How do true Christians relate to the state? We follow the scriptures and see where our place might be.
When
Yahweh called Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees he made a choice. He
chose Abraham. He chose him over every other living person at that
time.
He then made of one man -by changing his name and giving
him a promise - a nation.
Neither shall thy name any more be
called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many
nations have I made thee. (Gen 17:5)
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. (Heb 11:13)
Now that
being so- yet when Lot is taken (who also is in our Lord's family
linage via Ruth the Moabite) Abraham armed his servants and fought...
And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he
armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and
eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan. And he divided himself against
them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them
unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. And he brought
back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his
goods, and the women also, and the people.. (Genesis 14:14-17)
Do
we ponder the political implications of what Abraham did? But he did
it to rescue Lot and his daughters, who had sought the Promise...
When Abraham came back we see the political importance of it all.
The king of Sodom was thankful - was he destroyed later? Why was it
mentioned for us?
For the action there was a blessing to
Abraham,
And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and
wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him,
and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven
and earth: And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered
thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.
And
the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the
goods to thyself. And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up
mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven
and earth, That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet,
and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest
say, I have made Abram rich: (Gen 14:18-23)
Ought not we be
children of Abraham? (Galations 3:7, Romans 9:7 - note John
8:29)
Yahweh Elohim told Abraham things which are important to
us, when he made a covenant (a cutting).
And when the sun was
going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great
darkness fell upon him.
And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety
that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and
shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And
also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward
shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy
fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the
fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of
the Amorites is not yet full.
And it came to pass, that, when the
sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a
burning lamp that passed between those pieces. In the same day the
LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given
this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river
Euphrates: (Genesis 15:12-18)
After Jacob wrestled the Angel,
and was given the name Israel as a family Israel went as 70 souls
into Egypt.
As a nation of over a million they came out of
Egypt with power before all the other nations. They were given a
national covenant and a law. Every nation has law. Each nation has
its own law. God gave Israel its national law. (what Israel has now,
I understand is a hybrid of Jewish experience of the nations, but
much based on British law). Israel then had to fight as a nation
against the nations of Canaan for the land. We know this as the
tribes whose inheritance was in Gilead had to stay and fight with
their brethren until all the land was subdued.
After some time
when Yahweh Elohim was their king, Israel sought a king. Saul was
given to teach Israel what kind of king they really needed, as he
failed and was killed as he sinned, and further sinning, he sought
enchantments. So Yahweh Elohim sent Samuel to anoint a man after his
own heart. After suffering and struggle David becomes king, first in
Judah then in Israel.
Australia has a Queen of an ancient
linage. Denmark has a Queen, also though not as old a lineage. We all
understand monarchy. It has proven to be a stability when
hereditary.
So David was given this promise,
The LORD
hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of the
fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne. If thy children will
keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their
children shall also sit upon thy throne for evermore. (Psa
132:11-12)
So Solomon was made king, and sat on the throne of
Yahweh
Then Solomon sat on the throne of the LORD as king instead
of David his father, and prospered; and all Israel obeyed him.
(1Chronicles 29:23)
And the nations came to this throne to
hear wisdom given by God.
Some in his line were faithful, but
in the end they were not and the people over time became unfaithful
to the national covenant.
And thou, profane wicked prince of
Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, Thus says
the Lord GOD; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall
not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I
will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until
he come whose right it is; and I will give it him. (Ezekiel
21:25-27)
First Israel, then Judah, were sent to captivity. In
captivity a pattern was set for servants of God. the faithful Daniel
was elevated by events, and witnessed before the highest political
power,
This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the
demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living
may know that the most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it
to whomsoever he will, and sets up over it the basest of men. (Daniel
4:17)
This is without exception- and is the case until he
comes whose has right to the diadem - our Lord.
When Yahweh
gave Judah 'a nail' with the return under Ezra, we see favour being
given politically. We see Nehemiah as cupbearer, so powerful as to
become governor. We see Esther and Mordecai raised at a crucial time,
to have political power in Persia, to achieve Yahweh's Plan, though
Yahweh's name is not mentioned.
Then when the people of God
became the servants of the great power of the day, Rome - via Herod
who had made himself a King- Yahweh Elohim sent his son.
And,
behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and
shalt call his name Y'shua. He shall be great, and shall be called
the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the
throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of
Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. (Luke
1:31-33)
He is early recognised as a king by his
Apostles
Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art
the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel. (Joh 1:49)
After
miracles witnessed to him, he was welcomed as a king into
Jerusalem,
On the next day much people that were come to the
feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, Took
branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried,
Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the
Lord. And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is
written, Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting
on an ass's colt. These things understood not his disciples at the
first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these
things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto
him. (John 12:12-16)
Y'shua witnessed before the
representative of the Roman power,
Pilate therefore said unto him,
Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king.
To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world,
that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the
truth hears my voice. (John 18:37)
When the Apostles last
saw our Lord they asked him,
"Lord, wilt thou at this time
restore again the kingdom to Israel?" (Act 1:6)
When we
pray for our Lord to return, we ask the same thing. The Gentiles were
given a chance to be part of the commonwealth of Israel, begun with
the resurrection of one crucified as the king of Israel.
Wherefore
remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are
called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the
flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being
aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the
covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
(Eph 2:11-12)
And we are grafted into Israel
And if some of
the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, were
graffed in among them, and with them partake of the root and fatness
of the olive tree; (Rom 11:17)
The Apostle Paul,
These all
died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them
afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and
confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For
they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they
came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now
they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is
not ashamed to be called their God: for he has prepared for them a
city. (Hebrews 11:13-16)
Thus we must declare we are strangers
and pilgrims. But we are strangers here, we are already partakers of
the commonwealth of Israel. For
this we have the Royal Law (James 2:8)
and we have a king of whom it is written,
He has in these last
days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all
things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of
his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all
things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our
sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; Being made
so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a
more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said he
at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And
again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? (Heb
1:2-5)
But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever
and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
(Heb 1:8)
But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on
my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? (Heb
1:13)
So until he comes in power we wait. But while we wait we
witness to this coming king. We care for the land which he will reign
over, we love Jerusalem the place where the Temple shown to Ezekiel
is to be.
And for some of us it was given to be raised to
witness before the political power of our time. Isaac Newton after
his death wrote a book on the fate of the nations, the politics of
prophecy, which ended up in the hands of Jefferson the American
president. In the mid 1800's faithful servants spoke of events in public lectures as they
were revealed in prophecy,
and what was to happen next in the nations.
A Jewish writer identified a book from 1848 called Elpis Israel.
The effects of this was far reaching - so far that even
today he has a trail of influence beyond the faithful. There were
true servants in the background in the matters of most importance to
political events of Israel! - just as in the days of Esther. Winston
Churchill asked his servant about prophecy, he was his car driver,
and he greatly valued this advice. More than that he valued his
belief in prophecy. Lord Balfour knew, at least two people who
sincerely blived the bible and might have spoken of Jews return to
the land. One was his nanny. When it came to 1967- when Israel
captured Jerusalem and Judea the most politically powerful person in
the world was Lyndon B Johnson, the American president. His family
loved Israel and his grandfather in faith, it appears, has asked him
to always do good to Isarel. The only way he became president was
that JFK was assassinated, to this day nobody knows why. Think on
this. How important was it that after the six day war in 1967 the
American president favoured Israel keeping Jerusalem and Judea?
To
not vote perhaps is a greater political statement than to vote. The
servants of Christ serve an absent king. Those servants must witness
to this before all authority. There is also a military aspect,
For
the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek
with salvation. Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing
aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,
and a twoedged sword in their hand; To execute vengeance upon the
Nations, and punishments upon the people; To bind their kings with
chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; To execute upon them
the judgement written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the
LORD. (Psalm 149:4-9)
You must wish for this too? to be among
the saints? Is this is your faith?
When it is written in
Zechariah of the work with the politicians of Judah (Judea) in the
last days,
In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an
hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf;
and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand
and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own
place, even in Jerusalem. The LORD also shall save the tents of Judah
first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the
inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah.
(Zechariah 12:6-7)
Shouldn't we be telling all when we see
these things to say Yahweh Elohim knew before it happened?
We have been told what will happen before it does, everything of note regarding the politics of the world has been revealed to the prophets. If we understand them, it leave us with a duty to warn the world, and witness before the political world, at every level.
For the kingdom is the LORD'S: and he is the governor among the nations. All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul. A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They (the seed) shall come, and shall declare his (Yahweh's) righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he has done this. (Psalm 22:28-31)
The Bible suggests in prophecy that the most outrageous things would occur in world poltics: alliances would end abruptly and the world would plunge into an unstable time. We are today in the day of political upheaval, not seen in a generation.
25 May 2018 Britain awakes and moves back into the gulf
Events, are moving at such a pace that we don't have time to analyse those with significance in depth.
Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it? Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. (Amos 3:6-7)
We hear 'Trump', and we associate it with 'Trumpet', which is the likely origin of the surname which was given to a Trumpeter or Drummer in the Army. The trumpet in the Bible speaks also of a call to war as Amos points out. Amos also says that when the trumpet of war is blown, Yahweh has done it. We are told that what is done is revealed to his servants.
Events, like the last sands in the hourglass, are moving at such a pace that sometimes we don't have time to analyse those with significance in depth.
Events, like the last sands in the hourglass, are moving at such a pace that sometimes we don't have time to analyse those with significance in depth.
