Last week we discussed briefly the attitude toward authority that the Lord will bless. To a large degree, King David and his extraordinary and unique ability to touch the heart of God was the product of King Saul. It was mostly Saul's persecution and unrighteous treatment of David that helped fashion him into one of such remarkable character and grace.
The same will be true in the lives of those the Lord is preparing for significant authority—they will have significant tests to pass. How they relate to authority is the most basic test and one that must be passed before promotion from the Lord will come. Many disqualify themselves from being given great authority or being used in a great way because they rebel against authority. Even when it is unrighteous authority like that of King Saul, we must treat all authority with the utmost dignity and respect because "all authority" has been appointed by God, as we read in Romans 13, and the way we treat authority reveals how we feel about God's authority. Those who inherit the promises will be those who are "diligent to obey," not those who are crafty like the serpent, always looking for an excuse to bend the rules.
Again, lawlessness is repeatedly prophesied to be one of the issues which will cause the unprecedented human problems at the end of the age. Therefore, to prepare for this we must fortify ourselves and our children with a deep and true respect for authority. Such will increasingly stand out in stark contrast to everyone else in the world, which is precisely what true Christians should always do. Those who have a greater desire to fit in and be accepted by other people than they do to please the Lord will be found on the wrong side of the emerging battle between light and darkness.
Of course, the real conflict comes when the authorities are so anti-Christian. However, was that not the case when the New Testament exhortations to respect and obey authority were written? We must understand that God uses these in our lives just like He did with King Saul in the life of David.
As we have touched on briefly, the different governments devised by mankind may all have some aspects of kingdom government that will actually emerge in the government of the kingdom of God. As we have also covered, the real foundation of the government of God is the people in the government, not the form of government. You can have the best form of government possible and still have bad government if you have bad people in it. You can have a bad form of government and still have good government if you have good people in it. Therefore, God always builds on the people first and the form of government is secondary. This includes church government, from which the government of the kingdom will emerge. The form and characteristics of government can be important, but not nearly as important as the people in it. God is now dealing with the people who will serve and rule with Him in His kingdom much more than trying to get us to develop the right form of government.
George Washington, the father of American democracy, was a remarkable man with remarkable wisdom and a remarkable ability to mobilize men, while at the same time having amazingly little selfish ambition. Such people are truly rare in history. The democracy that Washington helped to plant after the revolution was far from perfect, and it was far from what we can expect from the kingdom of God—nevertheless, it was full of grace. However, the democracy that emerged after the French Revolution was one of the cruelest and most diabolical governments in history and set the stage for Napoleon to ravage the rest of Europe for a generation. Even so, Napoleon's dictatorship also gave birth to some of the most wise and just principles of justice that have been a blessing to generations since.
My point is that the best people or the best governments can do some very bad things. Likewise, the worst people and the worst governments can do some good things. That is the nature of things in this age. We even see this in the Gospels where those who often demonstrated the greatest faith with insight into the truth of who Jesus was would also make some of the greatest blunders. Right after Jesus gave Peter one of the greatest blessings in Scripture for hearing straight from the Father and gave him the keys of the kingdom, Jesus had to immediately turn around and call him Satan!
Likewise, King Saul fought the battles of the Lord and accomplished some great things that helped set the stage for the kingdom of David, one of the greatest biblical models of the coming kingdom of God. Therefore, David honored Saul, even after Saul began to persecute him, even after he killed the priests of the Lord, and even after Saul died. In those days, whenever someone ascended to the throne, they would kill all of the previous king's relatives in order to remove all potential rivals. David did the opposite—he went looking for Saul's relatives so that he could honor them and even bring some of them into his kingdom and have them eat at his own table. Why would David do this?
He was obeying the commandment to honor our fathers and mothers. This is the only commandment with a promise, and that promise is so we will live long lives and be able to dwell in the land that the Lord gives to us (see Deuteronomy 5:16). This was the key to David's longevity—even the ability to establish a throne that would abide forever! This commandment does not say that we should just honor righteous fathers and mothers; David was going to honor the one who came before him regardless of what he had done.
Contrary to this attitude, I have watched many pastors follow someone who has made mistakes and do all that they can to distance themselves from the previous leaders, making it as clear as possible how they are different from them and therefore better. They may be different, and they may be better at that time, but such will usually fall themselves and bring as much damage and confusion as the previous leaders. Why? God resists the proud and gives His grace to the humble (see James 4:6).
So how does this apply to the kingdom? The kingdom of God is coming to displace all of the governments on this earth. However, those who are preparing the way for the kingdom, and who will rule and reign with Christ, are not going to come bashing the present governments, but rather honoring them. Let us grow in this nature now by honoring the authority that God has in our lives, whether parents, bosses, or supervisors, the police, and the governments at all levels. Instead of just criticizing them, turn your criticisms into intercession so that both you and them can be transformed for good.
