When To Take A Stand – A Scriptural Perspective

Originally published on February 21, 2022.
Last Updated on February 28, 2024.

We ought to obey God rather than men.

Acts 5:29

This is the fundamental underlying verse that all Christians should apply to every demand from ‘authority’ here on earth.

Other Christians seem to have taken ‘Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers’ (Rom 13:1) as their Scriptural reference and have prioritized the demands of men over God’s rule. Let’s take a look at Scripture to see what God says in these regards.

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Lets start with one of the greatest acts of civil disobedience found in Scripture because it was directed by God and preserved the Lord for His course of life and death for us here on earth.

I speak, of course, of the wise men who came to worship Jesus sometime before his 2nd birthday. Herod had commanded (lets call it a mandate,) them to report back to him when they had found the Lord. But God had other plans.

And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way. 
Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.

Matt 2:12,16

Herod was most certainly a ‘higher power,’ but he was also completely evil and did not use his power according to God’s law or even for good. So God commanded those wise men to refuse his mandate and go home another way. They obeyed God rather than man.

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Another one:

This one is about the events surrounding the 1st Scripture quoted above. Peter and the apostles were following God’s command and spreading the gospel in the city of Jerusalem. The ‘higher powers’ commanded (mandated) that they were not allowed to teach about Jesus any more and went so far as to throw them in prison.

Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation, and laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison.

Acts 5:17,18

But God had other plans and supernaturally freed them from prison and commanded them to go back to preaching Jesus in the temple. They obeyed God rather than man.

The ‘higher powers’ heard that they were back in the temple, not knowing or understanding how God had released them.

Then came one and told them, saying, Behold, the men whom ye put in prison are standing in the temple, and teaching the people. 
Then went the captain with the officers, and brought them without violence: for they feared the people, lest they should have been stoned. 
And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them, saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood (Jesus who they had murdered) upon us. 

Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

Acts 5:25-29

Rather than backing down and trying to maintain the peace, this infuriated the rulers and they started planning out ways they could murder Peter and the Apostles. (Their plans quite probably involved using the local ‘police’ to do the dirty work. But I’m sure those officers would have been just doing their jobs.)

Finally a lawyer stepped in and advised the ‘higher powers’ that they should not follow through with their plans to crush the apostles. So when they had:

… called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded (mandated, for their health I’m sure) that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

Acts 5:40

But what did Peter and the Apostles do after their arrest and release? Did they obey them that had the rule over them. Did they just go home and not tell the innocent about Jesus and the way of salvation? No!

They departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.
And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. 

Acts 5:41, 42

Lets note a couple of things in this conflict between mans authority and God’s law.

• First. The Apostles did not fight back. There was no resisting arrest. No vile words thrown or aggression of any sort. They just ‘held the line’ and allowed themselves to be arrested. In that way they did acknowledge the authorities that God was allowing to rule. Much like the Lord when he was arrested, He went ‘as a lamb to the slaughter.’ There seems to be allowance given to defy evil laws and evil rulers but this allowance does not give license for violence. More on non-violence later.
• Second. After their arrest and release, they did not go home to ‘regroup’ or strategize. They went right back to their civil disobedience and Scripture seems to indicate that they did it with even more verve than before. When we are performing our duties for God, we don’t need to worry about what man can do. We fear the One who can kill the soul … not the one who can only hurt our bodies. (Matt 10:28)

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One final example of taking a stand, and this one is future.

Conventional end times theology teaches that there will come a time of extreme evil when the ‘higher power’ will command the ‘saints’ to worship an image and receive some sort of medical procedure in their right hand or forehead in order to buy food. Sound familiar?

And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?
And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 
And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Rev 13:7,8

And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. 
And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Rev 13:15-17

Those that don’t take the mark (who don’t just go along with what the government tells them to do,) are killed. Later we read of them asking the Lord for vengeance.

And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: 
And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

Rev 6:9,10

This is the famous ‘mark of the Beast’ passage in Revelation. (For the record: the DeathJab is not the mark as there is no worship involved.) This is the ultimate in not obeying the government as the penalty is death. They will pay the price for taking their stand. They will ‘hold the line’ to death. Amazing faithfulness!

So there we have three examples from Scripture of those who take a stand against unGodly rule by powers put in a place of authority by God. We are not called to blindly follow authority, but rather to obey God when they move away from the commands and authority given to them by God.

Observations

Using these three passages we can make some observations about how civil disobedience was performed.

In all three they chose defiance over violence. They simply disobeyed. They stood up to those in power well knowing there would be consequences, but viewed those consequences as something to rejoice in as a small price to pay for the glory of God.

The one example that I could think of that involved violence was when Peter struck off the ear of the high priests servant when they came to arrest the Lord. The Lord however, admonished him and restored the ear. Of course there were extenuating circumstances in that event as the Lord had a greater purpose to accomplish. He makes reference to being able to call down 100’s of angels to fight for Him (violence,) but would not as that was not His purpose in that place. So violence does not seem to characterize those disobeying governments.

Another observation, especially in the case of Peter and the disciples is that they faced the consequences fearlessly and with joy. The knew they were going to ‘get in trouble’ and possibly killed, but acted for the Lord with joy. In our times, can we say we are facing the possible retributions of the state with joy and without fear? If we are fearful, are we doing the right thing for the right reasons?

Final Thoughts Regarding the Canadian Government Mandates

The Canadian government and indeed most ‘democratic’ governments around the world have stepped far beyond the authority given to them of God with the mandates. God put governments in place to establish order, punish evil, and promote justice (Genesis 9:6; 1 Corinthians 14:33; Romans 12:8.) When governments move beyond these areas of authority, they are acting outside their God given position.

When the Canadian government ‘mandated’ that people must receive a medical procedure in order to work at their jobs, they moved well outside the realm of their given venue of authority. They were acting outside of God’s law. For many of us there was no urgent push for civil disobedience as these unlawful laws had little effect on our lives. However, there were also many others who were deeply affected. Many innocent people had this medical procedure done and were injured. Others succumbed to the mandate under duress in order to put food on the table. Others have lost their lives or loved ones to depression through suicide. There is no way of measuring the damage done to children by forcing them to wear masks and live in fear 24/7. This is where the truckers convoy comes in. Many truckers were being denied the ability to earn their living based on this medical procedure. This was unlawful, both in terms of our agreed upon constitution here in Canada and unlawful in the eyes of God as they overstepped their God given authority. So what to do?

If a government is operating beyond it’s God given authority, but not really hurting innocent people, should we defy it? I suppose not. We can submit to that authority and even pay a price knowing that our compliance maintains peace … even if it is an unjust peace.

However, when innocent or helpless people are being damaged by a government out of control, God’s Word, in multiple ways and places, instructs us to advocate and defend them. A few examples are:

Open thy mouth for the dumb [voiceless], for the cause of all those that are left desolate [or destitute]. 
Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and minister justice to the afflicted and needy.

Prov 31:8,9

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit [help] the fatherless and widows in their affliction,

James 1:27

Blessed is he that considereth [helps] the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.

Psa 41:1

To do justice and judgment [what is right] is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

Prov 21:3

So we know from God’s Word that we should help, advocate and even defend those who have no voice or who cannot help themselves. And we have read the examples from Scripture of those who have defied governments who are operating outside of Gods law. Can we, or should we, apply these instructions to the current situation in Canada?

This is the question I’m trying to answer.

If you are someone who has lost a loved one to suicide, or seen your child change because of fear … or who has lost the ability to feed your own family because of an evil government, I think the answer is clear. If you have not been touched in this way, we should exercise empathy for them and in some measure enter into their pain.

With that in mind, we who are able and strong should place ourselves between the oppressor and the oppressed. We don’t ‘fight’, as in fists or guns, but we try to prevent further damage by placing ourselves in the way. This might mean physically placing ourselves in front of the evil, or by advocacy where we defy the evil through disobedience. We must do what we can to stop evil without becoming evil ourselves.

This is my conclusion. What is yours?

Addendum.

Other examples of civil disobedience in Scripture.

• Moses’s mother disobeying the king. Exodus 2.
• Rahab defying the King of Jericho by hiding the spies and helping them escape. Joshua 2.
• Obadiah hiding the 100 prophets from Queen Jezebel. 1 Kings 18.
• Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego defying King Nebuchadnezzar by refusing to worship the golden image. Daniel 3.
• Daniel defying King Darius’ mandates to not pray. Daniel 6.
• Jehosheba hid young Joash from Athaliah. 2 Kings 11.
• Most of the disciples were either prisoned or killed for preaching the gospel.
• And finally … our Lord, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth (1 Pet 2:22) and was crucified by both the religious and the secular authorities of the day.