Note: This article first appeared on the American Thinker website, November 14, 2024. (See here)

Following the electoral miracle of 2024, many conservatives have swiftly moved on to a contemplation of the persons, procedures, and policies that will best advance an American renaissance. Kindly allow a retired pastor and bush league theologian to explain why they should not—not, at least, until they have paused to reflect seriously on the purposes of the One who granted it.

Consider, then, this short narrative recorded in the New Testament by Dr. Luke (Luke 17:11-17). The Lord Jesus has just healed ten lepers and ordered them to report the miracle to the priests. Demonstrating that a spiritual test lay hidden in his command, one of the former lepers, a Samaritan, came back to Jesus, fell to the ground, and poured out his heart in thanksgiving to Christ and God. The Lord’s response is well worth pondering: “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to the man, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

We do well to listen hard to this text. For decades the spiritual leprosy of atheistic Neo-Marxism has been spreading through our body politic, bringing massive sickness, corruption, and death in its train. But suddenly, in a patently miraculous turn of events, it was arrested and (one fervently hopes) permanently put to flight—not by President Trump, not by the MAGA movement, and not even by the voters, though all three were indeed heaven’s instrumentalities. Rather, it was put to flight by the sovereign God, in whose hands lie the hearts, minds, and votes of all men (Proverbs 21:1). He is the One, said the prophet, who changes times and seasons; who removes kings and raises them up (Daniel 2:21; 4:1-37). But if that is so, should we not be imitating the grateful Samaritan; should we not be falling on our faces before Christ and God, pouring out our hearts in thanksgiving to then? And should we not be asking God what he mean by this stupendous miracle of providence, and what he would have us do? If we truly desire lasting wellness, surely we must.

I have just suggested two reasons for the miracle of 2024: God wants us to see that he himself is the One who performed it, and, for our own spiritual health, he would have us turn back and thank him for it. But what else does he desire us to learn and do as we press on into a better future?

I offer five brief replies.

First, he would have us understand how he works in history. The apostle Paul sums it up this way: “Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” This principle—so dramatically manifested in Christ’s death and resurrection—governs the flow of all world events. For a season, by God’s wise decree, sin will abound. During such times, he is testing our discernment, integrity, courage, perseverance, and aptitude for self-sacrifice. Then, when it appears that evil is about triumph, he suddenly intervenes, grace super-abounds, goodness wins out, and the nations behold his sovereignty, wisdom, holiness, justice, mercy, and grace. We observe this principle in Scripture (Daniel 2, Revelation 13). We see it in the succession of world empires. We have seen it in recent history; in the rise and fall of Communist and socialist regimes. We see it in myth and great literature (think of Frodo and the triumph on Mount Doom). And (one fervently hopes) we are seeing it today a fresh revival of the American Experiment. It began on November 5, 2024, a day when God’s grace did indeed super-abound.

Secondly, he would have us repent of all known sin. For surely the blessing of 2024 was not granted because of our righteousness (though there is some), but in spite of our sin. It was altogether of God’s goodness, mercy, and grace. And, as the apostle wrote, the goodness of God is meant to lead us to repentance (Romans 2:4). So too are his providential chastisements, so painfully abundant over the last few decades (Hebrews 12:6). Why, then, do we boast about making America great again? Would it not be far better—and far safer—to humble ourselves (presidents and parties included), repent of our sin, and purpose in our hearts to make America good again? In Scripture, the Great City (of proud, deluded, and fallen mankind) is slated for destruction (Revelation 18), whereas the Holy City (of penitent and redeemed mankind) is slated for eternal life and glory (Revelation 21). Do we want America to enjoy true greatness? Then let us swiftly repent of all atheism, idolatry, lawlessness, abortion-murder, sexual immorality, military adventurism, greed, (class) hatred (a species of murder according to Christ), lying, slander, and tyranny of every kind. The message of 2024 is clear: Sin no more, lest something worse than the previous decade befall you (John 5:14).

Thirdly, God would have us come (back) to him through his one and only channel of redemption and blessing: the Lord Jesus Christ. In the noxious spiritual atmosphere now enveloping the West, a vague, generic spirituality will no longer suffice. To survive the new warfare, we must unite with the true victor. Lavishly, palpably, God has shown us that the victor is Jesus Christ. His righteous life, profound wisdom, mighty miracles, atoning death, public resurrection, and exaltation to the right hand of God—all in fulfillment of hundreds of ancient prophecies—plainly mark him out as a man set apart; nay, as the God-Man, as God in human flesh. It is this Man—now seated at the right hand of God the Father, with all authority in heaven and earth—who just spared our country, having largely done so through concerned pastors, lay thought leaders, biblically motivated voters, and the residuum of Christian values still operating in the broader culture. But if all this is so, then surely God’s message in our recent election includes this most loving command: “Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all who put their trust in Him!” (Psalm 2). Do we desire the blessing of 2024 to continue? Let us kiss the Son and put our trust in him.

Fourthly, God is calling us to recommit ourselves to the American Experiment. I opine that he is quite friendly to it. True, the founding fathers declined to make America a Christian theocracy. But they did make it a theistic republic, a republic in which the enjoyment of personal liberty is ever sustained by obedience to natural law and the Judeo-Christian traditions. Accordingly, the experiment involves a frank recognition of the depravity of man, of his perennial lust for power, and therefore of our need for institutional safeguards (i.e., democracy, separation of powers, limited government), all of which are enshrined in our majestic Declaration, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. This rich inheritance places great responsibility upon the citizenry: to honor God, educate oneself, cultivate strong families (the spiritual womb of the next generation), and remain ever vigilant against the manifold encroachments of tyranny. To receive God’s message in 2024 is to appreciate afresh the dangers of life in a fallen world, but also to celebrate the blessings of life in the last best hope of the earth. It is to rededicate oneself to understanding and living out the American Experiment.

Finally, through the election of 2024 God would prepare us for the dramatic closing scenes of universal history. Mercifully and graciously, he has revealed them to us in the Bible. There we learn that under the influence of invisible satanic forces a Babylonian Principle is ever at work in human history, according to which powerful (and powerfully deceptive) men are ever seeking to establish a global empire for the glory of man, rather than a global kingdom for the glory of God. Hitherto, the one true God has frustrated all such efforts. However, as we near the end of the present evil age, he will permit the effort one last time, and for a brief moment it will succeed. In that day, evil will abound as never before. But at the return of Christ, which will swiftly ensue, mercy and grace will again super-abound. And this time—in an eternal City set upon a hill—they will super-abound forever.