And the Government Shall Be . . .

⁶For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

 ⁷Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. (Isa 9:6-7 KJV)

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³³Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews?

 ³⁴Jesus answered him . . . My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

 ³⁷Pilate 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 heareth my voice.

 ³⁸Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? (John 18: 33-38a KJV)

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 ¹⁶Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.

¹⁷And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.

 ¹⁸And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.   

 ¹⁹Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:  ²⁰Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matt 28: 16-20 KJV)

One of the more difficult concepts for modern day Christians to grasp is one simple, over-riding fact about the church itself and the kingdom it represents on earth; It is not a democracy. All power, all authority, all lordship rests in one person – Jesus Christ.

Christians today have no concept at all of exactly the Lordship of Christ really means. In the coming age, the government will rest on His shoulders, and His alone. Scripture teaches us that every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord. No parliament will counsel the King. There will be no jury; Christ Himself is the righteous judge who will judge the living and the dead.

King of kings and Lord of lords. We mouth the words and deny the reality. We suffer from a sort of cognitive dissonance that causes us to believe two mutually exclusive ideas: Christ is Lord yet we are somehow responsible for judging the world and bringing it into subjugation to God’s Laws.

Scripture assures us we are joint heirs with Christ. Paul reminds the Corinthians that the saints shall judge the world and we shall judge angels. (1 Cor 6: 1-6 KJV) But Paul said this is not to encourage us to judge the world, but rather to exercise sound judgment in dealing with each other. The Christian’s job has never been to judge the world, nor to administer Christ’s judgment on the world.

Until the coming of the age, there is a Prince of this World and the world serves him. For the most part, we need to let the world be the world, recognizing that the world will always be in opposition to God. Trying to force it to be otherwise only encourages further rebellion against God and with it further ungodliness. Rather than making the world a more godly place, we will only bring it into further damnation. This is counter to Christ’s will for us.

Christ defined our role at the end of Matthew’s Gospel. We are to teach, make disciples, and baptize. Our job is not to make the world comfortable for Christians. In fact, it works against us if we allow that to happen. Scripture calls us “strangers in a strange land” because we are not meant to be at home in the world. If we are to function as Christ intended, we must make others strangers with us. Too often, we simply choose to estrange them.

Paul encouraged Timothy to be a teacher, gently correcting those who oppose the gospel to lead them out of the devil's snare. Our job is to teach others so the Spirit may convict them of their own sinfulness and need for salvation. Our goal is to lead them to become disciples of Christ. A disciple is not just a student, but rather a student who strives to become like the master. Discipleship means striving to be more Christ-like. Too often we try to be more like Pilate – administering judgment and keeping the conquered in subjugation.

In the Middle Ages, wealthy nobles and princes apprenticed their sons as squires to other knights so they could learn how to be effective knights when they were older. So long as we are in this world, we are squires, not knights. We serve a Master, but are not yet masters ourselves. There is only one Lord, and the government is on His shoulders and he is the judge over all. We are but his apprentices and servants.

Until we fully understand our role relative to Christ, we will never be effective ministers of His gospel. And the world will be the worse for it.