Smoodock's Blog

One may ask, in a world that seems to be in such a crazy mess, turmoil in the Middle East, Russian threats against Europe over its recent loss of influence, border issues, immigration issues, humanitarian issues involving the United States and Latin America, unfriendly words between the United States and Canada, two of the historically most friendly nations ever to have existed, how is Jesus ruling in all this? Wasn’t he supposed to have brought peace? How is the Jesus of the Gospel narratives, the Healer, the Friend of the poor and the abused, the Teacher of righteousness, the Elect One, the Messiah ruling today?[1]

The answer, of course, is, if Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8), then he rules today in the same manner that God has always ruled the nations (Daniel 4:17, 25, 34-35). The problem is that men, including men of authority, were created to image God (Genesis 1:27). In other words, men were created to rule the Earth (Genesis 1:26), but such authority was given them to the end that they would do, as they perceived the Lord, their God, would do, and this is summed up in the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you (Matthew 7:12).[2]

The means, as I’ve been saying in the past few studies, that God, Jesus, is at work in the world without the Church in all sorts of ways. We sometimes think, erroneously by the way, that God is at work in the world through the Church and only the Church. Nevertheless, this isn’t so. God is at work throughout the world, both in governments (authorities) and in worldwide movements of change at the grassroots level.

If all this is so, why the Church? What need is there of the Church, if Jesus is already ruling the nations through their existing leaders and the thoughts and deep aspirations of the people at the grassroots level? The answer lies in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. The dream was given to the end that the living would know that the God rules in the kingdoms of men, giving authority to whomsoever he pleases, even men of least importance (Daniel 4:17). Nebuchadnezzar probably dreamed this dream just after conquering the Jews and destroying both Jerusalem and the Temple of God. Thoughts of God’s supremacy were doubted, while Nebuchadnezzar began thinking that he, alone, was responsible for his success (Daniel 4:29-30). After all, didn’t he recently destroy the Temple, where the God of the Jews was thought to reside? How could that have occurred, and why would this God have allowed himself to be so humiliated, if, indeed, God is so great (Daniel 2:47; 3:28-29)?

The Church has the responsibility to speak truth to power, just as Daniel did to Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel also feared to do so (Daniel 4:19). The Church is not simply the interpreter of the voice of God in an effort to change the hearts of men, she is the interpreter of the voice of God to the nations, to the authorities empowered to change the way the world goes, the path the nations take. The Church is empowered to bring the nations into account. Modern democracies have a built-in mechanism used to rid themselves of ineffective and the wrong type of rulers, but this doesn’t always work well, because politicians, themselves, are part of the problem. What change can occur, if everyone is basically alike? Hence, the Church is called to be the real opposition, not to oppose everything governments do, but to oppose what refuses to be governed by the Golden Rule. This, of course, is opposed to bottom-line business interests, race and class bigots, and political warmongers. Those who really do oppose this behavior are often marginalized and/or persecuted for their efforts.

Of course, the Church can also become corrupt, so what voice does Christ really have in the world today? He promised us that those who remain submissive to his Spirit will convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:8). This is how Jesus intends to rule the world. The Church’s position has been that something peculiar occurred, when the authorities of this world crucified Jesus, who, afterward, rose from the dead. In so doing, Christ disarmed the might of the rulers and authorities of Earth and made a public show of their weakness to act against the God of Heaven. Jesus’ resurrection is his triumph over them (Colossians 2:15), vis-à-vis they are powerless to oppose God.

Nevertheless, Jesus’ death also reconciled these same powers, vis-à-vis the nations, to God making peace in both Heaven and Earth (Colossians 1:20), as that pertains to the rebellion begun in Genesis 3. God has reconciled himself to mankind through Jesus, and God is in the Church, just as he was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, while not demanding punishment for what was done. In other words, the Church acts as the ambassador of Heaven, making her plea: “Be reconciled to God!” (2Corinthians 5:18:20).

This is the manner in which God had always intended to rule (Genesis 1:27). It must be through human choice, because men have been given freewill, and that cannot be violated by God, if he intends to create creatures that really image himself. However, freewill can be influenced, and this is ideally done through the Church, Christ’s helper, calling all men, including political leaders, to behave righteously and to repent of abusing their power and (Acts 17:24-31) do their jobs properly (Acts 16:37).

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[1] I am presently posting my last few studies of N.T. Wright’s book, Simply Jesus. One should not assume that Dr. Wright would agree with all of my conclusions about his work. Sometimes I don’t agree, and sometimes I may take his position on matters too far. If one wishes to know Dr. Wright’s opinion about these things, one needs to buy and read his book.

[2] The Golden Rule, as found in the Gospel narratives (Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:31), is expressed similarly in both its positive and negative forms, and has existed in many ancient countries prior to it being taught by Jesus. Thus, men seem to have always known, in its most basic form, what they should or shouldn’t do, and applied to the nations, men of authority have always known how God expected them to rule.