Tonight in Bible study, Jason made an excellent point: we've got to understand that the United States and the Kingdom of God are not the same thing. I believe that at this point in history, many of us will soon come to realize just that, if we have not already.
I've enjoyed reading through various parts of the Old Testament for Wednesday night classes because my eyes are opening to some things I had not considered before. The bigger picture of what God is doing is becoming a little more clearer. When God created the earth and everything in it, He created mankind in His image to be his people. When God established His covenant with Abraham and subsequently the nation of Israel, He created for Himself a chosen people - a blessed race, set apart. And this nation was a geographical, political, and spiritual reality all at the same time. And this nation did not have an earthly king or ruler because God Himself was its King. The nation faltered, became infected with worldy and unclean things, and was given judges to oversee it, and then ultimately an earthly king. The succession of earthly kings ultimately did more to worsen the people's spiritual condition than to improve it, although some of the kings were righteous. Then Jesus arrives, and the final plan unfolded. He came to do several things: a.) to fulfill Judaism and complete it through keeping it perfectly as a human and to impart that righteousness to believers, b.) to become a sacrifice for all sin for all time and to become an advocate for believers, and c.) to conquer mortality and give eternal life to all men willing to receive it. A new kingdom was established that confounded Israel because it was not geographical nor political. Indeed it did and still does transcend all cultural, economic, geographic, social, and political boundaries. It's solely spiritual - with physical manifestations where God's people, or the Church, are gathered. News of this new Kingdom spread rapidly as we have account in Acts - it has reached, and is still reaching the far ends of the earth.
However, within a few centuries of Acts, the Church (not completely unlike Israel) had been polluted with the old Jewish notions of geo-political power. And, the Roman church, in many ways became a rebirth of Judaism with all of the ritual and legalism. Throughout the succeeding centuries, Christians were in a struggle to purify the faith and return to a more Biblical Christianity. (I realize I'm over simplifying this.) And the formation of many Christian sects followed.
Now....on to the good stuff! Where does the United States fit in?...
Drawing heavily on Scripture and the Christian faith, our founders created a nation where freedom was ultimately guaranteed by God. We did not have a king, and our people were ultimately responsible for choosing their leaders! I believe there is sufficient documentation to presume that the level of personal freedom the U.S. citizens were initially given depended heavily on them adhering to Biblical morality. The foundation was laid. But people, being the fallen creatures we are, have deviated from that standard. And obviously now, are going the opposite direction at a high rate of speed. Since we were founded on definitive Christian principles that even skeptics once accepted as functional, the nation and God's people in America were going in the same general direction. Of course, there have been the defectors, and those who've gone off in some strange directions, but for the most part, our country and our faith have been complementary - and so our faith has physically, socially, and economically cost us very little. But over the course of our history, the path of the Church and the path of the nation have been separating. Now, it seems we have reached a widening between the paths. Our directions are separating, and we are going to have to "come out from them and be separate." The trend of the world, including the United States is and has been away from God. The political moral conservatism that many of us agree with is so rooted in Biblical principles, I wonder if worldly people are increasingly unable to comprehend it. At 32, I find myself considering the possibility that, in my lifetime, I could possibly face the confiscation of my property, imprisonment, fines, or worse for my faith.
Our nation is following the trend of the kingdoms of men (to borrow a phrase from Lord of the Rings) that is going further and further away from Truth. So now more than ever it seems like we should be laying a deeper foundation of community and relationships that will see us through worsening times. The Bible tells us that as the end approaches, the world will become more and more unrighteous. As global history continues its trek away from God, the Church will have to emerge as a more cohesive entity. And as it does so, even in the face of persecution, it will thrive powerfully.
