, lawless hour, must look always to the Lord Jesus to insure that he is cheerfully obeying all lawful government as unto the Lord.

If we would understand the source of the pressure to remove restraints upon behavior and to impose light sentences on the guilty we must examine the situation of Satan. He hopes to convince the inhabitants of the heavens, and mankind, that God should grant him amnesty. Satan seeks to persuade people that the criminal should be forgiven. This is the source of the concept that the heinous, multiple murderer should be released on his promise "not to do it again."

But Satan never shall be granted amnesty by the Lord.

And because the governments of today have refused to avenge the innocent and punish the guilty, the Lord Himself shall come and bring judgment and justice.

He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law (Isaiah 42:4).

Then the guilty shall be punished and the meek of the earth shall sing the praises of God.

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