Presidents Day

Part 1

Tim Moore: Let’s begin with a few highlights among America’s slate of presidents. Well, obviously, Nathan, the day itself is designated to honor Washington first and foremost, and he was the first among his countrymen, and so he is a singular figure, even today. Most Americans still revere George Washington.

Nathan Jones: Yeah, George Washington freed this country from the British overrule with a ragtag army and little supplies, the French as their help. He led this country, but what he did was amazing too, is not only did he build an army when there was only just a bunch of, you know, fieldmen, not really an army at all, but trained them, but he also taught them godliness.

Tim Moore: He certainly did. Now we have to recognize that one of the reasons that Washington was seen as being presidential material, or even leader material, is he looked like a leader. He had great stature; he was taller than most people. It is said that he was about 6’3″ and he had a commanding presence, in other words, he was very reverent at all times, he carried himself with dignity. And so, even the people around him had respect for George Washington.

And yet he had come from somewhat limited means and had to go to work, even as a teenager, I’m often reminded, and I tell young people when I interact with them that George Washington took a job as a county surveyor on his own, out measuring fields and land, while he was still in his middle teens. And so, he was a man, at a young age, who took great responsibility.

Nathan Jones: And there’s that whole cherry tree incident where he said he could not tell a lie, he did chop down that cherry tree, which we know is just an urban legend, but it points to the fact that he was a very honest man.

Now, modern historians will try to revise the history and condemn him because he was a slave owner on his plantation. Well, he was a product of his time, there were a lot of slave owners at that time. The Bible talks about slavery. So he didn’t really, I would say, know better in that respect, he did want to free his slaves at some point.

But he always believed in what the Bible taught and following God, and he would even, when he was the commander of the Continental Army, talked down to his men about swearing, swearing was becoming an issue.

Tim Moore: You know what? When I was a cadet, Nathan, at the Air Force Academy, we had a book of knowledge I had to memorize. And so, one of the memory quotes that we had from General Washington was this, and it’s a fairly long quote, I could try to do it from memory.

But it says, “The general is sorry to be informed that the foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing, a vice heretofore little known in the American Army, is growing into fashion. He hopes that the officers will, by example, as well as influence, endeavor to check it, and that both they and the men will reflect that we can have little hope of blessing of heaven on our arms if we continue to insult it by our impiety and folly. Added to this, it is a vice so mean and so low that every man of sense and character detests and despises it.”

George Washington, even as his military role would bear out, was a man who God seemed to have His hand on. And he respected the Lord, even that phrase, “the blessing of heaven,” they talked in that kind of vernacular back then. But the fact is George Washington respected and honored the Lord, and there are countless examples of how the Lord seemed to protect Washington.

I never fail to remember the time during the Battle of Monongahela, this is during the French and Indian War, when two horses were shot out from under George Washington, he was a colonel at the time, and after the battle, they found numerous bullet holes in his coat and in his hat, and yet he had not been struck. I mean, to me, that is miraculous, even for that day and age.

Nathan Jones: Yes, divine providence was definitely over him. We told my son when he went into the Coast Guard, and at first, he was a little concerned about, you know, danger. I brought up George Washington, the fact that, “Hey, the Lord, if He’s got a purpose for you, He’s going to preserve you.”

Now Washington, the fact that he had bullet holes in his clothes and yet would survive, that’s real divine providence. But it showed that the Lord was preparing him, training him, and using his love for the Lord to get him ready for one of the biggest positions that would eventually affect the entire world, the president of the free world.

Tim Moore: The president of the free world. And at that day and age, even the nations of Europe were not quite free. They were under various monarchies and obviously still embroiled in various wars. But Washington was singular. And we know that George Washington had a deep faith.

It is said that if you went to the Continental Congress while Washington was there and were to ask, “Where is George Washington?” Well, they could have said, “He’s the tall one,” but what would often be said is, “He is the one who will kneel every time we pray.” Of course, they prayed every day at the insistence of Benjamin Franklin, but George Washington knelt in prayer.

One of my favorite pictures, and it’s a painting, obviously, no photography in that day, shows General Washington in prayer at Valley Forge. I actually showed the picture you’re seeing on the screen one time at a conference and someone said, “How did they get that picture of George Washington in the 1700s?” And I said, “Well, it wasn’t taken with a camera, but it is a painting.” And it is representative of the testimony that Washington was indeed a man of faith.

Nathan Jones: I’ve been to Valley Forge in the winter and I don’t see how they stayed as long as they did, and so many of them froze to death. I’ve been to where Washington crossed the Delaware, and, of course, there’s that famous painting of him in the boat standing tall. But he led.

You know, there’s kind of this thing about modern leaders is they want him to lead from behind or we’re just one nation among others. But Washington knew that God’s hand of protection and divinity was upon this country, it was going to become something big. And so, it needed to lead from the front and Washington always led from the front.

Tim Moore: He led from the front and yet he didn’t cling to power.

Nathan Jones: No.

Tim Moore: Even as he finished two terms in office as President, shocking many of his compatriots, Washington said it’s time to pass the baton.

Nathan Jones: Even King George was shocked that he gave up power.

Tim Moore: Exactly, why would he do that? He’s at the pinnacle of his power. He could have stayed for life. And, indeed, Washington could, but he knew that the country needed to grow beyond even his singular leadership.

You know, I have great respect for General Washington. One of the things that I have a tremendous appreciation for is, one time, while visiting Mount Vernon, where Washington lived and where he is buried, they have a service every afternoon. And so, they had announced there would be a memorial service, which is a daily activity there at Washington’s grave.

And my wife and I went to the grave site, and they asked, “Is anyone here a military officer?” And I raised my hand. They said, “Well, then you will be overseeing this service because General Washington said that there would be ongoing services, not just recognizing him, but praying to the Lord God a prayer of Thanksgiving for the way Washington was able to serve.”

So as a colonel in the Air Force, I was able to oversee that evening service, and it was very meaningful, and recognizing, again, that the Lord had raised up this man, fallible, yes, he had some things that we would say, from our perspective today, we wish were different about his life and his choices, but he still served in a godly manner.

And that brings us to another president that most people think of around President’s Day, as you mentioned, Abraham Lincoln.

Nathan Jones: Yeah, Abraham Lincoln was the other one, a backwoodsman, a young lawyer, a wrestler. Some argue, Illinois tries to claim him, Kentucky tries to claim him. But he was an amazing person who lost election after election after election. And, yet, God used him, another humble man like Washington, another tall man like Washington, good bearing. He had a high voice, kind of like me, and, you know, he’s like, people didn’t look upon him and say, “Man, he’s ruddy and handsome,” like they used to say about King David or King Saul.

But the Lord put inside him a love of God and God used that for him to guide a nation during probably one of the worst time periods in all of our nation’s history and that was the Civil War.

Tim Moore: That was the Civil War, you know, he actually was born just about 12 miles from my home…

Nathan Jones: Oh, really?

Tim Moore: In Kentucky, so it’s close by, my children have been there many times. And so, yes, we would like to claim him as a Kentuckian. I know that Illinois would claim him because he grew up and spent most of his young years in Illinois. But he was blessed with a great sense of humor.
And yet, as you said, being a backwoodsman from the middle part of America, the elites, who already in the 1800s, were, you know, around the coastal areas, were very condescending to Lincoln and thought, well, what does this guy have that we would even want in a position of power?

But Lincoln came to prominence during a failed campaign for the US Senate in Illinois when he engaged in a series of debates with Stephen Douglas in 1858, and, of course, he lost that campaign. He lost the election for senator because that was decided by the Illinois State House. They’re still, shall we say, a little bit skewed in their politics and their gerrymandering.

But the nation gained an understanding of Abraham Lincoln and an appreciation for his moral clarity. And there’s debate on whether or not Lincoln would be what we call a Christian, obviously with his reverence for Jesus Christ. But he loved the Word of God. And so, he wove it into most of his speaking and most of the things he ever presented.

Nathan Jones: Yeah, I mean, you could look at his speeches. His speeches alone are filled with reverence to God. He was unwavering in not only his faith to God, but his assurance that the Union would win and that the United States was better as a whole than just two separate units. And so, he fought for that and the Lord blessed him. Now when his time was over, of course, we know he was assassinated afterwards. But he’s gone down, both sides of the aisle will say that Lincoln, along with Washington, are two of the greatest president’s in the United States.

Tim Moore: They certainly are. And you made a point about his perspective on the nation being divided. He pulled straight from Scripture when he gave a speech called the “House Divided” speech. And he said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved, I do not expect the house to fall, but I do expect that it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.”

Nathan, today, I wish we had a leader who is respected enough across the board who could make a statement like that because we seem, as a nation, to be more divided than at any other time since the Civil War. And we’ve had other presidents, some who have been greater than others. But, overall, even as we respect the office of president and the men so far, someday maybe a woman, who would fill that office, they kind of remind us of other leaders from a scriptural perspective.

Nathan Jones: Yes, yes, I think the country’s divided because we want some who want a republic with representation, and clearly there’s a push to–even though they call it socialism, they want a king. And that’s usually what any kind of socialist nation gets, they eventually get a dictator. But this is what the Jewish people, back in Deuteronomy 17, there was a call about what would happen, Moses prophesied what would happen when the Jewish people proclaimed and wanted a king instead of God Himself.

And He said this, He says, “Okay,” God says, “I will set a king over you,” and this is going to be hundreds of years later, but, or excuse me, decades later, “Whom the Lord God chooses from among you. I will not set a foreigner over you,” and we have that precedent today. But then He says three things that they’re not supposed to multiply, horses, wives, and money. And that’s been the downfall of every… it was the downfall of Solomon is where they were not supposed to become rich off of their position too.

But He also gave a divine command for them to write a copy of this law, verse 18, in the book from the priests and the Levites. “And he shall read it in the days and learn to fear the Lord and observe all his words and lift that word up among the brethren.” So a king wasn’t supposed to be greedy, he wasn’t supposed to be lustful but was supposed to be focused on God and be a conduit of God’s blessing to the nation.

Tim Moore: You know, that is such a powerful insight. I think many of our presidents, over the last 250 years, have had at least a respect for the Christian faith. Many of them talked in terms of Christian terms or at least used biblical references. Even John F. Kennedy oftentimes would use Scripture as part of the basis for his speeches, or shall we say, maybe his speech writers did.

But there was a respect for the Word of the Lord. Had they adhered to it more carefully, I think our nation wouldn’t be in the shape it is today. But the Lord God recognized and spoke through Moses, as you said, and in verse 14 of that, Deuteronomy 17, he says, “When you enter the land, which the Lord your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the other nations who are around me.'”

There’s this desire in the heart of people to have a great leader, someone who has the power and authority to set things right, to exert justice upon the land, and at least to keep everybody unified. And the Lord recognized that they would want that, so you’re exactly right, He made provision.

Nathan Jones: And a democracy seems to go against the human nature, even though it’s the best form of government underneath the republic, of course, so that it’s not mob rule, but, and, biblically, why do we always go back to a king? Because that’s how it was originally made. We were supposed to be under a theocratic monarchy and benevolent theocratic monarchy.

You look through the kings of the Bible in the Old Testament, both Judah and Israel; Israel didn’t have a decent king that honored the Lord and so their country crumbled to dust. Judah had a few of them that had a heart for the Lord and the Lord sustained them longer. But eventually that nation crumbled to dust.

And so, we wonder why does empire after empire fall? Because we are fallen in our human nature. Corruption will eventually destroy that nation. And, again, it all points to the fact that we’re waiting for a divine king who’s perfect.

Tim Moore: And that’s the point, even as we say, it would be best to be under a benevolent theocratic king, really the only benevolent theocratic king who is worthy of the title is Jesus Christ. So we’re not advocating for a theocracy, even here, it never works out with men in that position, but it points to Christ.

And yet, that expectation, that prophetic Word that Moses uttered there in Deuteronomy was fulfilled later as the people had gone through a series of judges, some of the judges were better, some were worse, but on whole, they really weren’t adequate for the job.

So in 1 Samuel 8, “It came about that when Samuel was old,” so he was the last of the judges, as we would think, and his sons were not worthy of following in his footsteps “that he appointed his sons judges over Israel.” But the people recognized this was not going to work out too good because it says, “And the name of his firstborn was Joel, the name of his second was Abijah, his sons, however, did not walk in his ways, but turned after dishonest gain and took bribes and perverted justice. So the elders came together and they said, ‘Behold, you have grown old, your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the other nations.'”

They were rejecting the line of judges that the Lord had raised up, and, rightfully, they understood that these sons, they weren’t equal to the task, they weren’t following in the footsteps of Samuel, but they wanted to be like all the other nations.

Nathan Jones: Which is a shame because humans tend to want kings to have a lineage. And we somehow think that the blood of a successful king will pass to the children. And so, you’ll have a king and queen who’s just as able as the parent. If you look through the British monarchy over hundreds and hundreds of years, it’s one failed person after another because we assume that, by divine right, that they have to rule.

But this is what the Lord says in 1 Samuel 8, “If you put a king over you,” so it’s a rejection of God, really, and God says that it’s a rejection of Me. “If you take a human king, he’s going to take your sons and appoint them to chariots. They’re going to make your people plow the ground and reap his harvest, make his weapons, he’s going to take your daughters and put them to work as wives, he’s going to take the best of your fields, he’s going to take your servants, he’s going to put them to work, he’s going to take a 10th of your sheep and your servants, and you’re going to cry out that day because the king whom you have chosen for yourself and the Lord will not hear you for it.”

And that’s exactly what Israel’s history happened.

Tim Moore: You wonder why in the world would they say, “We still want one.”

Nathan Jones: Yeah, still, they’re like, “Sure, we’ll take it.”

Tim Moore: Let me have one of those, that sounds great. No, that sounds terrible.

Nathan Jones: But you made a good point because the judges were temporary leaders who rose to the challenge and then faded away, and a lot of them couldn’t keep the tribes yet. And for 300 years, it was a terrible system. It’s like being under the old Articles of Confederation again, you know.

But at this time, the people seem to so want a human leader, even though God warned them a human leader, fallen and failed, is going to take advantage, he’s going to take as much money and time and energy from you and he’s going to leave you with little. And the people, you’re right, they cried out, “Bring it on.”

Tim Moore: Bring it on, you know, so here’s what happened. The Lord recognizing they still want the people, verse 19, nevertheless, even having heard all these warnings that the Lord offered through the prophet Samuel, nevertheless, people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No, but there shall be a king over us, that we may also be like all of the other nations, that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”
Wouldn’t that be a good idea if the king would just fight our battles? Well, they don’t think about the fact that they’re going to be fighting the battles while the king stays back with Bathsheba. Well, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Nathan Jones: Yeah.

Tim Moore: Nevertheless, the king would not always fight the battles. So who did the Lord God instruct Samuel to anoint as the first king? A man who looked like a king. So you had Saul, who was of high stature and looked like a king. And so, he was raised up, but that didn’t work out so good in the long run.

Nathan Jones: I mean, other than abnormalities, like say Napoleon, for instance, throughout human history, you see that most people gravitate to tall, strong looking, and, you know, strong women too, but for the most part, strong men, they see power, they respect that, and they want that to lead them.

Unfortunately, if the hearts aren’t prepared for the Lord, they’re going to lead you astray, and Saul, it was pretty soon before his whole kingdom started falling apart. He became obsessed with killing David, he was obsessed with basically himself, he didn’t want to follow the Lord. He’d rejected Samuel and his commands. And so, the end result is God took him out and put a king…And so, we get David.

And David being a type of Christ, a heart for the Lord. And then, we get up to Isaiah 9 and I love this, it’s pointing to the ultimate Messiah. Compare that to a king who’s selfish and taking all your children and lives for their own glory, to what it says about the ultimate Messiah who will rule and reign on this Earth.

Famous Christmas verse, “Unto us a child is born and a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace. And of the increase of His government and peace, there will be no end, upon the throne of David,” where it’s where we get the Davidic Throne, “and over His kingdom. To order it and establish it with” what? “Judgment and justice from this time forward forever.”

What a difference between a perfect messianic king, King Jesus, compared to fallen human rulers who will always let us down.

Tim Moore: Always let us down, Saul let the people down, because, as you said, very soon he became consumed with paranoia and uncertainty, he dithered. And then he was consumed with wanting to destroy the perceived threat, which was David. Now, David himself presents a bit of a contrast, but also a hopeful vision because when David was anointed king, as the Lord rejected Saul, because he disobeyed and he actually tried to take upon himself the role of priest or prophet, and he was not to do that.

Nathan Jones: That was a mistake.

Tim Moore: Yes, that was a big mistake. So the Lord had Samuel to anoint David. And David was the least of Jesse’s sons. He had other sons who were better looking stronger, taller. But no, he picked the scrawny young child of Jesse to become the king.

Nathan Jones: And Saul did the same mistake. Saul was supposed to be the big fighter.

Tim Moore: Yeah.

Nathan Jones: The champion of Israel. And when it came to Goliath, he sent that scrawny kid out in his place.

Tim Moore: But what did the Lord demonstrate? It wasn’t by my might; it was by His might.

Nathan Jones: Yes, absolutely, absolutely.

Tim Moore: So that’s exactly what the Lord proved through David. This scrawny child defeated the great enemy of Israel, Goliath. And then, we come full circle to where David is a man after God’s own heart. Not perfect, so David is not Christ-like in terms of his holiness or his perfection. He sinned grievously, he committed murder, adultery, we can go through a whole litany. He didn’t raise up his children correctly as a father, but he still was a man after God’s own heart because he repented and because he constantly wanted to honor and revere the Lord God.

We talk about Davidic style of worship because David worshiped freely from his heart, in spirit and in truth as we talk about. But then, his son Solomon was wise enough, here’s a Christ-like wisdom, to ask for wisdom as the gift God would give him. But he went astray just as Moses had predicted, because he surrounded himself by many wives, and by foreign wives, they led him astray.

Nathan Jones: And horses and gold, he did all three, right?

Tim Moore: And how many talents of gold did Solomon have?

Nathan Jones: 666.

Tim Moore: 666, which is why the number 666 is a number designated as leading astray and his embracing evil. And that’s exactly where Solomon went astray and the nation began to embrace evil. Well, Nathan, you make a great point. All of these contrasts, all of these imperfect examples of kings, or we could say presidents, really point to the desire we have in our heart for one who could possibly rise to that level and it is other none other than Jesus Christ, just as Isaiah prophesied.

Nathan Jones: Yes, and the world is going to fall for a false Messiah, the Bible prophesies that they want a king, not just over a nation, but over the entire planet. The globalists of today are pushing for that one world ruler and the Bible says the Antichrist. And as soon as the Antichrist, he brings war to the world, half the world population dies from his wars.

He’s an absolute dictator that demands that everybody worship him or he starves them to death. He murders anybody who stands in his way. The guy’s a monster. But that’s what humans want, we want this powerful leader.

But then we get Jesus Christ, Isaiah 11:2. It says, “The Spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,” and what? “The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of council and might, of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. His delight is in the fear of the Lord.” And it goes on to say, “He will strike the Earth with the rod of His mouth,” in other words, with justice, “He will slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, and faithfulness the belt of His waist.” That is the true Messiah, the One that was meant to rule this world.

Tim Moore: You know, I think that the revolutionary patriots understood more than we do from a scriptural perspective. And so, one of the rallying cries, one of the battle cries of the Revolutionary War was, “No king, but King Jesus.” They were rejecting the King of England; they didn’t want a king here.

Even as the presidency under Washington began to have certain imperial, I guess, declaration around the presidency, we still refer to our president as Mr. or Mrs. someday so-and-so and not as king or high and lifted up. And yet the revolutionary patriots realized we only want King Jesus, and so there was still a great reverence for the Christian faith.

Nathan Jones: They saw that the presidency was a step under the authority of God.

Tim Moore: Amen.

Nathan Jones: That some of our modern presidents have put themselves up as the ultimate authorities on everything of morality, and the morality, you’ve got to go back to what Moses says, they should be studying the Bible, that’s why he assigned the job, they need to be writing out the law and sharing it with the people so that they know who the power structure is. It’s God then the President, not vice versa.

Tim Moore: Vice versa, you know, on this Earth, we kind of have seen over and over again, through various dictators and despots, and even today, autocratic leaders, the fulfillment of Lord Acton’s famous warning that, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
You know, a great book by Dr. Al Mohler, the President of Southern Seminary there in Louisville, Prophet, Priest & King, talks about the fact that only Jesus fulfills all three offices, but that humans inevitably seek an imperfect king, but expect the king to lead them perfectly. And we have seen that over and over again, even in our presidents. Folks, no president will lead us perfectly because no president is perfect, but even our desire for perfection points us to one who is perfect and will never disappoint us.

You know, Dwight L. Moody said, regarding all these presidents and even all the kings that we’ve talked about in Israel and some we didn’t get to, “A good example is far better than a good precept.” We have some bad examples. But all of these offer contrast to Jesus, our great God, our soon coming king.

Closing

Tim Moore: Since humans first began to gather themselves into groups, the need for leaders has been evident. Many aspire to lead, some are called, and a few are gifted in that role. But the desire for a king is also age old because God created within us an innate desire for someone who has the power and authority to enforce the peace and impart justice.

Nathan Jones: That yearning for a king has taken some dramatic and tragic turns. Nimrod was able to consolidate power on the plains of Babel. Earthly kings came to believe they were appointed by God or even divine in their own right, and desperate people have often clamored for a great leader, like the Fuhrer the German people elevated during the 1930s. But none of these flawed images can replicate the singular power, authority, and the leadership of the King of Kings Jesus Christ.

Tim Moore: Even as we give rightful honor to those who serve, and have served, in positions of human agency, let’s keep in mind that, like the revolutionary patriots who cried, “No king, but King Jesus!”, we are awaiting the reign of our heavenly King. He is coming soon for those who believe in Him unto salvation, and He will return to Earth to reign from the throne of David on Mount Zion in Jerusalem.

When He does, every little-k king, every prime minister and every president will be among the great throng of humanity, and “every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord of the glory of God, the Father.”

We long for that day, even as we bid you and yours, Happy President’s Day! Godspeed!

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