The Global Government Election

The subject of today’s message is global government. In NZ we have an election in 2 months so we all have some decisions to make about who we’d like to run our country for the next 3 years. Later in November is the US election. How we vote perhaps more than ever before will determine our future world because not for a long time has there been such division in society of which is the right way to go. 

I was a bit worried to speak today. I spent the lockdown watching and reading a lot of media about end times and associated conspiracy theories. Many theories clearly do contain a lot of truth. Others, look way out there. But when you hear current and former world leaders like Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Scott Morrison saying that the only solution to fighting Covid-19 and for freedom is global government, you realise we are standing at the edge. There are open plans for global government, I don’t believe that people of influence necessarily know what they are doing though. We know we are not wrestling flesh and blood but dark principalities and powers.

I never could understand how the apocalyptic prophecies of Jesus and Paul could be true at the same time. How could the world be suffering disaster after disaster, be a chaotic mess and people be so deluded to be saying « peace and safety » as Paul prophesied ?

For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.

1 Thessalonians 5:2-3

The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

2 Thessalonians 2:9-12

However this has now come true. If people are serious to think that having a vaccine and a microchip will keep the peace and make everyone safe they are indeed deluded.

Even though many of the events of our time indicate Jesus will be returning soon, nevertheless all of these things left me a little gloomy, which is why I wasn’t sure to speak today.

Jesus said to look up, watch and pray as the day of his return is getting  closer even at the doors. God’s government, the Kingdom of God has already started and is coming in great glory which is our great hope !

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had ceased to exist, and the sea existed no more. And I saw the holy city—the new Jerusalem—descending out of heaven from God, made ready like a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Look! The residence of God is among human beings. He will live among them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will not exist any more—or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the former things have ceased to exist.”

Revelation 21:1-4

If you are troubled by what is going on in our world I want you to listen to this beautiful psalm. It is amazing to think that this is written hundreds of years before Jesus was even born. 

What fools the nations are to rage against the Lord! How strange that men should try to outwit God! For a summit conference of the nations has been called to plot against the Lord and his Messiah, Christ the King. “Come, let us break his chains,” they say, “and free ourselves from all this slavery to God.” But God in heaven merely laughs! He is amused by all their puny plans. And then in fierce fury he rebukes them and fills them with fear. For the Lord declares, “This is the King of my choice, and I have enthroned him in Jerusalem, my holy city.” 

His chosen one replies, “I will reveal the everlasting purposes of God, for the Lord has said to me, ‘You are my Son. This is your Coronation Day. Today I am giving you your glory.’” “Only ask and I will give you all the nations of the world. Rule them with an iron rod; smash them like clay pots!” O kings and rulers of the earth, listen while there is time. Serve the Lord with reverent fear; rejoice with trembling. Fall down before his Son and kiss his feet before his anger is roused and you perish. I am warning you—his wrath will soon begin. But oh, the joys of those who put their trust in him!

Psalm 2

That is such good news we can only marvel in wonder at the future. And yet it can be hard to believe that all will be well and God is in control when we are facing all kinds of difficulties and trials down here. We don’t escape the troubles of life just because we are Christians, in fact it can be even worse to be one of God’s people, as it is for Christians in China, or was for the Jews in Nazi Germany. 

If you remember the hit Boney M song from the 70’s, the lament

By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept When we remembered Zion. We hung our harps Upon the willows in the midst of it. For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song, And those who plundered us requested mirth, Saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How shall we sing the Lord’s song In a foreign land?

Psalm 137:1-4

It is thought to have been written by Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, who is also thought to have written the book of Lamentations.

It was written during the 70 years of captivity in Babylon when everyone was gloomy throughout their lifetimes. We have been living in a pandemic crisis for just a few months and already we’re going crazy. Will life return to normal or will we remain in a form of captivity for a very long time ? We don’t know. 

How can we sing a song as captives in this strange land we are in ? How can we grow like trees by the Rivers of Babylon ? We are to wait on the Lord, maintain hope and remind ourselves of his goodness and faithfulness.

One of the great hymns is based on the Lamentations.

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord  is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!”

Lamentations 3:22-24

While we live through this great trial, we can remind ourselves of God’s faithfulness and that he will bring an end to all the governments of the world to replace with his son Jesus.

That’s all good and a comfort but we cannot isolate ourselves from the reality we are facing. It will be tough.

First of all we have to acknowledge the situation we are in. We can’t deny it is bad and we have to admit we can’t fix it. The right thing is to turn to the Lord. I think it’s fair to say that these last few years have seen one disaster after another not just in the world but in NZ. We have tried to fix each one but every time another one comes. We have done everything as a Nation but repent. 

When our government passed laws in opposition to God’s ways, people said « see the sky has not fallen in ». Are we ready to reconsider our position ? We are like the Pharaoh of old who feigned repentance for a while until God relented each one of the plagues. 

But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

Revelation 9:20-21

Repentance is a missing word from much of Church messaging today. We have been presenting only the nice bits. The kindness but not the severity of our God. It’s because the Church is comfortable and our message is primarily pitched at believers. We are preaching to the converted. But the message to non-believers is different. They need to hear to escape the coming wrath of the Lord. But they won’t get that if we only tell them the blessings of being a Christian. It will sound like they can have their own life + Jesus. 

Your ancestors, however, did not listen to me or pay any attention to me. They stubbornly refused to pay attention or to respond to any discipline.’

Jeremiah 17:23

For the Lord disciplines those he loves, just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights.

Proverbs 3:12

One week during the lockdown, in the midst of gloominess, I read Ephesians and I got a perspective on God’s government. As I read I remembered verses from Genesis and Colossians and how in the beginning God created an order of government starting from himself, he created order on every day

In Genesis 1

⁃ the sun to govern the day and the moon to govern the night

⁃ plants producing seed

⁃ man and woman to govern over nature

Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.” God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:26-27

in Genesis 2, a second account is given in more detail about mankind specifically. it was pointed out to me that on every occasion it is the LORD God who acts, for example...

The LORD God formed the man from the soil of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

Genesis 2:7

The LORD God planted an orchard in the east, in Eden; and there he placed the man he had formed.

Genesis 2:8

The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow from the soil, every tree that was pleasing to look at and good for food. (Now the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were in the middle of the orchard.)

Genesis 2:9

Etc

So the LORD God is above all the maker of everything but he places order in the creation so there is government at every level and peace. 

But then in Genesis 3 it opens with

Now the serpent was shrewder than any of the wild animals that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Is it really true that God said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?”

Genesis 3:1

See that ? The first time the serpent speaks he drops LORD off God’s name, and just calls him God.

Satan is a usurper. He himself wants to rule.

How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground—mighty though you were against the nations of the world. For you said to yourself, “I will ascend to heaven and rule the angels. I will take the highest throne. I will preside on the Mount of Assembly far away in the north. I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High.” But instead, you will be brought down to the pit of hell, down to its lowest depths.

Isaiah 14:12-15

Satan tempted Eve who with Adam had been given joint governance over the World to reject the LORD God, to make herself like God

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit from the trees of the orchard; but concerning the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the orchard God said, ‘You must not eat from it, and you must not touch it, or else you will die.’” The serpent said to the woman, “Surely you will not die, for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Genesis 3:2-5

Satan was tempting Eve to join him in his rebellion, his plan to ascend into the most High, to govern and rule.

That is the tragedy of Mankind. We chose the government of the Serpent over the government of The LORD God.

That is what brought The LORD God’s judgement, banishing us from his Kingdom (The Garden of Eden) into the World as we know it (The Kingdom of Satan who was also banished). We are all born under Satan’s government and there is only one escape, one way back and that is Jesus, which the mystery of the Gospel reveals is the LORD God himself which Colossians says;

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, for all things in heaven and on earth were created in him—all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, whether principalities or powers—all things were created through him and for him. He himself is before all things and all things are held together in him. He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in the Son and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross—through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Colossians 1:15-20

This is the real election, the only one that matters. You need to decide who is telling the truth and can deliver on his promises. Which Ruler gets your vote for Global Government;

• Satan the incumbent ruler of the World you were born into because of Adam and Eve. He says «  Do as thou wilt » His one is easy, familiar and pleasant and he offers everything now.
• Jesus, the King of Heaven. He says « I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father but through me » His way is the narrow and difficult path, the future hope.

I reject the global government on offer at the moment because I see what it really means. It is man saying we can solve everything, we can find the answers apart from God. It keeps us in Satan’s Kingdom.

But there is a Global Government coming under the LORD Jesus Christ and that gets my vote. Tick that box !