LOOKING FORWARD TO THE PERFECT GOVERNMENT

June 2026

Looking Forward to the Perfect Government

By Rev Peter Ratcliff

Many people look at the present state of the nation and wonder what sort of government will come next.

Some fear a further move to the political left. Others fear a reaction to the right. Still others wonder how demographic, religious and cultural changes may reshape the country in the decades ahead.

The truth is that nobody really knows. Political predictions have a habit of proving wrong. Governments rise and fall. Parties come and go. Nations change in ways that few expect.

Yet people continue to place their hope in the next election. They imagine that a new government will solve their problems and usher in a better society.

The deepest problems of society are not ultimately political but spiritual. Laws can restrain evil, but they cannot change the human heart.

That is why every political system eventually disappoints.

The lasting hope of any nation is not political reform but spiritual renewal. Men and women must be brought to see their own sin and to submit themselves to the rule of Jesus Christ.

Yet here is the Christian's comfort. The future is not in the hands of politicians but in the hands of God.

Whatever governments may come, the Lord Jesus Christ will build His church. He has done so under emperors, kings, dictators, democracies and every other form of government.

This does not mean that the years ahead will be easy. Christians may increasingly find themselves living in a society hostile to biblical truth.

How then shall we live?

We are not called to despondency. We are called to prayer, faithfulness and patient endurance. We are to obey God, do our duty, love our neighbours, proclaim the gospel, and leave the results in His hands.

If we lived in a perfect society, we might become too comfortable here below. Instead, the Lord often uses the hardships of this fallen world to remind us that we are strangers and pilgrims upon the earth, seeking a better country, that is, an heavenly.

The darker the night, the more precious becomes the promise of the dawn.

Therefore, while we wait for the coming of Christ's kingdom in its fullness, we press on without fear.

Our confidence is in the King of kings.

"The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever." Revelation 11:15