By Roy Mohon
The newspapers have been full of Lady Thatcher’s death. At this time we should have prayerful concern for the bereaved family and deplore the idea of folk celebrating that Mrs Thatcher has died. She was a woman of principle who thought she was doing what was best for her country. Many hated her policies but God’s law, “love thy neighbour as thyself”, leaves no room for hatred of persons.
Lady Thatcher’s passing has a message for our politicians that does not hit the news. In Psalm 2, verse 12, there is a timely exhortation to rulers: “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.” The Son spoken of is the one to whom God had said (verse 9), “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel”.
Lady Thatcher earned the reputation of “Iron Lady” because she was a determined woman of fixed resolve. The controversial Falklands War tested that resolve and Falklanders remain thankful to this day that the P.M. stood firm. Determination in a good cause is doubtless commendable but evil resolve that provokes God is not so. Psalm 2 begins with the kings of the earth seeking to cast off the restraints of God’s law. This is exactly what secularists seek of politicians today and they would be delighted to see God’s institution of marriage as one major casualty.
In the face of such clamour, our present Prime Minister and politicians need to have in mind, not so much the “Iron Lady” but the Lord with the “iron rod”. Lady Thatcher was an admirer of Adam Smith but his economics failed at this point. The anchor was in moral philosophy not divinity. In consequence, justice, truth and compassion have been sidelined in the market place in the enthusiasm for graphs, equations and profits. The authentic free market referred to in the Bible became a “free-for-all” terminating in bank failures, sovereign debt, seizure of depositors’ funds, and Quantitative Easing that inflates away debt, pensions and savings alike. Sadly, even Christians have not defended the marketplace of the Bible as distinct from a merely secular view of markets and the secular grip on national life has been furthered in consequence as increased control of everything results.
Psalm 2 reminds leaders in particular of ultimate issues beyond the five-year election timeframe. (1) There is a final reckoning with Jesus Christ. (2) Popular opinion will be irrelevant then. An all-knowing Judge needs no witnesses and no majority will stand against his verdict. (3) There are but two destinations. Some “perish” and others are “blessed”. Annihilation and purgatory are myths. (4) There is but one hope. To kiss the Son is to do homage to him, to recognize his authority and own his cause. The passing of Lady Thatcher speaks eloquently to our nation of the urgent need for national repentance and true faith in the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.