Thinking Biblically About the Assassination of Charlie Kirk

Suppose a man gives his life to speaking to large crowds. He talks to people one by one. Whether before one or one thousand, his message is incredibly effective. He rises to fame.  Everyone sees his success everywhere he goes. He might be a young man, but he is a rising star.

But not everyone agrees with him. Opponents sneer and jeer, heckling him every step of the way. His very presence is controversial. As much as some people believe, others don’t. In fact, they heatedly disagree. If people anticipate this man’s arrival and sense that he might give a speech, they also anticipate an element of danger because agitators could attack and push the crowd into chaos at any moment. Nobody wants to suffer the panic of a mob moved to mayhem by an assassination.

In spite of all this, this man continues to speak with authority. He knows the danger, but he silences his opponents. His life is on the line, and yet he makes them to look the fool in front of the masses. Knowing the hatred he will provoke, he still calls out his enemies for who they are and even gives them fitting names.

They hate it. Wow, do they hate it. They plot his murder. They don’t care if he’s a young man in his thirties. They don’t care if he is innocent. They don’t care if their slanders never stick. They will murder him. And they will do it in cold, calculated precision. Amazingly, they even do it before the public eye.

As good people watch this man die, they are shocked. They are saddened, outraged, and confused. They bury him with tears and broken hearts, wondering what God will do to the evil men who ended his life. The injustice of it all.

Thankfully, the Father raised this man from the dead. I’m talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. His unjust murder should outrage us. He certainly didn’t deserve it, so the Father shouted his innocence to the world by giving him life from the dead. He exalted him by bring him to the throne of heaven where he rules as Lord over all.

I don’t mean to diminish the injustice of the assassination of Charlie Kirk. It is evil to murder anyone, whatever anyone’s political persuasion may be. The evil and suffering are compounded as a grieving mother and children are left behind. Those who agree with his political views feel that the gun was pointed at them to some degree as well. By shooting the messenger, people feel like their message was being shot. I get it. I hope true justice takes place—that this murderer is found, and if the law properly has its way as God intended, this killer himself will be killed (Genesis 9:5–6; Romans 13:3–4).

But don’t let one unrighteous murder overshadow the other. It should stir up righteous indignation within us to hear about Charlie Kirk’s assassination. But it should stir up even more indignation within us to think about the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. And, as we think of our sins that put him on his cross, we should be moved to sadness and repentance. And the power that raised him from the dead will be within us to live the Christian life and bring about our own resurrection and glorification one day.

What is more, we have the hope that perfect justice will take place. Christ will bring in his kingdom and make all wrongs right. Every assassin will stand before him and answer for every trigger pulled. Every sinner will answer for every deed he has ever done.

Our confidence as Christians is that we will stand there with forgiveness from sin and with the righteousness of Christ, thanks to our faith in him. Like other murderers in the Bible—Moses, David, the thief on the cross, Paul—Charlie Kirk’s assassin could find this forgiveness and righteousness as well. Let’s pray he does. But let’s pray that he still faces the proper consequences for his sin as well. A 1980’s serial killer Ted Bundy made a profession of faith before his execution, but the law still lawfully executed him for his evil deeds.

Our concern for the faithless is that they will have to answer for their sins in another way, whether murder or anything else. And their judgment will be in a lake of fire forever according to the perfect justice of God.

Christ came and sacrificially faced the justice of God for our sins on the cross. He is coming again to deal justly with sinners who find no refuge in him. Let’s pray that justice will be done here on earth, and let’s take hope that it will be carried out in full one day.

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David Huffstutler is the senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Troy, MI. He blogs here, where this article also appeared. It is published here by permission.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay