Empire of the Risen Son: There Is Another King, Chapter 3: The Roots of the Final World Empire by Steve Gregg
Daniel 2:44
[44] And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever,
Revelation 11:15
[15] Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”
"It is often speculated whether there will ever be a single, one world government. The biblical answer is: Most certainly! It has already begun, and it is destined to be glorious beyond all imagination. This was the hope that God placed in the hearts of faithful Israel in the Old Testament, and it is that which the New Testament describes as having been inaugurated by Christ when he was here among us.
The first word in the recorded preaching of Jesus was, "Fulfilled!" It doesn't read quite like that in our English translations, which generally translate his first sentence as "The time is fulfilled." However, in the Greek, it more literally reads "Fulfill the time." The word order in Greek sentences suggests emphasis. The emphasis of Jesus's first public utterance was that fulfillment had come of a long awaited expectation: "The kingdom of God is at hand."
The statement represents the gospel preached by Jesus. John the Baptist had preached the same message to prepare the way for Christ's ministry. And his opening line - "the time is fulfilled" - Jesus makes it clear that he was not introducing a complete novelty that had never been anticipated by his Jewish hearers. Much of what he would subsequently teach about the Kingdom would surprise them, and run counter to their presumed mode of fulfillment, but Jesus was clear that His Kingdom was the fulfillment of the promises that God had given long ago. The exact expression, Kingdom of God, does not occur in the Old Testament, but the concept of God being King and reigning over a people of his choosing went all the way back to the birth of Israel.
The Kingdom is God's response and remedy to a global problem that arose much earlier still. The original parents of the human race, having rebelled against God's rulership, and brought unintended consequences upon themselves and their descendants - including every disaster, sin, and death. Yahweh, as Israel came to know him, originally created the world to be governed by the people that he created, to whom he had given dominion over the plant and animal kingdoms. It was their assignment to exercise such dominion as subjects, themselves, under his own rule. The obedience required of them was not particularly difficult. They could do whatever they wished, so long as they did not steal what was not theirs - and there was only one thing, one particular tree, that God had withheld from them. This withholding was intended by Yahweh as a test of their loyalty, which would prove, or disprove, they're qualification to rule under him. Foolishly, they revolted against their Creator's authority and defected to the dark side. This is where the problem of the human race began.
As the descendants of the first rebels migrated across the habitable earth, they formed ad hoc cooperative societies to make their lives easier. Some of these communities grew large and leaders rose among them. These groups eventually multiplied to (according to True Jewish tradition) 70 ethnic entities called, in Hebrew, "goyim" (Greek: ethnoi). This is the word translated in scripture as nations or gentiles. These nations, having been spawned by rebellious parents, also chose to live in rebellion against God ( who, as creator of all, properly owns all people and all things ). Instead of acknowledging Him, they established rival religions honoring grotesque, demonic gods, representative by images carved from wood or stone. This, understandably, was taken by God to be a deliberate affront- a blasphemy that caused him to withdraw his self-revelation, so that they might be left to their own errors.
In response to the Gentile nations' idolatry, Yahweh determined to establish an alternative society, a distinctive nation of his own people who would properly recognize and honor Him. In the midst of one of the rebellious nations, Babylonia, there was a man named Abram ( later renamed as Abraham), to whom Yahweh chose to reveal Himself, and whom He called to a special mission. God promised Abraham that, if he would leave Babylonia, God would resettle him in a fruitful land that would later be inherited by Abraham's numerous descendants. Although Abraham was, at that time, childless and advanced in age, and his wife Sarai ( later, Sarah) was infertile, Abraham's confidence in this promise marked him out as a man uniquely regarded by Yahweh as His "friend."
Not withstanding the hostility of the goyim to Him, Yahweh chose to use his friend Abraham to recapture the World - not personally, but through his offspring. God promised that He would make Abraham's descendants into a great nation ( many nations, actually) and that all of the nations of the earth would eventually receive benefit as a result of Him. The nation Israel, through whom Yahweh would fulfill these promises, were the descendants of Abraham's son Isaac, his grandson Jacob (later renamed Israel), and Israel's twelve sons - whose descendants became twelve tribal clans.
It was never promised to Abraham that his descendants would all be personally saved, in the sense that Christians usually think of that term. The promise was not that Abraham's descendants would all be individually righteous, or on good terms with God as individuals, but that their nation would fulfill the earthly mission of bringing into the world the One to restore the world - "all the families of the earth"- to the proper relationship with Yahweh.
We find, in the later developments of this plot, that's such a restoration would require the making of an atonement for sin and the persuasion of the goyim to voluntarily bring themselves back under submission to Yahweh. To accomplish this purpose, God would assign an individual Descendant of Abraham, to whom the Jews would later refer to as the Messiah.
Thus, the promise to Abraham was associated with this earthly mission: to bring into the world that one Descendant, the Messiah, through whom restoration of the goyim to Yahweh would be realized. Paul tells us that this reconciling of all nations to God is the blessing that was promised to come through Abraham's "Seed." Though the word translated "Seed" can be seen either as singular or plural, the Seed, Paul tells us, is not a reference to the many descendants of Abraham, but to the one Descendant Christ. The "blessing" promised to all nations refers to justification, reconciliation, and privileges that are found in returning to God through Him.
If the blessing of the nations through Abraham's Seed (Christ) would be their their restoration to a proper relationship of submission to their Maker, this means that Yahweh would again be ruling the peoples of the earth, some of whom would share with him in his reign. The reconciled remnant of both Israel and the goyim- those happily submitted to God in the Messiah - would be adopted as His new nation, His distinctive people, His Kingdom among the nations of the earth. This Kingdom would expand to include more and more of the earth's population until the day would come when "the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ."
In the meantime, there was Israel
Although this promise pertained ultimately to all nations, the particular nation descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was granted the first opportunity to become the charter member of the multi-national empire, and to enjoy the privileges of the Kingdom prior to all the other nations.
This privilege was offered to the nation of Israel, conditionally, at Mount Sinai. Yahweh had rescued a large, multi-ethnic (though primarily Israelite) company of former slaves out of Egyptian bondage. Counting on their gratitude for this great deliverance, God brought them to Mount Sinai in Arabia, and established them there as a special nation for Himself. Through the mediation of Moses, God contracted with them in the following terms:
"... if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation."
Yahweh's contract (or covenant) with Israel involved both promises and stipulations:
1. The stipulations involved simple and exclusive loyalty and obedience to Yahweh, and to the covenant He was establishing with them.
2. The promises were magnanimous. Of all the nations of the earth, Israel would be His people in a sense different from all others. He would treasure them above all the other nations. They would be a "holy" nation - a word that means separated out from ordinary nations, and that Israel would enjoy unique interactions with Yahweh that would, for the time being, be withheld from other nations. It was also promised that they would be a Kingdom of priests. This means that, as a special nation ruled uniquely by God, Israel would mediate the knowledge of God to the other nations - just as priests and any religion do with the common people.
This is the first time, in scripture, that God is said to desire a "kingdom" of His own, in contrast to the kingdoms of the earth. Note that the word "kingdom" does not refer to a place, but to a people. The place of God's Kingdom, His people, would be right here on earth, among the other nations.
The stated qualifications for being in this Kingdom were actually not ethnic. The nation Israel, established at Sanai, was comprised of an ethnically "mixed multitude." There were non-Israelites in the group when God struck this covenant. Individual Gentiles had the same opportunity as Israelites to be part of the "chosen people", Israel.
While there was no ethnic requirement to being God's Kingdom, there were covenantal requirements. The stipulations of the covenant were delineated in the body of legislation (containing 613 specific commands) called "the Law" (Hebrew: Torah), handed down to Israel through the prophet Moses.
Many people who read the Bible carelessly conclude that Israel is a designation identical to, and coextensive with, the Jewish race. This was never the case, though it is true that the twelve tribes descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were among the first to be given the privilege of being Yahweh nation, or Kingdom. From the beginning, the qualifications for inclusion were the same for ethnic Israelites and for Gentiles: 1) obedience rendered to God as to a King, and 2) covenantal loyalty, similar to that of a wife to a husband. The corporate entity was God's nation personal inclusion or exclusion was a matter of individual loyalty or disloyalty to the covenant.
To worship idols, or to break the covenantal laws given at Sanai, would exclude even a natural born Israelite from being part of Israel, the covenantal Kingdom. Thus, the law repeatedly says that any individual Israelite who violates these stipulations will be "cursed" and "cut off from Israel" - no longer to be included in God's chosen people. This is why Paul would later write, "They are not all Israel who are of Israel" (Romans 9:6). Ethnic Israel is one thing; faithful Israel, to whom the promises apply, is another. True Israel is comprised of the relatively few people, in Old Testament times, who actually remained true to God's covenant. This faithful company is often referred to as "the remnant of Israel."
By the same token, any Gentile could be welcomed into Israel and regarded the same "as a native of the land." This would require that one adopt the covenant stipulations and live by them. In the case of a male, he would need to submit to the covenantal mark of circumcision. Rahab and Ruth are among the most famous female examples of Gentiles becoming part of Israel- the chosen nation. Such Gentiles, who become part of Israel, were called proselytes.
Thus, even though the majority of the population was always comprised of people descended from Abraham, the privilege of being in Israel, or in God's Kingdom, was never strictly defined by physical parentage or race. From the beginning, the nation was multi-ethnic, and the covenant stipulations guaranteed that it would remain so. After the Exodus, and the transactions at Mount Sinai, the word Israel was to be a label defined by the people's loyalty to the covenant.
Through their subsequent checkered history, the nation was often disobedient, and was technically vulnerable to being disowned by Yahweh. Despite this fact, He continued to forgive and work with them as His own people. He faithfully gave them the land which He had earlier promised to Abraham, and the land itself, like the people occupying it, also came to be called Israel.
Note: At this point, Israel was a word that had already come to have numerous meanings: 1) a man's name; 2) the descendants of that man; 3) the covenant nation in which whose descendants form the ethnic majority; 4) the faithful remnant who truly kept God's covenant; and 5) the defined territory controlled by the nation. The potentially confusing ambiguity of the term, in many contexts, should cause us caution in our interpretation of passages about "Israel."
Israel was, from its founding, unique among the nations. The most important distinctive was that they had no mere human occupying the role of "king" in their kingdom. All other nations needed to have such, because they did not have Yahweh reigning directly from heaven over the affairs of their societies. In answering directly to Yahweh as their only Monarch, Israel was uniquely "the Kingdom of God."
Their society differed from others in that they had no centralized government or political system. Israel, in those days, had no standing armies, nor anyone to command them. No state authority, other than God himself, dictated laws to restrict Israel's social and family activities. They were a tribal league, where interpersonal disputes would be settled by local, tribal elders or priests, rather than by federal courts, or an earthly king residing in a national capital. There was no national capital. The central place of worship was a portable structure where the chest containing the stone tablets of the covenant was kept. It moved from place to place - first to Shiloh, then to Kirjath Jearim, later to Nob, then back to Kirjath Jearim, and, finally, to Jerusalem.
A common refrain in the Book of Judges reminds us that "In those days there was no king in Israel" - sometimes adding, "and everyone did what was right in his own eyes."
In modern preaching, it is common to hear this described as a bad arrangement. "When everyone does what is right in his own eyes, there is moral chaos" - so goes the familiar commentary. This is true, when the thing that is "right" in a man's eyes is contrary to what is "right" In God's eyes. However, Israel had the Torah - God's Law - to teach them what is right In God's eyes. It seems that, for most of the period described in Judges, what is right in God's sight was what was deemed right in the people's eyes as well. The period of nearly four centuries was punctuated by relatively brief periods of general rebellion and idolatry, for which God disciplined his people and restored proper order.
When the Bible says, "everyone did what was right in his own eyes", the contrast is not between this policy and of doing what is right in the sight of God. The contrast is between having personal and qualified liberty of conscience, on the one hand, and having an earthly king, on the other, being forced to do what is right in his eyes. As Israel's later history proved, having a human monarch is the more disastrous arrangement of the two. The biblical comment tells us that liberty of personal conscience prevailed, rather than domination by a human and therefore corrupt earthly ruler. The former is what God desired for the society of His Kingdom- individual liberty of conscience, under God. For citizens to do what is right in their own eyes is certainly preferable to them doing what is wrong in their own eyes. According to these verses, the alternative is to have a government under an earthly king - which God saw as undesirable. He found it offensive (bordering and treasonous) when Israel later asked for a change in this arrangement (1Samuel 8:7).
Freedom to follow one's own conscience in the fear of God is the highest biblical standard. Later in Israel's history, when they actually did have earthly kings, oppressive rulers often interfered with such freedom of conscience (the biblical examples of Ahab and Manasseh come immediately to mind - as do the tyrants of Babylon, Syria and Rome, who governed and oppressed Israel at later times).
For everyone to do what is right in his own estimation means to follow the dictates of individual conscience. There is nothing bad about this, so long as one's conscience is informed by God's revealed moral norms. This was precisely Yahweh's ideal when he set up and governed His Kingdom in Israel during the period of the judges. Through most of this period, it was quite acceptable, and things went smoothly. It was only on the occasions when Israel disregarded God's law and compromised with idolatry that things turned bad.
Whenever Israel did stray into idolatry, their True King would step in and discipline them, allowing foreign Invaders to overtake and oppress them. When they had learned their lesson, He would likewise bring deliverance in the persons of certain individuals who served as military leaders and judges. These judges served in these emergencies for the remainder of their lives, but, upon their deaths, did not leave their offices to successors. Their passing was not viewed as leaving a vacuum to be filled. There was no permanent family of hereditary leaders, since God was the only permanent governing official. He proved himself quite capable of keeping, or restoring, order in His Kingdom.
Under the oversight of the judges, when there was no earthly king in Israel, the years of Israel's obedience to Yahweh exceeded those during which they strayed by a factor of 3 to 1. This means that Israel was obedient 3/4 of the period when they had no earthly king. Things were far worse, during the later monarchy area - a period of almost 500 years - during which the kingdom of Judah had very few faithful kings after David, and the northern tribes of Israel had none.
Note: According to the tally of the numbers given in the Book of Judges, Israel was obedient a total of 340 years and disobedient 114 years.
The tribal league, prior to the monarchy, served to allow Israel to maintain Yahweh as their only direct Ruler. The obligations laid upon them by Yahweh were simple: they must worship none but Him, doing so in accordance with the Levitical practices, and live harmlessly toward one another. Apart from these things, they were a completely free people. They had previously suffered oppression for hundreds of years under a cruel king in Egypt, but now, under Yahweh's rule, they had become the most liberated people on earth.
This uniqueness of Israel among the nations was their boast, though they often did not fully understand or appreciate this. When God had used Gideon, one of the judges, to deliver Israel from the Midianite oppression, the people expressed their gratitude by offering to establish his family as the first hereditary dynasty in Israel:
"Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, 'Rule over us, both you and your son, and your grandson also; for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian.' But Gideon said to them, 'I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; the Lord shall rule over you.'"
Gideon may have been flattered - even tempted - by the accolades and gratitude being heaped upon him by the people, but he knew that it would be sacrilege for Israel to replace Yahweh's direct rule with that of a human king and royal family. This would be to deprive God of His rightful place, and to deprive Israel of her unique status.
Israel's revolt against Yahweh's rule
Nonetheless, at a later time, the elders of the tribal league again succumbed to the temptation to throw God over in favor of having a human king. This occurred in the time of Samuel, who turned out to be the last of the judges, and the first of the prophetic order that became so common in later history:
"Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Rama, and said to him, '...make us a king to judge us like all the nations.' But the thing displeased Samuel when they said 'Give us a king to judge us.' So Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, 'Heed the voice of the people and all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.'"
Though displeased with their request, God dignified the free choice of the people to reject him as their direct ruler. He warned them that this would not turn out well, but He would nonetheless allow them, if they wished, to exchange the liberty of His direct rule for the often oppressive system of human monarchy. As he had done in the wilderness, when they had petulantly demanded greater variety in their diet, Yahweh "gave them their request but sent leanness into their soul."
Though Yahweh viewed the decision of the people as a rejection of His Kingship (thus ending the ideal phase of the kingdom), He only allowed this upon the condition that Israel's new king must himself remain loyal to Yahweh, allowing God to continue His rule indirectly through Israel's monarch. Yahweh would send his prophets to instruct and correct the kings, who would be expected to obey the voice of the Lord through these prophets.
The first king that Yahweh selected for the people was handsome and considerably taller than the rest of the men of Israel - just the type of man calculated to command the loyalty of the public. His name was Saul, which significantly means "asked-for."
Saul seemed, at first, to be a man of modest temperament and not eager to accept his assignment as king. However, when the spirit of the Lord came upon him, at a moment of national crisis, he was suddenly filled with indignation at the cruelty of an invading force and rose to the challenge of leading an ad hoc militia to victory against Ammonite intruders. The success of this mission increased his popularity with the people, and silenced some who had been slow to accept his earlier appointment as their king.
Initially, Saul was keen to follow God's instructions through the prophet Samuel, but as he began to feel more comfortable in his role as ruler, he became careless in his obedience. Twice, he disobeyed God's specific instructions, thinking he knew a better way to do things. As a result, Samuel announced that Yahweh had now rejected Saul, in favor of a better man - who turned out to be David.
Samuel the prophet secretly anointed David as King in his father's house, without Saul's knowledge. Just as the Spirit of God had previously rushed upon Saul, so the Spirit now departed from Saul and came upon David. As if to fill the void, and evil spirit now entered Saul, tormenting him and driving him mad. Upon seeing David's military prowess, personal charisma, and consequent rise and popularity, Saul deduced the David was the one who threatened to replace him. Having, by this point, come to enjoy the status of king, Saul had no interest in leaving his position to a rival. He resented David and sought to kill him.
In order to avoid being killed by Saul, David had to flee but was joined by a rag-tag group of 400 men who were dissenters against Saul's erratic reign. They made David their "captain" and followed him at their own peril while Saul's armies relentlessly pursued them in the mountainous desert. The danger to David and his men ended when Saul became engaged in a different campaign, against the Philistines, and was mortally wounded in battle- ultimately falling upon his own sword to end his misery. David mourned Saul's death, partly because it coincided with the death of his own beloved friend Jonathan, one of Saul's sons who also died in the same campaign.
Reflecting back on the career of Saul, Yahweh, through another prophet would later lament: "I gave you a king in my anger, and took him away in my wrath."
The Kingdom of the house of David
Upon Saul's death, David became king - first, over his own tribe Judah, and eventually over all Israel. God described David as "a man after my own heart." David's love and devotion for God were unbounded, as we find expressed in over seventy- five Psalms that bear his name as author. Yahweh was so pleased with David, that he sent Nathan the prophet to make a special promise concerning his progeny:
"... the Lord tells you that he will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son."
The word "house" at the beginning of this prophecy refers to a "dynasty". Unlike Saul, who had no long-term scion to his throne, David would have a line of successors leading up to one who would be the eternal Messiah, who would reign forever over God's kingdom as God's own Son and Regent. This is how the Jews would forever afterward interpret the prophecy (with the later agreement of Jesus and the Church). From this point onward, it was understood that the Messiah would not only be a descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but also of David. "Son of David" became a messianic title in later Israel.
David was a mighty and, mostly, good king. He did commit a notable violation of Torah later in his life, but his subsequent repentance prevented Yahweh from removing him (as He had previously removed Saul), or withdrawing the messianic promise concerning his "house". Gentile nations were conquered and brought under tribute through David's heroic leadership. When he died, he left Israel in the wealthiest and most prestigious circumstances that the nation would ever know. Israel, under David's reign, had transitioned from being a small nation, repeatedly oppressed by a variety of foreign invaders, into an international empire and unbeatable military power.
David's significance must not be underestimated. Due to the promise of the prophet concerning David's house, the twenty successors who ruled his kingdom of Judah were called, collectively and individually, "the house of David." A descendant of David reigning in his place might even be called "David." In fact, the Messiah, as a king of David's lineage, is occasionally referred to as "David" by the prophets.
We will see that David was not only the ancestor of the Messiah, but a type foreshadowing the Messiah, as well. Many of David's statements about himself in Psalms are understood to be, ultimately the words of the Messiah. We will have occasion to remember this in a later chapter."
