Paul is going to begin today by reminding us how important it is that we pray for our country's leaders. This is God's will. If we are pleased with the godly performance of our political leaders, we need to pray for them to stand strong in the faith. If we are not pleased with their ungodly performance, we need to pray that they will allow God to change their hearts.
Why are we to pray for everyone, even those we don't approve of? Because Christ died for all. He gave His life for those we approve of and for those we don't. The Lord's will is that everyone would come to repentance and submit their lives to Him. The Lord wants everyone to come to Christ because Christ is the one and only mediator between God and man. Christ is the only one who can make us right with God the Father, for He said Himself: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6)
"I urge then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people---for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness." (1 Timothy 2:1-2) Paul feels that this type of prayer is so important that he lists it first in his instructions to Timothy. It's not as if Paul and Timothy were living under godly political leadership. They were living under the reign of the Emperor Nero, a man whose utter depravity and wickedness would be revealed more and more as time went on. As subjects of the Roman Empire, they were living in a mostly pagan society, not in a society that obeyed the God of Israel. And yet Paul says, "Pray for all those in authority." We aren't only to pray for those in authority who share our values and opinions, but we are to pray also for those who don't. In fact, we should pray all the more for those who don't share our values in the hope that they will come to know the Lord. Paul says we are to be thankful for our leaders. Whether or not we're happy with how elections turn out, we ought to at least be thankful that we live in a free country where we are allowed to cast votes for the politicians of our choice.
We are disobeying God if we refuse to pray for our nation's leaders, for this is His will for us. "This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth." (1 Timothy 2:3-4) If we want to please God, we have to obey His will, and one of the ways we can obey His will is to pray for those in power. Some of our political leaders are believers and some are not. We should spend time every day praying for those who are not believers so that they will come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. If everyone in power believed in and obeyed the Lord, and if they made all their decisions according to the word of God, the Lord would pour out blessings on our nation that we can't even imagine. He has already blessed us abundantly, but we could have so much more if those in power would bow their knees to Him. "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord." (Psalm 33:12a)
God wants every person on the face of the earth to come to repentance. He wants everyone to accept and build a relationship with His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The sacrifice Christ made for mankind is the only sacrifice acceptable in the eyes of God. When He shed His blood for us, the Lord Jesus established a new covenant between God and man; therefore, He is the only mediator between God and man. "For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for all people." (1 Timothy 2:5-6a) We are to pray for all people because Christ gave Himself for all people. He gave Himself just as much for the drunkard lying in the gutter as He did for the president of the United States. He gave Himself just as much for the ordinary citizen as for the person with wealth and fame. No matter who we are and no matter what our background, we all have to come to the Father by the same route: through the Lord Jesus Christ. We are all sinners who need a Savior. We are imperfect beings who can't make ourselves perfect. We are lawbreakers who can't possibly keep every point of God's law. We are weak in the flesh and we fail to obey all the commandments. We need someone who can and did do all these things perfectly, and there is only one person who ever did these things perfectly: the holy and spotless Lamb of God who sacrificially shed His blood for us so that through faith in Him we can have redemption.
"This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle---I am telling the truth, I am not lying---and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles." (1 Timothy 2:6b-7) The Messiah, the Promised One, came into the world at the proper time chosen by God. "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons." (Galatians 4:4-5) Christ came first to Israel, to God's chosen nation, to redeem those under the law. But He also came to save the Gentiles as promised in the Old Testament. There are many instances of this promise, but the Lord told the prophet Isaiah that He would raise up a man from the line of David, a man in whom the Gentiles would put their hope. (Isaiah 11:10) When Mary and Joseph brought the baby Jesus to the temple, a man named Simeon who was waiting for the Lord's Messiah recognized Jesus as the One of whom Isaiah spoke and Simeon said while filled with the Holy Spirit, "My eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel." (Luke 2:30-32)
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