Why do the nations rage and the kingdoms plot in vain? So speaks the psalmist, wrestling with the cultural and political turmoil of his own day. As Christians, we too cry out for answers to the cultural evils of this present age. In this present age, the self-destructive pride of the wicked rears its ugly head in cultural maxims such as “the right to choose” or “love is love.” Even those who claim to belong to the Kingdom of God bow to these idols of their own hearts, falling prey to the “woke” demagogues in power. To many believers, the rampant wickedness of our society indicates the fall of the “American dream,” or, to some, the end of “Christian republicanism” – a bleak ending to a glorious nation, signaling the fast-approaching Day of the Lord. What shall we do when idolatry, greed, and wickedness overtake the country we so dearly love? How are we to be content when “darkness hides His lovely face”?
Enter Samuel Rutherford, a mighty warrior of Christ who fought the culture wars of his age against the oppression of Archbishop William Laud upon the Presbyterian Kirk (Church) of Scotland. The seventeenth-century Scottish minister is most notably remembered for his participation as a Scottish representative at the Westminster Assembly in 1644 and for his political work on divine authority, Lex Rex. The most radiant and beautiful of Rutherford’s theological writing, however, is found in his Letters, loving expressions of his inner heart poured forth in adoration for His Lord and earthly country. His commitment to winning the culture for Christ – which flowed out of a deep passion for Christ Himself – should serve as a model for Christians navigating the strong currents of the culture wars of our own day.
In 1636, Rutherford was banished to Aberdeen in the far north by Charles I and Archbishop Laud for ecclesiastical non-conformity, and many of his surviving letters would be penned from this solitary exile. Addressed to members of his congregation and fellow churchmen, Rutherford’s letters do not merely dwell on the dreadful state of his soul but instead expound upon the beauty and glory of the One who saved it. In letter after letter, Rutherford expounds on the sufficiency of Christ amid his sufferings, pouring out praise and adoration to His Savior King. As one earlier letter from Aberdeen reads:
“Woe, woe is me! That sin hath made so many madmen, seeking the fool’s paradise, with and apart from Christ. Christ, Christ, nothing but Christ can cool our love’s burning languor. O thirsty love! Wilt thou set Christ, the well of life, to thy head and drink thy fill? Drink and spare not; drink love and be drunken with Christ!”
Even amid the darkest night of his soul, Rutherford longed that Scotland would be delivered from what he viewed as both political and spiritual tyranny; but, even greater than this, He first thirsted for Christ. His passion for Scotland’s deliverance was an outflow of his passion for Christ.
The letters present Rutherford’s deep-seated trust in the sovereignty of God and Christ’s unshakable lordship, even in despair and uncertainty. It was this trust that gave him both the will to engage in the culture wars and the hopeful endurance to emerge unconsumed by them. Of God’s sovereignty in human affairs, Rutherford writes:
“I rejoice that the wheels of this confused world are rolled and cogged and driven as the Lord willeth. Out of whatever part of the heavens the wind blow, it will blow us on our Lord. No wind can blow our sails overboard, because Christ’s skill and the honor of his wisdom are empawned and laid down at the stake for the sea-passengers, that he shall put them off his hand on the shore, in his Father’s known bounds, our native home ground.”
Far from allowing this trust in God’s sovereignty to make him complacent in human affairs, these promises spurred Rutherford on to further God’s Kingdom on this earth. Rutherford desperately longed for Scotland’s political and spiritual salvation. His loyalty to his country and concern for its cultural morality pervaded his public life, his political writings, and his relations with others. Yet, Rutherford looked beyond his earthly home of Scotland to a beautiful, more glorious country, confident of the day when he would meet his King. It is precisely because Rutherford lived and fought for the heavenly country to come that he was able to be such an effective activist in his earthly country.
Whether we are Christians in seventeenth-century Scotland or twenty-first-century America, our joy must be founded upon the Lord Jesus Christ, not in a mission to “save the culture” – for even these noble deeds cannot redeem a man’s soul. Samuel Rutherford knew this; only through Christ will our “love’s burning languor” be satisfied. Proper love of Christ is the spiritual flame that will refine and shape our personal, political, and spiritual convictions; only when our eyes are set upon our Savior can we even begin to consider “rescuing” the nation, whether that reformation be spiritual or political.
As important as it is for Christians to engage with our culture, we must remember that the object of our faith is not the culture– the object of our faith is the Lord Jesus Christ. The lordship of Christ does not depend on whether seventeenth century Scotland or twenty-first century America submit to that lordship. The King is on His heavenly throne. While we labor for Him here, we await the day when He will summon us home. For Samuel Rutherford, this hope was fulfilled in March, 1661. After years of political activism and spiritual service to his earthly country, Rutherford passed into glory, rapturously speaking of the wonders to come:
“I shall live and adore Him. Glory, glory to my Creator and to my Redeemer for ever. Glory shines in Emmauel’s land.”
May we all desire to be thus enamored by the unfathomable, sacrificial love of Christ. Only through the light of Christ and His Gospel will Christian soldiers succeed in the cultural warfare of the postmodern age. Through this love, this Gospel, will dead men be brought to life. How can we directly disobey the command of our Savior to “go therefore and make disciples of all nations” by keeping the love of God to ourselves while innumerable souls are passing into eternal sufferings?
Christ is a King, a King who suffered at the hands of His subjects yet loves them in spite of their rebellious deeds. This heavenly love spurs us, His subjects, to earthly obedience and combat in the culture wars of this present age. We are the ambassadors and holy warriors of the Most High in the courts of the wicked, carrying out the duties given us by our King. And even in our failures, we know that He is faithful to perfect our work. For a day is coming when “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.” May we actively await this day, spurred on to obedience yet resting in the promises of our Redeemer.
