If you are from the western part of the world, you are probably going to think this is a very ridiculous question.  I mean come on, who in this 21^st century will think that monarchy is a better governmental system than democracy?  Do you rather have your country be decided by a small number of people alone or do you rather let every citizen to have a voice in it?  This is such a no-brainer and I am sure God agrees with this.  But before we jump so quickly into a conclusion.  We should take a step back and ask ourselves a hypothetical question, “Do you rather be in a monarchy government where God is the absolute ruler or do you rather be in a democracy where all sinners get to voice their opinions?”

I hope this isn’t a hard choice for most people.  And just so that people know, a “monarchy government where God is the absolute ruler” is as good of a definition to the word “heaven” as any.  Bible gives us very strong clues that heaven is nothing but a monarchy kingdom ruled by God.  As to the “democracy where all sinners get to voice their opinions”, all democratic countries currently in the world can all serve as examples of that.  So do you rather be in heaven or the democratic country you currently reside in? 

Okay let’s be fair.  This above reasoning does not really suggest God prefers one over the other.  All it does is pointing out an extreme scenario where monarchy could actually be more preferable than democracy so that we don’t have any pre-existing biases against either one before looking into what the Bible tells us.

One can argue that democracy is probably more biblical because of the well-known Declaration of Independence, the document that describes our Founding Fathers’ vision of democracy, makes reference to ideas such as a “Creator”, human equality, intrinsic value, and personal responsibility.  In fact they can all be found in one sentence in the Declaration of Independence:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

While these concepts of our Founding Fathers are without any doubt very consistent with the biblical values of sovereign will as I explained in the post Does God favor international communities over sovereign nations? , these alone may not be strong enough to conclude that God prefers democracy over other forms of government.  In the Bible, there are actually a few pieces of evidences that suggests democracy were being practiced.  For example in Deuteronomy, as Israel people grew larger and larger in number, Moses realized he simply couldn’t be in charge of all matters anymore so he told them to choose from among their tribes some wise, understanding, and respected men to serve as tribe officials of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens (Deuteronomy 1:9-18).

However even though there were instances of democracy in the Bible, God never really allowed democracy for the more important matters.  In the Old Testament, God instituted leaders for Israel, such Moses, Joshua, all the judges, King Saul, King David, and King Solomon etc,  I don’t believe he ever once asked for the opinions from the Israel people.  And in many instances God became really angry when Israel people did not listen to the leader he appointed.  One example of this is that when Israel people refused to enter the promise land and wanted to kill Joshua and Caleb to return to Egypt, it didn’t end well with God (Numbers 14).

So does that make God a tyrant going against the majority of people? You can call God whatever you want, but the truth is these people didn’t know what they were wishing for.  They simply had no idea.  It’s almost like that parents won’t allow their young babies to reach for the cooking stove.  They surely go against the wills of their babies but it is just too urgent and too costly of a mistake to let them figure out on their own.  Nevertheless God usually honors our sovereign wills in most situations that aren’t super urgent or serious even though He clearly did not like the choice.  One famous example of this is when Israel people asked God for a king, God was not happy about it but He still honored their request (1 Samuel 8:4-9)

” ⁴So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. ⁵They said to him, ‘You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.’  ⁶But when they said, ‘Give us a king to lead us,’ this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. ⁷And the Lord told him: ‘listen to all that the people are saying to you.  It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. ⁸As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. ⁹Now listen to them, but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do.'”1 Samuel 8:4-9

So with all the above biblical references, we believe God does not really prefer democracy over monarchy or the other way around.  A democracy with its citizens honoring God and His teachings will be just as pleasing to God as a monarchy where its king honors God and His teachings.  On the other hand, a democracy with its citizens disobeying God will be just as bad and corrupt as a monarchy with its king disobeying God.

The bottom line is do not put your faith on democracy.  Instead, put your faith on God.  Any entities that start drawing closer to God will become good regardless how bad it was.  Any entities that start turning away from God will become bad regardless how good it was. 

I hope this discussion about the democracy is helpful.  As always, we like to hear about your questions, comments, and remarks.  God bless!