A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE OF HISTORY

This article originally appeared in the publication Counsel of Chalcedon.

Christians are to view all things from God's perspective. We are to think like God thinks (or, as Cornelius Van Til has said, we are to "think God's thoughts after Him"). How are we to think about history if we are to think about it correctly?

A Christian view of history makes a serious effort to apply the truth of the Bible to the record of the past. Three Biblical truths give us a proper view of history:

1. HISTORY IS THE RECORD OF THE UNFOLDING OF GOD'S SOVEREIGN PLAN FOR THE AGES.

History is not governed by blind fate, evil men, or the devil, it is ruled by the Lord God Almighty. The Bible teaches us that all things ("whatsoever comes to pass") have been predestined by the sovereign, all-wise, all-holy God who works all things together according to the purpose of His will (Ephesians 1:11). This rule of God over history is absolute. "He does according to his will in the army of heaven and {among} the inhabitants of the earth" (Daniel 4:34,35). And no one can prevent Him from doing what He desires to do. Because of His sovereign rule, He does all His good pleasure (Psalm 33:10,11; 115:3). In spite of all the conspiracies of men, it is the sovereign will of God that is always done in the earth.

The amazing reality is that as each day passes, we see the unveiling of God's eternal purpose. Every day, we see a little more of how God is filling the earth with the knowledge of the Lord "as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9). All history is the record of the success and victory of the sovereign purpose of God.

If this were not true, history would be nothing more than a record of disconnected, irrelevant, facts and events with no ultimate meaning or purpose. This is precisely how unbelievers view history today. It is nothing more than the study of Man -- his thoughts and dreams, his actions and reactions, his stupidity or wisdom, his success or failure. History, in this view, may be interesting to some (weird antiquarians) but it is of no practical value to the rest of us. With this perspective it is no wonder most people begin to yawn at the mere mention of history!

On the other hand, if God is sovereign and active in history, working out His eternal plan, raising up some men and nations and casting down others, being faithful to His word and covenant, then history is not only highly instructive but most encouraging and vital to our future success and prosperity.

Without a knowledge of history, we are subject to the twin errors of faithless timidity and unenlightened zeal. We are either too afraid to go forth in obedience or we jump into projects and support policies with presumptuous ignorance. We act like children. We are either too easily intimidated or all too easily discouraged. As one has said, "To be ignorant of history is always to remain a child."

2. HISTORY IS INESCAPABLY COVENANTAL (Deuteronomy 7,28)

God rules according to His Word. He has promised to honor those who honor Him and to curse those who rebel against Him (I Samuel 2:30). Thus, the central fact about any nation or culture is its faithfulness (or unfaithfulness) to God's covenant.

No kingdom or nation can prosper which despises God. Thus, a nation's history moves according to this central issue (Jeremiah 18:7-10). The writer of Proverbs reminds us that this is true for every nation in every age, "Righteousness exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to any people" (Proverbs 14:34).

The reality of the covenant provides the explanation for the apparent phenomena of history "repeating itself." History does not repeat itself (history, because of God's predestination, is linear not circular), but men do repeat their sins and consequently, call down upon themselves similar judgments as their fathers. Because men are sinners, they often repeat the same sins as their fathers before them. Because God is just and justly punishes evil doers, repeated sins bring repeated judgments. The book of Judges is a good example of this. History "repeats itself" every time Israel repeats the sin of apostasy.

3. THE PREVAILING THEOLOGY OF A NATION DETERMINES THE CURRENT OF ITS HISTORY.

If all history is covenantal, this is naturally the case. The most influential factor in understanding a nation's history is its faith. What is the prevailing belief about God, man, truth, and duty? All men are theologians. They may be heretical theologians, but they are theologians nonetheless. Everyone has a view of God and man, of truth and duty. Nations therefore, have predominant theologies which determine their economics, politics, commerce, ethics, traditions, laws, and all else.

But if there is one thing largely overlooked by secular historians it is this factor. They assume that since theology is unimportant and irrelevant to them, it irrelevant (or dangerous!) for everyone else. It is important that we understand why historians think in this way. R. J. Rushdoony tells us: "Men cannot give a meaning to history that they themselves lack, nor can they honor a past which indicts them for their present failures." (Biblical Philosophy of History, p. 135)

Unbelieving historians do not see the importance of theology. They are blind to the horrid realities of sin as well as the glories of grace. They assume that no one would be so foolish as to actually do something for the glory of God alone. And to admit such a possibility would be to condemn themselves for their own indifference to God's glory.

But indifference is not the only problem. Historians, like all other unbelievers, are "enmity against God" (Rom. 8:7). They hate the doctrine of the Bible and those who believe it. This explains the anti-Christian "tone" and content of much of our written history.

Vital facts are omitted. Unbelievers are lionized and given a prominence they never enjoyed. Clearly Christian influences are ignored or openly discounted. In many cases, it is not that the facts are unknown, rather, the historian simply views them either as insignificant or, as antagonistic to his own particular viewpoint. The facts don't fit with his view of the nation's past (or his agenda for the nation's future).

As a result, modern history books are filled with terrible distortions and inexcusable omissions. The facts, in many cases, do not fit the carefully orchestrated fiction that has become the history of this nation. Thus, they must either be ignored or twisted. Our history has been re-written.

The children of this nation are being made into revolutionaries by the history books they are reading. We cannot continue to allow theological Canaanites to teach us our past. For the last two generations in this country we have been told that Christianity is irrelevant and that Christians are dangerous. We have been told that our faith is good for comforting us emotionally and soothing us psychologically but it is of no use in tackling real problems in the "real world." And we have believed it.

We have believed these lies because we have not been told the truth about the wondrous works our God did for our fathers. We have, as a consequence, become practical deists -- believing that God is practically irrelevant to solving any problem outside of our souls.

It is of course the job of theology and biblical preaching to restore these truths, but it is also in part the job of history -- which is, more than perhaps we have ever realized, "His story." When we hear what our God has done in the past, we will once more realize that He is not merely the Lord of the Church or of the individual, but the GOD OF THE WHOLE EARTH AND EVERY AREA OF LIFE.

This is our glorious task in this generation. We must not shirk it. For the glory and honor of God and the future of our culture, let us give ourselves to knowing and telling the great things He has done. To do otherwise is to surrender future generations to the slavery that always follows unholy forgetfulness.