Family Lessons 59: Godly Government

My 11x great-grandmother, Margaret Jackson of Caton, Lancs, was buried on 7th May, 1659. Oliver Cromwell died the following September, and by May 1660, King Charles II was restored to the throne. The rule of the puritans was over and the older ways were restored. Of course, Granny Margaret saw none of this. From 1649 and for the next ten years, she lived under ‘godly government’. Sadly, I cannot tell if she appreciated and preferred the newer, evangelical regime, or whether she longed for the giddier, merrier times of her childhood.

Many of us long for godlier government with laws reflecting Christian morality. Yet a great swathe of the population would resent it, bitterly conforming in as minimal a way as possible. Had she lived longer, Charles' Restoration may have appalled or delighted my ancestor in equal measure, depending on her outlook. Irrespective of this, she was called to appear before God Almighty that warm May. I am rather fond of Cromwell’s government, but Christ’s is better. Though His rule is truly godly and just, He is also loving and gracious. Though in Psalm 2 it is said He

…shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel...

We are also invited to:

Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

Grandma Jackson departed this life for another, eluding one government’s jurisdiction but coming more fully under another. Whatever we think of our current government or state, its period of control is but temporal and partial. Before it falls, many of us are released from it by death- but are we ready for the ultimate King from whom there is no circumvention or evasion?