The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice;
let the many coastlands be glad!
2 Clouds and thick darkness are all around him;
righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
3 Fire goes before him
and burns up his adversaries all around.
4 His lightnings light up the world;
the earth sees and trembles.
5 The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord of all the earth.6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
and all the peoples see his glory.
7 All worshipers of images are put to shame,
who make their boast in worthless idols;
worship him, all you gods!8 Zion hears and is glad,
and the daughters of Judah rejoice,
because of your judgments, O Lord.
9 For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth;
you are exalted far above all gods.10 O you who love the Lord, hate evil!
Psalm 97:1-12
He preserves the lives of his saints;
he delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
11 Light is sown for the righteous,
and joy for the upright in heart.
12 Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous,
and give thanks to his holy name!
Whether I am politically a radical left-wing progressive, a centrist, a radical right-winger, or anything in between, what I really want and what my political philosophy is trying to achieve is a good government that will provide the best for me and the society to which I belong. I believe we all want the same outcome of peace and prosperity, all people loving and treating one another accordingly. That would solve the problems of humanity at a certain level. We would have no homelessness, no poverty, and no starvation. Couldn’t we all say Amen to a government like that? Don’t we all want those kinds of results?
The tremendous political battles are about getting that kind of good government. These arguments seem to me to be all on a continuum of how much government to have. On the one end are the libertarians who want the least amount of government possible; maximum autonomy for the individual. The opposite end of the spectrum is a maximally controlling government. This could be fascist or communist. The key is control. There are many iterations between the poles, but the ideal of each position is “good government.” The different places on the spectrum are determined by worldview.
Biblical followers of Jesus will generally fall to the right of the spectrum. We want to protect human life, including the unborn, and are therefore opposed to abortion, the murder of our babies before they are born. We understand from Scripture that God has created us as male and female and are therefore opposed to the LGBTQ+ agenda for humanity. We know it to be destructive. Those who reject the Biblical worldview fall to the opposite end of the spectrum to a greater or lesser degree.
We all hate the fighting, anger, and chaos that characterizes our societies today. We don’t have good government. When I say “we,” I mean every nation on earth. Some governments are better than others, but none are really good. Some are terrible. In particular, I am thinking of the countries characterized by civil war and internal strife costing human life.
What we all want, and many don’t know it, is the kingdom of God. It is life on earth where hearts are turned toward God; consequently, we love one another. It is summed up with the commands to love the Lord with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength and love our neighbors as ourselves.
The critical paragraph in Psalm 97 says it all.
Zion hears and is glad,
Psalm 97:8-9
and the daughters of Judah rejoice,
because of your judgments, O Lord.
For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth;
you are exalted far above all gods.
The atheists, agnostics, and worshippers of other gods don’t think they want the kingdom of God because it requires that they repent of their current religions and worldviews. I understand that. I also know that the only way to “good government” is through the Lordship of Jesus, who is exalted above all gods.
Is it reasonable to think that the kingdom of God can come on earth as it is in heaven? The answer is a simple yes. I know most of us don’t believe that even those of us who think we believe the Bible and expect all its prophesies to come to pass. Would Jesus command us to pray for something that could not and will not come to pass? He commands us in his basic training on prayer to pray. “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Most believers have the whole training prayer, known as the Lord’s Prayer, memorized and recite it frequently. The question is, do we believe it? Lots of us don’t unless we consider the kingdom of God as it will be manifest after the return of Christ in his second coming. I believe all Christians can agree on that.
Some Christians believe the kingdom of God will come on earth through preaching the gospel and Christianizing the institutions of all societies. I would love to see that. What I often see with these folks is, however, an effort to Christianize the institutions before seeing most of the society repenting and believing the gospel and submitting to King Jesus in their personal lives and their relationships with other people around them. The kingdom has to come at the heart level first by discipling the people of the nations. It will then be natural for their institutions to be “Christianized.” We cannot force people into the kingdom of God. Jesus made it clear except you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. Those who are not born again cannot even perceive the possibility of the kingdom of God; they cannot see it, let alone enter it. This means that the only way to bring about the kingdom of God on earth and see the fulfillment of the prayer Jesus taught us to pray is for multitudes to be born again. This is the priority.
Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20) This is the pathway to seeing the kingdom of God come on earth.
Will we see this good government come before Jesus comes? I don’t know. Maybe. Some folks believe it will happen. We all believe that, ultimately, the kingdom of God will come on earth, and we will live in the New Heaven and New Earth. It will undoubtedly be fulfilled then, if not before.
The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Now that is good government.
Pray for the kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven with anticipation. Pray it with specific application in your life, family, neighborhood, and community. Pray it, not by rote, but with faith. As you pray, identify things that will be different when the kingdom comes to those areas you are concerned about. We all long for the kingdom of God; we just don’t know it. Many of us have a perverted idea of what the kingdom of God means and how it comes. We are afraid of it. So, we who have an inkling of the kingdom must lead the way by faith in prayer.
Identify things around you that are important to you that would be different if the kingdom of God were to come on earth. What about our education system? What about broken family relationships? What about proper care for widows and orphans, and the homeless? How would these things be different if the kingdom of God were to come on earth as it is in heaven? Pray for the kingdom of God to come on earth in these specific areas that are of concern to you. Exercise your faith and pray with anticipation that it will come and kingdom solutions will come into being. Don’t allow yourself to pray the Lord’s prayer by rote, Pray with faith mixed with your prayers. Then persist. Never give up. Pray without ceasing.
Most important, pray for specific people to be born again because if they aren’t born again, they cannot even see the kingdom of God, let alone enter into it and its righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
