A QllIISTIAN PERSPECTIVE OF H!

SfORY
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
historyifwearetothinkaboutitcorrect1y?
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 UNFOWING OF GOD' S
SOVEREIGN PLAN FOR THE AGES.
Historyisnot governed by blind litte,
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 ofHiswill (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 doingwhat Hedeslres
to do. Because of His sovereign rule, He
does aU His good pleasure (Psalm
33:10,11; 115:3). in spite of aU the
conspiracies of men, it is the sovereign
will of God that is always done in the
earth.
Theamazingrealityisthataseach day
passes, 'we see the unveiling of God's
eternal purpose. Everyday, weseealittle
more of how God is filling the earth with
the knowledge of the Lord "as the waters
cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9). Allhistoryis
the record of the success and victory of
the sovereign purpose of God.
If thiswerenot true, history would be
nothing more than a record of discon-
nected, irrelevant, !acts and events with
no ultimate meaning or purpose. '!his 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!
Ontheotherhand,ifGodissovereign
and active in history, working out His
.. THE COUNSEL of ChalcedoQ January, 1993
eternal plan, raising up some men and
nations and casting down others, being
faithful to His word and covenant, then
history is not ouly 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 uneulightenedzeal. Weare
either too afraid to go forth in obedience
or we jump intoprojects and support
policies with presumptuous ignorance.
We act like children. We are either too
easily intimidated or aU too easily
disoouraged. As one has said, "To be
ignorant of history is always to remain a
child."
2. HISTORY IS INESCAPABLY
COVENANTAL (Deuteronomy 7,28)
GodrulesaccordingtoHisWord. He
has promised to honor those who bonor
Him and to curse those who rebelagainst
Him (I Samuel 2:30). Thus, the central
fact about any nation or culture is its
faithfulness (or unfaithfuiness) to God's
covenant.
No kingdom or nation can prosper
which despises God. Thus, a nation's
history moves according to this central
issueOeremiah 18:7-10). Thewriterof
Proverbs reminds us that this is true for
every nation in every age, "Rigjlteausness
exalts a natfon 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,
becauseofGod'spredestinauon, islinear
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 sinsas 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 lsrael repeats
the sin of apostasy.
J
3. THEPREVAIUNGTHEOLOGYOF
A NATION DETERMINES THE
CURRENT OF ITS HISTORY.
If all history is covenantal, this is
naturally the case. The most influential
factorinundelS.landinganation'shiswry
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 . . Evelyone has
a view of God and man, of truth and
duty. Nations therefore,
have predOminant theola-
gieswhich determine their
economics, politics, com-
merce, 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 uninl-
portant and iD'elevant to
them, it is irrelevant (or
dangerous!) for everyone
else. It is inlportant that
we understand why
historiansthinkinthisway.
R]. Rushdoony tells us:
"Men cannot give a
meaning to histoly that they themselves
lack, nor can they honor a past which
indicts them for their present failures."
(Biblical PJrilosophy o!History, p.l3S)
Unbelieving historians do not see
the inlportance of theology. They are
blind to the horrid realities of sin as well
as the glories of grace. Theyassumethat
no one wouldbe so foolish as to actually
dosomethingforthegloryofGodalone.
And to admit such a possibility would
betocondemnthemselvesfortheirown
indifference to God's glory.
But indifference is not the only
problem. Historians, like all other
unbelievelS, are at "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.
Vita! facts are omitted. UnbelievelS
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 sinlply views them either as
insignificant or, as antagOnistic to his
own particular viewpoint. The facts
don'tfitwithhisviewofthenation'spast
(or his agenda for the nation's future).
As a result, modem history books
are ruled with terrible distortions and
inexcusable omissions. The facts, in
many cases, do not fit the carefully
orchestrated fiction thathas 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 Cmaanites
to teach us our past. For the last two
generations in this country we have
been told that Christianity is irrelevant
and that Cluistians are dangerous. We
have been told that our faith is good for
cornfoningusemotionallyandsoothing
us psychologically but it is of no use in
tacklingrealproblernsin 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. Wehave,asaconsequence,
become practical deists - believing that
God is practically irrelevant to solving
any problem outside of our souls.
ItisofcoulSethejoboftheologyarld
biblical preaching to restore
these truths, but it is also in
part the job of history -
whichis, 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 ChUM or of
the individual, but the GOD
OF THE WHOlE EARTH
AND EVERY AREA OF
UFE.
This is our glorious task
in this generation. We must
not shirk it. For the glory
and honor of God arid the
future of our culture, let us
give oUlSelves 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 forgetfu\ness.n
January, 1993 ;. TIlE COUNSEL of Chalcedon ;. 5