Kingdom Men Kingdom Law
September/October 2013
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The use of lordship, kingdom, and law also once carried very negative connotations, for the experience of the ancient world with these things was almost universally a negative one. Law was arbitrary and served the interests of the few. Political order was to serve the king; individuals mattered little. When God by grace rescued the Hebrews from Egyptian despotism, one of His first provisions for their future blessing was the giving of the law. It constituted a grace in itself, the gift of a law that represented not the arbitrary and abusive will of a political-religious oligarchy, but the justice system of a merciful God.
At the invitation of attorney Jerri Lynn Ward, I had an opportunity to speak to a small group of liberty-minded citizens in Austin, Texas, on June 14, 2013. There was some conspicuous opposition to that invitation, premised on the ill-informed fear that I would be peddling tyranny under color of my supposed theocratic aspirations. People were warned to avoid my presentation, and I suspect that those who bought into that poisoning of the well typified the insight of William James that "a great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices."
Young men who have been converted to the message of Christian Reconstruction and who have heeded the call to evangelize their nation with the comprehensive, culture-changing gospel of the Kingdom of Christ, believe they need seminary education to be able to succeed on the mission field. In fact, to be honest, I struggled with the same belief in the early years of my mission work in Bulgaria. A Christian seminary-especially one attached to a supposedly "Reformed" denomination in the U.S.-a young missionary believes, is a necessary step for him in learning theology and its practical applications, so that he can effectively evangelize the people to whom he is sent.
The commandment to structure Israel's government according to the law of God is a covenantal command. Since this government model was given at Sinai, it was a model of law as well as of covenant. This covenant had the seeds of what we know as American Constitutionalism, which emphasizes limitations and spheres of jurisdiction and power.
Many women who come to faith later in life initially find it difficult to view Proverbs 31 as anything but an indictment against us. It is like a mirror reflecting how poorly we measure up to this Biblical standard. It is the glorious fact of redemption in Jesus Christ that our former thoughts, words, and deeds have been buried with Christ and we emerge from His resurrection in a newness of life that makes becoming the virtuous woman attainable.
While Christians should be ready and willing to discard traditions that are demonstrably unbiblical, there is a difference between scrapping a practice that is out of accord with the Bible and scrapping a practice that has no obvious Biblical mandate.
If you are old enough to remember better times; and if you see in our nation today a seething mass of sin and folly everywhere you look-“gay pride” parades, a federal government that demands that Christians pay for other people’s abortions and contraception, families dissolving as fast as the national economy ... Well, you probably find yourself wondering, over and over again, “How in heaven's name has it ever come to this? How did we ever wind up here?” Kevin Swanson has written a book to answer that question.
The priests and the Levites had a common purpose, the service of the Lord. The priests were primarily centered on sacrifice and worship, whereas the Levites had instruction as their basic function (Deut. 33:10). While in the wilderness, the care of the sanctuary predominated for the Levites. Once they were in Canaan, only a small minority were needed for sanctuary service; the rest had broader duties, basically related to instruction.
The history of words sometimes tells us much about the history of man. The word "seizure" is a good example. Originally, the word "seizure" was a legal term for ownership. "Seize" meant legal possession, and "seizing" or "seisin" meant in early English law possession with quiet enjoyment. In common law "seizen in deed" means actual possession, and "seizing in law" means the right of present possession.