FROM THE DAWGHOUSE…
WHEN BIG GOVERNMENT IS GOOD
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
Isaiah 9:6-7
I shouldn’t be political, right? It’s Christmas after all, or nearly so!
No I get a pass – I can be political!
God is very political because He’s the Leader of all people and in charge of all the laws of creation that, literally, keep the mechanics of the world spinning. He’s the governor of the universe. The president of all countries. The mayor of all cities.
The reason the founding fathers of our country put such a complex structure in place such as we find in the Constitution was that they had read the Bible and they knew that the nature of man from birth was to try and seize control and take advantage of whatever power they could get in order to dominate others and hurt others, for their own good. And so government had to have tons of restrictions and procedures in place so that the making of laws would take a long time so that people’s freedom would be paramount and not easily conquerable by the totalitarian tendencies of fallen human nature. We had to be a nation of Biblically-informed laws or representative form of government wouldn’t work out. It was, it is, a grand experiment, unique in world history. Exceptional! Obviously … it’s under major attack in our time, at almost at every level, by those with an avowedly Marxist, anti-God, anti-Biblical philosophy.
Oh, and that’s why the best human government is relatively small and why states had to have the predominant power to act for the people. It would be easier for people to impact their own state than the entire country.
Well, that’s my read on U.S. History.
And why I don’t trust human leaders as far as I can throw them. And why I’m for small human government. And why, when I vote, I’m not voting for a pastor for a president or senator or congressman, I’m voting for the sinner who best promotes policies that are the most consistent with Biblical truth. I don’t have to like the man or woman; they just have to promise to support those values and policies that are most in line with God’s values and policies.
But it’s also why I’m so glad that the government of all that is, is ultimately on Jesus’ shoulders! Jesus has brought peace between us and God (Romans 5:1ff) and why He will one day come again and bring peace for eternity (Revelation 19:11-19).
At Christmas … here’s your gift: The government that matters is on Jesus’ big shoulders.
Relax. Smile. Your King is THE King. Ya, He became a baby first but that was just to become fully human so He could be the second-Adam and represent you.
**
But a friend of mine raised a good point:
Is God’s Kingdom expanding currently and making things better eventually? Or are things going to get worse, then Jesus comes back?
Bravo. Good question! Here we are segueing from the prophecy of Isaiah 9 and the fulfillment of Christmas, to the future eschatological or unfolding of end times events.
The end times scenario the New Testament unfolds is this in super brief form:
- We are in the End Times right now. Acts 2:14-21
- Are we in the end of the End Times? That is the major question. We don’t have an answer for that. Almost every generation of Christians thought Jesus was coming back in their day. Often revivals and great works of God made things better and God continue to bring in converts to Christ! The reason that Jesus has not come back is that there are more of His people to be converted: 2 Peter 3:10-15 – especially v15.
- New Testament teaching is that Jesus could come back at any time; His coming is imminent, we don’t know when He will come. Yet when we read Matthew 24 (called the mini-Apocalypse by many), we see that the world will get worse and worse, not better and better, and then the end will come. Post-millenialists say the world will get better and better and then Jesus comes to establish the New Heavens and New Earth. I have never in my entire life of studying the Bible, been able to see any evidence for this view. Even scholars I admire who believe this view I believe are deluded to make the NT teach this.
(Ok, there is a lot more to say about eschatology, the end times!)
To answer my friend’s question: Yes Jesus is in charge. Yes His Kingdom is advancing in the saving of souls and bringing His people into His Kingdom. The world goes through cycles of good and bad and … over and over and over. Christians do what we do, Matthew 28:18-20. We evangelize and plant churches and serve people. Then those churches are destroyed by events in real life. Then we plant new ones. But when the time is right by God’s timing, will be a final downward spiral and then Jesus will come back and clean up the mess once and for all.
It seems that it’s three steps forward, and one backward sometimes, but progress towards God’s fulfillment is real.
The Kingdom of David that Isaiah promised has come. Fulfillment! The King is Jesus, the better and bigger David. King Jesus reigns in and through His church and over all nations. The government is on His shoulders.
But don’t get too comfortable.
Sacrifice and fight to advance His Kingdom.
If He comes in our lifetime, and we should hope He does, won’t it be great to see it! YES! YES! YES!
Come Lord Jesus! (Revelation 22:20) Maranatha!
Merry Christmas…
Pete Alwinson
