The history of mankind is a an object lesson about the interplay of God’s creation & sovereignty on one side, and our struggle as those created in His image to come-out from under His reign to make a name for ourselves. As I continue reading through the entirety of the Bible this year, and having just finished “Jeremiah” the prophet and independent study about the kingdoms of the ancient Near East, this fact comes home to me. All throughout history, people have struggled to understand and express their God-given creativity and strength according to our birthright. We were created to live dependently in relationship with the Almighty…and when we remove Him from the equation – no matter how beautiful, entertaining, or wealthy our accomplishments may seem in the short-run – we end up with a hollow shell of self-interest and ignorance of the bigger picture. His Kingdom endures and progresses throughout the ages of mankind’s struggle for independence from our Heavenly Father. The real question at the heart of God’s Kingdom is whether or not the King has the right to set the rules and lead His creation, and whether the subjects will entrust themselves to follow wholeheartedly One they cannot see.
The Bible, which is actually a “library” rather than a “book,” is the written, historical record of those special (yet imperfect) people who dared to believe that God was still on His throne…working faithfully through history, and calling creation back to Himself. They bucked the worldly man-centered cycles, and sought to bring themselves and those they led into submission to the King, entrusting themselves to Him and His greater purposes for their lives and the world around them. In they eyes of the world, however, submission, humility, and godliness are seen as weakness…while pride, wantonness, and aggressiveness are treasured and celebrated. This dichotomy has been true from the “cradle of civilization” kingdoms of Mesopotamia and Persia, to the Greek & Roman empires, through the ensuing Middle Ages and the corruption of the Church, the Enlightenment & Renaissance, and the Modern & Post-Modern ages.
God’s Kingdom will be fully realized and consummated only at the end of what we call “human history”…which to the King, is merely a small section of an exceedingly large story He is writing.
2 Corinthians 5:19-21
“God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sinb for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
