In my most recent post, I outlined the five cycles of divine discipline to a client nation unto God. An understanding of the concept of client nations and the concept of the five cycles of discipline is necessary in order to make sense of this present post. (Click here to read about client nations and the five cycles of divine discipline.)I’ve been teaching for almost 20 years that our client nation is under the cycles of discipline per Leviticus 26:14-39. On the morning of November 5, after the people of our nation elected Barack Obama as the next President of the United States of America, I concluded that I must now teach with the assumption that we are under the final cycle: that is to say, I will no longer teach that the final cycle is coming but rather, the final cycle is here. I may be wrong about this—and I hope and pray I am wrong—but for the sake of practical application, the perspective from which I communicate Bible doctrine will assume the final cycle is already here—unless I find reason to assume otherwise.
I did not determine we are under the final cycle because Obama was elected. (By the way, when he takes his oath of office, he will be my President, and I will pray with thanksgiving for him, per 1 Timothy 2:1-2. I will also pray that the Lord will guide our new President with wisdom as he begins the difficult task of fulfilling his office in these very troubling times.) No, it was not because Obama was elected. The change that is bringing our nation to its knees took place long before Election Day. In fact, the nomination of both candidates vividly reflects the change that has long been taking place in the thinking of our society. This change did not begin with this election, or even with the socialistic bailout eagerly rammed through by Congress and hastily signed by President Bush. My favorite historian, Clarence B. Carson, aptly entitled his final volume of the history of the United States, covering the period of 1929 through the time he completed the work in 1985, “The Welfare State.” Carson maintained that a major thrust toward the welfare state came very suddenly in 1933, in the midst of economic crisis, when Congress, urged by the President, “…asserted the authority of the federal government over the American economy in an unprecedented fashion.”[1] What was planted in 1933 has grown to fruition in 2008.
I’ve recently been teaching the congregation here at Finished Work Fellowship the principles of free enterprise indicated clearly in the Bible, and how socialism is an out-and-out defiance of biblical truth. But the present condition of the USA is not only a result of our nation becoming socialistic, but is also about our negative attitude toward the military establishment, our decline in morality, and many other factors: above all the negativity of Christians toward Bible doctrine. As Colonel Bob Thieme, Jr., used to say: “As goes the believer, so goes the nation.”
Well—what now? What do we have to look forward to as believers in Christ? Let’s consider some instructions God gave His people in the southern kingdom of Judah as to how they should operate as their nation was destroyed. When the fifth cycle hit Jerusalem, it was horrible, as the fifth cycle always is. There was murder, rape, plunder, and starvation, the likes of which even caused cannibalism (Jeremiah 19:9; Lamentations 2:20). Many of the people were rounded up and transported to Babylon. Before the destruction came, God provided instructions for those who would be exiled to Babylon:
This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:
"Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.
Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease.
Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."
Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have.
They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them," declares the Lord.
This is what the Lord says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place.
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:4-11)
God was saying in effect: “Move on with your lives!” In spite of the very difficult and challenging circumstances that awaited God’s people, He still had a wonderful plan for them and would provide for them even when their enemies held them captive. When the number of spiritually mature believers (and those advancing toward spiritual maturity) is no longer large enough to sustain a client nation through the principle of blessing by association (Genesis 18:23; 39:5), the Lord’s attention turns toward providing for those believers as the nation falls. Of course, those believers who are killed in the destruction go home to be with the Lord in God’s perfect timing (Hebrews 9:27). Those who survive will face the unique challenges of enslavement to a foreign power or a tyrannical regime of some sort. However, human enslavement, whether to a single master or an oppressive government, does not prevent the believer in Christ from experiencing extreme blessing from God, nor does it hinder a believer from fulfilling the wonderful spiritual life bequeathed from God. Perhaps there is no better illustration of this than in Paul’s first epistle to the believers in Corinth:
Were you called while a slave? Do not worry about it; but if you are also able to become free, rather do that. (1 Corinthians 7:21)
In the time and place in which Paul wrote, slavery was sanctioned and regulated by Roman law. In fact, slaves accounted for a very large portion of the population. When Paul suggested that bondservants should become free if they are able to do so, he did not mean to run away or to rise up against their masters and demand their freedom. That would not have been consistent with passages such as Ephesians 6:5-8; Colossians 3:22-24; 1 Timothy 6:1-2 and Titus 2:9. Futhermore, in Paul’s letter to Philemon he certainly did not defend Onesimus for running away from his master. Paul’s suggestion for slaves to become free, if possible, was an encouragement to take advantage of any opportunity to be free that was legal. There were a number of legal means of manumission. Some slaves were able to save up their wages and purchase their freedom. Sometimes a master would specify in his will that his slaves would be free upon his death. Sometimes a master would free his slaves during his own lifetime, and there was even a special ceremony involved. Also, if a slave was taken into slavery by illegal means (such as kidnapping), a legal plea, Causa Liberalis, could be brought be brought before a magistrate so that freedom might be restored. But notice what Paul said to those who might remain bondservants for the rest of their lives: “Don’t worry about it!” Why? Because from the point of spiritual regeneration until going home to be with the Lord, the issue for the Christian is not whether he or she is under human slavery—but, the issue is the fulfillment the spiritual life—and clearly, being subject to a limitation of human freedom is not an obstacle to the fulfillment of the spiritual life. In fact, the testing involved in human slavery may even be a catalyst for the fulfillment of the spiritual life—that is, it may accelerate spiritual growth. By extension, we can infer that being enslaved by a corrupt, oppressive, massive and out-of-control government, or being enslaved by a conquering nation, is not an obstacle for the execution of the spiritual life, and likewise may be a catalyst.
For he who was called in the Lord while a slave, is the Lord’s freedman; likewise he who was called while free, is Christ’s slave. (1 Corinthians 7:22)
The word “freedman” is a translation of the Greek word apeleutheros, one freed away; that is one who was a slave, but has been made free. Before receiving eternal life in Jesus Christ, you were in spiritual death and in bondage to the kingdom of darkness as well as your own sin nature—but Jesus Christ freed you the instant you believed in Him! Regardless of what your condition may be with regard to human slavery, or how limited your freedom might be because of oppressive government, you are able to walk about in the spiritual life at liberty, unhindered by anything. You are able to serve whatever human masters you are under according the principles in the Word of God that apply to your situation, and the good news is that there is no opposing force that the spiritual life cannot withstand. Although a nation can destroy its own free enterprise, as our nation has done, the free enterprise of the spiritual life goes on!
Finally, notice in verse 22 that, paradoxically, even if you might be extremely free under human conditions, you are designated as a slave—a bondservant—of Jesus Christ. As Paul goes on to say in verse 23, and as he had pointed out in 6:20, you are not your own—you were bought with a price. So, we are not only free to fulfill the spiritual life—we are obligated to fulfill it! Yet, one benefit of being a slave of Jesus Christ is that a master is responsible to take care of his bondservants and provide for them—and while many masters in the Roman Empire did not treat their slaves well, our Master is characterized by perfect integrity—and His care and provision are perfect. Furthermore, thank God that being Christ’s “slave” is only one of designations that apply to the Christain. We are also God’s children (John 1:12); and if we obey the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are His friends (John 14:15).
As the human institutions come crashing down around us, there is no reason for “gloom and doom.” It is actually a very exciting time to be alive!
Footnotes:
[1] Clarence B. Carson, A Basic History of the United States (Wadley: American Textbook Committee, 1986) Vol. V, p.1.
Scripture quotations from Jeremiah 29:4-11 taken from the NIV.
Scripture quotations from 1 Corinthians 7:21-22 taken from the NASB. http://www.lockman.org/
