Faced with a pandemic, EU nations have been rediscovering their nationalist instincts as they take measures to protect the lives of their citizens. Abandoning the EU’s founding ideal of mutual solidarity, member states have been closing borders and restricting medical exports in a bid to stop the virus spreading.
It is only logical that countries should prioritise the health of their own people when confronted by a worldwide medical emergency and limited resources. What is instructive is witnessing nations that had previously subscribed to the EU’s globalist aspirations, such as France and Germany, perform an ideological about-face in a time of crisis – acting unilaterally to protect their own national interests.1
When Italy appealed to the EU for medical equipment at the start of the Covid-19 outbreak, no member states responded, forcing Italy to approach China, Cuba and Venezuela. Meanwhile, by mid-March, members of the Schengen Area (the EU’s passport-free travel zone) were ignoring official calls to avoid blanket travel bans and closing their borders.
In other words, in a time of crisis, EU countries are behaving like nation states, rather than members of a supranational organisation. Might the coronavirus, coupled with Brexit, signal the end of the EU project as a viable alternative to the nation-state model? And more importantly, what does the Bible have to say about these matters?
Nations Versus Empire
Contrary to what the liberal left would have us believe, a sense of national loyalty is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, a world of independent nations is a biblical concept – though it may not be a popular one today.
In his insightful book, The Virtue of Nationalism (reviewed elsewhere in this week’s Prophecy Today UK), Israeli political philosopher Yoram Hazony discusses two mutually exclusive ways of understanding the nation. On the one hand, there is nationalism, “a principled standpoint that regards the world as governed best when nations are able to chart their own independent course”. On the other hand, there is globalism, which “seeks to bring peace and prosperity to the world by uniting mankind, as much as possible under a single political regime.”2
In the first view, the nation is the guarantor of individual freedom; in the second, it is the cause of hatred and war, standing in the way of world peace and prosperity.
Biblical Nationhood
While no single passage in Scripture communicates in totality God’s vision for how human society should be organised, we can glimpse principles throughout the Bible which indicate that a world made up of distinct nations is actually God’s intention for humanity.
Scripture indicates that as “Judge of all the earth” (Gen 18:25) and “King of the nations” (Jer 10:7), God wants to deal with nations individually, in mercy or in judgment. This has always contradicted the impulse of sinful humanity to unite in rebellion against him. The Tower of Babel represented the first clash between man’s desire for global government and God’s vision for independent nations. God thwarted its builders’ idolatrous scheme by confusing their languages, causing them to become distinct nations scattered across the earth (Gen 11:1-9).
Humanity’s rebellion is inseparable from Satan’s quest for world domination. Thus, one of Satan’s tactics is to “weaken the nations” (Isa 14:12 KJV). As the one nation whose continued existence is bound up with God’s character (Jer 31:35-37), Israel poses a particular threat to Satan’s plan to erase individual nations and achieve a world empire, hence his frantic attempts to eradicate her.
While many are quick to link nationalism with Nazism, Hazony makes clear that the problem with Nazi Germany was not nationalism, but rather “universalism and imperialism – their aim of bringing peace to Europe by unifying it under a German emperor”.3 Refraining from territorial expansion is a key element of biblical nationhood; God specifically instructed the Israelites not to encroach on neighbouring peoples (Deut 2:4-19).
Might the coronavirus, coupled with Brexit, signal the end of the EU project as a viable alternative to the nation-state model?
The example of Nazism teaches us that national borders help to contain totalitarian oppression. If a set of truths is deemed universal, it follows that they should be imposed as widely as possible (whether or not they are actually ‘truths’ at all). This can be seen today with proponents of the new ‘liberal imperialism’ suppressing any dissent from their noble-sounding dogmas of ‘tolerance’, ‘equality’ and ‘diversity’.
A world of independent nations enables human difference to thrive, allowing peoples to decide how to govern themselves as befits their history and cultural heritage, rather than being subjected to a top-down, ‘one size fits all’ approach.
Most importantly, the main biblical reason for nations is to facilitate the furtherance of the gospel: “From one man [God] made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him…” (Acts 17:26-27).
Although the Christian faith is universal in scope, it spreads through individual transformation rather than external imposition. Believers are called to advance the Kingdom of God not through military intervention or supranational government, but through proclamation of the gospel to all nations (Matt 24:14; Luke 17:20-21).
Manmade Salvation
For now, countries are taking an individualist approach to coping with Covid-19. But it may not be long before we see moves towards a co-ordinated global response. Gordon Brown has already urged world leaders to form a temporary global government to tackle the pandemic and avert economic disaster.
Of course, co-operation between independent nations is entirely different to forming an international government as a prerequisite to worldwide health, peace and prosperity. Under the universalist model, supranational government would end disease, poverty, war and climate change, bringing about humanity’s ‘salvation’ without God – a manmade ‘heaven on earth’.
The EU is one example of this utopian vision in practice. Robert Schuman, one of the EU’s founding fathers, said in 1949: “We are carrying out a great experiment, the fulfilment of the same recurrent dream that for ten centuries has revisited the peoples of Europe: creating between them an organisation putting an end to war and guaranteeing an eternal peace.”4
Since then, the march towards European integration has continued apace. The Treaty of Rome (1957), the international agreement that preceded the EU, committed signatories to “ever closer union”. More recently, President Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have called for a “true European army”.5
The conflict between the biblical idea of independent nations and global governance is aptly summarised by the opposing views of President Trump and French President Macron. In Trump’s speech at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in September 2018, he stated: “Sovereign and independent nations are the only vehicle where freedom has ever survived, democracy has ever endured, or peace has ever prospered.”6
President Macron, on the other hand, used his 2018 UNGA speech7 to underline his commitment to “universalism” and “a new world balance” based on a rebuilding of “the global collective system”.
Although the Christian faith is universal in scope, it spreads through individual transformation rather than external imposition.
The Bigger Picture
Both Brown’s and Macron’s misguided globalism and the EU’s encroachment on national sovereignty are part of Satan’s attempt to finish what Babel started, uniting the world in worship of himself under the guise of a false utopia. Happily, his rebellion will be short-lived (Rev 13) and will end with Jesus’ return to rule as King with a rod of iron (Ps 2:9; Rev 19:15).
Meanwhile, the coronavirus pandemic serves as a reminder that although mankind will always seek grandiose, messianic solutions to world problems, when the rubber hits the road, nations revert to doing what nations do best: looking after their own citizens and working out the best solutions for their unique situation.
At the same time, the UK’s departure from the EU offers an opportunity to reconfigure our national identity around God’s word – and to invoke his blessing by honouring his Land and chosen people. Brexit thus remains part of a broader spiritual conflict over our identity and direction as a nation which, in turn, is part of the ultimate battle for who will rule the world – Satan or Jesus. Praise God we know the end of the story! Meanwhile, in these uncertain times, we are called to watch and pray as we await the coming Prince of Peace, of whose “government and peace there will be no end” (Isa 9:7).
References
2 Hazony, Y (2018). The Virtue of Nationalism. New York: Basic Books, p3.
3 Ibid, p41.
4 Read Schuman’s full speech here.
5 Rankin, J. Merkel joins Macron in calling for a ‘real, true European army’. The Guardian, 13 November 2018.
6 Read Trump’s full speech here. You may also be interested in this article, published on Prophecy Today UK in 2018.
7 Read Macron’s full speech here.
