By Jim Roberts
The Bible has some good news for humans on planet earth, and it brings joy to share that good news with others. To really understand the good news of the Bible, one needs to have a general understanding of the different ways that God has worked with people from the beginning. In the beginning, God created all things including the first man and woman. They lived in innocence until they disobeyed God, and from there it has been all down hill for mankind in general.
About 4000 years ago, God chose Abraham out from among all people because Abraham had faith in God. God told Abraham that from him a great nation would come forth. That nation was and is the nation of Israel. Israel was even more special to God than Joseph was to Jacob. The Bible says that God considered the nation of Israel His wife. God made a marriage contract or covenant with Israel in which He promised to provide for her and protect her as long as she was faithful and loyal to God. God also promised that in the final chapters of the history of mankind, Israel would rule the world in the spiritual power of God’s love and mercy. God promised that a deliverer or messiah would come from the nation of Israel, and this messiah would lead the Jews into this world wide political kingdom.
This marriage between God and Israel was a very rocky marriage from the beginning, for on the wedding night as Moses was on the mountain top receiving the conditions of the marriage covenant, Israel was already showing her rebellious heart by worshiping a golden calf. Through the years Israel would repeatedly wander from God only to be punished and brought back to God in repentance.
Jesus Christ came as the promised messiah about 2000 years ago, but Israel as a whole refused to believe that this lowly Jesus could possibly be the messiah. As a result, God set aside His special relationship with Israel. Today, Israel is no longer God’s wife. Today, God has a special relationship with the people who do believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God who gave his life to pay for the sins of all mankind. These people today are called the Church.
Some people make the mistake of thinking that the Church took the place of Israel and that God has established the New Covenant with the Church even as He established the Old Covenant with Israel. This would make the Church the wife of God, and it would imply that God has promised Christians today that they will rule the world through the power of Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, many Christians today are trying to rule the world for God.
The Bible teaches that our present age will end with a great apostasy and the ultimate rule of the antichrist. To rule the world today, Christians would have to completely ignore human rights and all basic human freedoms in order to eliminate all evil. This is exactly the means by which the antichrist will gain power and force the world into subjugation to the devil. The book of the Revelation teaches that Jesus Christ will return to the earth to defeat the antichrist and remarry Israel. This new marriage with Israel will be the New Covenant, and this marriage will bring great blessing to all the world through a great kingdom of righteousness. Jesus Christ will not have to ignore human rights and individual liberty because the Holy Spirit of God will dwell within the hearts of the people and God’s law will be written on their hearts.
Today, our goal is not to rule the world. Our goal is to share the good news of Jesus Christ so that those who believe can experience the righteous liberty of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ did not call us to oppress the wicked but to set at liberty those who are in bondage to sin. Those of us who believe in Christ will live forever in the presence of our loving God because Jesus Christ paid for all of our sins on the cross of Calvary.
