Psalm 82:1-8

Governments and authorities have a purpose.  God has established them with a specific role in mind and with a mandate from Him as to what He expects from them.  Authorities have a tendency to think that as leaders they are responsible to define direction for themselves and those that are under their leadership.  God has not given them the right to determine their purpose or direction.  God has clearly ordained them to accomplish what He has determined and not given them the freedom or authority to determine their own job description.  God holds all men accountable for doing what He has determined that they should do.

LEADERS HAVE A JOB: God establishes human leaders to represent Him on the earth.  They are to be impartial representatives of God’s glory on earth.  They are to punish the wicked, protect those who are obedient and provide for the poor and needy.  This is what God has assigned as the responsibility of all human governments.  Unfortunately there are many human leaders who do just the opposite, they promote wickedness, pervert the obedient and persecute the needy.  These evil governments cause great unrest and fear on the earth.  They seem to flourish but their success will be short lived.  If we want to represent God we need to recognize that even without an official position of leadership in government; we must protect and provide for the helpless and the poor as well as insist that our leaders punish evil.


LEADERS WILL BE JUDGED: The fact that leaders are instituted and established by God means that they are responsible and will answer to God.  He is the ultimate authority and He will call all men to account before Him.  No matter how much power a leader may have on the earth, He is still destined to die and then stand before God to be judged.  All of the nations belong to the Lord and He will require that the leaders of these nations answer to Him for how they accomplished the job that He left them to do.  We may get frustrated with governments and leaders and feel like they are accountable to nobody.  They may act like they answer to no one, but that is simply not the case.  God will judge every president, prime minister, king and every leader on the earth according to His standard and the requirements that He has set forth.

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