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 HOW THE NATIONS ARE BLESSED

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  Isaiah 60:12 For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; yes; those nations shall be utterly ruined.

Through Abrahams descendant, (the Messiah;) the nations of the world will be blessed.

      The purpose of this article is to show that Isaiah 60:12 is the means through which the promise made to Abraham in Genesis 18:18, 22:18 and 26:4 would ultimately be fulfilled, as far as nations are concerned. Then, to show, what is meant by "serving" the New Jerusalem. In this day and age it is truly astounding to see the vast number of wonderful prophecies and promises about the nations that are ignored in favor of a misguided approach to Bible prophecy that does not discern the various ages often foretold of in scripture. It is so depressing to see Christianity's most popular teachers and scholars improperly apply the prophecies that accurately predicated the end times of the first covenant age and then later the age of the gentiles to this current age. Those prophecies not only named the nations they were pronouncing judgment upon but gave the dates of those judgments in multiple places in scripture. To have them then insert those prophecies into this age,  an age they do not belong has caused Gods people to completely lose any scriptural vision they might have for the future. This age has well over one hundred chapters of it's own prophecies dedicated to it. Good news prophecies about the nations of the world being blessed. Prophecies of blessing that for the last 500 years  have been clearly coming to pass in various nations. In fact so dramatic is this transformation that the entire order of the ancient world has been turned on it's head. For instance. Outside of family, or tribal government the entire history of the world is one of despotism. There was never such a thing as is commonly seen in nations today, representative government, by and for the people. The idea of a king or dictator is such and abomination in the eye's of the world today that even the dictators and tyrants have to spew out a constant stream of  propaganda claiming they were "elected" or "chosen" as a true representative of the "people." In all the ages past slavery was the state of half of mankind. In a certain sense all were slaves to the will of the rulers. Yet in this age slavery is illegal.  We could look to  the state of the weaker sex in the nations that have had the Gospel for centuries and compare it to places that have had little influence from that Gospel and the Government of God. Like the nations were Islam bears rule. Yet even with these examples that shine as the light of the Son. Our celebrity pastors and teachers preach that the world is steadily growing worse and worse. "Evil is on the rise and soon will dominate the world according to," (they say,) "Bible Prophecy." The problem with such a myopic view is not only what was already stated, but that Bible prophecy is not comparing the beginning of the 21st century to the 1950's. (Which weren't that great anyway.) It isn't comparing the Victorian age to the horrendous wars of the 20th century. It is comparing the world that was to come after the fall of the Roman Empire in 1453 A.D. to the despotism, depravity, tyranny, slavery, idolatry and madness of the whole of the ancient world that proceeded this age.

     Here is a short list of Bible prophecies concerning the salvation of the nations.

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      It is quite apparent by the short list of prophecies above that at the very least God intends to "tame" the nations of the world with the Gospel the same way he tamed the despotic, violent, pagan, idolatrous and barbaric western world.  Some might object, believing that the western world had the Gospel from the time of Christ and it must be other factors that brought about the change we now enjoy. While it is true that the Gospel existed and was preached from the time of Christ up until the 15th century; and, while it was true that it did turn the western world from the madness of idolatry. It did not have the effects it has now due to the lack of written materials, Bibles specifically. In fact Bibles were illegal for common people to posses throughout most of those centuries. Nor were they available in their own languages anyway. Nations or peoples that periodically got a hold of them and had great revivals which gave rise to freedom fighters seeking to overthrow the despotism of the empires were simply crushed by the powers that existed. In fact, without saying exactly what the means were that God would use to bring about the fulfillment of his earthly promises of freedom , justice, the rule of law and the end of despotism. The Bible simply prophesied that during the time period the Roman Empire existed, it would be a useless endeavor to take up the sword against the empires and despotisms that ruled the earth. Revelation 13:9 If any man have an ear, let him hear. 10 He that leads into captivity shall go into captivity: he that kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. Lets also be clear about those empires, contrary to the claims of Christianity by some of them; that the power behind them was Satan. Revelation 13:2 And the beast which I saw was like to a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. These four animals are the same four named and interpreted in Daniel as representing the empires of Babylon, Medo\Persia, Greece and Rome. These four measure the time period of the age of the Gentiles from the time Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem in 597 BC until the fall of the Roman empire in 1453 AD.  It was the same year that empire fell, that the first commercial printing press when on line in Europe, (1452-1454.) Within a decade printed books and materials were being produced in the millions of copies a year. Illegally, Bibles soon made their way into the hands of the common people in Northern Europe. Not only this but they were translated into their own languages. The empires of the world sought to militarily crush the outbreak but for the first time failed. These peoples in northern Europe began to order their cultures and eventually build nations in the new world based on Biblical principle. Looking at this phenomena through the lens of history there has pretty much been constant warfare to stop this growing influence the Government of God is having in the nations through the Gospel and his written Word. However, and just as the prophesies of Gog and Magog that illustrate the nations and peoples who seek to stop this growing influence predict. These efforts, with great loss of human life, have largely failed. The Word of God is slowly making it into the hands and hearts of 100's of millions of peoples through the Gospel. The nations will be transformed just as others have in the past.

 The New Jerusalem

     It is very unfortunate that the present state of the wests most popular pastors and teachers is such that this article needs to take the time to explain what the New Jerusalem in Bible prophecy illustrates. It should be common knowledge amongst students of God's Word. There are dozens of chapters of Bible prophecy about the New Jerusalem. In fact all of the verses in Revelation chap. 21-22 come directly or indirectly from other prophecies about this "city" of the Lord. They, in their context, i.e., in the context of the Bible in its entirety paint a very clear picture of what is being illustrated in Revelation 21-22.  Hopefully, once the reader goes through a couple of these chapters they can begin to see the error of looking at the bride of Christ as a physical city rather than an illustration of Gods saints.

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Human government

     First lets be clear.  Outside of ancient Israel as it was founded; that is before it appointed a king. There is very little  instruction in scripture on this subject. Except perhaps the books Moses wrote, overthrowing the despotism of the ancient world was simply not on the radar screen at the time the Bible was written. Idolatry was the great evil that had to first be overcome before anything else could be accomplished. Its not that the despotisms of the ancient world are not condemned in scripture. Everyone understood the oppressions against the poor and the needy, the widow and the fatherless, the meek, the slave and the servant of God was primarily the responsibility of the despots who ruled the world. Mankind certainly yearned for freedom, justice and limited human government rather than the rule of the arbitrary will of men. The reason the Bible isn't filled with instructions about what types of human government and how to set them up is that a foundation of righteousness had to be laid in peoples hearts and their cultures first before this could even really be addressed. In God's mind this was a few thousand years off and there was no need to put useless information in the scripture that they who received it could not appropriate for themselves. The forms of government best fitted to a knowledgeable and  moral and  people would come about as the fruit of their righteousness and experience. When the time was right, based on their knowledge and experience, and with Gods inspiration and aid. Peoples would intellectually develop and produce safe forms of human government best suited to their circumstances. This is exactly what started to happen when the Bible got into the hands of Northern Europeans after the Roman Empire fell in 1453 AD. Lets also be clear that even if a nation is founded and set up to serve the interests of the Government of God that it can fall away. It is perhaps a big a job maintaining a nation and its people to voluntarily walk according to Biblical principle as it is founding one. So, as a whole this enterprise is a relatively recent endeavor in light of the 7000 years of human history. It is still somewhat experimental. Aggravating this infancy of nations beginning to walk in what God has for mankind. Satan and his minions work day and night to overthrow the whole enterprise, muddying the water so that the peoples have no clear vision on how to accomplish Gods good will for the peoples. They just know they want freedom and prosperity yet have little idea of the real cost in gaining and maintaining it. This isn't just a matter of voting oneself the things and people necessary to accomplish the task. In fact without the proper knowledge and righteousness people will simply vote for their own slavery and eventual destruction.

     How does a nation serve the New Jerusalem?

       Nations can serve the New Jerusalem to various degrees. The practical reality of this service is really quite simple. That the Gospel is allowed in law and practice to be fully preached and the work of God's saints and churches to change hearts and turn people towards good would be fully allowed and appreciated.  We could look at varying degree's of this service on a scale with the bottom representing a nation and people that merely tolerate the proclamation of the Gospel and the work of God making people disciples of Christ. With this degree of service the culture may see no real value in the Gospel being proclaimed and has no knowledge, or refuses to see the positive transformation culturally that occurs when people give up their life of sin. To them Christians are just proselytizing the way any other religion does. In essence these types of nations are just outwardly mimicking the practices of free nations for the sake of their own freedom and prosperity. If there ceased to be practical examples of nations who have based their cultures and governments on Biblical principle then these nations that are mimicking them would quickly fall into despotism. We have 7000 years of human history to scientifically prove that people left to their own devises, people without Gods Word in their hands and homes are no match for Satan and his manipulations.
     The upper level of the scale would be represented by nations that actively promote the proclamation of the Gospel and the peoples devotion to Word of God according according to the  dictates of each individuals own consciences. These nations, by public consensus would center their children's education around the Bible. Or, shall we say  purposely use the Bible as a foundation upon which they build cultures and nations. A nation that truly understood Biblical principle would understand that men could not be compelled by law to follow the dictates of scripture as a follower of Christ or a child of God. Nor could they be compelled by law to govern their behavior according to a civil society who's morals are based in scripture. They could as a people and a government encourage voluntary submission as dictated by the individuals own conscience. They could also craft laws against common crime and corruption and the things that so easily lead men away from scriptural principle like adultery, sodomy, gaming, public drunkenness, drug use, prostitution, sexual abuse of children  and a whole host of social ill's that if not fought against and allowed to just run their course unhindered can cause a whole nation to backslide. Obviously there is only so much a people can wisely accomplish via law. These social ills are best dealt with via the transforming power of the Gospel. That being said, the legalization of these practices is cultural or national surrender to evil. Some readers at this point may be realizing that what is being said is nothing new.  This push and pull and push back is what has been going on for centuries. BINGO! That is not the revelation though! The revelation is this is exactly what the Bible prophesied! The realties you see on the ground, the culture wars and shooting wars. The fight between good and evil, between those who desire Biblical principle to govern our affairs and those who's desire is to serve their own selfish interests above all other. That is what the Bible prophesied about this age along with promise and prophecy that the long term trend for good growing and coming out on top is already written! This diametrically opposed to these last few Biblically illiterate generations pop culture teachings that place the end time prophecies about the last two ages into this age.

Why is this so important?

     Ask yourself what it would be like as a Christian to have no scripture on loving your spouse, raising your children. What if you had the story of Christ dying on the cross and being raised from the dead for the forgiveness of your sins but no instructions or examples of that good news being published, preached or even that you should? One could think of many different subjects the scripture is replete with instructions and examples that without you'd basically be a rudderless ship. Actually look at the superstition and darkness of the ancient world during the time period of the Roman empire where what was called the Christian world didn't have Bibles to read. It isn't called the dark ages for nothing. It is not that some good wasn't accomplished. That some people were going to heaven. Its not that some reforms and cultural changes were not brought about through those who did have access to the scripture. It's that as a whole the true Christians were prevented by the circumstances that existed from bringing forth the fruit in the earth that God wants the peoples to possess and enjoy. It's no different today when most Christians have absolutely no scriptural vision for the future, instead they actually have a false one purportedly from the scripture. They might as well have no scripture on the subject at all. They are in fact a rudderless ship going somewhere but going nowhere. Because they have no scripture laid out before them telling them what they can reasonably expect in the future if they do the will of God then they cannot reasonably expect anything. They have nothing to work toward except their own myopic personal character development.  In fact that is the focus of most churches. Nothing wrong with character development, its the will of God but what about the development of the culture and nations? Is that not also the will of God? Can God develop and change your character without the direct cooperation of your will and actions? Can he change your families character  without the direct cooperation and labor of some of the family members? If not than how on earth is God expected to change the culture and nations without the direct cooperation and labor of that nations believers? What if the believers in a nation founded on Biblical principle believed that the Bible teaches they will not overcome the evil in their nations and that evil will overcome them? Try that out with your your own personal development or families. Believing that evil and sinfulness will prevail in your personal lives and that your children will  fall into great depravity, then God will judge them. Tell us all how good that would work out if you thought the Bible taught you were to live righteously and train your children in the way they should go but that it also prophesied your total failure? The fact is if you thought the scripture taught these things you would quite naturally never develop spiritually or intellectually in such a way as to overcome the evil. Oh some would by chance but as a whole failure to have or accomplish the will of God would be a natural outcome. That is what we are seeing in many nations in the world that have some foundation in Biblical principle. A very radical, wicked and motivated minority setting those nations up for destruction and a very large but somewhat disillusioned majority losing to the radical motivated minority.  It's not that the majority who consist of real Christians and others who live their personal lives according to various standards of Biblical principle don't want to overcome the destructive and lawless minority. Its that they do not know how to and that is tied directly to the fact that they are not spiritually or intellectually developing along the lines necessary to win the day. Very simply, this is because of the falsehoods about the future and Bible prophecy they have accepted as gospel truth.  The simplest and most natural solution to this dilemma is not a group of "leaders" "marshaling the the troops" to fight the cultural war. No, the solution is for Gods saints to get their hearts back into the Bible and accept the claims, the prophecy and promises of scripture concerning this age and the will of God for the earth. If this is done then God himself will see to it that his children will develop along the lines necessary to actually win these political battles and overcome evil in general, both cultural and nationally. 
     It is perfectly understandable that some who have realized these things are overwhelmed by a sense of hopelessness regarding this situation. Hearing and seeing that the message on all the airwaves and internet 24-7, 365 days a year is error and falsehood concerning Bible prophecy and the future of the world. To that, let us always be reminded that God saw this time period of the rise of socialism and at the same time the  rise of  pop culture end time teachings seemingly tailor made to remove Christian political opposition to the socialist hell bent on destroying Christian influence in nations. Let us always turn to the Word and have some peace that the God who foresaw all of this thousands of years before it happened also said of this time period. Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given: and the government shall be on his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, on the throne of David, and on his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from now on even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. Not our zeal but his will see this long term trend towards justice, judgment and peace due to the increase of his government in the hearts of men.

Some personal testimony on the timing of Gods work in the earth regarding its revelation to our generation.

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Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” ESV
Psalm 68:11 The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it.

© Daniel Martinovich 2014-2015