Rulers generally assume or pretend to trust in a superior being or believe that they are gods. However, there is only one God. The fact is that people with authority or power, whether given or taken, simply cannot help loving power; however, power is addictive, which is why, like diapers, they need to change regularly. A person either serves God or himself/herself. If the leader rejects the God of Scripture, that leader naturally and gradually becomes a god unto himself who rules his domain as he sees fit, according to his mores. They act according to lust and necessity, not according to any moral standard.
A perfect example of this is seen in the United States Pledge of Allegiance. Americans are “one nation under God.” The phrase “under God” has been removed. Americans are now “one people subject to other people.” In other words, America is a people governed by the whims of others. There is no overarching standard on which people can depend! These “leaders” become our “betters” to do their worst!
Remember the words of the Great Deceiver: 5 “For God knows that on the day you eat from it (the Tree of Life) your eyes will be opened, and you will become like God, knowing good and evil.” If I reject God’s Word, I can become a god, which sets in motion the end of humankind. If people reject God, they become the judges of their fate, which sets forth all manner of evil and ultimately results in God’s judgment, as it has throughout history.
“God takes His position in His assembly; He judges in the midst of the gods” (Psalm 82:1).
In some translations, the word “gods” is translated as “rulers.” However, the Hebrew word is Elohim, which means "gods". The interpretation is meant to state that human beings, who defy God, naturally begin to act like gods. This amazing passage reminds humanity, throughout the ages, that God is in constant oversight of world conditions, hence the perpetual question:
2 How long will you judge unjustly And show partiality to the wicked? Selah (Psalm 82:3)
The gods in this world always take the side of Satan. As corrupt leaders, they carry out Satan's evil plans. How long will these gods of Satan judge others with an evil bent? As long as God is ignored!
The Eternal Responsibilities of Human Rulers
No matter the country, no matter its resources or the lack thereof, God requires that the nations rule according to His focus.
3 Vindicate the weak and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and destitute. 4 Rescue the weak and needy; Save them from the hand of the wicked.
Justice is required to contain evil. The powerful, no matter the system of government, must not harm their subjects or constituents. They may not oppress them with the weight of law, confine them unjustly, lie to them, starve them, imprison them unlawfully, cheat them, permit them to kill their children, destroy the family structure, impede their worship of God, or impede their right to seek and worship Jehovah! “For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you shall have praise from the same; for it (authority) is a minister of God to you for good” (Rom. 13:3). Rulers have a clear responsibility: reflect God’s character in the manner in which they rule. Every authority on planet Earth is commanded to be an exemplar of divine justice.[1]
The Miserable Failure of Human Rulers
Every authority from the beginning of time and around the globe has failed its divine mandate miserably. The "Time of Gentile rule", which began under Rome (Daniel 2) at the crucifixion of our Savior and coincides with the mystery of the Church (Eph. 1-3), is quickly coming to an end. The willful ignorance of the world’s leaders is bringing the earth to a cataclysmic confrontation with the Lord Jehovah.
5 They do not know nor do they understand;
They walk around in darkness;
All the foundations of the earth are shaken.
Nations have come and gone throughout world history and there will be a global accounting, an end of human hubris. Divine judgment will come upon the world’s nations in the form of a Great Tribulation that will leave their nations in a torrent of disarray and destruction. Leaders are to reflect God’s dominion over the earth. They are all accountable for every action that diminishes the glory of Jehovah. Each will die. Then divine judgment and damnation become their eternal fate. God is not dead; He has not turned a blind eye; He is patient. God is "on watch"; He does not slumber or sleep. He does not forget!
6 I said, “You are gods, And all of you are sons of the Most High. 7 Nevertheless you will die like men, And fall like one of the princes.”
Conclusion
I hope that the Lord will allow His children to watch the proceedings that lead to the final judgment of the world’s most despicable "gods". I hope believers like William Tyndale (those martyred for the faith) will be able to witness the eternal demise of kings and queens, Caesars, despots, and dictators who have unjustly lorded over God’s world. Thinking themselves to be wise, they will be exposed as the most ignorant. Believing themselves to be essential, they will be found irrelevant. Wanting praise, they will receive contempt. Assuming themselves to be gods, they will become convicts on death row, forever under judgment.
8 Arise, God, judge the earth! For You possess all the nations.
No longer is there a location on earth where the beacon of freedom (Gal. 5:13-14) can burn, except in the individual hearts and minds of God’s people throughout the world. The United States is no longer united and America no longer trusts in God. The search for truth is reduced to endeavors that rely on insufficient human wisdom and unrestrained lust for power and sexual expression. Intellectual pursuits to understand the real world have been replaced by irrational emotional wants that will create a surreal/bizarre world. The consequence: all manner of perversion and destruction. “Do not trust in princes, in mortal man, in whom there is no salvation. His spirit departs, he returns to the earth; in that very day his thoughts perish” (Ps. 146:3-4). Only God’s Word is eternal. Human beings reject or ignore it at their peril.
[1] See Daniel 4, especially verses 17, 24-27. All rulers rule at God's pleasure! The authority of the State has been fully corrupted. What humanity has failed to do, God will accomplish in the Millennium where justice will be meted out swiftly. Then the New Heaven and New Earth will be created where dictators have no presence whatsoever. Even so, come Lord Jesus!