The Biblical Perspective of World History, Part 2

All of human history has been witness to man’s vain attempt to set up civil, economic and religious power centers to satiate an unyielding hunger to rule — to fulfill the original Dominion Mandate by perverse means.  Without acknowledging God, man is still compelled by this invisible and ancient motivation to attempt to satisfy the deepest longings in his very nature.  Man was created to rule within the Lord’s Kingdom government, and only after first submitting to the God of Heaven… the Creator.  Unfortunately, man corrupted his own God-given design in the service of his own selfish urges. 

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17. The Kingdom was lost in the Garden of Eden.  It could not be restored to a fallen people. The prophets foretold of the “coming” Kingdom, which was actually a restoration of the original system.  It first required the matchless blood sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ to bring righteousness to those in the world who are willing to repent of their sins and claim Him as Savior.  This is why we need to “Seek… His righteousness.” (Matthew 6:33) 

18. Jesus modeled submission; He was completely yielded over to the Father’s Lordship and spoke “as one having authority.”  He subordinated His will to such a degree that He could rightfully claim ”I and my Father are one.” 
    (John 10:30) 

• John 5:19 -“Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.” 

19. Jesus was largely rejected as the Messiah because the world did not suddenly change at His arrival.  His Kingdom was invisible.  With the blessing of the religious Jewish elite, Rome killed Jesus in a misguided attempt to terminate His influence while maintaining its own brutal rule over Palestine.   

• John 1:10 – “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.”   

20. Suppose we are convinced of the validity of this argument.  How do we go about discovering the deep operating principles of this government?  How do we access the favor of God?  The first step is to simply acknowledge the presence and power of this heavenly Kingdom and to accept that the Lord truly delights in us searching for it.  He is motivated to reveal His intentions to those ready to comprehend and steward His Father’s Kingdom. 

• Jeremiah 29:13 – “You will seek me and find me when you search for me with your all your heart.”   
• 2 Chronicles 16:9 – “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong on the behalf of those whose hearts are perfect toward him.” 

21. Remember also that God is a person with a distinct character.  His many names reflect aspects of that character, e.g. Jehovah-Rapha (the GOD who heals), Jehovah-Shammah (GOD is there), & Jehovah-Rohi (God is my Shepherd).   

22. He has both an identity and a personality.  Examples include:  God is love; God is a Father. 

• 1 John 4:8 – “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” 
• Matthew 6:9 – “Our Father, who art in heaven…” 

23. Although He certainly reveals Himself to us at times, don’t ever become haughty with an excessive sense of familiarity.  God still remains a mystery:  

24. He does have certain criteria, it seems, that provoke Him to directly reveal deeper levels of His strategy and character as His children mature: 

• Matthew 5:3 – “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” 
• John 14:23 – “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” 

25. When we voluntarily submit to God’s Kingship, His natural love for us causes Him to share His power and to release authority to advance the Kingdom.  So, it follows that absent our obedient yieldedness to His Kingship, we will lack authentic power.   

26. To compound the irony, in the modern world, now that untold millions have accepted their redemption through Christ, they fail to understand their role in advancing His Kingdom. 

• Matthew 13:10-11 – “And the disciples came and said to Him, ‘Why do You speak to them in parables?’ He answered and said to them, ’Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.‘” 

27. Ironically, these believers create a subculture of religious language, music and rituals while building new cathedrals to separate themselves from the dominant world culture.  They establish “seeker-friendly” programs that water down the purity of the Word in a vain attempt to grow the church.  This is an abomination. Jesus operated in just the opposite manner: 

• Luke 9:1-2 - ”Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.  And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.”  
• Matthew 16:19 – “I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven; and whatever you release on earth will have been released in Heaven.” 

28. So what about us?  We say we are followers of Jesus.  If we are now to be Ambassadors of Christ, where is the Kingdom found?  When and how will it be reinitiated?   While understandable, the question is wrongly phrased. We are still thinking in temporal/spatial terms. We carry the Kingdom within us as a woman carries a child.  We usher it into the world when we carry the identity of Ambassadors for the King.  We pacify the land; we become peacemakers. 

• Luke 17:20-37 – “…And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, ‘The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or lo there! For, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.'”  
• 2 Corinthians 5:20 – “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.” 

29. In these opening decades of the third millennium, Jesus is reactivating His Kingdom and instructing those whose hearts are fully given over to Him in the ways which His Kingdom operates. 

• Matthew 24:14 – “And this gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” 
• Matthew 25:31,34 – “…When the Son of Man comes in His glory…Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come you blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’” 

^*Matthew Maury is considered the father of oceanography, having drawn on these “obscure” passages in Scripture which he accepted on faith, as evidence of creation.  He reasoned that a mention of passageways in the seas implied unseen ocean currents, which he later documented.  The Bible corroborates the validity of ex nihilo creation, by pointing to scientific evidence of His handiwork, such as the “paths of the seas” in Psalm 8 and “the weight of the winds” in Job 25.1  The field of modern oceanography was born out of such faith and insight.  

^**The term utopia was coined by Sir Thomas More as the name of an imaginary, idealistic island where society lives in harmony with government and everyone is free from poverty, tyranny and war, in his Latin book De Optimo Reipublicae Statu deque Nova Insula Utopia (circa 1516), now known more commonly as Utopia.