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Sitting behind all of this is the governmental change brought about by the death, resurrection, ascension and enthronement of Jesus (Ro 1:4). The Gospel is the Good News (“euangelion” ~ Strongs Greek Number 2098); however it is not primarily a revelation of the salvation of man. Rather, it is the death, resurrection, ascension and enthronement of Jesus Christ.[ii] The Good News (or new news) is that Jesus resurrected from the dead and is enthroned in the sanctuary. In other words God is the Gospel[iii], it is the revelation that the Second Adam (the mature man) has come, fulfilled the Law, entered heaven (the sanctuary), and all the “kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever” (Rev 11:15 ). Salvation by God’s grace through faith was clearly revealed in the Old Covenant, it was not the new news in the New Testament writers’ view. Blood atonement was also made clear through the sacrificial law, particularly in the cleansing rites/rituals of Leviticus.[iv] Faithful Jews and God fearers under the old covenant knew they could not save themselves. They understood the blood of bulls and goats could not save but pointed to the coming Messiah who would die in their place. The new news of the Gospel centred on the resurrection and ascension of Jesus and His enthronement in the sanctuary as the reigning King of kings. This means that the Gospel fundamentally centres on the change in governmental administration of the cosmos, which occurred in the first century A.D. For the first time in history a man entered the inner sanctuary, the holy of holies. This was what the first Adam was supposed to do but failed. The Second Adam, Jesus, succeeded and the various curtains of separation between God and man were destroyed in His death, resurrection and ascension/enthronement. The Good News is that all authority has been given to the risen and ascended Lord Jesus Christ, who is enthroned in power at the Father’s right hand. Satan has been cast from heaven and all nations are to be discipled in the Law of Christ. The Good News is that Jesus rules the cosmos (Matt 28 ). Jesus is now the ruler of the kings of the nations (Rev 1:5 ) and His body exercises that rule on earth through the Great Commission.[v]
Change in government administration
Thus the Gospel brought about a change to the literal and governmental heavens. “The Iiteral heavens were changed when a man, Jesus Christ, ascended into them for the first time, and sat down next to God the Father (Hebrews 9:24 ; Revelation 4-5 ). This had never been the case before, because Adam and his posterity had been barred from the garden and from heaven. Now that Jesus has taken His throne, there is no longer any room for Satan in heaven; and at last, Satan is cast out (Revelation 12:9 ).”[vi] Angels mediated the old creation and ruled the old creation world after man was ejected from the garden (Gen 3:24 ). They guarded the inner sanctuary and tutored man with the Law (Gal 3:24 ), bringing man under the Law of God.[vii] Man was cast out of Eden, the inner sanctuary, thus being banished from the presence of God. Circular degrees of nearness to God were established and those closest (relationally) to God was the nation of Israel.[viii] Israel’s evangelical mission was to take the Torah to the nations, as Abraham was to be the father of many nations.[ix] They were not chosen because of national greatness (Deut 7:7 ) but were to serve as Priests (Ex 19:6), taking the Torah to the nations. Under the new creation, established by the Second Adam, man (in Christ) rules the cosmos. The Messiah, the perfect man, obeyed the Law of God, suffered, died, resurrected and ascended to glory at the Father’s right hand. He has received the nations of the world as His inheritance (Ps 2, cf. Matt 28:18 , Rev 11:15 ) legally/covenantally and the Church works in history/covenantally to bring that decree to pass (Matt 28:19-20 , 1 Cor 15:24-25 ). The angels cast down their crowns before the throne of Jesus in the first century A.D. (Rev 4:10 ), thus administration of God’s Kingdom was transferred to man. Christ (Head) rules and His rule is extended to His Church (body). All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to the resurrected Christ (Matt 28:18 ). Thus every government on earth derives its authority ministerially from Christ. The legitimacy of law, reign and rule is to be found in Christ and His Word alone. In other words, we are working to bring about the theocratic rule of Christ over every nation.[x]
Resisting ordained authority
“The question of resistance to a lawfully constituted authority is a very difficult one today, and it has been from the beginning. The New Testament unquestionably, establishes the fact that disobedience to political authority is valid under those conditions where the civil government is attempting to suppress the preaching of the gospel (Acts 5:29 )[xi]. To deny this is to deny the history of the church. On the other hand, obedience to the authorities (plural) is required by Paul”[xii] (Romans 13 and elsewhere). Jesus also commands us to take up our cross and follow Him. The Body is to walk in the steps of the Head. And through faithfulness we will disciple the nations to the obedience of the Law of Christ. This is the major paradox setup throughout the Bible, which matures in the New Covenant – death leads to resurrection.[xiii] The blood of the martyrs being the seed of the Church typologically pointed to the blood of Christ bringing new resurrection. No matter how many times a Satanic attack chops down a branch of the Kingdom, a new shoot appears. Thus there is a new creation paradox of suffering bringing resurrection.[xiv] Therefore, civil disobedience/resistance is a very difficult area. In the old creation God usually appointed and used various leaders to bring the Word to bear upon civil/religious magistrates. Their major objective was pointing the magistrate back to the Law of God (i.e. confession and repentance) and forward to transformation of individual and society (i.e. profession and Godly dominion).
Man was made in the image of God. We are His symbol and thus possess office. Various official relationships have been ordained by God to “image His life among men.” Thus we submit to the office and not the person. This submission to the office is to be Biblical. In other words, we are to submit to the office in its sphere of responsibility as commanded or attributed by the Law of God. If the civil government attacks home educators or Christian schools, it is not to be submitted to because the Law of God attributes education to the family and the synagogue (church). This means that no office is absolute. We are not to submit to any authority when it demands us to do evil. If we left the discussion here society may turn to anarchy, as we would only submit to the office when the officer is acting within jurisdiction. However, God also requires us to submit to power where it is manifested. We must not foolishly contest power. “We take note of and submit to officers because the law of God tells us to. We take note of and submit to power because the sovereignty of God puts it over us. Practically speaking, this means that if the state passes a sinful law, we do not submit to it unless the state puts genuine power behind that law…If we can evade, avoid, deceive, or compromise with the powers, we should do so …When the state tries to tax the church, the issue is jurisdiction. We must go to the civil authorities and respectfully point out that we cannot comply, for the simple reason that they do not have jurisdiction. We cannot submit to their office and rulings in this matter, since the church is not under their jurisdiction. We do not submit to court orders. We do, however, submit to the barrel of a gun. If they come and close the church or school at gun-point, make sure the media are present. Frequently, however, if we resist the devil, he will flee from us. Thus, often the civil authorities are not prepared to go to the point of drawing guns against the clergy. If they are, fine, we submit (and open another church/school down the road). If they are not prepared to use power, then we need not submit to their rulings…[This doctrine can be summarised as follows]:
-
Submission to God-constituted office:
1.Only in its proper, Biblically-defined sphere.
2.Only where it conforms to Biblical Law.
-
Submission to God-ordained power:
1.Only where that power is actually exercised, or we have good reason to believe it will be exercised.”[xv]
A discussion on Biblical deception, practiced by the righteous against the unrighteous, would be appropriate.[xvi]
Render unto Caesar and the early Christians
Christians have been commanded to “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars” (Matt 22:21 ). “Conflict becomes inevitable when…Caesar…demands for himself honors that belong to God…As long…as the state does not claim absolute authority and autonomy, it can exercise a lawful role in establishing order and civil justice. In this capacity, the state is called the servant of God (Rem. 13:4). The problem arises when the state claims not a relative and derivative authority, but an absolute and autonomous one.”[xvii]
One of the fundamental roles of government is to protect the Church by providing a safe environment for Her to worship, spread the Gospel and lead a quiet lives. Christians are to pray “for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. (1 Ti 2:2). In Australia the state “permits” the Church to perform corporate worship. However, our pluralistic governments are threatening that freedom. This reflects the scenario of the early Church in Acts,[xviii] early Christians were not persecuted for worshipping Jesus. “As Francis Schaeffer…has written: ‘Let us not forget why the Christians were killed. They were not killed because they worshiped Jesus. Nobody cared who worshiped whom as long as the worshipper did not disrupt the unity of the state, centered in the formal worship of Caesar. The reason the Christians were killed was because they were rebels.’”[xix] Not anarchistic revolutionary rebels, rather they believed and preached the resurrection and ascension of Jesus as the King of kings (Caesar).
In midst of a vast Imperial power the small group of early Christians proclaimed that there indeed was a king other than Caesar, who was Lord of Caesar and ruler of the Roman Empire (Acts 17:1-7 ). In that time the Roman Empire was falling into disarray. Rome began to fear the people and used government handouts, in the form of bread and circuses, to keep the citizens from revolt. These government handouts drained the treasury through citizens becoming permanent recipients of dole payments. Bread handouts, free circuses and dole payments enforced excessive taxation across the Empire. Wealth redistribution was crumbling. Within the upper class population stagnation occurred due to frequent abortions and infanticide. Newborn babies were abandoned in the streets to die or be eaten by wild dogs. In these dire circumstances the early Church resisted the civil governments and in many cases took practical steps to purposefully disobey their magistrates. These Christians declared that Caesar must bow to King Jesus. This was not achieved through passivism. The early Church avoided state courts of law for disputes amongst brethren and ecclesiastical courts were used (1 Cor 6:1-8 ). Many Christians went out into the streets and collected the abandoned babies, which the state then outlawed. This did not stop them. Many violated this law as they recognised there is only one Lawgiver (James 4:12 ).[xx] Christian resistance has characterised the Church throughout history.
A minister of God to thee for good
Christian resistance or civil disobedience to state paganism can be exegetically accounted for from Romans 13 . This text is often used as a proof text for blind statist obedience. In Romans 13:4 Paul declares the magistrate/civil leader to be a servant of God and in 13:6 the official is ascribed as a minister. These leaders “discharge functions which are the ordinance of God as He so wills.”[xxi]
What Paul makes clear in Romans 13 is that “the civil government has been instituted and authorized by God for “the maintenance of His moral order and for the punishment of criminals who violate that order, the civil government is duty-bound to submit to God, just as the citizen is duty-bound to submit to the civil government…Our highest allegiance must always be to God in Christ. Loyalty to Him supersedes and determines all other loyalties. Therefore, if the demands of the state (civil government) come in conflict with the demands of God, the Christian’s allegiance to God must take precedence over his allegiance to the state[xxii]…The Church and individual Christians have a prophetic responsibility toward the civil government.”[xxiii]
The Church’s prophetic voice
Scripture is replete with examples of how the prophets stood against evil practices of rulers, governments and kings in their day. God’s prophets “came before kings and commoners to tell them that the nation had departed from righteousness, and that the promised judgments of God on the whole nation would soon follow if they did not turn back. These messages were specific in content, which is why the prophets were continually in trouble. The prophets did not preach against sin ‘in general,’ which would have enabled them to avoid the wrath of those who were practicing specific sins that were about to bring God’s specific judgments.”[xxiv] In so doing the prophets sought to bring the people and/or king to repent and thus transform individuals and the nation/Empire with the Word of God.
Pharaoh (through Joseph) and Nebuchadnezzar (through Daniel) provide excellent examples of civil rulers and nations/Empires that were transformed by the power of Christ’s Word/Spirit. Their encounters with the true God helped them, and us, to “learn…that the whole universe is a theocracy”.[xxv] This simply means that; “the sovereign God rules over everyone and everything that is in the universe”.[xxvi] Since Jesus is the “King of kings and Lord of lords (Rev. 19:16 ), to whom all authority has been given (Matt. 28:18 )…it is necessary that we work from the presupposition that everything belongs to Christ and should be governed by His Word. Therefore, it is essential that the state formally recognise…that the ‘Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King’ (Is. 33:22) and bow in subjection to the crown rights of King Jesus as the supreme ruler of the nation (Ps. 2:10-12).”[xxvii]
Conclusion
“We must not forget that the issue in Paul’s day concerned Lordship. The question was: “Who is Lord – Christ or Caesar?” The early Christians went one step further and queried: “Do we obey a false lord, that is, Caesar?” Paul’s answer in Remans 13 is “yes”- if that false lord is performing the biblical function of protecting the good. Again, the government Christians are to obey is defined.””[xxviii]
It must also be added that patience and longsuffering are important in the Kingdom. God’s people are to be patient. The patience of God’s people is faithfulness in the “continuity of God’s decree, not the continuity of pagan time and pagan civic power. They know that there are times for remaining invisible, quietly working out their salvation…The framework of peace allows the church to develop the implications of biblical faith, to gain experience in the task of dominion. Then, when the time is ripe, the church is ready for the period of confrontation, a discontinuous break with pagan culture. The breakthrough eventually takes place, as it did in the early fourth century in what remained of the Roman Empire, as it did in the sixteenth century at the time of the Protestant Reformation…Endless patience is suicidal. A theology of perpetual patience is a theology which denies the necessity of an eventual confrontation. As far as the Bible indicates, the Israelites in Moses’ day held just such a theology. They had to be driven out of Egypt by the Egyptians. It is a theology which has abandoned an eschatology of dominion. It is a theology which believes that men can live forever on a hypothetical spiritual mountaintop while dwelling in Egypt. It leads eventually to a confrontation, one which the victims of persecution are unable to win because they failed to plan for the confrontation successfully.”[xxix]
Revolution and passivism make no Biblical sense. Death leading to resurrection in its God ordained time is the pattern of the expansion of the Gospel. We must remember that worship is where the battle is won. This is not to say that we should not be active in opposing evil, we should. In saying this, the Church in Australia needs to regroup and win the battle in worshipping God aright. Her people are thirsty for the Word. We need worship that is liturgically informed and faithful to the Scripture. A return to rich worship, as illustrated through the book of Revelation[xxx], will restore the Church and our nation. Neither activisms nor “conservative values” will advance the Kingdom through dominion, worshipping Christ according to His Word will.
End notes
[1] James B Jordan, Through New Eyes: Developing a Biblical View of the World, 1988, Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc, Brentwood, p. 262. You can download Jordan’s book for free here: http://www.biblicalhorizons.com/pdf/jjne.pdf.
[ii] Note that I am not inferring a low view of man’s salvation nor diminishing the importance of salvation by grace through faith. What I am pointing out is that the Gospel is news, it is new information. The means of salvation (grace through faith and the cleansing via blood atonement) was revealed in the old world. The faithful Jew (like John the Baptiser’s parents, Lk 1:16) and God fearers in the Old Covenant looked forward and understood that the Messiah would come and provide/be that blood atonement. They knew that salvation could not be earned meritoriously by man. However, faithless Jews had perverted this message and viewed Israel as special in and off itself, and thus the Messiah would bring a restoration to the old earthly world. This was the corrupt view held by the Jews in the days of Christ. If the reader examines the book of Acts it will be noted that the pattern of preaching centred on the resurrection/ascension/enthronement of Christ. I am not diminishing the importance of placing individual faith in the completed work of Christ alone for salvation; rather I am asserting that it is not the extent of the Gospel. Yes, Jesus died for the sins of His elect and He came to save the world and He ascended into heaven (as the first man to do so) and was enthroned at the Father’s right hand. In other words, the Gospel is the news that Jesus died, resurrected, asceneded and was enthroned in glory. This news is good. No longer do angels rule the world using the tool of the Law to tutor us. Christ was the mature Adam. He was the New Adam. We are under Him and not the Law. This does not mean that we no longer obey the Law. Rather it relates to our position. In Christ man is mature and no longer a child. We now use the Law to exercise dominion. No longer does Satan have a place in heaven to deceive the nations. Followers of Jesus take the Good News of the enthronement of Christ to the nations and teach them to obey the Law.
[iii] John Piper, God is The Gospel – Meditations on God’s love as the gift of Himself , 2005, Cross way Books, Wheaton, pp. 25-33. Through this book Piper explores the concept that God is the Gospel. He defines the Good News as being broader than personal salvation. Amongst other things he details that the Gospel entails personal salvation, “the arrival of God’s Imperial Authority,” and that through the Gospel peace will be brought to every nation. You can download Piper’s book for free here: http://www.desiringgod.org/media/pdf/books_bgg/books_bgg.pdf.
[iv] James B Jordan (Covenant Sequence in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, 1989, Institute for Christian Economics, Tyler, pp. 18-19) makes some helpful observations about sin and cleansing. “The first aspect of the covenant is the affirmation of God’s transcendence and His relationship with man. This correlates with the first and sixth commandments, but in Leviticus the first is preeminent. The first commandment, which prohibits ‘having any other gods besides the Lord, deals with covenantal idolatry, idolatry in the whole of life, disloyalty to God. They must be loyal to the God who initiated covenant with them, and any sin must be covered by sacrifice. This is the overall theme of Leviticus 1-7 . The second aspect of the covenant is its transition from an old to a new order. When covenants are made, generally this second part is taken up with a description of how the original order broke down, and how God worked to restructure the world and society and bring about a new order. The order itself is a system of mediation, and the process of bringing it into being is a process of mediation. Thus, mediation, the concern of the second commandment, is highlighted here. It deals with liturgical idolatry (iconolatry), access to God, man’s relationship to God, and the image of that relationship in marriage (hence, also the seventh commandment). This is the overall concern of Leviticus 8-16 , for men must be “clean* to draw near…God will not hold the man guiltless who wears His name emptily. As we have seen in Chapter 1, this is an overall concern of Leviticus as a whole, but it is focussed in chapters 17-22. ”
[v] God has always ruled the world. I am not denying this. What I am arguing is that the administration of God’s rule has fundamentally changed in the Gospel. Man is now seated at the right hand of the Father. Governance has been taken from angels and given to man. After the mature Man, we are no longer under the tutoring of angels using the Law as their tool. Men are now ruling, in Christ. Due to this position, we are not under the Law but now use it as a tool for taking dominion. The Law is still valid, man’s position has changed from immature to mature in Christ.
[vi] Ibid., Through New Eyes: Developing a Biblical View of the World, p. 270.
[vii] Angels ruled the old creation, they directed men and brought God’s revelation to man. This is seen initially in God giving the angels a flaming sword to guard the entry to the inner sanctuary of the Garden of Eden in Gen 3:24 . The rule of angels continues until the full inauguration of the new creation in the death, resurrection and ascension of Christ. From that point in history forward God-man is in heaven ruling the world. The changeover occurs in the destruction of Jerusalem where we read the angels cast their crowns down before Jesus in Rev 4:10 . At the judgment day the saints (men) will judge angels (1 Co 6:3). There are numerous examples of the angels ruling, in a ministerial capacity, the old creation - Gen 16:7-11 , 22:11, 15, 24:7, Ex 3:2, Nu 20:16, 22:25-35, Jdg 2:1-4, 6:11-22, 13:3-21, 2 Sa 14:17-20, 19:27, 24:16, 1 Ki 13:18, 19:7, S Ki 1:3, 15, 19:35, 1 Ch 21:15-30, 32:21, Ps 34:7, 35:5-6, 37:36, Zec 1:11-14, 3:1-6, 6:5, 12:8, Mt 1:20-24, 2:13-19, 28:2, Lk 2:9, Jn 5:4 , Ac 5:19, 8:26, 12:7-23.
[viii] In the Old World the nation of Israel was set aside to be a nation of priests with a mission of serving God in the land and taking His Word to the nations. The degrees of nearness were: High Priest (could entire the inner sanctuary once per year), Priest (could enter the sanctuary), Levite (could place offering on alter and were guards of the sanctuary), layman (could bring a sacrifice but not lay it on the alter or touch it), God-fearers (were restricted to the outer courts). These categories of relational nearness were abolished by Christ. There is now one new Man, with now no distinction between Jew and Gentile. If you are in Christ you are as relationally close to God as you can be.
[ix] The number seventy is symbolic in the Scriptures and it usually refers to nations (Gen 10 ). Israel’s mission was to be priests to the nations (Ex 19:6). “Her water would cause their trees to grow. This was signified to all men when Israel came out of Egypt, for ‘then they came to Elim, where they were twelve springs of water and seventy date palms, and they camped there beside the waters’ (Ex. 15:27). Seventy is the number of the nations of the world (Gen. 10). Israel, at the Feast of Tabernacles, sacrificed seventy bulls for the nations of the world, a substitutionary atonement for them offered by the priestly nation on their behalf (Numbers 28:13-32 ; Haggai 2:1-9 ; Zechariah 14:16-21 ).” James B Jordan, The Sociology of the Church, 1986, Geneva Ministries, Tyler, pp. 101-102. At Babel the nations were cut off and scattered but at Pentecost (Acts 2 ) they were regathered and the promise to Abraham was ultimately fulfilled – this promise had been initially fulfilled in Egypt where Israel (through Joseph in Gen 45:8 ), Ninevah (Jonah) and the Babylonians (Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel). You can download Jordan’s book for free here: http://www.biblicalhorizons.com/pdf/jjsc.pdf.
[x] David Chilton’s (Paradise Restored, 1994, Dominion Press, Tyler, pp. 219-220) discussion of theocracy provides some useful background information. “Now by theocracy I do not mean a government ruled by priests and pastors. That is not what the word means at all. A theocracy is a government ruled by God, a government whose law code is solidly founded on the laws of the Bible. Civil rulers are required to be God’s ministers, just as much as pastors are (Rom. 13:1-4 ). According to God’s holy, infallible Word, the laws of the Bible are the best laws (Deut. 4:5-8 ). They cannot be improved upon. The fact is that all law is “religious.” All law is based on some ultimate standard of morality and ethics. Every law system is founded on the ultimate value of that system, and that ultimate value is the god of that system. The source of law for a society is the god of that society. This means that a theocracy is inescapable. All societies are theocracies. The difference is that a society that is not explicitly Christian is a theocracy of a false god. Thus, when God instructed the Israelites about going into the land of Canaan, He warned them not to adopt the law system of the pagans: ‘I am the LORD your God. You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes. You are to perform My judgments and keep My statutes, to live in accord with them; I am the LORD your God. So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if He does them; I am the LORD’ (Lev. 18:2-5 ). That is the only choice: pagan law or Christian law. God specifically forbids “pluralism.” God is not the least bit interested in sharing world dominion with Satan. God wants us to honor Him individually, in our families, in our churches, in our businesses, in our cultural pursuits of every kind, and in our statutes and judgments. “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people” (Prov. 14:34 ). According to humanists, civilizations just “rise” and “fall,” by some naturalistic, evolutionary mechanism. But the Bible says that the key to the history of civilizations is judgment. God evaluates our response to His commands, and He answers back with curse and blessing. If a nation obeys Him, He blesses and prospers it (Deut. 28:1-14 ); if a nation disobeys Him, He curses and destroys it (Deut. 28:15-68 ). The history of Israel stands as a warning to all nations: ‘for if God did it to them, He will surely do the same to the rest of us’ (Jer. 25:29 ).”
[xi] Acts 5:29 : “Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.”
[xii] Theology of Christian Resistance, 1983, Symposium edited by Gary North, Geneva Divinity School Press, Tyler, p. vii. You can download this book for free here: http://www.commentary.net/freebooks/docs/a_pdfs/cc_2.pdf.
[xiii] The examples of old world believers who went through “exodus” experiences (death/judgement leading to resurrection/rule) are numerous. One example is Joseph, who was thrown into slavery (death like experience) and eventually raised up to the right hand of Pharaoh (resurrection like experience). These things climax in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The Church typologically follows in the footsteps of Christ.
[xiv] It must be noted that God is the righteous One. This means He is covenantally faithful. The righteous saints are those who have access to the sanctuary (i.e. permitted into the presence of God through Christ) and they must be covenantally faithful through sanctified obedience to the Word of God. Obedience generally brings covenantal blessing and disobedience covenantal cursing. These blessing/cursing is not salvific but covenantal. The new creation paradox is that obedience often brings persecution. The careful reader will understand that this type of persecution is not the defeat of the Church, but Her victory. These victories will progressively occur for possibly hundreds of thousands of years (i.e. blessing to a thousand generations – Ex 20 – from the faithful One) before a final assault by the adversary and the Second Coming of Christ in world judgment.
[xv] James B Jordan, Rebellion, Tyranny and Dominion in the Book of Genesis, pp. 76-77, accessed here: http://www.biblicalhorizons.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Rebellion-Tyranny-and-Dominion-in-the-Book-of-Genesis.pdf.
[xvi] The Bible is replete with stories of the righteous deceiving the wicked. Biblical deception is appropriate within the context of protecting the righteous (e.g. Rahab lying to save the spies) but it is also used in the contexts of preserving the seed line (e.g. Jacob deceiving Isaac) and as potentially as ridicule of the unrighteous (e.g. Rebekah stole her father, Laban’s, household gods. She sits on them and deceives her father by saying it is her time of month. This is graphic. Biblical humour is earthy. Laban gropes through the tents in the dark for a god that should be protecting him! Meanwhile the god is being sat on by a woman who is at the time of her issues!).
[xvii] Ibid., Theology of Christian Resistance, p. 2.
[xviii] Almost throughout the book of Acts the Church is protected by the Roman state. It was faithfully protecting the people of God as the final Metal Man Empire found in Daniel. The major persecutors of the early Church were the apostatised Jews.
[xix] Ibid., Theology of Christian Resistance, p. 3.
[xx] Daniel F.N. Ritchie, A Conquered Kingdom – Biblical Civil Government, 2009, Reformed Worldview Books, Saintfield, pp. 320-321.
[xxi] Ibid., Theology of Christian Resistance, p. 4.
[xxii] When Peter and John were forbidden by the municipal authorities to preach the gospel, they, nevertheless, continued to preach the gospel, replying: We must obey God, rather than men (Acts 5:29 …see also Acts 4: 19f; Exodus 1:17 , 20; Daniel 3: 16f).
[xxiii] Joe Morecraft III, “With Liberty & Justice for all” – Christian Politics Made Simple, 1995, Chalcedon Media Ministries, Cumming, p. 12.
[xxiv] Ibid., Theology of Christian Resistance, p. 41.
[xxv] G. Grant, The Changing of the Guard, p.9 as cited in Daniel F.N. Ritchie, A Conquered Kingdom – Biblical Civil Government, 2009, Reformed Worldview Books, Saintfield, p. 49.
[xxvi] Ibid., A Conquered Kingdom – Biblical Civil Government, p. 50.
[xxvii] Ibid., A Conquered Kingdom – Biblical Civil Government, p. 101.
[xxviii] Ibid., Theology of Christian Resistance, pp. 4-6.
[xxix] Ibid., Theology of Christian Resistance, p. 56.
[xxx] See James B Jordan’s book: The Vindication of Jesus Christ: A Brief Reader’s Guide to Revelation, Athanasius Press.
