Articles From Our Bulletins
Our God Reigns
There is no cultural context that can remove God’s authority from proper biblical understanding. While we seek to understand the ancient world to the best of our ability, and we seek to understand Scripture in its own context to the best of our ability, there is no legitimate way to change the message of the Kingship of Jesus, nor should any disciple ever wish to. That is a message that will cross every culture, every boundary, every time, and every nation. In oth-er words, there is no context in which “Your God reigns” (Isa. 52:7) will not be true. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords in all con-texts.
“For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation” (Dan. 4:34).
The fact that the essence of the biblical message is summarized by “Your God reigns” (Isa. 52:7) means that we cannot take authority out of the picture in service to the Lord. The sovereign Lord occupies His throne with all the rule, power, and authority inherent in His position. The moment we think we can remove authority from the mix, we have effectively attempted to dethrone Christ and enthrone self. This is the essence of pride and sin. Since God is opposed to the proud and gives grace to the humble (1 Pet. 5:5), we should always seek to humble ourselves “under the mighty hand of God” (vs. 6). Fur-ther, if we claim to follow the ex-ample of Christ in any substantive way, then our attitude will have to be summed up by His own words, “I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (John 5:30). “Not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 23:42). When we make it about what we want, we have sorely missed what it means to be His disciples.
