(1) Submission to God’s Rule
It has always been difficult to rule over people with opposing views of what constitutes good governance. The Bible presents man as a creature obstinately rejecting carefully devised laws meant to ensure his peace, even persecuting anyone who works for his good. Jeremiah was such a one, purified by God to lay out the good way for Israel, but was vilified for his efforts. Drawing God’s attention to his ordeal, he pleaded: “Give heed to me, O LORD, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me. Shall evil be recompensed for good? For they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them” (Jeremiah 18:19-20). Though Jeremiah viewed himself as working to revamp Israel’s decaying society, his call for repentance and submission to God was mocked by his peers—the very citizens meant to benefit from that effort.
Accepting God as one’s overlord presupposes allowing oneself to be guided by principles designed without one’s own imput. It is a tacit acknowledgment of and submission to God’s will, irrespective of what opinion humans share about why the arrangement was put in place.15 It also means denying ourselves the liberty to re-order or re-cast the truth of God’s word to convey a meaning more in harmony with our own perceptions of what the good life should entail. A large household sometimes gives the picture of a congregation of worshipers just as St. Paul illustrated it: “But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work” (2 Timothy 2:20-21).
Those who aspire to learn to live as God would have them do must essentially relate with Him as children beloved of their parents, ready to abide by rules outlining acceptable patterns of behavior. No responsible parent would deal kindly with insubordination. The more refined the parents, the higher their meticulous adherence to principles of good living in the sight of God, and the more prone they are to inculcate the same in their children. Cheung explained why this is essential: “One of your advantages as parents is that you have ready access to your children while they are yet young, so you should teach them to think biblically now….One reason that you should teach your children biblical apologetics in the first place is to preserve faith, and training them in all aspects of biblical lifestyle will do much to further this end.”16 Unfortunately, some parents cede this responsibility to the church, forgetting that it may have less access to their children than other stakeholders.
The God-fearing parent deems it an obligation to set a good example that inculcate a right attitude to regulations meant for the general welfare: “If children witness callous indifference, skepticism, or outright infidelity on the part of their parents in regard to spiritual matters, more often than not those children will exhibit the same callousness, skepticism, or infidelity in their own lives.”17 And since good Christian parents recognize that God supervises their affairs, that almost always translates into guiding their own children to walk orderly. They pass this knowledge down to their children, who grow to see a connection between their loyalty and general submission to God.
This demonstrated relationship between heaven and earth permeates many aspects of man’s daily life: leadership, economic wellbeing, and general dealings with one's fellow men. It underlines Hesselgrave's definition of the pattern of God's control over His works: “If God has revealed His will and plan, then almost by definition the strategy He employed in doing so takes priority over human strategies.”19 The Bible testifies that the supremacy and overall supervision of God will check man’s excesses: “If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they” (Ecclesiastes 5:8). Believers mindful of the higher overseer humble themselves to live according to His desire for them. The obstinate do not generally fare well.
When some of the kings who sat on the throne of ancient Israel ceased looking to God as the force behind their office and achievement, God withdrew His recognition of them as His representatives on earth. The prophet Ahijah was dispatched to announce God's Judgment: “For the LORD shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their groves, provoking the LORD to anger. And he shall give up Israel because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin” (1 Kings 14:15-16). Look up also Jeremiah 13:11 and 25:29. God’s choice of the type of relationship He intended to forge with Israel as reiterated by the prophet Amos, and His disappointment resulting from its failure, describe the very course of the union: “You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for your iniquities” (Amos 3:2).
God viewed Himself as in a special relationship with Israel to the exclusion of all others. And that was why Israel became a nation that observed the rite of circumcision as a signature accepting that agreement. But Amos, expressing the feelings of God, went on to ask: “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” (3:3). This question runs through God's whole controversy in His dealings with Israel. When the people deviated from walking the path enshrined in the laws He gave them, it became difficult for God to continue to do business as usual, since He is, as it were, a Man of principle. He proceeded to abort the relationship by a decree, thereby bringing all hypocrisy to a complete end (Jeremiah 52:1-15).
Leadership can succeed only when the leader and the led agree on a common purpose. When the led disagrees with the leader over the goals and direction, it usually becomes difficult for both to live in harmony. Such has always been the case of God and the majority of His people. He leads through agents carefully selected and trained to organize the willing to live in harmony with His determination for them. That is why those who refuse to follow the instruction given through these agents are said to have rejected God (Matthew 10:40-42). The purpose of His Kingdom is to redirect the human race to seek harmony with Him. The outline of His future plan for man suggests that disharmony will eventually come to an end, and man will then look to heaven for direction throughout eternity: “Thy people also shall be righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified” (Isaiah 60: 21). All will live to praise the Most High God, when the stubborn-hearted who would not have Him rule over them shall have ceased from among men. The obedient will live by His law, and He will be an everlasting light to them.
(2) Resisting Satan, the Devil
"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the Devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist steadfast in the faith, ....2 Peter 5: 8-9. It is a common knowledge that the Devil seeks to destroy the faith of believers at every opportunity he has, but how he operates is not fully known to many people.
The Devil is a spirit being who has the power to make things happen in the physical just like God. The difference is that God Almighty, being the creator of all things, including Satan, has the authority over him. This is why we read in Revelation chapter 20 that his end is at hand.
In Proverbs 21:1, it is written, "The king's heart is in the hands of the Lord, as the rivers of water, he turneth it withersoever he will." When God is to make things happen in the physical, he uses humans. An example is the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt. Moses was used to bring the Israelites out of Egypt though God said in Exodus 3:8 that He is come down to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians. The same thing with the Devil. A typical example is the temptation of Job. After Satan boasted before God in the spirit realm that he could make Job sin, he did not come in person to tempt him, but did things capable of creating doubt in his heart regarding God's sovereignty. When Satan realized that Job was not moved, he used his wife unsuccessfully to persuade him to curse God. We read in that account that Job upheld his faith and was blessed as a result (see Job chapters 1, 2 and 42).
Satan is described in the Bible as the God of this world (2 Corinthians 4:3, 4). He controls happenings in the world by agents placed in authority (Isaiah 14:3-23). These agents can be political leaders or organizations whose ideas are inspired by Satan himself (Revelation 13:2-4). These ideas become guideposts for exercising authority in society. The UN is one organization that was formed to pursue the cause of peace and progress for humankind, and nations have come to look to her for solutions to problems facing the world, casting God aside. The result is that God's laws now take the back seat, and many no longer care to walk by them. Iniquity is on the rise as a result and fast becoming institutionalized in many places. The idea of equality between the sexes, human rights, freedom of expression, as laudible as they might seem to many, have also sapped sacred energy from some values designed by the creator to promote peace, order, and general wellbeing among the races (2 Timothy 3:1-2; Isaiah 24:5). The root of disharmony in marriages, unhealthy child rearing practices is traceable to this short-sightedness. Divorce is rife, and parental authority is under threat. The new usages of modern man is eating deep into the psyche of the unaware. Few know that Satan is taking advantage of man's poor knowledge of his influences in them, making sinful behaviour to become normal in society. Those who otherwise would become holy are ashamed to even try: virginity before marriage is no longer sacrosanct even in Christian nations. People are increasingly comfortable holding on to their bad tastes while attending regular church services.
Saint Paul wrote to the Corinthians in his second epistle that we are in a warfare with forces outside our physical environment: "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:3-5, see also Ephesians 6:12).
What are those imaginations and high things that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God? They are unwholesome values that originate outside God's prescriptions for how to rule well (2 Samuel 23:3). They come from influences of Satan which many deny.
To avoid these influences Paul advised that the armour of God should be worn (Ephesians 6:10-18). Many would rather spend time fasting, praying, and "binding" the Devil instead of taking steps to adjusting their lifestyles in line with good values endorsed by God. Obeying God's laws put one in a better footing to resist the influences of the Enemy. Living by good example is a kind of work which Saint James emphasised must be added to faith, otherwise our confessions would be baseless (James 2:17, 20).
To resist the Devil successfully, we have to live and abide in the ways of God. The following can be a guide to helping us gain approval before God:
(1) Meditate on the word of God (Psalm 119:11, 105; Romans 10:17; Matthew 4:3-11).
(2) Learn not to blend with the crowd (Exodus 23:2; Luke 16:15; James 4:4; Romans 12:1-2).
(3) Embrace total submission to God's will (Proverbs 3:5-7; James 5:7, 8).
When we wholeheartedly submit to the will of God, we become a true example of that man described in Psalm 1:1-3 (a righteous person who live in spiritual abundance).
Do you have comments or questions? Email the author at: nomaren@unfoldinggovernment.org
