Yet Jesus
also promised that the Holy Spirit would come to guide us into all truth.
If we apply ourselves to the study of God’s Word diligently as Paul
recommended to Timothy, the Spirit can give us insight into the mysteries
of God’s purpose. I don’t want to focus on politics, but because this is a
mid-term election year, and because our two-party system is in such a factious
state, it might be good to step back and rediscover who is really in control.
The nations rage, as the King James puts it, and God laughs. But there is more
to that picture than human actors playing parts on the earthly stage.
Throughout the Old Testament, we are offered glimpses of the
real battle that is going on at a cosmic level. I mentioned several examples of
this in “The
Evolution of God.” In Psalm 2, we see the arrogance of the “kings of the
earth and the rulers.” I believe “kings” and “rulers” refer to two different
classes of beings. Kings are obviously earthly leaders. However, in both the
Old and New Testament, the word rulers is consistently used to refer to
spiritual powers. Paul famously said our battle is against “world rulers of
this darkness,” which he then identifies as, “spiritual forces of
wickedness in the heavenly places.” Speaking of His ultimate purpose on
earth,
Jesus declared, “Now is the judgment of this world! Now the ruler of this
world will be thrown out!” He echoed this twice in His final discourse. (Jn.
14:30; 16:11)
When Yahweh created the separate nations by His
judgment of the Tower of Babel builders, He did more than confuse their
language. Language is an integral part of any culture, so Yahweh indirectly
created different cultures that each went their own way from the Plain of
Shinar. The Old Testament record clearly states that all the nations under
heaven were in the thrall of various demi-gods – small “g” gods who were the
compatriots of the Angel of Darkness and complicit with him in his rebellion
against their Creator. We are told that the angels who rebelled were “thrown
to the earth,” a condition which positioned them to tempt Adam and Eve
resulting in the curse upon the perfect earth Yahweh had created, and the
deposing of God’s chosen ruler over earth, Adam.
When Yahweh
called Abram to start His favored nation, He sent him to a land which was
crawling with lesser gods who controlled different regions of the promised
land. The oracles against the nations that we find in several Old Testament
prophets reveal God’s distinct displeasure with the behavior of the angelic
beings who had made it their business to influence humans to commit all sorts
of wicked behavior. Idol worship is itself a detestable thing to Yahweh, but He
repeatedly mentions such abominations as ritual prostitution and infant
sacrifice to these demon-gods. The reason God gives Abram for delaying his
acquisition of the land is curious: “The
guilt of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
Yahweh
says that He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that He
wishes all men would come to salvation. In this we can see His patient
endurance that gives time for repentance. Those statements were ostensible
spoken of humans, but can we not assume that He feels similarly toward the
heavenly cohort of His creation? We tend to forget that the angels were created
before humans, and
they are “higher” than us in God’s creation order. Paul implies that the
mystery of the gospel is now
being made known “to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places
through the church.” I picture Yahweh speaking to His heavenly audience saying,
“Watch this! I am going to show you how much I love my creation.”
This makes me wonder what Yahweh thinks about the current
world-rulers in the heavenlies. I have no trouble imagining Hitler, Pol Pot,
Iddi Amin, or the Iranian Khamenei as under the influence of demons. We can
also extrapolate from Scriptural evidence that God uses evil regimes to move
His plan forward so that He may yet be disciplining His people through them as
I suggested in “Today’s
Chaldean Chastisement.” Someone has said that in a representative democracy
such as ours, the people get the rulers they deserve. Our society has changed
dramatically since it ceased to be “one nation under God,” and the Bible was
removed from the public square. America was never a Christian nation per se,
but biblical principles undergirded our founding documents and flavored our
culture for nearly two hundred years. No longer. That cannot be pleasing to
God!
I think it is beyond likely that the disgusting moral
condition of modern society is being driven by heavenly rulers through their
earthly minions. The dissolution of biblical marriage and the acceptance of all
manner of sexual perversion will do more to destroy Western society that any
invading army could ever do. I once read that the elevation of sexual
perversion has historically preceded the fall of every society we know of. The
family is the foundation of any culture, and once it is degraded, the fabric of
society must necessarily be torn apart.
There is a passage in Zechariah similar to many others in
the prophets where God says, “And many nations will join themselves to Yahweh
in that day and will become My people. Then I will dwell in your midst, and you
will know that Yahweh of hosts has sent Me to you.” In that context, Zechariah
is speaking about the coming of the “Branch,” aka the Messiah, our King and
Savior, Jesus Christ. Although we still live in a world where nations rage, we
know that the rulers in the heavenlies have been defeated. It is our Christian
duty to elect representatives to government who are least likely to be
influenced by evil rulers. Nations rage; God laughs. But He
also cries. Remember, although the nations were separated at Shinar; they
are welcomed back into the fold at Calvary. That is the
mystery of the gospel.
Related Posts: America Held Captive; Isaiah as a Cautionary Tale; Jesus Wept?; The Cry of Sin
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