Exiles in Babylon: A Response of Hope to Ohio’s Legalization of Abortion
Dear Kingstree Church,
Since I shared some thoughts with you regarding ‘Issue 1’ earlier this week, I thought it was only fitting for me to write something to you in follow up now that the vote has taken place and the results are in. As I’m sure you know at this point, Issue 1 has passed, and Ohioans have voted to legalize abortion on-demand at the state constitutional level. It was not a close vote (~56% yes to ~43% no).
As Christians, we recognize that the incarnation of the Son of God as a human embryo in Mary’s womb is a resounding affirmation that every stage of fetal development bears the incalculable weight of personhood…that, from the moment of conception, an God-imaging human person is present. Because of this, we rightly feel the tragedy of this week’s vote. We rightly see those percentage points as translating directly into murdered infant lives. It is right to lament; “Rachel is weeping for her children…” (Jeremiah 31:15).
And yet, in the midst of the soul’s sorrow over lost lives, how is the Christ follower to respond? There will, of course, be many responses. Some will erupt on Twitter and social media, some will double down on political activism, some will message back and forth, stirring a hornets nest of indignation in their own and others hearts, some will check out and give themselves to hobbies or entertainment or the myriad cares of this fleeting life. But what ought we to do? Does the Gospel give us any indication of how we are to think, and so respond, at such a moment?
First and most fundamentally, the Gospel of Jesus Christ declares to us the unchanging character and utterly dependable identity of the One True God against whose gracious designs no vote, no medical procedure, and no scheme of this world can prevail. The heart that presides over the universe is the heart that took the little children of 1st century Israel into His arms to bless them (Mark 10:16). And this same Jesus, ruling with all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18), loves the ‘little children’ of 21st century Ohio more than any other being possible can; they are now—and ever will be—‘in His arms.’
This is gloriously true and ought to steady the mourning soul (even as mourning is a wholly fitting response). However, I believe we can say more. Let’s begin by considering Jeremiah 29:7.
First, some brief context. Jerusalem is destroyed, the Temple is in ashes, and God’s people have been exiled to a city that opposes His name, scoffs at His promises, and is filled with idols: Babylon. To those exiled in Babylon, Jeremiah then writes these words in the name of the LORD,
“…seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf…”
While they are exiled in Babylon, God’s people are to seek—so far as they are able—the good of Babylon. Alright, so, how does this apply to our situation in a post-Issue 1 Ohio (or, in the United States as a whole, given that Ohio is historically an indicator of the sentiments of the entire nation)? I believe it applies in at least three ways.
First — America is Babylon. I don’t mean that America is ‘The’ Babylon of Biblical prophecy, I simply mean that it is the place where we—as citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem (cf Galatians 4:26; Philippians 3:20), and servants of the heavenly King (cf Hebrews 2:9)—live, not as citizens but as foreigners and exiles (note the overlap with out present series in 1 Peter). Just as the literal Babylon of history gave many benefits to God’s exiled people (strong walls to protect from invasion, infrastructure to supply their needs, water, sanitation, and food to care for practical necessities) so too the figurative Babylon of the United States has provided many benefits for the Bride of Christ in its midst (constitutional ‘walls’ to protect religious liberty, a strong rule of law to defend against persecution, a society generally amenable to her teaching). For this, we should be thankful.
But, at the same time, Babylon—no matter how practically beneficial—remains Babylon. That is to say, it is not the home of God’s people, it is not the place where their hopes are anchored, it is not their kingdom. More than this (and this becomes even clearer in the New Testament) Babylon is, and will always be, opposed to who God is in Jesus Christ. Babylon is an eminently world-rooted city, and—as Pastor Sean recently reminded us—the Word and Wisdom and Power of God as revealed in the crucified Christ will always be discarded as foolishness and opposed as loss by the World, by Babylon, and yes, by America.
If we had trouble believing this before, perhaps Tuesday’s vote will help convince us. Nothing has changed, but something has been revealed, namely, the present heart and currently trending trajectory of this country. This is tragic, but it is only a surprise if we have forgotten that we are ‘exiles’ living in ‘Babylon.’
So, the first point is this: Tuesday’s vote is a stark reminder—and, perhaps, a wake up call—to the American Church that she is an exile and that this country is not Jerusalem, it is Babylon.
But Second — Jeremiah makes it clear that, while God’s people are exiles in Babylon, they are to seek the good of Babylon. They are not to check out, nor are they to bemoan what they’ve lost, nor to withdraw and let ‘whatever will be will be.’ Rather, they are to ‘seek the welfare of the city’ and ‘pray to the LORD on its behalf.’
So, Christ-follower, it is right that we should—so far as it depends upon us—labor for the good of this country. Labor to protect the lives of unborn children, labor to care for and uphold single mothers, to pour ourselves out in order to create a network of support that makes the carrying and delivery of children an ever more desirable option for unexpectedly pregnant women who feel they have no options…It is right that we pray toward these things, that we work toward these things, and that we vote toward these things.
And, of course, underlying this entire thought process is the absolute assurance that our God—in the crucified and risen Jesus Christ, who reigns even now over all things with all authority (Matthew 28:18)—is sovereign over Babylon. We work for the good of this ‘City,’ because we know that this City, and every City, is in the pierced hands of risen Lord, and that its every moment from now to eternity is superintended by His merciful will in order to lead to the consummation of His glorious design (Isaiah 46:9-10; Romans 11:36; 1 Corinthians 15:25-28; Ephesians 1:11).
Second, then, recognizing that we live in the anti-Christ City of Babylon, we nevertheless labor for the good of this City while we remain in it; knowing all the while that our labors cannot be in vain because the days of this Babylon—like the days of all things—are written by the Divine Author whose heart we know at the cross (Psalm 139:16).
And Finally — Though we labor for the good of this American Babylon through our prayers, our efforts, and our votes, we must remember—not just in word, but in the very marrow of our souls—that the power, the wisdom, the victories, and the ways of this City are not our power, wisdom, victories, or ways.
Christian, we do not learn what ‘power’ is, or what ‘victory’ is, or what ‘success’ is from the Babylon in which we live. If we did, we would think that ‘power’ meant getting others to do what I want; that ‘victory’ meant getting others to submit to my ways; that ‘success’ meant getting the bigger number, or the greater influence, or the larger piece of the cultural pie…
These are ways the American Babylon defines its terms. And, too often, we as Christ-followers take those definitions and try to use them to advance the cause of Christ. At its root, that mindset is no different than past Christians’ who have used military force to coerce spiritual ‘conversion’…it is a doomed enterprise from the outset.
Rather, we get our definitions and learn our strategies from Christ Himself—and, specifically, from His cross. Do we want to know how to move forward in Christ-shaped victory while we dwell in the heart of Babylon? Then we need look no further than our Lord Himself. There is a text in Revelation that speaks directly to this situation:
“…they have conquered him [that is, Satan] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” Revelation 12:11
How do the saints overthrow the power of Satan? Is it by wielding Satan’s own levers of worldly power against him? Is it by rising up and snatching the steering wheel of the nations from his grasp and forcing a right turn in their direction? Is it by a show of cumulative force that topples his influence and authority? No—it is by emulating their Lord, by following their King, by imaging the Lamb…
The Church will conquer in the same way that Jesus Christ has conquered: namely, by loving God in Christ with all that she is, valuing, treasuring, and esteeming Him as her greatest immediate good, and then—out of this love—by declaring the slain and risen One to be her only sovereign and supreme Lord in word and deed; on her calendar and in her check book, on her Sundays and during her weekdays; and finally—as the proof of this witness—by joyfully laying down her rights, her goods, her gains, and, if need be, her life as testimony that her right, her good, her gain, and her life are not here, but are dwelling imperishably in the person of Jesus Christ Himself. It is the radical witness of the cross that will dismantle the strongholds of Babylon; it is by the blood of the Lamb that the Dragon is slain.
Finally, then, Kingstree—living in Babylon, and laboring for the good of Babylon, we do not derive our definitions, or receive our goals, or develop our strategies from Babylon; we learn these from Calvary. We live as radically counter cultural elements within our world because we belong to a King whose ways are revealed in the ‘Weakness’ and ‘Foolishness’ of the cross (1 Corinthians 1:25).
As with the letter I wrote previously regarding the conflict in the Middle East, I am not writing this to give specific action points or to advocate particular responses. Rather, I’m trying to call us to think about the recent vote—and all things—in the re-interpretive light that shines from the Gospel of the slain and risen Jesus. He is the Lord of our lives, He is the home of our hopes, He is the definition of our good, He is the pattern of our action, and He is the one who holds us, our state, our nation, and this world, in His sovereign, love-torn hands.
And, in conclusion, I return to where we began. Recall that this same Sovereign Christ is the One who is moved to indignation at those who would mistreat children in His presence and who calls the little ones to Himself in love (Mark 10:14-16). In the face of the horrors that Issue 1 has set loose on the vulnerable inhabitants of the womb, take heart, Christian, that every one of those lives belongs to, is guarded by, and has had its destiny authored by the One who takes the children in His arms and says with all authority in heaven and on earth, ‘Let the children come to me…for to such belongs the Kingdom of God.’
