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Society in general is a reflection of the condition within the church. When the bride of Christ is faithful, individuals and societies are renewed and thrive. What do I mean by this? Well, as the church faithfully disciples the nations the nations recognise Christ and His Law as their God and their law. This was the framework of the great struggle of the early Church. The emperor did not care about individuals converting to Christ; he did however care that those individuals then understood the emperor as one with limited authority under the sovereign and reigning Lord Jesus Christ. Caesars greatly feared the idea of being accountable to the King of kings. They also greatly abhored the reality of a Law above their law, that their personal and corporate actions should be governed by the One who has been given all authority in heaven and on earth ( Matthew 28). Tyranny has always felt threatened, not only by the individual freedom within Christianity, but also the the Bible's corporate governance system of limited authority which is rooted in self-government. When the church does not engage in her Great Commission God brings corporate covenantal judgment upon her. We can see this happening throughout the West today.

James Jordan explains the surges and recessions of church influence in history well. He argues in Through New Eyes (pp. 286-287) that the Scriptures do not present...

a picture of instant Kingdom, but of gradual growth and development. Jesus said the same in His parables. Let us consider the Kingdom parables of Matthew 13. In the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares, Jesus makes it clear that the wicked will always coexist with the righteous in this world ( Matthew 13:24-30), but this parable does not say that they remain at equal strength. No, rather Jesus immediately tells the Parable of the Mustard Seed, which says that the Kingdom starts small but gradually grows to become the largest of all garden trees, so that the birds, the nations of the world, rest supported by its branches ( Matthew 13:31-32). Jesus follows this up by comparing the Kingdom of God to leaven, which gradually leavens a lump of dough (v. 33). Thus, the Bible pictures the continuing growth of the Kingdom after its establishment by Jesus Christ. Of course, theologians have debated how far this will go — whether or not there will be a one-thousand year golden age, and the like. It is not my purpose here to get into this question, but simply to make the point that the Kingdom is growing from glory to glory.

Since we live in an age of setback, it is not always apparent to us that the Kingdom has, in fact, grown. But, if we take a look at the Kingdom in the year 300, we find it suffering in pre-Constantinian tribulation. A few centuries later, the Church was wrestling the tribes of Northern Europe into the Kingdom; while in the East, Christianity experienced a real golden age, and what we call “Nestorian” Christians had influence throughout India and China. A few centuries later, after the high “Middle” ages and the Protestant Reformation, Christianity greatly discipled the European countries, spread to the Americas, and gave birth to the printing press, university education, technology, and many other benefits. During the last century, Christianity extended all over the globe as a result of the missionary movement and almost eradicated slavery (though slavery still exists in some Islamic countries, and behind the iron curtain). The history of the Church is not a history of smooth advances, however. From what we have seen of Biblical history, we should expect periods of setback. We should expect that an old establishment wears thin, and declines into stultification and error, only to be replaced by a new establishment that does fuller justice to the faith. Each new establishment takes up the strengths of the previous one, but transforms it into something new and more powerful, more glorious....

Our present duties remain the same as ever. The Christian is not called to play God and manipulate history, but
to serve God in his calling. And this pulls us back to basics: Bible study, prayer, the sacraments, godly home life, public worship, faithful work on the job.

For the pastor, it means that whatever camp we are in, our duties remain the same. Let worship be a true covenant renewal, with the rite of covenant renewal restored. Let us return to God’s hymnal, the Psalter, as the foundation of our hymns (not excluding the other great hymns of the Church). Let Bible study and Biblical exposition be foremost in our teaching and preaching. In this way, we lay a foundation, we build up the saints, we prepare the way for the New Establishment to come. Who knows just how wonderful it will be?

Published in : Worldviews, Ethics

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