The Purpose of Government

Many people assume that government is a post-fall institution.

However, government has existed from the beginning, in four forms:

God’s governance over man

Man’s governance over earth

Personal governance

Family governance

Governance begins with God’s governance over man. We saw this as Christ our King walked with us in the garden:

“As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. (Psalm 2:6-7)

Unfortunately, mankind rejected its King:

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food … she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3:6)

At this point, God instituted a new order with an intermediary between God and man:

Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.”

One level of intermediary was angels-both good and fallen. In fact, through the disobedience of Adam, Satan established his kingdom on earth.

But God also established a new governance, civil government. And in this, God would establish a king, a man after His own heart, who would point the way to man’s repentance by accepting once again Christ as their one true King