A nation cannot please God merely by "giving" the sons of God "freedom" to worship God. In order to please God the members of a nation of people must be baptized in water and then place themselves under Christ and obey His commandments.

Perhaps the greatest existing hindrance to the imposing of righteousness on the nations is the rebellion of the churches against Christ. They are not walking in union with Him. They are not following His Spirit.

If many people of a nation of today, perhaps including even their leaders of government, were to decide to be baptized and to submit to the commandments of Christ, to which church should they look?

Christendom is divided into a number of diverse groups, each of which claims to represent Christ. Why is Christendom divided in this manner? It is not divided because the Scriptures are difficult to understand. It is not divided because Jesus desires that His Body be split into warring camps. Rather, the work of God is divided because we believers often are worldly, sinful, and self-seeking.

It is not difficult for true saints to be in harmony. Wherever there are believers who are overcoming sin and who have been crucified with Christ, there is Divine unity and harmony. Such saints are filled with glory and have outgrown the desire to argue with their fellow Christians about conflicting concepts of doctrine.

However, harmony and Divine glory are not often found among the current believers. Therefore the nations cannot be discipled. The nations are awaiting the bringing of the Body of Christ to unity, maturity, and union with the Head. As soon as that has been accomplished (and it shall be accomplished by the Spirit of God), the nations of the earth willingly will come to Jesus.

The Lord Jesus Christ will bring all the nations to judgment, and those that He selects for eternal life will come under His will as expressed through the members of His Body.

First the Church; then the nations of the earth.

We see, therefore, that Matthew 28:18-20 is the grand proclamation of the King of kings concerning His rulership over the nations of the earth. The Lord Jesus has chosen to rule through a perfected Church that is under His authority and in which he is dwelling in untroubled rest.

What then, would we expect to find recorded in the Book of Acts and in the Epistles of the Apostles? Would it be the immediate rule of Christ over the nations of the earth?

No. We would expect to find an emphasis on the message of salvation, and on the calling out and perfecting of the members of the elect, the Church, the royal priesthood, coupled with some bearing of witness to the nations. This is what we find recorded in the Book of Acts.

And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. (Acts 13:48)

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

The salvation and governing of the nations themselves will come to pass when the Lord returns with His victorious saints to rule the saved nations with the rod of iron. We now are approaching that most glorious of events.

The disciples were concerned about the coming of the Kingdom, God's rule, to the earth. But the Lord set aside their question in order to get at the immediate problem—the witness of His atoning death and triumphant resurrection (Acts 1:6-8).

To be continued.