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The Daily Word of Righteousness
The Work of Restoration, #4
Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, (Ezra 1:1)
God Governs the Earth
"The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus." Here is one of the major understandings we need to grasp today. The Christian Church is of God, of His Son, Christ. The Church is not an effort of men to build a kingdom counter to the governments of the world.
The Lord moves not only on the members of the Body of Christ but on the nations as well.
Cyrus the Great of Persia was not a Jew. He was not circumcised. He was not a descendant of Abraham. Yet, God spoke clearly to him.
So it is today. As the Lord Jesus Christ builds His Kingdom He speaks not only to His disciples but also to the people of the world. Christ, the Lord of the whole earth, speaks to whomever He will.
Until we grasp the fact that it is Christ who is building the Kingdom of God and not we who are doing it, we will continue to blame the sinners and the secular governments of the earth for our frustration.
The truth is, the creation is not waiting for the secular governments to learn righteousness in order for its release to take place. The creation is waiting for the Church of Christ to turn to Christ and to cease attempting to build the Kingdom of God by its own wisdom and strength and for its own glory.
The world is not the problem, the churches are the problem.
When God spoke to the Israelites through Jeremiah they disobeyed Him. When God spoke to Cyrus, Cyrus obeyed God. Who, then, was the servant of God, Israel or Cyrus?
One of the most significant misunderstandings of God's people is exposed right here. The devil does not own this earth. The devil does not own the peoples of the earth. God is not going to remove His Church, His witness, to Heaven so Satan may inherit the earth and its peoples.
As long as we hold the concept that Satan owns the earth and we are supposed to fight the peoples and rulers of the earth in an attempt to establish a kingdom of our own, we cannot see or enter God's workings. If we visualize the world as being owned by Satan we will proceed to build a religious Babylon (man-directed, institutional Christianity).
With such an attitude we cannot accept the fact that it is God who raises up the governments of the earth.
We are to obey secular authority unless the secular authority commands us to disobey God. In that case we will resist the government—even to death.
God is in control of this world. The world belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. The peoples of the earth belong to Christ and to none other.
All authority in Heaven and on the earth has been given to Christ by the Father. There is no power but of Christ. The farthest reaches of the earth are His.
The kingdom of the world will become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ by the touch of His transforming glory, just as you and I, as sinful as we were, have been made new creations by the touch of His transforming glory.
To be continued.