A King and His Kingdom

A King and His Kingdom by Roy Blackwood
 

PART ONE
Defining the Kingdom
“For the Kingdom is the Lord’s”
(Psalm 22:28a)

What is this Kingdom? Three questions must be answered.
1. What is the source and origin? Why did Jesus Christ “need”
to be King and to have this Kingdom? What is THE PURPOSE?
2. What kind of Kingdom is it, the nature of it?
3. What is the extent of Christ’s Kingdom? When did it begin?
When will it end? Where is it? Who all and what all are
included in Christ’s Kingdom? And where will this Kingdom
be?

As God, the second person of the Godhead did not “need”
anything. And so it is not an absolute legal necessity that
mandates that Christ be a King and have a Kingdom. But it is a
relative moral necessity rising out of Christ’s work of atonement
that makes it “necessary” for Christ to have a Kingdom and to be
a King. The doctrine of the Kingship and Kingdom of Christ
must always be understood as the sequel to the doctrine of
atonement. If God had never made the decision to save a
number of souls, then there never would have been any “need”
for Christ to die on the Cross, and no need for Christ to be a
King with a Kingdom. But once God, motivated by a love, at
once wondrous and divine, made that sovereign decision to save
a number of the human race, then it became “necessary” for the
second person of the Godhead to leave Heaven to become man,
and to die on the Cross in order to make man to be at one with
God and God to be at one with those souls.

That is also why it was a relative moral necessity for Christ to be
a real king with a kingdom. Without the power and authority of
a King with a Kingdom, everything Christ had done on the
Cross would have been in vain. If He had simply returned to
Heaven and “retired” from active duty, not one soul would have
been saved. His blood would have been wasted. He “needed” the
power and authority of a king with a kingdom to apply the
benefits which He had purchased for us on the Cross. It is in this
sense that He “needed” the power and authority that the Father
appointed to Him and that He willingly accepted and
proclaimed in that remarkable appointment statement which His
dialogue stated so vividly in Psalm 2:6=9; John 17:1=3; and
Hebrews 5:5. Armed with all power and authority, Christ, as
“the lamb slain before the foundation of the world,” created His
world as a platform in space to carry out His work ofredemption.
After the fall of man, the destructive influences of
Satan and sin would have destroyed His world, but now Christ
stepped forward to grasp the very pillars of the universe to hold
these awful destructive influences in abeyance until those souls
for whom He “ever liveth to make intercession”, shall have had
time to repent and turn to Him.

In a more personal subjective sense, Christ the Messiah “needed”
the power and authority of a King with a Kingdom to subdue
your own will and then to apply the benefits He had purchased
for you on the Cross in order to receive you to Himself; to make
you able to trust in Him; to put His kind of life into your heart;
and then to nourish and build you up into the accomplishments
of His life’s purpose for you in His Kingdom today, and then on
into those purposes which He has planned for you in eternity.
All this is accomplished while defeating all His and your
enemies. So it was for this purpose, to meet this need, that the
Father appointed Him to this Kingship and Kingdom. The
purpose of His kingdom can all be summarized by the one
word–REDEMPTIVE.

But what is the NATURE of Christ’s Kingdom? What kind of
Kingship and Kingdom does Christ have today? When Pilate,
representing Caesar, asked Jesus about His Kingdom, Jesus
answered guardedly, “My Kingdom is not of this world, else
would my servants fight that I should not be delivered, but now
is my Kingdom not from here”. When Pilate pursued his own
question further by asking, “Art thou a King then?” Jesus
answered more fully, “Thou sayest that I am a King. To this end
was I born and for this cause came I into the world. . .” This may
have been why Pilate later insisted on putting the inscription on
His cross, “Christ, the King of the Jews”.

Christ’s Kingdom is a spiritual kingdom and a series of
comparisons or contrasts with civil=political kings and kingdoms
may help to explain and define what it means for a kingdom and
kingship to be spiritual.

1. Christ was appointed to this Kingship and Kingdom by
the Father, not just “born” into it through a royal family or
elected to it by a willing people, nor did He conquer His
way into it by spilling the blood of other people. The
Father appointed Christ to be a real King with a real
Kingdom and that Kingship and kingdom is here with us
now. Of the four ways by which kings come to be kings; 1)
taking it by force, 2) being born into it, 3) being chosen or
elected, 4) being appointed; Christ Himself made it very
clear when He said to us in Luke 22:29, “I appoint unto you
a kingdom as My Father hath appointed unto Me”. That is
what the prophecies had promised (i.e. Psalm 2:6=7). And
this was true from all eternity. When the Council of the
Trinity appointed Him the second person of the Godhead
to this particular responsibility, it meant there never was a
time when He was not King. But the announcement of that
appointment came at His baptism and then His official
investiture or actual induction came at the time of His
Ascension.

2. The grand purpose of Christ’s spiritual Kingship and
Kingdom is to save souls, and not just to administer public
justice, preserve peace, develop the morals of men and
establish social order.

3. The means of administration in Christ’s spiritual Kingdom
includes the teaching of the Bible, the proclamation of the
Cross, and the example (the tupos or definitive example) of
the King who came to wrestle with the very consciences of
men. All these means are in contrast to the other means
used exclusively by other kings and kingdoms (i.e. fire,
sword and physical violence).

4. The principles of operation in Christ’s Kingdom and
Kingship are scriptural and righteous as well as ethical and
legal.

5. Almost everything related to Christ’s Kingdom is spiritual.
Its King is from Heaven and its citizens are “born=again”,
“spiritual” people. Its homage is of the soul and its service is
according to the will of God.

These comparisons between the Kingdom of Christ, the regnum
Christi, and the kingdoms of the world, the regna mundi, help to
define the essentially “spiritual” nature of Christ’s Kingdom.
They (as we shall see later) provide a base for the development
of church=civil government relationships. These distinctions or
differences do not necessitate separation. If some could misread
these comparisons to mean “keep them separate because they
are different”, then this doctrine of Christ’s Kingdom and
Kingship would say “bring them together because they are
different”. Christ’s spiritual Kingdom can and does include
things that are physical and mundane. For example, when God
converts a soul so that he becomes a spiritual person, He does
not cease to have a physical body. So long as God maintains a
visible, witnessing Church on earth, as one form of the Kingdom
of Christ, it will involve the physical being part of the spiritual
kingdom. Since Christ has told us He has “all power” and has
been made head over “all things”, then we can know that in His
(spiritual) Kingdom, there will be those things that are, in and
of themselves, physical.

Even money, “dedicated” to the Lord becomes an important
factor in Christ’s development of His spiritual kingdom.
Anything which can, or can be made to have, a spiritual purpose
can be seen to be part of Christ’s spiritual Kingdom. When
Christ said, “My kingdom is not of this world”, He had no more
thought of excluding physical things and political and social=
family relationships than when He said to His disciples “ye are
not of this world” (the Greek phrase is identical).

When we ask on behalf of the Christian businessman or the man
in civil government or the father in a family, “but how can these
physical things which occupy so much of my time ever be part
of Christ’s spiritual Kingdom?”, we must know the question is
caused by the statements in Scripture and so God will answer it.
The answer is to be found in the fact that whatever is connected
with Christ’s Kingdom is connected in some way to Christ’s
spiritual objectives–objectives that live beyond the time and
space restraints in our world. It is the ultimate objective which
determines the nature of a thing. When the businessman or man
in government can see a direct relationship between his daily
work and Jesus’ reason for dying for him on the Cross, then he
will see how his physical job is part of Christ’s Spiritual
Kingdom.

Reason for a moment about how things natural are subordinate
to things moral and things moral to things gracious (i.e. things
having to do with Christ and His Grace, His work on the
Cross). Those things which are gracious necessarily suppose the
subordination both of those things which are natural and those
that are moral. So it is that the natural and moral classes are also
under Him officially as the appointed King. The result of all this
then is that the essential dominion of Christ (i.e. what He
owned and controlled as God Creator) and the mediatorial
dominion of Christ (i.e. what He was appointed to as a direct
result of His work on the Cross) are never subversive of one
another but are always supportive of each other and perfectly
harmonious and yet never so blended as to destroy the
distinctive character of either one.

So anything physical in the regna mundi which can or can be
made to have a spiritual purpose or to make a contribution to
Christ’s spiritual Kingdom will be part of His spiritual Kingdom.
This is why Christ was appointed to be “head over all things” to
the Church. That includes His being head over such physical
things as family and civil government. It is as though the Father
has said to the Son as the direct result of His work on the Cross,
“Thou hast established thy right to rule that rebel world. Go
through it now subduing sin and Satan and all other kings and
kingdoms, building up your own individuals, families, civil
government and church to accomplish your own purposes in
time and on into eternity.”

The nature of His Kingdom can all be summarized by the one
word—SPIRITUAL.Having established the redemptive purpose and the spiritual
nature for Christ’s Kingdom and Kingship, let’s move on to the
EXTENT of Christ’s Kingship and Kingdom. In many ways it is the
most important because His Kingdom is unlimited.
-In Matt. 11:27, Jesus said to us “All things (ta ponta) are
delivered unto Me of My Father”.
-In Matt. 28:18, He said “All power (exousia) has been given
to me”.
-In Acts 10:36, Peter said, after living with Jesus for five years
He is Lord of All”.
-In Eph. 1:22, Paul said, “And (He) hath put all things under
His feet and made Him to be head over all things to the Church”.
-In Col. 2:10, Paul said, (I believe with special reference to
angel powers) “And ye are complete in Him
which is head of all principality and power”. He
is the King of all angels.
-In I Cor. 15:17, Paul specifies the one exception which surely
does “prove” the rule, “For He hath put all
things under His feet. But…it is manifest that
He (the Father) is excepted which did put all
things under Him.
-In Heb. 2:6=8, Jesus quotes the words from Psalm 8,“…Thou
hast put all things in subjection under His feet.
For in that He put all in subjection under Him,
He left nothing that is not put under Him,” as
does Augustine, Martin Bucer, and John Calvin.
Christ is God=Creator, (John 1:3). As such, He had certain
essential power and authority over all He had created. This was
His Essential Kingdom and His power and authority in it could
not be said to have been given unto Him. You cannot give to a
person something which he already has. And yet, in every one
of the references above, the power and authority is said to have
been “given or “delivered” or “put upon” or “put under” Him. It is
this distinction that causes us to know whether a reference in
Scripture is referring to the inherent Essential Kingdom which is
Christ’s by virtue of the fact that He is God=Creator or whether
it is a reference referring to that Mediatorial Kingdom which
was bestowed upon Him as the direct result of His work on the
Cross. (Using this method, you may wish to find other
references which describe Christ’s Mediatorial Kingdom). [It is]
true that Christ’s Mediatorial Kingdom is as unlimited as is His
Essential Kingdom. All that was included in His Essential
Kingdom is now included in His Mediatorial Kingdom. The
difference lies in the fact that the powers and things which He
formerly used and ruled by inherent and original right as
Creator He now uses and rules as Mediator for a new purpose,
namely the salvation of souls and the best interests of all His
people, the Christians or the church. very thing which He had
formerly created and controlled as God=Creator, he now rules
and uses for His redemptive purposes as God=Savior. Everything
is—or must be made to—contribute to the salvation of souls.
These things include:
1. Inanimate and irrational things such as sun, moon, stars,
animals, fish and birds–anything which can be shown in
Scripture to be made to serve Christ’s redemptive
purposes. Throughout the Gospels, we see Christ
controlling all these things to accomplish His redemptive
purposes.
2. Angels, both Holy angels and fallen angels (even
including Satan himself) are made to serve Christ’s
redemptive purposes.
3. Men, “all flesh”, elect and non=elect, alive or dead–in their
official and their private capacities–are under Christ’s
Dominion.
4. Associations of people of every kind: family, civil or
political, church, and business, because individuals by
forming themselves into organizations or corporations, or
societies may not get out from under Christ’s Lordship
and Kingdom.
5. The very “wheels of Providence” are directed and
controlled by Christ to serve His redemptive purpose.
So everything that exists, except the Father, has been put under
Christ’s Dominion. Had it not been for that, the world never
would have been able to survive the curse. With this unlimited
power, he steps forward and grasps the very pillars of the
universe to hold off the destructive forces of sin and Satan, until
His redemptive purposes are accomplished. The extent of
Christ’s kingdom can all be summarized by the one word—
UNLIMITED.

Christ’s Kingdom then is:
• Redemptive in origin and purpose
• Spiritual in nature and
• Unlimited in extent

PART TWO
The Application of the Mediatorial Kingdom
“And He rules over the nations.” (Psalm 22:28b)
From Part II forward, the Kingdom discussed is the
mediatorial Kingdom as defined in Part 1.

How does this Doctrine of the Mediatorial Kingship and
Kingdom of Christ apply to:
The Individual (chosen of God)
The Family (basic unit of the Church)
The Church
The Church—Civil Government Relationship
The Business and Life Walk
The Mediatorial Kingdom and The Individual

When we begin with the Kingdom in the life of the
Individual, we find that this is the plan and program that
Christ builds down into the mind and life purpose of every soul
who comes to know Him as Savior and Lord. It is this way of
thinking that is that outline of Christian life which He can look
forward to growing up into. When Christ saves a soul, He builds
His particular life purpose down into that person’s life—His
particular reason for dying on the Cross for that particular
person. And that soul begins growing up into that purpose,
through the three stages of kingdom development, that Christ
described in Mark 5; 1) the blade stage, 2) the green ear stage,
and finally 3) the full corn in the ear stage. He can grow up to
realize that he’s been called by the King who is now His Lord
and that he’s not been saved just to get his own soul out of Hell
and into Heaven, but to be Christ’s witness on Christ’s earth so
long as Christ chooses to leave him there. He has been saved to
be a witness to others who do not yet know Christ as King and
then to help them to grow up into spiritual maturity just as Jesus
taught His disciples to “think” Kingdom and grow up into it. In
the same way, the Apostle Paul taught Timothy not to be
satisfied with just becoming a Christian, or even leading
someone else to Christ, but to work and plan and pray two
spiritual generations, beyond that to see a “faithful man”
reaching “others also”. That is “kingdom=thinking” and an
essential factor in Jesus’ long=range Kingdom plan for the
evangelization of His world. That is true “apostolic succession”
and an essential factor in glorifying God and enjoying Him
forever.

The Mediatorial Kingdom and The Family
When we begin with the kingdom in the family, we find
that Christ has also built this kingdom plan down into
the “mind” or purpose of the Family. So that the man and
woman, bridegroom and bride, who are thinking with the mind
of Christ will know that their marriage and family are not just
for the purpose of developing a new level of romantic “love” nor
just for the purpose of the propagation of the family name, but
that they would be a two=person demonstration of the salvation
relationship that exists between any soul who comes to know
Christ as Savior and Lord and the Savior Himself. So that, as the
world sees the way He, as the bridegroom, lays down his life for
his bride=wife, they would begin to understand what was
involved in Christ (as the bridegroom and King) laying down
His life for His Bride (i.e. the church whose every soul comes to
know Him as Savior and King). And as the world sees how she
submits her whole life to her husband and puts herself into his
hands without reservation, the world begins to understand what
would be involved in surrendering without reservation to Christ,
as Savior and Lord. The two of them will be a two=person
demonstration of the salvation relationship. When this kind of
kingdom=thinking or “mind” is the foundation and long=range
plan for the family, then that family will grow up into spiritual
maturity. “Father” will be more than just the oldest male member
in the family. He will represent the Father in Heaven and he will
pray for his family the way Job prayed for his children. Mother
will “remind” them all of the place called Heaven and of what
Christ wants His Church to be. The children will understand
“grace” because they see and receive the grace and acceptance
and purposefulness that is being demonstrated by both father
and mother on a horizontal level and they will understand
confession and forgiveness because they see it being
demonstrated in the day to day relationships and conversations
between a father and mother who begin with the Kingdom and
Kingship of Jesus Christ. And Paul’s prayers for the family of
Philemon, Apphia and Archippus will apply (i.e. “that the
communication of your faith may become effectual in every
good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus,” (Philemon, verse 6).
Other believers will say, ‘every time I think of you and your
home, I just thank God’, and the extent of that family ministry
will carry on beyond the four generations described by Paul to
Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:2, from grandparents to parents to
children and grandchildren to the end of time—wherever they
may travel throughout His world.

The Mediatorial Kingdom and the Church
When we begin with the Kingdom, in our thinking and
planning for the church, there have been those who, by
accident, oversight, or by design, would limit the doctrine of the
Kingdom to the church, saying that the Kingdom is the church
or the church is the Kingdom. The Kingdom includes, as we
have seen, far more than the church. But Christ intends that the
(redemptive) origin and purpose of His Kingdom, rising as it
does out of His work of atonement on the Cross, will determine
the origin and purpose and message of His Church. The
(spiritual) nature of His Kingdom will provide the standard of
spirituality for His Church in all her “services,” especially her
worship services, and that the (unlimited) extent of His
Kingdom will be the “mission vision” for His Church. It is not
that the Church defines and determines what the Kingdom is,
but rather that the Kingdom determines and defines what the
Church is, and what she will become. The Kingdom is that
overarching dome, of which the Church is a reflection. Just as it
is never the blue of the lake that determines the blue of the sky,
but always the blue of the sky that determines the blue of the
lake; so then it is the pattern of the Kingdom that determines
the origin and redemptive purpose of every church; and the
spiritual nature of the Kingdom that determines the standards of
spirituality in all the “services” of the church; and the (unlimited)
extent of Christ’s kingdom that determines the mission vision of
each church.

I Will Build My Church
When Jesus, the Christ, made that remarkable promise, “I
will build my Church”, over 2000 years ago, He had in
mind a clearly=defined plan, a plan that He continues to
implement throughout His world today. In Exodus 25:40, He
had commanded Moses to build the Tabernacle according to
“the pattern” which He had shown to him on the Mount.
Throughout the Old Testament years, He led Israel and “the
church in the wilderness” into the promised land. Now in the
four gospels, He explains His Kingdom and His Plan for His
Church in more detail and shows the relationship between His
Kingdom and His church.

It is important to see how Christ begins in Matthew 6 with the
command to “seek first the kingdom”, and then ten chapters later
in Matthew 16:18 makes that remarkable promise “I will build
My Church”. In Matthew 16:16=17, Christ first praises Peter
with the highest commendation for making the kind of
confession “thou art the Christ, the son of the Living God”,
which is the rock of confession in every generation, upon which
Christ’s promise to build His church is founded. When Christ
proceeds to tell us about how He must be crucified in order to
do this church building, and Peter begins to rebuke Him; saying
in effect that he will find some easier way to do Christ’s work,
Christ rebukes Peter with his sternest condemnation, calling
Him Satan and saying the same thing to Peter that He had said
to Satan on the Mount of Temptation. In effect, Christ is saying
here to Peter and to all of us: Your responsibility is to “seek the
kingdom”. I will build My church and when I do it My way then
the very gates of Hell will not be able to hold out against it. You
must learn to do My work , My way.The Very Purpose of His Kingdom
has been built down into His Church by the Lord Himself.

When we begin with the Kingdom, then the origin and
purpose of the Kingdom become the origin and purpose
of the Church. Both Kingdom and Church have arisen out of
God’s sovereign will and redemptive purpose which is motivated
by love to save souls. Once that decision had been made, then
Christ was appointed and “became obedient unto death, even
the death on the Cross, wherefore God also highly exalted Him”
and gave Him the Kingdom (Philippians 2:5=11). Now He, in
turn, builds His Church as a very important part of His
Kingdom. Just as it was the primary and ultimate purpose of His
Kingdom to glorify God, honor Christ Himself, and make it
possible for Him to apply the benefits of redemption to His
people and also meet their continuing needs for growing up into
spiritual maturity, so now, these become the primary and
ultimate purpose of His Church. Both Kingdom and Church are
controlled and empowered by Christ and both are primarily
concerned with the application of that redemption which He
has worked out on the Cross. The Kingdom is not limited to the
Church, but in these respects, they are the same.
There is a great difference between this and the idea that the
Church originated in the minds of people as a voluntary
spontaneous association who call themselves together in order
to meet their own spiritual and social needs. This is Christ
calling together His people, and ultimately it is not so much for
man’s benefit as it is for God’s glory.

When we look at the Church beginning with the Kingdom,
then there is a functional mission purpose that becomes very
important. The Church becomes less “ours” and more “His”—
not so much the place to which we come to add to our numbers
and preserve ourselves, as it is the place to which He brings us,
equips us, and sends us on to multiply into more congregations
to evangelize His world.

On the one hand, there is a difference between the purpose
Christ has built into an individual and a family and the purpose
He has built down into His Church. Even a casual review of the
works (erga) that Christ was reviewing in each of the seven
churches in Revelation 2 and 3, will show that He has assigned a
particular ministry to a particular congregation. On the other
hand, all churches have certain things in common and when we
review them, beginning with the Kingdom, there is less
emphasis on drawing distinctions and more emphasis on
ultimate purpose and mission. Beginning with the Kingdom
brings less emphasis on what one church “has”, that another
“does not have” and more emphasis on what Christ has designed
and called all of us to do to the Glory of God.
The spiritual nature of His Church also has been “built” down
into her by her Lord.

Christ has also “built” the spiritual nature of His Kingdom
down into His Church in such a way that the spirituality of
the Kingdom provides a basis or standard for evaluating the
spirituality of a particular congregation. Some churches are
almost more dead than alive. They sing dead and pray dead and
give and think dead. Others are “alive” in Christ and their
services on earth can be seen as a kind of choir rehearsal for
Heaven. That spirituality is also one practical basis for the
Church’s independence of the power or control of all other
organizations such as the civil government. Because she is a
spiritual organization, she is not dependent on the State for her
establishment or continuing existence. Her foundation is Christ
alone. And because Christ has built her to be a spiritual
organization, she is subject to Him alone. He is her only head
and she is subject to Him as God has said, just as any person’s
physical body is subject to the head. So the spiritual nature of
Christ’s Kingdom built downward into His Church, provides the
basis for 1) the spirituality of a church and especially the
standard of spirituality for her worship services; 2) her
independence to all other organizations and influences; and 3)
her subjection to Christ alone. Also, as we shall see in a later
section, this spiritual nature provides one basis for a healthy
working relationship between Church and civil government.
The spiritual nature of the Church not only provides protection
for Christ’s Church against the attacks of other organizations,
like the civil government, from outside the Church but it also
protects her against the attacks of the organizations from within
the Church herself. It is clear in the records of history that the
Church has been seduced or raped as often by those “legitimate”
church boards (colleges, cardinals, assemblies, synods) that
operate from within as she has been seduced and raped by
emperors, kings, judges and other legislative bodies working
from without. Whether it be hierarchical, congregational or
Presbyterian form of church government, Christ has prescribed
a form of church government simply because edification requires
order and order requires government. The moment men begin
to forget that their authority within His Church is not legislative
but solely ministerial (the administration of the Word He has
legislated), then they are usurping Christ’s authority within His
Church. He never has permitted that and He never will.
Whatever form of church government causes us to know that
the Church is more “his” and less “ours” is what He was
demanding and promising when He said that day to Peter, and
to all the rest of us, “I will build My Church”.

When Christ built the unlimitedness of His Kingdom downward
into His Church, He was establishing her unity, her universality,
and her perpetuity. Today, we tend to think of unlimitedness in
terms of the dimension of space but when we apply
unlimitedness to the dimension of time, it means there never was
a time when Christ was not a King with a Kingdom and there
never will be. In the dimensions of space it means there is no
“place” on the face of Christ’s world (or in outer space either, if
we ever find souls in outer space), where we should not expect
to find Him building His Church and using believers to do it.
We catch a glimpse of the unity, universality, and perpetuity of
His Church in that Passover=communion table stretching clear
back into the Garden of Eden where we see Abel, the first man
into Heaven, and then moving forward to include Job and
Abraham and Isaac and Moses and the Prophets, all of them,
looking forward through the Passover to the coming of the
Messiah; and then, in the very center of that long table, Jesus
the Messiah and His disciples; and then, Luther and Calvin and
all the rest of the saints since then sitting at that same table
looking back to the same Messiah/Christ to whom the Old
Testaments saints looked forward. There never has been
salvation in any other and never will be. All over His world! And
universe from the beginning of time! His Kingdom will continue
to grow and extend to the end of time and then on into eternity!
And so will His church!

By building the specifications of His Kingdom downward into
His Church, He provides his standards for:
1. Her purpose
2. Her spirituality
3. Her independence of all outward control
4. Her subjection to Himself alone
5. Her unity
6. Her universality
7. Her perpetuity

All this then translates into the order and program of His
Church as she makes progress through time toward bringing His
world into conformity to the regnum Christi totum. This doctrine of
the unlimitedness of Christ’s Kingdom projected downward into
the mission vision of His Church promises to develop a strongly
united, universally expanding, perpetually existing Church
which will one day confront the State in such a way as to require
their working together. But what is the relationship between
Christ’s Kingdom=Kingship and the civil government?

The Mediatorial Kingdom and The Civil Government
Everything Christ has been teaching us about His Kingdom
provides reasons which imply that He is also Lord of civil
government:
• His being invested with the mediatorial dominion in no way
supposes His abrogation of any of His Rights of Dominion
as God.
• His moral qualifications to rule over all things and
especially “all flesh” would imply that such a vastly
important thing as civil government would not be
exempted from his mediatorial rule.
• And without such power over nations, Christ would be
seriously handicapped in overruling the rebellions of men in
order to bring about that time when “the kingdoms of this
world shall become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His
Christ” (Revelation 11:15).
This doctrine of the unlimitedness of Christ’s Dominion gives us
every reason to believe that Jesus Christ is now King and Lord
over all nations’ civil governments as well as Lord of the
individual, the family, and the church.
But more important than reasons and implications such as these
are the specific statements from the following Scripture. The
commands of Scripture, e.g. Psalm 2, as quoted in Acts 4:25,
13:33, Hebrews 1:4, 5:5 and Revelation 2:27. The Prophecies of
Scripture; e.g. Psalm 47:2, 3, 8, 9; Psalm 72; Isaiah 49:22=23;
60:11, 12, 16; Ezekiel 45:17; Daniel 7:13=14; Revelation 11:15;
21:24,26: And such designations in Scripture wherein the
Mediator is addressed as “Governor among the nations” (Psalm
22:28); “higher than the Kings of the earth” (Psalm 89:27); “King
of nations” (Jeremiah 10:6=7); “King of Kings” (Revelation 17:14;
19:16). All of these assert Christ’s actual Lordship over civil
government. To ascribe such titles to Him if they were not true,
would be to mock Him.

We may summarize Christ’s Lordship over civil government
under 8 topics, the eight things Christ does for civil
government. These are followed up by 4 responses civil
government can make to Christ’s Lordship:
1. The very origin of civil government is in the Hands of
Christ. Of the Church, He has said “I will build my
Church”. There is, however, a difference between the
origin of the Church and the origin of civil government
because He says—“civil government is an ordinance of
man” and “the powers that be are ordained of (by) God”.
This means that the God of nature has put the desire into
man for a voluntary social compact. Civil government
originated with God morally not less than providentially.
God not only permitted it, He caused it and since, as we
have seen earlier, the matters of Providence have also
been put into the hands of Christ, then He is, as
Mediator, the one who instituted and constituted civil
government. It can never be the ordinance of man in any
sense in which it is not ordained by God.
2. It is Christ who continues to oversee the affairs of civil
government. Throughout the history of the Old and New
Testaments, we see him influencing the counsels of
statesmen and the prowess of armies to set some up and
The King and His Kingdom
25
take others down, in order to accomplish His redemptive
purposes.
3. Christ issues those commands through His Word which
direct civil rulers in promoting the public good,
restraining evil, administering laws with justice,
promoting and protecting His Church and doing all this
in such a way that it will promote the plans and holy
name of the Mediator.
4. It is Christ who overrules the rebellions of those who
oppose Him.
5. It is Christ who executes the judgments of God on those
rulers and people who refuse to be guided by His moral
law.
6. It is Christ who also works through civil government to
disseminate the Gospel throughout His world. As King of
Kings, He authorizes those whom He has commissioned
to enter and evangelize any nation on earth. So it is not
only what He does for them and to them, it is also what
He does through them that proves His Lordship over
nations. He is Lord of “common” grace.
7. Christ works through civil government in such a way as to
gather together and protect and promote His Church.
Because of the character of nations as they now are, there
could be no hope for the Church if it were not for the fact
that Christ is Lord of the civil government as well as Lord
of the Church.
8. Christ promises to bring about an entire change
(reformation) in the character and constitution of the
nations of the world and in Isaiah 9, He adds this promise,
“the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform it”.

In all these eight ways, Christ, as King, asserts His Lordship
over His civil government, working through them to carry out
the purposes of His Kingdom Plan. Conversely, at each of these
points, civil government is thrust more and more up into the
light and plan of Christ’s Mediatorial Kingdom. One practical
result of all this is that men are thus confronted in civil
government, as well as in church with the mediatorial authority
and plan of Christ. This is something more than Theocratic, it is
Christocratic. Christ’s authority in the civil government becomes
as absolute as it is in the Church. Everything here points to civil
government being an ordinance of God—a moral ordinance, a
divine institution. This is a very high doctrine of civil
government.

Now what response can a nation make to Christ and His
Lordship in civil government? There are at least four responses
civil government can make to Christ’s Lordship:
1. The Glory of Christ, her King, can and will be the chief end
or highest purpose of the State. It is just not enough to be
satisfied with the promotion of domestic tranquility, peace,
social order, happiness among men or the patriotic good of
our own community. Everything the civil government does,
every constitution and law and treaty she writes, every
home and foreign policy she makes, every appointment she
makes, must be reviewed with an eye to the excellency of
her Lord. Even indifference or neglect of this can be seen as
an insult, dishonoring to the King. This tends to equate
civil government with what is commonly known as moral
government. It means that the best interests of God,
government, and men are one. Government is intended to
do more than guard, defend, and protect the civil rights
and properties of her citizens, it is also intended to hold
together moral and political truth.
2. The Law of Christ can and will be the rule of conduct.
Since God has commanded His people in Old Testament
times to use His Laws and Precepts as the basis for their
governing and civil government, then less could not be
expected of those of us in New Testament times who have
access to the whole of God’s Revelation in Scripture. This
means then that the State, by virtue of being an instrument
of Christ, a moral ordinance, is not just limited to such
grounds as common consent, protection of property, or
physical needs as a basis for her laws. But she can, and
therefore should, go on directly to God’s moral law in the
Scriptures as the best basis for all her laws. Those who
break those laws would be, disciplined not only because
of what they have done against man, but also because of
what they have done against God. In both legislation and
the restraint of irreligion, the most important thing would
be, what is most honoring for Christ as the Lord of Civil
Government.
3. The standards that Christ demonstrated in His own
character as King will be the base for evaluating or electing
men for office in civil government. Using Christ’s character
as the basis for our evaluation of the character of those
seeking our vote, we would want to see in their lives:
• His kind of dignity or respectability
• His kind of “near relationship” to us
• His kind of knowledge and wisdom
• His kind of power—ability to get things done
• His kind of moral purity
• His kind of compassion
• His kind of authority

Throughout both the Old Testament and the New
Testament, God has defined and described these character
qualities as essential prerequisites for one who will be both
“a terror to evil” and “a minister of God for good”. And
because of Christ’s Lordship over Civil Government,
Christians, in voting, are bound to rule out choice based on
passion, prejudice or party and subject their choice to the
character standards and policies found in God’s Word. Yes,
the franchise is a civil right, but it is to be exercised to the
will and honor of Christ. This does not mean that non=
Christians will ipso facto cease to be magistrates but it does
mean that in a nation that has received God’s revealed will,
it is unfitting, even dishonoring to Christ to elect to office
those who have rejected Him. At the same time, Christians
who are elected to office need to remember that they are
not just the servants of their constituencies, but are “the
ministers of God” and regulate both their public and private
conduct accordingly.
4. The authority of magistrates and the submission of
Christian citizens in any nation which has access to the
Gospel is dependent on these standards. Power and
obedience in this nation does not arise out of either slavish
fear of “my constituency” or from selfish motives but from
love and respect for the Redeemer=King. It will include a
respectful kind of fear, well doing, paying of taxes and
customs, and giving of honor, as described in Romans 13.
Disobedience become disobedience to Christ.
At this point, it becomes necessary to make a distinction
between “power” and “authority”. God has invested people with
democratic power in political matters and those people have the
right to exercise that power. This is moral power as
distinguished from physical=strength kind of power. It is the
power to organize their own social relationships, agree on
constitutions and laws, and to elect and invest certain individuals
to rule over them. This is just the basis for the secular state. But
we are going beyond this when we make a distinction between
this kind of power, and the kind of authority which Christ as
King has given to a Christian magistrate. Both moral power and
moral authority come from God. But the moral power comes
immediately from God as a natural thing. The moral authority
comes mediately as an added thing. And there are two essential
prerequisites for a person’s getting the right or title to this moral
authority:
1. A moral capacity, i.e. he must have some age of maturity
and a sound mind; and
2. A moral ability, which is not necessary for him to have
moral power, but is necessary for him to have moral
authority. For example, a man who is of age and a sound
mind may have demonstrated his moral inability to rule
his own children. And yet his (terrible) moral power over
those children cannot be denied. Such a man cannot be
said to have moral authority. And since God has not given
such a man any such authority, then Christian citizens
who desire to honor Christ as Lord of civil government
should not attempt to give him any such moral authority
by electing or appointing him to rule over them. It may
not be the responsibility of a Christian citizen to
investigate the moral authority of the man who makes his
shoes, but before electing a man to rule over him, he must
examine carefully his natural, moral, and spiritual
qualifications by evaluating his qualifications against the
very character of Christ the King of all civil governments.
Beginning with the Kingdom lays a foundation for the
development of Christian influences in civil government and the
purpose, nature, and extent of civil government. It provides a
Kingdom=based initiative for the further study of church and
civil government relationships, that would be honoring to the
King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

The Kingdom and the Business and Life Walk
When we begin with the Kingdom in Christian Life, then
we can see how surely some men are “called” into
business just as directly as others are “called” to be pastors or
missionaries. Those men will see a relationship between
whatever they do or produce or build, and Jesus’ reason for
dying for them on the Cross. The purpose or reason for their
business will be directly related to the purpose of Christ’s
Kingdom. The spirituality of Christ’s Kingdom will permeate the
very character of their personnel and corporation and the
honesty, integrity and dependability of their services and
products. They will be as successful as was Job and Abraham and
Joseph and Solomon and Lydia. The unlimitedness of the extent
of Christ’s Kingdom will unlock the entreprenurial creativity and
initiative of owners and employees. Their attitude toward the
wealth of the world and their control of that portion of it which
the King entrusts to their stewardship will be directly related to
the fact that in one sense they do not “own” anything.
Everything they “have” belongs to the King Himself and is to be
managed by them as stewards of the Lord in such a way as is
useful to Him in His building of His Kingdom.

Christ’s promise is the promise of the King Himself and these
men who have been “called” into business have learned that
when they seek first the Kingdom of God in their business, then
all these other things will be added unto them. No man who has
learned to do that has ever been known to “fail”.

PART THREE
The Conclusion of the Matter
“Therefore since we are receiving a Kingdom
which cannot be shaken, let us have grace,
by which we may serve God acceptably with
reverence and godly fear.” (Hebrews 12:18)

Beginning with the King and His Mediatorial Kingdom does
make a difference in the Christian walk. The Individual Soul
who comes to know God in the person of
Jesus Christ discovers that the One who gave His life for him on
the Cross is the King with all this Kingdom. Lordship takes on
new reality. He has been “saved” or called, not just to get out of
Hell, but to be a witness to this King so long as the Lord
chooses to leave him on His earth, and then on into eternity.
Something of the mind and purpose of Christ begins to “renew”
his mind so that he thinks with the mind of Christ (Romans
12:1=2). He becomes a “spiritual” man with a sense of
responsibility (vision) for what Christ, His King, is doing all
over his world. He becomes a friend of Christ, not just a servant
in His Family. He will have a redemptive purpose for living, a
spiritual nature, and a world vision. He will see a relationship
between his occupation or work and Jesus’ reason for dying for
him on the cross.

The Family who learns to begin with the Kingdom will know
and rejoice in the fact that their family relationships are not a
do=it=yourself work. But “unless the Lord builds the house, they
labor in vain who build it” (Psalm 127:1a) and that, as a matter
of fact, the Lord is building their family and that the King who
formed the first family in the Garden of Eden has also formed
them into His family. He designed the father to be the
demonstration or illustration of Christ’s kind of self=sacrificing
love and the mother to be the demonstration of the submission
of any soul to Christ as Savior, and all the family to demonstrate
the spirituality of Christ’s Kingdom and the children, from
generation to generation, to demonstrate the unendingness of
Christ’s Kingdom. So Christ the King designs and directs the
family to explain and demonstrate the redemptive purpose, the
spiritual nature and the unending extent of His eternal
Kingdom. It will keep on multiplying to the end of time.

The Church who learns to begin with the Kingdom will be a
family of families. She will recognize that Christ is not only Her
only King and Lord, but that He is Her beloved Bridegroom and
She will be very jealous for all His Crown Rights and Royal
Prerogatives. She will want His purposes and plan to be the
purpose and plan for everything She does. Since He is a
reaching God who is always reaching out to evangelize, She will
want to be a reaching church. Since He is an equipping and
sending God, She will want to be an equipping and sending
Church. She will reflect the nature of His Kingdom by the way
she worships Him and the way she maintains her independence
of all other controls and Her submission to Him alone as Her
only King and Head. Her very unity, universality and perpetuity
will be reflections of the spiritual nature of His Kingdom. Her
growth and multiplication will be a reflection of the
unlimitedness of the Kingdom and of Her King.

The Civil Government who would learn to begin with the
Kingdom would find a God=given basis for working and for
working together with the church. This would be more than a
faith=based initiative, it would be a Kingdom=based initiative.
W. E. Gladstone (Prime Minister of England) had made a careful
study of Church=State relationships in the light of Christ’s
Kingdom and published a book titled The State in Its
Relationship to the Church. His opponents condemned him for
making a political blunder that almost cost him his political life
(his election). They condemned him for believing that the State
revolved around the Church. They insisted that churches came
and went–revolving around the State.

They might have said the same thing about any one of the social
units we have been looking at. Some individuals, dictators or
emperors or even church leaders, have thought that everything
and everyone else revolved around them. Some others have
insisted that everything and everyone else; church, state, and
individual must revolve around the family. Others have insisted
that everything else, including the family must be sacrificed for
the church. Pastors have sacrificed their children and family life
“for” the church and some have chosen celibacy instead of
family life.

The doctrine of the Kingship and Mediatorial Kingdom of Jesus
Christ provides God’s answer to all this imbalance. The proper
relationship between church and civil government and all these
other social units rests on three foundations.
1. This doctrine of the Kingdom and Kingship of Jesus Christ
“beginning with the Kingdom” provides ample basis for Church=
State relationship. The spirituality of Christ’s mediatorial
dominion has been built down into the very nature of the
Church in such a way as to provide a basis for resolving Church=
civil government conflicts and the continuing close cooperation
of the two. It is also the basis for the assurance that the Church
will continue to remain independent of the control of the civil
government and subject to Christ alone as her only King and
Head and it will prohibit the Church from ever dominating the
civil government. The unlimitedness or universality of Christ’s
mediatorial dominion has also been built down into the very
nature of the Church in such a way that the powerful principles
of a multiplying ministry of the Gospel of Jesus are sending a
closely unified, universally expanding, perpetually existing
Church, moving throughout the world. It will, one day, require a
coming to terms between Church and civil government.
In all this, the basic essential difference between Church and
civil government will continue to be preserved. They are
different insofar as their immediate origin, their immediate ends
and their forms of administration are concerned. They are
particularly different in their means of operation, their attitude
toward their subject citizens or members, and the character or
results of their work. But having said all this, the fact is that the
origin of both is in the hands of Christ. His Word is the ultimate
rule and standard for both. His Glory is the ultimate objective
for both. Both are subject to Him, whether they know and want
it or not. Both are subject to Him as King and distinction does
not mandate hostility. Things can be diverse without being
adverse. The Church=civil government relationship can be a
practical working out of the spirituality of Christ’s Mediatorial
Kingdom. It is a reflection of the relationship between the regnum
Christi and the regna mundi. There is a clear, sharp distinction, but
that does not mandate a further separation of the two. In fact, it
is the distinction which makes the “separation” of Church and
civil government unnecessary. It is actually because of their
differences as well as their similarities that the two are designed
to work together to the glory of Christ and the establishment of
His Kingdom. The fact which is seen so clearly in history that
“help” given by the State to the Church has been misused, does
not mean that it must always necessarily be misused to
“secularize” and corrupt the Church, or otherwise blend and
confuse Church and civil government anymore than it means
that civil governments, by virtue of having suffered in history,
especially the medieval years, from the encroachments of the
Church, no longer have need for the Church. Both Church and
civil government are ordinances of God and the fact that Christ
has been made Lord of both, guarantees that the necessary
distinctions can/will be preserved when they form a right
Church=civil government relationship. It is the overarching
dome of Christ’s unlimited Kingdom and in particular His moral
Lordship over nations that provides the grand basis for the
alliance of Church and civil government, as well as the motive
for bringing these two historically unruly persons together.
They are two different moral provinces but they are under the
same King as separate departments of one vast moral empire.
Ptolemy may have initiated the idea of the overarching dome of
the kingdom, but he found it in the Scriptures.
2. The second foundation for this Church=civil government
alliance is to be found in the Scriptures. God’s Word authorizes
these kinds of working relationships. In the New Testament,
God defines the magistrate as the “minister of God” who is a
“terror to evil”, so he must necessarily be concerned with the
suppression of irreligion and the discouragement of offenses
against religion. And as the minister of God for good, he must
necessarily be concerned with the promotion of the true
religion. The important thing is that God put no restriction on
either of the two words “evil” or “good”. That is God’s New
Testament definition of a magistrate, and the Old Testament
provides three kinds of God=approved examples of this
principle.
A.) In the pre=Jewish patriarchal economy, Melchisidek
demonstrated a combination of sacred and civil things which
were pleasing to God.
B.) During the Mosaic economy, the Jewish kings
demonstrated a combination of things civil and sacred which
were pleasing to God.
C.) The Gentile princes, such as Cyrus, Darius and
Artaxerxes, who made contributions to the work of the Church
helped to destroy the idea that such civil government support
was purely Jewish, and therefore without God’s approval for any
other dispensation.
Scripture, when not limited to either Old or New Testaments,
authorizes an alliance that produces a good working
relationship between Church and civil government.
3. The third foundation for a good Church=civil government
relationship is just to review again what the civil government
can do for the Church (faith) and what the Church (faith) can
do for the civil government. The civil government, on the one
hand, can do more than just restrain irreligion and protect the
work of Christ and His Church. She can carry out Her own part
in that work by making Her own profession of faith in Christ
and pledging Her loyalty to Him. She can demonstrate His
standards of character and conduct in her magistrates and laws.
She can contribute to the extension of the special work of His
Kingdom through the exercise of Her official or diplomatic
influences.

On the other hand, true faith, as taught by the Church is a very
important factor in the establishment of that kind of a sound
political economy which is most honoring to Christ and most
conducive to the progress of His Kingdom and the welfare of
her citizens. She teaches magistrates that they are “vice=regents”
of Christ with real authority from Him and directly responsible
to Christ as well as to men, for putting down all selfish
temptations to dominate or tolerate, legislate, administrate, or
judge in any way that will run counter to His revealed law. She
teaches the citizens the value of true liberty and the real source
of it—which results from their knowledge of the true faith. The
Church teaches the citizens of the State to restrain natural
tendencies toward anarchical licentiousness and indifference
which are dishonoring to the Lord of the State and detrimental
to the efficiency of civil government. The Church, as the
teacher of true faith is also directly concerned with the natural
wealth of the nation and, to some extent, responsible for
securing new industry through the development of habits of
honesty, industry, creativity and thrift without at the same time
actually becoming involved in that industry or acquiring that
wealth for herself. She is involved in the prevention of
indulgence, waste, and poverty, and the establishment of the real
“moral” prosperity of the nation. History and current events
show that when this is neglected whole civilizations and nations
have collapsed. The Church can use the means peculiar to her
own nature to reach (far beyond where the State can go) into
the very hearts and consciences of men to promote the cause of
peace and go to the very sources of lawlessness, profligacy, and
impiety, to points that lie far beyond the scope of civil law and
its physical means. Beginning with the Kingdom does make a
difference.
4. But what does Christ mean when he directs us to “think
Kingdom”? In Philippians 2:5=11, God says it this way, “Let this
mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” and in Romans
12:1=2, he calls it being “transformed by the renewing of your
mind”. In Philippians 2, God continues to give us a detailed
outline of the steps of incarnation, the thought processes of the
Messiah in leaving Heaven to come to earth to that last step
when “He became obedient unto death even the death of the
Cross, wherefore God also hath mightily exalted Him and given
Him a name which is above every name. That at the name of
Jesus, every knee should bow and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father”. That is the
description of the Father’s appointment of the Son to His
Mediatorial Kingdom and His statement of the extent of it.
Now He says, in effect, I want you to think with the mind of
Christ—the way He thought (and still does think) about leaving
Heaven to come to earth to face death and then to receive this
Mediatorial Kingdom. I want you to have that kind of love. To
think Kingdom is a process. In Romans 12:1=2, God said, “Be not
conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing
of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and
acceptable and perfect will of God”.

From the time of conversion, perhaps before that, God begins
breathing through His inspired Word, His Kingdom Plan for
each particular soul that He redeems—not only the general
redemptive purpose and spiritual nature and unlimited mission
vision of His Kingdom, but also the particular application of it
all for that particular soul—His particular reason and life
purpose for dying for that particular soul on the Cross. And the
obedient soul will grow up into every day of that Life Plan.
That can be called “thinking Kingdom”. Understanding the
redemptive purpose, the spiritual origin and the unlimited extent
of Christ’s Kingdom can sometimes help us to recognize where
Christ will be leading us next—his next “development” in our
life. Then seeking His Kingdom may mean that we will begin
praying; asking him to show us more about his atonement; about
greater spiritual maturity in working with others; and for more
mission vision and understanding of what He is doing in other
parts of His world. It was that kind of prayer and desire that He
put into our hearts as a family that sent us to drive around the
whole world in 1974=1975. That mission was directly related to
this doctrine of the unlimited extent of Christ’s Kingdom. We
came back with a new sense of responsibility for what He is
doing all over His world.

What does God mean when He promises
to “give you the Kingdom”. (Luke 12:32)?
He means what He had kept explaining privately over and
over again to his disciples—His long=range Kingdom
plans for His world and how they will keep on working after He
leaves them; what He was saying in John 15:15, “hereforth, I call
you not servants (slaves) but friends, for the servant knoweth not
what his Lord doeth, but I have called you friends for all things
that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you.”
This Kingdom will be yours—it is yours now.

PART FOUR
The Author’s Personal testimony
“You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace which
is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard from me
among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men
who will be able to teach others also.”
2 Timothy (2:1=2)

Allow me to step back for a moment to personalize all of this
in the form of a personal testimony that the King might use
to make someone reading it to be sure of his/her own
relationship to the King. Let me be the “individual” that the
King is bringing into His Kingdom and building down into my
own life something of the redemptive purpose, the spiritual
nature and the unlimited extent of His Kingdom.

I realize now that He is the King who loved me in a manner
wondrous and divine, who caused me to be born in 1925. He
took my Mother to be with Himself when I was just three years
old. He put it into the heart of my Father to give me away to his
sister, a maiden lady and schoolteacher who loved me and
taught me to memorize God’s Word (especially Psalm 19,
wherein God speaks so precisely about how the “line” of the sun,
the moon and the stars speak without words, in every language
all over the world). As King, He had put me into the U.S. Navy
(1942=1946) and made me the Acting Navigator on board that
aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Petrof Bay, where those stars and their
timing made the difference between life and death. He kept me
alive and then brought me to the point of knowing that things
were not “right” between Himself and myself. I did not think or
talk or live the way He did. There were big differences between
us, and there was nothing I could do to make things right
between us. At that juncture, He caused me to remember and to
know what I had learned as a boy, that He Himself had come
down to earth in the form of Jesus Christ and deliberately given
His life on that Cross at the other end of the Mediterranean Sea
in order to make things “right” between us—if I would but trust
in Him. He put it into my heart to trust in Him and I did.
It was 1948. He began “breathing” the facts about His Kingdom
down into my heart/life through the study of His Word. He sent
me through three years of seminary, and then directly on to
graduate school to begin study of the doctrine of His Kingdom
(1948=1953).

In 1953, He brought me back to the United States and called,
ordained and installed me to be Pastor of the Reformed
Presbyterian Church in Bloomington Indiana, home of Indiana
University (40,000 students and 40,000 citizens), where He sent
two friends who began to show me how to apply and
communicate what He had been teaching me about His
Kingdom—how to do His work His way. He then called me
back to University (1960=1963) to study more of His Kingdom
and then brought me to Indianapolis where He wanted to use
me in His building of Second Reformed Presbyterian Church.
In the last 40 years, He has allowed me to be involved in the
lives of a dozen or more other pastors who can do everything I
can do, but better than I can do it. He lets me be close enough
to His Church “building” to see Him build six other churches
(and three or more developing) and twelve more men working
to become pastors.
Readers:

In Philippians 2:8=11 (NKJ), “. . . and being found in appearance
as a man, He humbled himself and became obedient to the point
of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has
highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above
every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of
those in heaven, and those on earth, and those under the earth,
and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God, the Father.” Since this is the will of the
Father for the Son, then why not join Him in that express
purpose for your own life, that is the exalting of Jesus in all that
you are, know, and do, in a prayer of personal commitment.

Father, whatever it was You committed Yourself to by highly exalting Your
son Jesus, a name above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow in Heaven and of those below the earth, and every tongue confess
that Jesus is Lord. To Your glory, Dear Father, I hereby now commit myself to
full obedience of this command and make this the ultimate purpose of my life in
Your Kingdom. Amen.

In 1948, after a four year stint (1942=1946) in the U.S. Navy as
Navigator and Division Officer in the South Pacific and Atlantic
theatres, Dr. Roy Blackwood obtained his Bachelors degree in
Chemistry from Geneva College in Ohio. Also in 1948, he
married his wife Margie with whom he has three children. Roy
obtained a graduate degree from RP Seminary in 1953 and
became Pastor of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in
Bloomington Indiana. In 1961, Roy and his family moved to
Scotland where he received a Doctorate in The History of
Theology from New College, University of Edinburgh. Dr.
Blackwood became Senior Pastor of the Second Reformed
Presbyterian Church, Indianapolis, Indiana in 1966 where he
serves to this day.

This article was originally published (c) Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals Inc, 600 Eden Rd, Lancaster PA 17601 USA.  The Alliance calls the twenty-first century church to a modern reformation by broadcasting, events, and publishing.  This article and additional biblical resources can be found at AllianceNet.org.
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