“… then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment …”
2 Peter 2:9
I. The Foundations of the Jehu Principle
I am not one of these people who put political signs in my front yard. And even though I thought him the much better alternative than Kamala Harris, I could not quite bring myself to ask the local Republicans for a Trump-Vance sign. I did, however, ask our Director of Development at CBTS—and only half-jokingly—to get me a Vote for Jehu—not Jezebel! sign for my front yard.
You are thinking to yourself, What in the world is he talking about? I have a story to tell you. The beginning of this story actually dates back to the presidential election 8 years ago when I actually posted a Jehu—not Jezebel! blog on my Facebook page. In that posting I defended voting for Donald Trump instead of Hillary Clinton for President. The gist of what I was saying was contained in the titles of my four brief blogs on the subject. Let me lay a foundation for what I want to say about the Jehu Principle by reviewing what I said then.
The first blog was entitled …
- Not Writing as Pastor, but as Papa—Here I expressed my opinion as a grandfather not as a pastor that it was better for my grandchildren (I now have 15!) to vote for Trump rather than Hillary. Yes, I would have said the same thing about the recent election and Trump versus Kamala.
My second blog was entitled …
- Vote for the Best Gentile—Here I expressed my conviction that the USA for all its blessings is not a Theocratic Kingdom but a Gentile nation. Hence, I argued that—in spite of all Trump’s spiritual failings—it was right and proper to vote for him as the better alternative. To quote myself:
… living in a … a Gentile nation …, we do not get the choice often of voting for one of God’s true people. Often it comes down to voting for the best Gentile. It comes down to voting for the person who will probably best uphold religious liberty and standards of divine morality as applied to the Gentile state. It may even come down to voting for the least vile Gentile.
My next blog was …
Jezebel or Jehu—Here is part of what I said.
The northern kingdom bears some likeness to our degenerate nation. It was not God’s chosen people, but an apostate nation. Nevertheless, there was still a moral rule of God to which the northern kingdom was bound to adhere in its national life. It was still wrong for its rulers to persecute God’s people for being God’s people and for worshipping the true God in the right way.
Now consider if God’s people in the northern kingdom ninth century B. C. could have voted for their king, (Yes, the idea is anachronistic and a little silly, but bear with me.) Would any of God’s true saints voted for Jezebel as queen because of Jehu’s moral defects? Well, if I had been there, I think for the sake of my grandchildren and a desire for them to grow up with the religious liberty to worship Yahweh and not Baal I would have voted for Jehu as king. I don’t think that not voting for Jezebel would have been a hard choice.
Here was my last heading and my parting shot in those blogs from 8 years ago:
Lesser of Two Evils?
Here is what I said about that.
I know and teach that it is never necessary to sin or do evil in the moral sense. There is always a right choice and right course of action for us personally. I do not believe in the technical, ethical sense in the idea of … choosing the lesser of two moral evils. It is never right or necessary to sin! How could anyone think so in God’s world?
But it is clear to me that, when it comes to politics, there are times when we simply must choose a politician or potential ruler in a democracy that is the lesser of two evils. We are not sinning when we do that. We are not responsible for the evil a politician does—if we did not vote for him in order that he should do evil. If I vote in this presidential election for the lesser of two evils, I am not voting for him to curse and use vile language or denigrate women or anybody else. I am voting for him hoping that (and because he says that) he will appoint Supreme Court justices that will uphold the sanctity of life and religious liberty. I am voting for him because the only real alternative is voting for someone who is straightforwardly the enemy of most everything I believe and hold dear.
II. The Relations of the Jehu Principle
Lo and behold! The American electorate, against all our fears and pessimism, has elected Donald Trump (and not his woke and wicked opponent) as our next president. What should we make of this stunning providence? For it is a providence and a striking providence in the history of our country. What does this mean? What principle of the divine government of the world does it illustrate? Does it illustrate …
Triumphalist Postmillennialism?
Does it mean that Donald Trump is—as I heard him recently called—A Man of God? Is he a new David sent to save our “American Israel.” He clearly is not that. America is not the theocratic kingdom; and Donald Trump is clearly not a man of God in any biblical sense at all.
Thus, the election of Trump does not mean that we are on the verge of the coming of the millennium in the postmillennial sense. The Bible teaches that this is and will be an evil age till the return in glory of our Savior. Galatians 1:4 tells us that Christ “gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father …” We are not on the verge of the millennial age of peace and righteousness. The age of peace and righteousness awaits the eternal state.
While such postmillennial prospects are not confirmed by the election of Donald Trump, neither is the opposite millennial view …
Premillennial Pessimillennialism?
But the election of Donald Trump certainly does not fit into the pessimillennialism of today’s popular eschatology. Somehow, providence has turned back a little and, for a while, the rising cultural evil in our country and preserved the freedom to preach the gospel. Somehow, the prophetic pessimism of our day has failed to be fulfilled. Perhaps some exponent of the popular prophetic views will yet see him as the beast healed of its deadly wound and will proclaim Donald Trump to be the antichrist. But I think that most Christians will have a hard time seeing him in exactly that way.
But rejecting all such views of the rise of Donald Trump to the presidency of our country for the second time, what should we make of this in the light of the right prophetic view? I call this right, prophetic view …
Optimistic Amillennialism
Let me explain what I mean by Optimistic Amillennialism. As opposed to both postmillennialism and premillennialism, amillennialism says that we will see no millennial golden age of peace, righteousness, and prosperity dawn on the earth before the perfection of the eternal state. Postmillennialism, with its extremely optimistic view that this golden age will come before Christ’s return, is wrong. Premillennialism, with its extremely pessimistic view that this gospel and church age will climax with the failure of the church and its mission, is also wrong.
What is right is the view that no golden age before the eternal state of the redeemed earth is coming. The Apostle Paul taught that Jesus died not to transform this evil age into a good age but that He “gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father …” (Gal. 1:4)
What is right is also that both good and evil will grow together until the end of this gospel age. Good will not snuff out the evil, and evil will not snuff out the good. As Jesus said as the Lord of the harvest, “Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.”‘” (Matt. 13:30)
What is right is that, in the midst of all this concurrent growth of good and evil, Christ will build His church, and the gates of Hades will not stand against it (Matt. 16:18). To put the truth in a rough way, this means that we may be optimistic about the growth of the church, but not about peace in the world. The church will be built in spite of the growth of evil, in spite of the mystery of iniquity, and in spite of raging opposition of an increasingly wicked world.
It is within this eschatology—this view of prophecy—that we must understand the meaning of the election of Donald Trump. He is one more exhibition in the history of the world of what I am calling The Jehu Principle.
Remember the situation in the apostate northern kingdom of Israel in the days preceding the rise of Jehu. The nation was going from bad—the worship of the golden calves in the name of Yahweh instituted by Jeroboam the 1st—to the worship of Baal under the influence of Ahab and his wicked consort Jezebel. This Baal worship was spreading even to the southern kingdom of Judah by means of the terrible marital and political alliances between the House of David and the House of Ahab. Eventually, Athaliah would kill—she thought—all the royal seed and reign as the representative of Jezebel’s and Baal’s evil influence. We might think that the last days and final apostasy had come to Israel.
But what did God do? He appointed a prophet to anoint Jehu king of Israel. What did Jehu do? He exterminated Baal worship and all its followers from Israel and even Judah. But, clearly, Jehu was not a genuine saint of God. Listen to the summary of his life in 2 Kings 10:28-31:
28 Thus Jehu eradicated Baal out of Israel. 29 However, as for the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin, from these Jehu did not depart, even the golden calves that were at Bethel and that were at Dan. 30 The LORD said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in executing what is right in My eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in My heart, your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.” 31 But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, which he made Israel sin.
Thus, Jehu prevented the triumph of Baal in Israel. Yet, as the passage makes clear, he was not a true saint of God. This is what I call the Jehu Principle. Throughout history, in different ways, the providence of God raises up men and movements that protect and preserve His people and allow the preaching of the gospel and the building of His church to go on.
In spite of a wicked world constantly rising in opposition to all that is good and holy, God raises up men and movements to prevent the triumph of monstrous evil over good. This putting down of rising wickedness sometimes comes by the Reformations and Revivals inspired by the Holy Spirit.
But divine providence also destroys those again and again who would destroy His church. And sometimes he uses leaders and strong men whose religious commitments are superficial, defective, and fall far short of true religion to save and preserve His people. He uses men like Jehu as he did in the northern kingdom of Israel. That is what I mean by the Jehu Principle.
The Jehu Principle is one manifestation and example of what we are taught in 2 Peter 2. Peter gives several historical instances of how God has destroyed the wicked and preserved His endangered people. He cites the destruction of the fallen angels. He calls to remembrance the flooding of the ancient world. He cites the fiery destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. After citing all these instances, Peter draws this great lesson: “then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment …” (2 Pet. 2:9). The Jehu Principle is that God may use even evil and defective men and movements for the destruction of evil, the preservation of His people, and the protection of the gospel mission to the world.
I am of the opinion that in the recent election of Donald Trump we see once more the historical embodiment of the Jehu Principle. Knowing what we know of the woke, wicked, and perverted agenda of the alternative to him, it is difficult to the point of impossibility not to feel that his election has been used of God to put down evil, to protect His people, and to preserve the liberty needed for the preaching of His gospel.
III. The Applications of the Jehu Principle
What spiritual lessons ought we to learn from the Jehu Principle and its present incarnation in the election of Donald Trump as our 47th President?
There is light.
I mean there is light for God’s people. Now you will not appreciate this until you understand how dark and trackless the way of the wicked is. Listen to how Scripture describes this.
Proverbs 4:19: The way of the wicked is like darkness; They do not know over what they stumble.
Isaiah 8:19-22: When they say to you, “Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,” should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. 21 They will pass through the land hard-pressed and famished, and it will turn out that when they are hungry, they will be enraged and curse their king and their God as they face upward. 22 Then they will look to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be driven away into darkness.
The unconverted around us are adrift on a shoreless sea without an oar, compass, or map. They are like the Baal-worshipers in Jehu’s day. They thought they were winning. They thought Baal was God; and in a moment they have lost everything. Don’t we see some of the advocates of the woke, wicked, and unnatural agenda that our Jehu has defeated expressing how dark is their way and how lost they feel. In fact, all men who have cut themselves loose from the Word of God walk in darkness and have no light. They are lost and do not know what is going on in their world.
Ah, but you, Christian, have a map. You have a light. You know what is going on in this gospel age. “… we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.” (2 Pet. 1:19)
What a blessing to have this direction and understanding of what God is doing. What an unspeakable privilege to have light about where everything is heading! What an incredible feeling to have light and understand what God is doing right now in the world and in our country and in our lives! There is in the teaching of the Bible enlightenment about the meaning of the providence in which we are living. What does it all mean? “… the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment …”
There is courage.
Do you see what God has done in spite of all our pessimism and gloom? He has protected us. He has preserved freedom for the gospel. In spite of what seemed a landslide of filth and perversion and folly engulfing our country and our freedoms, He has defeated the mass of the political forces of evil that would have gradually destroyed us and our seed. What encouragement we should have at the power of the providence we are seeing. We should have renewed courage to bravely prosecute the good works and gospel missions to which the Lord has called us. Why? Because “… the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment …”
There is caution.
I think we are to view Jehonadab as a genuine worshiper of Yahweh. At the same time, Jehu would turn out not to be. But Jehu, you remember, invited Jehonadab into his chariot as he went about destroying the forces of Baal. Listen to 2 Kings 10:15:
Now when he had departed from there, he met Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him; and he greeted him and said to him, “Is your heart right, as my heart is with your heart?” And Jehonadab answered, “It is.” Jehu said, “If it is, give me your hand.” And he gave him his hand, and he took him up to him into the chariot.
It was probably heartening to Jehonadab the worshiper of Yahweh to be invited to sit in Jehu’s chariot while he destroyed the Baal-worshipers. But it was also dangerous. As we have seen, at the end of the day there was no return by Jehu to genuine worship of Yahweh. There was only a re-erection of Jeroboam 1’s golden calf worship. Even if it was right for Jehonadab to climb into Jehu’s chariot that day, he certainly could not stay there. One day he would have to part ways with Jehu.
There is a warning here against the Jehu bandwagon. Thankful as we are, no trust is to be put in Jehu to restore or follow true religion. I suspect there might be a great deal of Trump religiosity. But we must the exclude Jehu’s religion from our hearts. There is a warning against the superficial adoption of Jehu religion. But neither the Baptists who invited him Trump into their pulpits; nor the Catholic conservatives on the Trump Train are necessarily returning the to the religion of the Bible. We need a revival of biblical religion in our country. It was not in Jehu that Israel should have placed its hope or trust. It is in Yahweh and His Word alone we should put our hope. Why? Because only “…the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment …”
There is focus.
What should we be thinking now? What should we be doing now in this time? Our renewed and reinvigorated emphasis must be on the job we should be doing. Our focus should be on the Lord and in our gratitude we should focus on the spread of the gospel and the renewed pursuit of holiness in our lives. Our focus should not be on politics or the Trump victory. Why? Because only “…the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment …”
There is praise.
You understand that I had to get to the matter of thanksgiving on this Thanksgiving weekend. Well, it is not hard to say that the Jehu Principle should lead us to praise. The exaltation of God for the destruction of the wicked, the protection of the church, and the preservation of His people should fill our mouths. We are receiving for us, for our children, and for our churches a measure of grace. The continued opportunity to serve Him without fear of our enemies—this is the great and grand reason for thanksgiving. Cautious as we should be about being co-opted into Jehu religion, we should not fail to give God praise for the present manifestation of the Jehu Principle in our country and in our lives. Why? Because it “…the Lord who knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment …” But these reflections should call to mind, all the many blessings for which we should fail to be highly grateful. And most of all for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ which is all our hope and all our salvation. Come to Christ, and in this way begin to honor and thank God on this Thanksgiving weekend!
Dr. Sam Waldron is the Academic Dean of CBTS and professor of Systematic Theology. He is also one of the pastors of Grace Reformed Baptist Church in Owensboro, KY. Dr. Waldron received a B.A. from Cornerstone University, an M.Div. from Trinity Ministerial Academy, a Th.M. from Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. From 1977 to 2001 he was a pastor of the Reformed Baptist Church of Grand Rapids, MI. Dr. Waldron is the author of numerous books including A Modern Exposition of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, The End Times Made Simple, Baptist Roots in America, To Be Continued?, and MacArthur’s Millennial Manifesto: A Friendly Response.
