Tuesday, December 27, 2011

A Word About Governance

Over what sort of government will the Lord reign?  What kind of economic structure will He build?  It will not be a Democratic system, for there will be kings and nobles in every nation.  It will not be left to sinful man to elect those who they believe will benefit them the most.  That will not even be a part of our supernatural makeup.  Church Age saints will serve in positions of royalty and nobility.  Our positions are being “earned” in this life, in the fulfillment of our individual ministries. 

         But over what kind of peoples shall we reign?  Some saved, some unsaved.  Some to live forever in glory, some to be raised to face the great white throne judgment.  Vessels of honor and vessels of dishonor.  It matters not the land or the people, but the law of love is the righteousness of God and love will be the order of the day.  That will be the law that we will enforce when our Lord reigns with an iron rod.

We are not told the form of government we will have, other than that every nation will be a monarchy, with its kings and princes and governors and the “desire to acquire” will no longer plague us at all.  The only law we will be under is the same law that true saints are under today.  Of that law, the law of Christ, Scofield writes:

 

The new law of Christ is the divine love, as produced in the renewed heart by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5; Heb. 10:16), which flows out in the energy of the Spirit, unforced and spontaneous, toward the objects of the divine love (2 Cor. 5:14-20; 1 Thess. 2:7-8).  It is, therefore, “the law of liberty” (James 1:25. 2:12) in contrast with the external law of Moses.  Moses’ law demands love (Lev. 19:18; Deut. 6:5; Luke 10:27); Christ’s law is love (Rom. 5:5; 1 John 4:7,19-20), and so takes the place of the external law by fulfilling it (Rom. 13:10;Gal. 5:14).  It is “the law written in the heart” under the New Covenant (see Heb 8:8, note)”  (The Scofield Study Bible III, Oxford University Press, 2002, New York, NKJV – Pg. 1,711, note 2:5)

 

That is the only “law” that Christians are under today, and it is the law that we will enforce in the Kingdom Age and throughout eternity.

 

Do you suppose that Christ’s Kingdom will be a Capitalist society?  It will not be!.  Love will be the order the day, every day, throughout the entirety of the Kingdom Age.  Capitalism is inherently based on gain, not contentment.  It produces in the human heart the desire to acquire things for which we have no need and will not even use in most cases.  We simply want to “have.”  We build or rent storehouses to serve as repositories for our “stuff,” while leaving our spiritual ministries unfulfilled. 

In the Kingdom Age, material things will likely be minimal in our thinking.  We do not own the things that we possess today, but they own us, and they demand our time, resources and attention.  That is why so many rich folks are inwardly miserable – too much stuff to tend to and no time to relax and enjoy it.  We’ll all have our fig tree and our grapevine, and everyone will live contented lives, at least outwardly.  As there will be unsaved people in the Kingdom Age, they will desire to acquire, but the saints will be content in the presence of and service to the Lord.

Town hall meetings will not be the venue for complaints about governance or planning, but they will be worship-fests.  There may or may not be sporting events, but winning and losing will truly not matter.  Love will permeate everything, including the air we breathe.  Isaiah tells us that righteousness will spring up from the ground like grass and fall down like showers of rain during the Kingdom Age.

 

In truth, we don’t know much about our Lord’s government, but what we do know is enough to make any rational human being look to that Day with great hopefulness.  However, unsaved people push God and thoughts of Him as far from their minds as possible; and so very many Christians know so very little about prophecy that they never dwell on these things, except in fear of them.  Our hope is a blessed hope, the only real hope.  Every temporal hope has the same end: a hole in the ground, so that there is no real hope in anything temporal.  We may not know much about the machinations of God’s form of government, but we will be utterly familiar with all of it the moment we meet the Lord in the air.

Mankind has never devised an equitable form of governance or a truly fair economic system.  We do not have it in our hearts to do so.  Never has the whole world been so involved in social protests.  Every region is in turmoil, except a few places in the Southern Hemisphere, and even there we find gross poverty and oppression of the poor.  Make no mistake about it; if citizens of the U.S. did what the citizens in Syria are doing, the reaction of our government would be little different from the Syrian reaction.  We have proven that in times past, and we will surely prove it in the future, if only during the tribulation.. 

The fact that the “Occupy” movement has spread from coast to coast should tell our leaders that America must cease the class warfare that began under Ronald Reagan and continues to grow more brazen with every passing year.  “Occupy” is no passing notion.  This revolt is as clear a statement as any in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen, Syria, Russia, England and elsewhere, and our leaders must heed the voice of the people here as much as the leaders of the other nations must do and are being forced to do.

 

Consider this:  During President Obama’s campaign in 2008, he described a form of Democracy that resonated in the hearts of people around the world.  Even as he began to attempt to “change the way America and the world does business,” nations around the globe whose people were suffering under the heels of brutal despots began to experience protests. 

President Obama is the first president to be elected primarily through the use of the social media.  He surely did not sit down at his computer and do all of the networking himself, but he had many agents working on his behalf, putting forth his message.  It seems far more than probable that he had agents in the Middle East promoting the same sort of democracies there, using the same media there that was successful at home.  That is to say, President Obama made his campaign in ’08, not to the United States alone, but to the world.  He was careful to add that fact every time he said that he wanted to change America.  He always added, “and the world.”

 

Now, his plan for peace in the Middle East has been endorsed by the United Nations, Russia, the European Union, the Arab League, and by virtually every governing body on the planet except for the few radical nations like Iran and Syria and several other renegade states.  While things appear very volatile in the Mideast, the world cannot afford to let full-scale war break out, lest all the major powers become involved involuntarily.

         A brief study of Daniel 9:27 showed that the word that is translated as “confirm” can mean that, but it more likely has a much stronger inference, such as “impose.”

         What we do know is that the tribulation period begins with the ratification of a comprehensive Middle East peace treaty, whether it is negotiated or imposed.  And we know that the rapture will occur prior to that treaty’s imposition or ratification.

         While we are in a national presidential campaign in the States, President Obama can ill afford to offend the American Jewish population. Thus, he promised to veto a Palestinian request of the United Nations for recognition as an independent state.  If he wins reelection, it is very likely that he will take a much harsher line with Israel than he has heretofore. 

The world already sees Israel as the thorn in the side of peace negotiations, not recognizing that the land belongs to God, and it is not to be divided by the Gentiles.  Israel is holding on as tightly as she can to east Jerusalem, but it is almost certain that she will be made to surrender at least a portion of it to the Arabs.

 

No, we do not know what the details of Christ’s Kingdom will be like, but what we do know is good indeed.  And we can see by the things taking place on the earth that the rapture must be very near indeed, as the words of the prophets, written 2,600 years ago and longer, are already beginning to unfold.  The nation that brokers the treaty in the Middle East will be the nation from which the antichrist will arise.  For the past thirty-five years, the United States has been the primary broker, and we remain in that position today; not reluctantly, but proudly.

         The nation of the beast will be mightier than any other nation, and more than all the others combined; richer, stronger, seeking to appear more beneficent and reasonable, and will have a leading role in the world prior to the tribulations of the final seven years of Gentile world dominion.  We fit that bill to a tee, and the world loves our president, whether or not he is in favor at home.  We should all be more than a little hopeful that the rapture will happen in our day.

 

 

A Word About Governance

Over what sort of government will the Lord reign?  What kind of economic structure will He construct?  It will not be a Democratic system, for there will be kings and nobles in every nation.  It will not be left to sinful man to elect those who benefit them the most.  That will not even be a part of our supernatural makeup.  Church Age saints will serve in positions of royalty and nobility.  Our positions are being “earned” in this life, in the fulfillment of our individual ministries. 

        But over what kind of peoples shall we reign?  Some saved, some unsaved.  Some to live forever in glory, some to be raised to face the great white throne judgment.  Vessels of honor and vessels of dishonor.  It matters not the land or the people, but the law of love is the righteousness of God and love will be the order of the day.  That will be the law that we will enforce when our Lord reigns with an iron rod.

We are not told the form of government we will have, other than that every nation will be a monarchy, with its kings and princes and governors and the “desire to acquire” will no longer plague us at all.  The only law we will be under is the same law that true saints are under today.  Of that law, the law of Christ, Scofield writes:

 

The new law of Christ is the divine love, as produced in the renewed heart by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5; Heb. 10:16), which flows out in the energy of the Spirit, unforced and spontaneous, toward the objects of the divine love (2 Cor. 5:14-20; 1 Thess. 2:7-8).  It is, therefore, “the law of liberty” (James 1:25. 2:12) in contrast with the external law of Moses.  Moses’ law demands love (Lev. 19:18; Deut. 6:5; Luke 10:27); Christ’s law is love (Rom. 5:5; 1 John 4:7,19-20), and so takes the place of the external law by fulfilling it (Rom. 13:10;Gal. 5:14).  It is “the law written in the heart” under the New Covenant (see Heb 8:8, note).  (The Scofield Study Bible III, Oxford University Press, 2002, New York, NKJV Pg. 1,711, note 2:5)

 

That is the only “law” that Christians are under today, and it is the law that we will enforce in the Kingdom Age and throughout eternity.

 

Do you suppose that Christ’s Kingdom will be a Capitalist society?  It will not be!.  Love will be the order the day, every day, throughout the entirety of the Kingdom Age.  Capitalism is inherently based on gain, not contentment.  It produces in the human heart the desire to acquire things for which we have no need and will not even use in most cases.  We simply want to “have.”  We build or rent storehouses to serve as repositories for our “stuff,” while leaving our spiritual ministries unfulfilled. 

In the Kingdom Age, material things will likely be minimal in our thinking.  We do not own the things that we possess today, but they own us, and they demand our time, resources and attention.  That is why so many rich folks are inwardly miserable – too much stuff to tend to and no time to relax and enjoy it.  We’ll all have our fig tree and our grapevine, and everyone will live contented lives, at least outwardly.  As there will be unsaved people in the Kingdom Age, they will desire to acquire, but the saints will be content in the presence of and service to the Lord.

Town hall meetings will not be the venue for complaints about governance or planning, but they will be worship-fests.  There may or may not be sporting events, but winning and losing will truly not matter.  Love wil permeate everything, including the air we breathe.

In truth, we don’t know much about our Lord’s government, but what we do know is enough to make any rational human being look to that Day with great hopefulness.  However, unsaved people push God and thoughts of Him as far from their minds as possible; and so very many Christians know so very little about prophecy that they never dwell on these things, except in fear of them.  Our hope is a blessed hope, the only real hope.  Every temporal hope has the same end: a hole in the ground.  We may not know much about the machinations of God’s form of government, but we will be utterly familiar with all of it the moment we meet the Lord in the air.

Mankind has never devised an equitable form of governance or a truly fair economic system.  We do not have it in our hearts to do so.  Never has the whole world been so involved in social protests.  Every region is in turmoil, except a few places in the Southern Hemisphere, and even there we find gross poverty and oppression of the poor.  Make no mistake about it; if citizens of the U.S. did what citizens in Syria are doing, the reaction of our government would be little different from the Syrian reaction.  We have proven that in times past, and we will surely prove it in the future, if only during the tribulation.. 

The fact that the “Occupy” movement has spread from coast to coast should tell our leaders that America must cease the class warfare that began under Ronald Reagan and continues to grow more brazen with every passing year.  “Occupy” is no passing notion.  This revolt is as clear a statement as any in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen, Syria, Russia, England and elsewhere, and our leaders must heed the voice of the people here as much as the leaders of the other nations must do and are being forced to do.

 

Consider this:  During President Obama’s campaign in 2008, he described a form of Democracy that resonated in the hearts of people around the world.  Even as he began to attempt to “change the way America and the world does business,” nations around the globe whose people were suffering under the heels of brutal despots began to experience protests. 

President Obama is the first president to be elected primarily through the use of the social media.  He surely did not sit down at his computer and do all of the networking, but he had many agents working on his behalf, putting forth his message.  It seems far more than probable that he had agents in the Middle East promoting the same sort of democracies there, using the same media there that was successful at home.  That is to say, President Obama made his campaign in ’08, not to the United States alone, but to the world.  He was careful to add that fact every time he said that he wanted to change America.  He always added, “and the world.”  It might fairly be said that President Obama is the spark that lit the fires of protest around the world.

 

Now, his plan for peace in the Middle East has been endorsed by the United Nations, Russia, the European Union, the Arab League, and by virtually every governing body on the planet except for the few radical nations like Iran and Syria and several other renegade states.  While things appear very volatile in the Mideast, the world cannot afford to let full-scale war to break out, lest all the major powers become involved involuntarily.

        A brief study of Daniel 9:27 showed that the word that is translated as “confirm” can mean that, but it more likely has a much stronger inference, such as “impose.”

        What we do know is that the tribulation period begins with the ratification of a comprehensive Middle East peace treaty, whether it is negotiated or imposed.  And we know that the rapture will occur prior to that treaty’s imposition or ratification.

        While we are in a national presidential campaign in the States, President Obama can ill afford to offend the American Jewish population. Thus, he promised to veto a Palestinian request of the United Nations for recognition as an independent state.  If he wins reelection, it is very likely that he will take a much harsher line with Israel than he has heretofore.  The world already sees Israel as the thorn in the side of peace negotiations, not recognizing that the land belongs to God, and it is not to be divided by the Gentiles.  Israel is holding on as tightly as they can to east Jerusalem, but it is almost certain that they will be made to surrender at least a portion of it to the Arabs.

 

No, we do not know what the details of Christ’s Kingdom will be like, but what we do know is good indeed.  And we can see by the things taking place on the earth that the rapture must be very near indeed, as the words of the prophets, written 2,600 years ago and longer, are already beginning to unfold.  The nation that brokers the treaty in the Middle East will be the nation from which the antichrist will arise.  For the past thirty-five years, the United States has been the primary broker, and we remain in that position today.

        The nation of the beast will be mightier than any other nation, and more than all the others combined; richer, stronger, seeking to appear more beneficent and reasonable, and will have a leading role in the world prior to the tribulations of the final seven years of Gentile world dominion.  We fit that bill to a tee, and the world loves our president, whether or not he is in favor at home.  We should all be more than a little hopeful that the rapture will happen in our day.