The Tension of Turning 250: A Christian Reflection on America

America has a deeply troubled history, yet it has been a profound force for good—and our frustrations only fuel our yearning for the Kingdom of God.

As America approaches its 250th anniversary, citizens across the country will gather to celebrate our shared freedoms and liberties. While many casually refer to our system of government as a democracy, it is structurally a republic. We elect leaders to champion our views and concerns on matters affecting our daily lives, expecting that the legislation they pass aligns with what we have communicated to them. Sadly, the authentic voices of everyday citizens are frequently drowned out by corporations and special-interest groups—the megaphone of big money.

It is no secret that running a modern political campaign requires immense capital to purchase ads, hire staff, and establish offices. Yet, historically, we should not be surprised by this dynamic. The American franchise was originally reserved for white property owners, meaning political power has always leaned toward the well-to-do.[1] Stating this is not to besmirch the wealthy, but to provide necessary context to a system of government that remains widely misunderstood by its own citizens.

The Duality of Our History

Even with these flaws, America is by far the best among the world’s imperfect nations. As a Black American, I can unequivocally say that I am grateful to live here. We know the dark, diabolical history of America and its relationship with people of African descent—a history still being rectified as we speak. We also understand that America’s hands are not clean globally; we have done unrighteous things in the pursuit of world dominance.

Yet, despite this troubled past, America has simultaneously been a profound force for good in the world. Our history teaches us that two opposing realities can be true at the same time:

• The Evils: We observe the horrors of chattel slavery, the tragedy of the Trail of Tears, and the devastation of Hiroshima.

• The Virtues: We observe the abolition of slavery, the triumph of women’s suffrage, and the defeat of Nazi Germany in WWII.

We must take the good with the bad, the happy with the sad, the highs with the lows. Those who view our nation through rose-colored glasses do themselves a disservice by ignoring our corporate sins. Conversely, those who only see America as a colonial imperialist fail to appreciate how much worse the world would be without us serving as a deterrent to far more insidious nations and regimes.

A Framework for Biblical Expectations

This is why we must anchor our expectations within a biblical worldview. No human government will ever fulfill our loftiest goals. We are not wrong to desire or work toward righteous governance—in fact, we should continue to do so. However, we must operate with the sober reality that humanity is fallen, and any system we manage will inevitably be tainted by sin.

Providentially, our frustrations with this earthly nation fuel a deeper yearning for the righteous government promised to us in Scripture.

In Peter’s second letter, addressed to citizens of God’s heavenly kingdom who were exiled within the ungodly earthly kingdom of the Roman Empire, he wrote: “According to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness truly resides” (2 Peter 3:13 NET).

In this letter of warning, Peter exhorts believers not to become lackadaisical in living out Kingdom virtues. Instead, they were called to live holy and godly lives while actively waiting for the day of God’s cosmic rectification and recreation (v. 12).

According to the Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (BDAG), "to wait" means “to give thought to something that is viewed as lying in the future.”^[2] The surrounding context determines whether one waits in longing, in fear, or in neutrality. As believers, we look forward with great anticipation to the Kingdom of God being fully realized on earth. Until that day comes, we wait for—and work toward—the justice we desperately long for.

Our Ultimate Loyalty

On this 4th of July, we can be genuinely grateful to be Americans. For some of us, that gratitude is harder to access than for others. Yet, irrespective of our current view of the nation, we must never lose sight of God’s promise to establish a flawless government led by a righteous King who will govern justly for all eternity.

That King is Jesus the Christ. He inaugurated the spiritual kingdom of God during His first coming, and He will physically establish that kingdom on earth during His second and final coming.

I leave you with the enduring words of Isaac Watts from his classic hymn, “Jesus Shall Reign Where’er the Sun”:

Jesus shall reign where’er the sun

does its successive journeys run,

his kingdom stretch from shore to shore,

till moons shall wax and wane no more

.… Blessings abound where’er he reigns:

the prisoners leap to lose their chains,

the weary find eternal rest,

and all who suffer want are blest.

Dr. Isaac Hayes is an Assistant Pastor at the Apostolic Church of God in Chicago, Illinois, and author of Men After God’s Heart: 10 Principles of Brotherly Love. He also has a Doctor of Ministry degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Follow Dr. Hayes on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube at @RevIsaacHayes.

[1] https://carnegie.org/article/voting-rights-timeline/.

^[2] William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 877.