01/23/17 GOD AND GOVERNMENT...

01/23/17 GOD AND GOVERNMENT...

Here are some Biblical facts of life.
(each of the following points are based on Biblical revelation and they are intended to be obeyed, not optional)

* God is King of all kings.
* God rules in righteousness (God sets the standard of right and wrong).
* God is the supreme and absolute King, Lawgiver Judge.
* God is the Author of Human Government.
* God appointed Human Government as His instrument of civil order in an unredeemed world.
* Though God established Israel, and set apart Judah, as His earthly kingdoms in the Old Testament, God does not have an earthly kingdom in the world today.
* The kingdom of God today is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace and joy.
* The kingdom of God today is the rule of God in the hearts of those who trust Jesus as their Lord, Master, King, and Head of the Church.
* Though God does not have an earthly kingdom today, He expects His moral law to be the standard for all men.
* God gave the responsibility for spiritual order to the Church, and the responsibility for civil order to the State.
* The State and the Church are required to be subservient to God in this present world.
* The Church does not rule the State and is not ruled by the State. Both are ruled by God.
* Anyone or any government that does not submit to the moral law of God is lawless and condemned.
* God established the function of Human Government to be threefold...

1. To protect the righteous.
(notice... Protection is not for political or economic ideologies, but protection for the righteous. The righteous are those who live in submission to the moral law of God in the New Testament).

2. To punish the wicked.
(notice... Punishment is to be meted out to those who violate the moral law of God and the legitimate laws of the land).

3. To provide society with an atmosphere of peace, and law and order.
This is not the foundation for a Theocratic rule or kingdom. Men are still free to choose their pathways. But God has not suspended His rule, though He allows people to choose their loyalties. Human Government is not a Divine form of the movie series, "The Purge." God allows human rebellion, He does not sanction human rebellion.

There is more that can be said, but this is basic Human Government as established by God.