Philippians 3:20 says, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ...” We’re not to stand for the politics of this world but for the politics of heaven, for our citizenship is in heaven. Our allegiance is to our Heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. The word translated “citizenship” is from the Greek word “Politiea” from which we get the English word politics. The root word for Politea is the Greek word “Polis” which is the basis of the English word Police. In Ancient Greece, the polis was the wall around the city-state that defined the citizens who lived inside the protection of its ramparts. These walls protected the city’s inhabitants from their enemies and defined the people as citizens and loyal supporters of the leaders of their city state. As Christians we are citizens of heaven. Heaven defines our homeland and our ruler, God our Heavenly Father. As loyal subjects of our Lord Jesus Christ, even though we hold dual citizenship, we are Christians first and Americans second. We are Christians who happen to be Americans and not Americans who happen to be Christians. Our true homeland is in heaven and we pledge our allegiance to our Heavenly Father and our Sovereign Lord Jesus Christ.
The prophet Daniel had risen through the political ranks of ancient Babylon. Proverbs 18:16 says, “A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before great men.” Daniel sought God for wisdom and made wise decisions as God directed him. King Darius perceived that Daniel had an “excellent spirit” and appointed him the chief over the three presidents who served under the king. These three presidents were in charge of 120 governors or princes who ruled over the people of the kingdom of Babylon. The other presidents and princes plotted to overthrow Daniel, so they scrutinized his life and his actions to find something they could charge against him. However, they could not find any fault in him. Since they knew that Daniel served his God, they devised a trap to use Daniel’s service to God against him.
They appealed to the king’s pride to sign a decree that no one in the kingdom could make a petition to any man or god except to King Darius within the next thirty days. If anyone violated this decree, they would be thrown into a den of lions. The king signed the decree which could not be rescinded according to the law of the Meades and Persians. Even though Daniel knew of the decree, he continued to pray to God three times a day with his window open toward Jerusalem as he had always done. The other governors observed and recorded that Daniel continued to pray to his God. They came to King Darius and said, Daniel has violated your decree that no one can make a petition to any man or god within thirty days. According to the law of the Meads and the Persians which cannot be altered, Daniel must be thrown into the den of lions. King Darius was angry when he realized that the decree he signed was a trap for Daniel whom he had appointed as his chief advisor. He sought counsel to find a way to avoid sending Daniel to the lion’s den, but the terms of the decree could not be rescinded. Before Daniel was taken away to be cast into the den of lions, King Darius said to Daniel, The God whom you serve will deliver you.
Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den and King Darius spent a sleepless night worrying about Daniel’s fate. The next day, the king rushed to the opening of the lion’s den and said, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou serves continually, able to deliver thee from the lions? “. Then said Daniel unto the king, “O king, live forever. My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocence was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt. Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God.” (Daniel 6:20-23)
As is often said, joy is not the absence of pain, but the presence of the Lord. God allows persecution to teach us that tribulation worketh patience and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope make not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us. The word for experience means “proven character.” God’s character in us is proven by trials that refine us. Pastor Chuck Smith said, God will deliver us in the fire, by the fire, or through the fire. According to Proverbs, “The crucible is for silver, and the furnace for gold, but God refines the heart.”
We’re proven and reproved by the testing of the trials, tribulations, pressures, and persecution of this world. The Apostle Paul learned this lesson when he prayed three times for God to remove his thorn in the flesh. The first two times, God did not answer. The third time, God answered but the answer was not what Paul was expecting. God said to Paul, My strength is made perfect in your weakness, my grace is sufficient for thee. Therefore, Jesus said, blessed are they when men shall revile you and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake, for great is your reward in heaven. Through the trials of life, we will understand that there is no victory without a spiritual battle. Through the pandemic, pandemonium, pressures, and persecution of this world we will learn the greatest blessing of all ... thy grace is sufficient for me, that we may live as living witnesses of His power to overcome, that this light affliction which is but for a moment is not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall follow. .. for great is your reward in heaven!
Your brother in Christ, Michael
No comments:
Post a Comment