How to Make a Christian Nation

Christ is risen—and that changes everything.

But you wouldn’t know it from the way many men pursue Christian political renewal today. Many who claim to walk in resurrection power are content with hollow talk. Some hole up in their study, clinging to private faith like a man clings to a family Bible he never opens. Others rally loud and hard, but the cross they bear is more like a prop—there to charge the crowd, not break their pride. One group hides behind pietism, the other behind rage. Neither knows the King who reigns from a hill soaked in blood.  Both are ditches. Both are failures. Both misunderstand how Christian nations are made.

If Christendom is to rise from the ashes, it will not be with mere sentiment nor spectacle. The means are older than our schemes. Older than America. Older than empire. The Kingdom advances the way it always has—by preaching, by sacrament, by the faithful gathered together in the name of the Risen Lord. There is no shortcut through the fog. There is only the old road, well-worn by saints and soaked in the prayers of generations.

A Kingdom Too Small

In Luke 24, two disciples walk the road to Emmaus, discouraged and defeated. They had hoped that Jesus was the one to redeem Israel—but He died. Their hopes were shattered. The resurrection had already happened, but they were blind to it. Christ was alive, but they didn’t recognize Him.

Why? Because their Christ was too small.

Their Christ had disappointed them. He had bled, died, and failed—so they thought. What they wanted was a sword in His hand and Caesar under His feet. But what they needed was a Lamb slain, who takes away the sin of the world.

This is the first ditch—pursuing a political hope with a merely earthly vision. These men wanted freedom but were still slaves to sin. They thought their greatest threat was Roman oppression, but their real enemy was the wrath of God. They needed more than a warrior—they needed a Redeemer.

Many men today are falling into this same trap. They rightly want godly order. They rightly see the rot of liberalism and long for something stronger, something older, something true. But they put their hopes in the flesh—in movements, memes, and momentary power. They trade the cross for a throne. And just like the Emmaus disciples, they walk away disillusioned when it doesn’t deliver.

But Christ did not come merely to shift earthly power. He came to die. And by His death, He crushed Satan, satisfied justice, and secured dominion. He rose, ascended, and now reigns—not over one patch of land, but over all creation. His rule is total. His authority, universal. And His Kingdom will not fail.

More Than a Messiah

The Emmaus disciples didn’t lack information. They lacked faith. They weren’t scolded for ignoring the women—they were rebuked for forgetting the Word. “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe.” Their blindness wasn’t in the eyes—it was in the soul. They had all the facts but none of the fire.

And what does Jesus do? He doesn’t dazzle them with miracles. He doesn’t raise His hands and shout. He preaches. The risen Christ, walking unrecognized beside them, opens the Scriptures and teaches them how it all pointed to Him. Genesis to Malachi, the Law, the Prophets, the Psalms—every line humming with the name of Jesus.

That’s how He opens blind eyes.

And that is how His kingdom still advances.

Not by spectacle, but with the ordinary, unshakable power of the Word. Not by revolution, but by redemption. Not by some secret plan, but by the faithful, week-by-week, generation-by-generation use of the means of grace.

We preach the Word. We administer the sacraments. We worship together as the people of God. And through these means, Christ conquers.

This isn’t weakness. It isn’t retreat. It isn’t “spiritual only.” This is the power of God. It is real. It raises the dead. It reorders households. It breaks the back of tyrants. You want to see America become a Christian nation? Then start here. Not by despising politics—but by subordinating it to the Lordship of Christ. Not by neglecting reform—but by recognizing that it must flow from regeneration. Not by leaning on carnal strength—but by trusting in divine power.

The early church didn’t conquer Rome with steel or revolt. They endured. They bled. They preached. And they laid the foundation stones of cathedrals on the bones of fallen idols.

It took time. But it worked.

The Tools God Gave

The means of grace are not arcane. They are simple. Ordinary. Appointed by God.

First, the preaching of the Word. This is not a TED Talk. It is not a political rant. It is not moralistic advice. It isn’t a lecture. Preaching is heralding the truth of God with authority. It wounds pride, lays bare sin, lifts high Christ.  Through it, dead men live. And through it, nations bend their knee.

Second, the sacraments. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are not empty rituals. They are visible words. Baptism marks the sons of the covenant. The Lord’s Supper feeds the army of the Lamb.  They proclaim the gospel. They bind the church.

Augustine called them “a visible word.” When the Word is joined to the element, heaven speaks in symbol and seal. Every cup lifted in faith is a proclamation: Christ reigns, and He is coming again.

Third, the gathered worship of the church. The Lord’s Day is not optional. It is the rallying point for Christian civilization. Every Lord’s Day gathering is an act of spiritual war—a declaration that Jesus is King, not Caesar, not the President, not the Supreme Court. And every Lord’s Day, through psalms, prayers, preaching, and sacraments, Christ is forming a people who will inherit the earth.

As the Puritan pastor Richard Baxter once said, “This is the grand design of God—to frame a holy people for Himself… not by dreams, but by the diligent teaching and hearing of His holy Word.”

Real Power for Change

It’s not radical to disciple nations. It’s obedience. Christ commanded it. The gospel is not just  good news for the soul. It is for the city, the court, the country. Kings must bow. Courts must yield. Nations must obey. But you don’t get a Christian nation by skipping the cross. You don’t build Christendom by ignoring the church. You don’t get the crown without the means.

So repent of your low view of Christ. Repent of trusting in the flesh. Repent of despising the very tools God has given.

Then build.

Build your life on the Word. Build your home with prayer and discipline. Plant your family in the household of faith. Build your church through worship, through the faithful gathering of saints, through the ordinary means Christ ordained—Word, sacrament, and song.  

Build your nation by every lawful and godly means—through righteous laws, strong families, fruitful labor, wise governance—but make it Christian by calling it to Christ. A nation becomes Christian when it bows to the gospel, is shaped by the church, and governed under the reign of the risen Lord.  You can’t do that without the means of grace. 

This is how the world is changed.

This is how Christ reigns.

This is how Christian nations are made.

Let the world rage. Let the powers scheme. Christ reigns—and His kingdom comes on the wings of preaching, the waters of baptism, the breaking of bread, and the gathered saints who will not yield.