The Presidency: An Imperfect Representation - Who Will You Vote For? (Thanking God For Jesus Christ!)

Will it be Obama? McCain? Clinton? So the presidential carousel goes! Several times in the past weeks I have been asked something like the following:

"If the race for the presidency came down between Obama and Clinton who would you vote for?"

Now this is a hypothetical situation, the assumption obviously being that whomever prevails between these two will reign supreme over McCain as well, thus the race between the two Democrats is the real ordeal. And though it is a hypothetical, it is worthy of a short, and slight, and light consideration. Who would you vote for as the representative head of America, and by default, your own?

Some quick thoughts of my own concerning this election, and then, as I prefer to do, a quick reference to the Church's (and praise God, my own) sinless representative Head, Jesus Christ; and then I will turn the consideration of these things over to you. Obviously, this will be very minimalistic and reductionistic by nature, but -

Thoughts on the Presidential Election

1. I'm glad that it won't come down to Obama and/or Clinton; but my gladness subsides quickly at the realization that it will come down to Obama or Clinton vs. McCain, for though I suppose that I would prefer him over the other two for various reasons that I am more ignorant of than anything else, I am quite disagreeable to him also. It is a burdensome thing to me that these three possible representatives are in fact the 'cream that has risen to the top' in the minds of the American people - but I suppose that it is to be expected and not a thing to be surprised about.

2. That this election is paradoxical - it is all about "change that matters", but the change that most Americans seem to want would place (more than likely) Clinton or Obama as our representative - one of which stood "curiously" by while her husband committed sexual immorality and gross adultery while in the White House, biding her time to make her own run at the oval office, who even in the course of her own running has been proven a "liar" - though admitting such, she tip-toed around using the actual term "liar" to describe herself! Hmmm? The other has tapped danced around so many irrational and socially irritable statements and associations that one has to wonder - "who is Barack Obama and what does he stand for - really?" But, hey, just hold up your arms, two fingers waving in the air and say, "I'm about change that matters," and apparently you can be the president of the United States even if the people have no idea what you mean seeing as you have no idea what you mean.

3. That regardless, the presidential election is an imperfect one, and thus, whoever is elected will be an imperfect representative, not only because he or she is a sinner like the rest of fallen humanity, but because 49.9% of Americans can vote against you and you can still become the representative of America. That means that 151,760,436.36 Americans can disapprove of you and you can still represent those very people. At least we are sensible enough never to title the President infallible, like the Roman Church declares the pope to be - how can one be infallible when almost half of the electoral committee says he ought to be the pope and therefore he is infallible (although he was not infallible seconds before he was chosen), and the other half says that he ought not to be pope and that he is not infallible - but if we elect him, then he is infallible! You cannot have a split decision on infallibility, for that is not infallible (this is another issue!) Suffice it to mention that whoever is elected President of the United States will not be a perfect representative of the people, though he stands in that representative position; I suppose he is best described as the representative of the slight majority?

4. All of this taken into consideration, I would advise much prayer, counsel, reflection on the sovereignty of God in these elections, and upon that which is most in keeping with His character, word, and will, though I'm sure that in keeping with our natural character we will disagree on these things also without being disagreeable.

Thoughts on God's election

1. God was not confused. Though He is three Persons, He is One God, and He agrees with Himself supremely. When he created the first Adam to be mankind's representative head, He elected perfectly without division. None of Him disagreed! In other words, Adam was the perfect representation of you and me. Practically, we would have acted no different than Adam when he transgressed God's command, though we often think of ourselves that we would have obeyed instead. Nope! Think again - you were perfectly represented; you were in Adam's loins, his seed. As he did, even in the midst of God's perfect creation and the infinite benefits attributed to it, so we, had we actually been in the same atmosphere, would have sinned against God. Thus, we all fell in Adam by his sin, for it was ours in principle, and were separated from God because of the heinous transgression of our representative.

2. God had His redemptive plan in mind from eternity past. As Adam was our representative, and we fell in him, so God's only Son, born of a virgin in the likeness of sinful flesh, being tempted as we are by infinitely more cunning and intense measures by Satan and the human flesh, yet He perfectly, sinlessly prevailed in His life and then died a penal, substitutionary death on the cross as a satisfaction of the righteous requirements of God's holiness upon us and wrath against our sin, which satisfaction God approved by raising Him up from the dead in the glory of His power, that through repentance and faith in Him we are (individually and corporately) brought into His covenant, Jesus being our representative Head before both God and man. Just as in Adam, the first representative, we fell from God though we did not actually commit the crime (it was imputed to us from our representative), so in Christ, the Head of the Church, we are made righteous and reconciled to God through faith in Him, though we were not actually sinless or perfectly righteous (it is imputed to us by the grace of God through faith in Christ). Thank God for Christ, our Representative Head!

3. I am thankful and I rejoice that God has His elect - that the Church is dubbed "elect exiles." By "elect" the reference is to our adoption into Christ, our perfect and sinless Head, Who honors God as God, Jesus who was God's representative for our salvation. An amazing thing it is that God offers Himself to be our Representative before Himself (think about it!) By "exile" the reference is to the appropriation of our heavenly citizenship in the midst of our earthly citizenship. I am glad that by God's electing love He has wrought in me a "change that matters for eternity in the midst of our temporal life."

For the Sake of Comments

1. Concerning the imperfect representation of the American presidency, who will you vote for, why, and (if you will) provide some Christian counsel and insight for many of us (myself included) who need it?

2. Concerning God's perfect representation of us, first, Adam, and for us, secondly, God in the flesh, our Lord Jesus Christ through whom and for whom He has individually elected sinners from eternity past to know Him in the covenant of salvation; share your considerations and thoughts.