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Mortals

             Arise, Lord, do not let mortals triumph; let the nations be judged in your presence. Strike them with terror, Lord; let the nations know they are only mortal. (Psalm 9:19-20)

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously - no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. (C. S. Lewis, Weight of Glory)

What is a mortal? My automatic response, backed up by definitions on the Internet, is that it is a living being to be subject to death. So when the psalmist says, “do not let the mortals triumph,” I think about people being defeated. Animals could be included. Those would make sense. But in the next sentence, he refers to the nations being judged. And just in case we missed it the first time (or the hundredth) he slams the table with the idea in the next sentence: “Let the nations know they are only mortal.” Nations. Not people.

We know people can and do die, physically. But John 3:16 and other verses make it clear that people can also live forever, even if they die. That means, people are potentially or in some sense not mortal. But nations are mortal. And the prayer in this psalm is that the nations wouldn’t triumph. I’ve no doubt that this refers to other nations that were attacking Israel, but it also refers to Israel and the United States. That’s hard to think about when we’re preparing to celebrate 250 years of the United States, and other countries have been around for much longer. But they will die.

This is a compelling reason why we should not elevate nations or governments to the status of gods. It is good to prayerfully consider what role a nation or government should play in the life of Christians.

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