Latest / Reformed Thinking / Israel’s Divine King Is King of the Nations: The Sovereign Providence of God Over Earthly Empires and the Eternal Kingdom of Christ

Transcript

Israel’s Divine King Is King of the Nations: The Sovereign Providence of God Over Earthly Empires and the Eternal Kingdom of Christ · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome to Reformed Thinking. I am so glad you could join us
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  today because we are taking a massive deep dive into a topic
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  that honestly changes how you look at the entire world.
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  Yeah, it really does. You know, usually when we look
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  at a map of the world, we just see a whole bunch of rigid
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  lines. We see borders, we see nations
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  categorized by bold colors, and we see caital cities marked with
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  those little stars. Right, it looks so permanent.
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  Exactly. I mean, absolutely.
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  There is this inherent exectation of human control
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  embedded in cartography, like engineering.
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  You draw a line, you build a fence, and the politicians in
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  those capital cities just point and say, you know, this is ours.
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  We built this, we maintain it, and we dictate what happens
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  inside these lines. It looks very binary, very
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  clean. Yours are mine.
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  It looks like a closed system of human authority, and it is
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  comforting to the human mind. We like things to be visible, to
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  be categorized, but most of all, we like to believe that human
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  beings are sitting firmly at the steering wheel of history,
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  calling the shots. Right.
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  That we are determining the future based on our own
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  political action or, you know, military might.
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  Spot on. But then you step into the
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  biblical theology of divine Providence, and suddenly that
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  whole political map is turned completely upside down.
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  It really is. We are looking at a geopolitical
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  landscape that is governed by an invisible absolute sovereignty,
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  and it shatters all our assumptions about human control.
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  The real CEO of history isn't elected.
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  No, he is not. So how does God actually govern
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  these empires? And more to the point, why does
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  it matter for the chaotic news we watch today?
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  That is our mission. Today we are unpacking 2
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  phenomenal texts. Israel's Divine King is King of
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  the nations and Providence, Israel's Divine King and his
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  sovereign rule over the nation's.
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  Those texts are incredibly dense but so rewarding.
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  They really are, and right out of the gate to set our
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  theological framing for you listening, both of us approach
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  this material As Protestant Christians, we adhere to the
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  Westminster Confession, and we find incredible joy in the
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  Reformed doctrines of God's absolute sovereignty.
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  We do, and before we jum into the details, we actually set a
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  conversational rule for this scrit today.
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  Yes we did. Because these concets are so
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  massive, we agreed beforehand no interruptions.
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  We are going to let each other finish our thoughts completely.
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  Right, so we can really flesh out the arguments of the text.
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  So to start, the source material begins by addressing a great and
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  dangerous delusion that infects the human heart.
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  Which is the belief that man is the master of his own destiny.
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  The world constantly asserts that authority resides in the
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  ballot box, or, you know, in the nuclear silo or in the size of a
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  standing army. Or in secular philosophy.
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  Right, but the text we are examining declare that God's
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  authority operates in an entirely different category.
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  What's fascinating here is that his authority is inherent in his
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  self identification. Like at the burning Bush.
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  Yes, when he says from the burning Bush, I am who I am, he
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  establishes that tingship belongs to him by his very
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  nature. It is not acquired.
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  He did not campaign for the position, He did not conquer
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  another deity to get it, and he certainly does not rule by the
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  consent of the governed. That is a staggering reality
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  check. It is biblical.
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  Providence is not describing a weak deity who sits back,
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  observes human history, and then reacts to it.
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  The Creator does not wait for human recognition to start
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  ruling. Every single crown on this earth
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  is borrowed. Every single one.
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  Earthly sovereignty is derivative, it is provisional,
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  and it is entirely accountable to the throne of Heaven.
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  OK, let's unpack this with a mental picture, because this
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  changes the mechanism of how we view the news.
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  Imagine a middle manager at a massive multinational
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  corporation. I like this analogy.
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  This guy walks around his specific office floor assigning
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  tasks, making demands, and acting like he owns the entire
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  company. He has genuine delegated
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  authority over his specific department.
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  He can hire, he can fire. He can allocate budgets.
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  But he is missing the bigger picture.
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  Completely. He is totally oblivious to the
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  fact that the CEO, the actual owner of the building, the one
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  who signs his paychecks, the one who built the company from the
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  ground up, can reassign him, demote him, or terminate his
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  position at any given moment. That is precisely how earthly
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  rulers operate. Right.
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  They strut across the world stage boasting about their
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  military strength or their economic policies, assuming
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  their authority originates from within themselves.
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  So for you listening right now, consider how often you view
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  political figures as the final arbiters of history.
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  We do it all the time. How often do we panic because we
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  think the middle manager is actually the CEO?
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  The texts challenge us to see right through this illusion.
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  The pomp of crowns and the pride of empires are just borrowed
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  greatness. They function on a ticking clock
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  established by the actual owner of the building.
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  Taking that idea further, if we apply that reality of divine
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  kingship to the actual origin of the nations we see on that world
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  map you mentioned earlier, the implications alter our entire
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  understanding of sociology. And history, really.
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  Absolutely. If God is the supreme King, how
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  did the current geopolitical landscape, with all its various
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  nations, languages, and borders actually come to be?
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  The texts point us directly to the Tower of Babel and Genesis
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  Chapter 11. And to the Apostle Paul sermon
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  in Athens in Acts chapter 17. Right.
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  The existence of distinct nations is a direct product of
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  divine decree. It was executed specifically to
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  restrain human pride. It was not a random sociological
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  drift or a a byproduct of ancient human migration
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  patterns. Acts 1726 is so clear on this.
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  It states that God determined the allotted periods and the
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  boundaries of every dwelling place.
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  Every single border drawn on a map and every era of national
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  dominance operates under direct divine government.
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  He made from one man every nation of mankind.
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  Yes, he did this to organize history according to his own
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  wise counsel, fracturing the monolithic rebellion of humanity
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  at Babel into distinct linguistic and geographical
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  groups. I hear you saying God set those
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  boundaries in a lot of those periods, but I want to push back
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  on the implications of that just a bit.
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  Let's hear it. How does that actually play out
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  in real time? If a dictator invades a
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  neighboring country, slaughters innocent people, and annexes
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  their land, it feels hollow to just say, well, God ordained the
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  boundary change. It is a difficult reality to
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  process. How does the source text handle
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  the sheer tragedy of that? Human history is basically 1
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  long bloody dispute over where those lines in the map should be
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  drawn. Does the source imply that all
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  border changes, invasions and conquests are God's will?
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  That is the crux of the issue. Because that sounds like it
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  could easily slip into a kind of fatalism where we just shrug it
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  aggression and say it was meant to be.
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  That is the crucial tension of Reformed theology, and the
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  source texts address this by explaining the mechanism of
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  concurrent Providence. The text clarifies that God
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  governs the actions of His creatures and orders every
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  single event, yet He does so without being the author of sin.
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  When a nation invades another out of greed or malice, that
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  human action is undeniably wicked.
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  The dictator and the invading army are sinning, and they will
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  face the absolute justice of the Judge of all the earth.
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  However, simultaneously, that very act of human rebellion
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  cannot step 1mm outside the sovereign decree of God.
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  It is a tough needle to thread. It is so.
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  Think of an author writing a sprawling, complex novel.
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  Within the narrative, A villain freely chooses to commit a crime
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  based on his own wicked desires. The character is fully
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  responsible for his actions within the story.
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  Because he is making real choices.
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  Right, but the author is entirely in control of the
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  overarching narrative arc, using that character character's
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  wicked choice to bring about the ultimate resolution of the book.
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  God uses the sinful actions of nations to accomplish His holy
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  purposes, whether for judgement against a corrupt society, for
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  the preservation of His people, or for the unfolding of His
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  redemptive plan, the human. Actors are fully responsible for
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  their motives, but the historical outcome is governed
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  by divine Providence. Yes, Isaiah chapter 10 is the
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  perfect example of this mechanism.
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  God calls the wicked empire of Assyria the rod of my anger.
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  He uses a Syria as a literal axe in his hand to judge the
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  rebellious Israelites. But the text in Isaiah
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  exclusively says that the king of Assyria does not intend to be
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  God's instrument. Exactly.
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  I mean, yes, precisely. The King's mind is focused only
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  on destruction and greed. So God uses the King's wicked
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  ambition to accomplish divine judgement, and then God turns
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  around and judges the king of Assyria for his wicked ambition.
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  The author and the novel analogy clarifies the mechanism
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  perfectly. It resolves the tension between
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  God's sovereign control and human moral responsibility.
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  It is a massive conceptual shift.
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  So within this globally governed theatre where God is directing
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  the rise and fall of these empires, He chose one specific
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  nation to act as the focal point of His redemptive plan.
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  We are talking about Israel. And the text makes it very clear
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  that Israel was an ethnic, political and geographic nation.
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  They had visible borders, they had standing armies and they had
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  earthly kings. Their interactions with the
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  surrounding superpowers like Egypt, Canaan, Assyria, Babylon,
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  Persia, these are not just incidental historical details
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  taking place in the background. No, this was the very theatre of
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  divine Providence. Right.
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  If we look at Egypt, the plagues were not just random magic
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  tricks designed to scare a stubborn king, the source
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  material argues. They were highly calculated acts
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  of divine kingship, demonstrating absolute
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  superiority over the greatest empire of the region.
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  The Egyptian plagues are a master class in the systematic
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  dismantling of a human authority structure.
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  The Egyptians worshipped a massive pantheon of deities, and
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  they believed these gods controlled the natural order.
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  Which was the basis of their entire civilization.
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  Right. More than that, they believed
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  Pharaoh himself was a divine intermediary.
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  When the God of Israel turns the Nile River into blood, he's not
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  just ruining their drinking water.
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  He is executing judgment on Happy, the Egyptian God of the
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  Nile, showing that the supposed lifeblood of Egypt answers to
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  Yahweh. And the darkness is another one.
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  Yes, when the sky goes dark for three days, God is directly
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  humiliating RA, the supreme sun God of the Egyptian pantheon.
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  Pharaoh is an instrument in this grand theological demonstration.
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  His stubborn resistance, his hardened heart, actually
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  magnified God's glory because it provided the necessary occasion
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  for God to dismantle the Egyptian belief system piece by
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  piece. God showed the ancient world
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  that he ruled the river, He ruled the weather, he ruled the
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  livestock, and he ruled life and death itself.
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  What strikes me there is the sheer scale of the
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  confrontation. God is not acting like a
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  localized tribal deity trying to sneak his people out the back
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  door. He is stepping onto the
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  mainstage of the ancient world and taking on the reigning
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  superpower at the height of its strength.
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  It was a very public display. And the texts stress that this
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  pattern continues throughout the Old Testament.
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  The God of Israel is the Lord of Babylon.
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  He is the Lord of Assyria. Later in history, we see Persia,
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  specifically under King Cyrus, functioning as the unexpected
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  vehicle of restoration. God actually named Cyrus through
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  the prophet Isaiah over a century before Cyrus was even
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  born, calling him his anointed, which is.
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  Wild to think about. Cyrus was a Pagan Persian king,
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  yet God funded the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem
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  using the treasury of the Persian Empire.
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  That historical reality proves there is no such thing as
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  secular history in the biblical worldview.
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  Public history is ethically charged.
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  Every political move, every military campaign and every
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  dynastic shift is bound up with the moral government of God.
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  It is all connected. When Cyrus conquered Babylon, he
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  did so for his own geopolitical advantage.
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  He wanted to expand his empire and solidify his legacy, but
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  from the perspective of divine Providence, Cyrus was simply the
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  designated instrument to release the Jewish exile so they could
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  return to Jerusalem. And prepare the geographic and
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  ethnic stage for the eventual arrival of the Messiah.
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  Right. The kings of the earth are
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  playing their own games of conquest, but God is moving them
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  like pieces on a chess board to accomplish His eternal
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  redemptive plan. If we translate this for you
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  listening right now, geopolitical history is highly
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  theological. It is not just about economics,
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  supply chains, or natural resources.
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  It is about God's moral government.
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  That is a very humbling thought. God uses foreign, unbelieving
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  rulers who have zero desire to honor Him to accomplish His holy
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  purposes. That concept shifts the ground
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  beneath our feet, and to see this Providence in granular
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  detail, the texts zoom in on the Babylonian Empire, specifically
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  in the book of Daniel. Daniel Chapter 4 and Chapter 5
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  are presented as inspired case studies.
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  Yes, case studies on how God handles human arrogance.
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  Let's start with Nebuchadnezzar. He is the archetypal arrogant
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  ruler. The text sets the scene.
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  He is walking on the roof of his royal palace, looking out over
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  this massive, wealthy empire. And Babylon was a marvel of
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  ancient engineering. We are talking about the famous
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  hanging garters, the massive defensive walls, the Ishtargate.
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  Nebuchadnezzar looks at all of this, and he boasts in his own
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  majesty. He claims he built it by his own
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  mighty strength and for his own glory.
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  And instantly a voice falls from heaven, and his authority is
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  stripped away. The mechanism of of his humbling
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  is absolutely fascinating. The text says he was driven from
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  human society and given a beast's mind.
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  It sounds terrifying. It is.
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  He lived out in the fields eating grass like an ox.
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  His hair grew as long as eagle's feathers and his nails became
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  like birds claws. The psychological and physical
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  transformation of Nebuchadnezzar is a graphic illustration of a
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  deep theological truth. Which is.
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  When a ruler or any human being rejects the Creator's rule, they
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  do not elevate themselves to godhood, which is the lie of
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  human pride. Instead, they descend into an
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  animalistic state. True humanity is found only in
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  submission to God. To reject God's kingship is to
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  become less than human, to become brutish and irrational.
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  If we connect this to the bigger picture, Nebuchadnezzar lost his
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  reason because human reason is dependent on acknowledging
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  reality, and the ultimate reality is that God is king.
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  That distinction between the lie of godhood and the reality of
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  becoming a beast is staggering, and the fascinating part is that
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  his humbling was redemptive at the end of those 7 periods of
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  time. His reason returned to him the
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  exact moment he literally lifted his eyes to heaven and
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  acknowledged that the Most High rules the Kingdom of men.
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  He was restored to his throne, but he was a changed man.
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  But then the literary pattern in the Book of Daniel shifts to
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  show us the absolute tragedy of a heart that remains hardened
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  despite witnessing this exact kind of Providence.
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  We moved to Belshazzar, who was Nebuchadnezzar's descendant.
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  Belshazzar sinned against known light.
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  He knew what happened to his predecessor.
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  He knew the God of heaven could humble kings.
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  Yet he responded foolishly and suicidally.
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  While the Medo Persian army is literally encamped outside the
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  walls of Babylon, laying siege to the city, Belshazzar decides
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  to throw a massive drunken feast.
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  The historical context of that feast makes his actions even
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  more brazen. Belshazzar felt secure behind
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  the massive walls of Babylon. He believed his empire was
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  impenetrable. So to project absolute
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  confidence to his nobles, he deliberately brings out the
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  sacred vessels, the golden cups and bowls that Nebuchadnezzar
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  had looted from the Jerusalem Temple decades earlier.
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  He and his guests drink wine from them while praising gods of
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  gold, silver, bronze, ironwood and stone.
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  He is taking the holy items dedicated to Yahweh and using
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  them in a Pagan ritual of self congratulation.
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  Let's find an analogy to capture the sheer arrogance of that
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  moment. It is like a modern corporate
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  hostile takeover. Imagine a ruthless billionaire
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  buys out a beloved historic company, completely ousts the
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  founder, and then on live television specifically chooses
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  to drink his morning coffee out of the ousted founders
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  personalized customized mug. That paints a very clear
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  picture. It is not just about needing a
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  cup to drink from. It is a highly calculated public
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  act of psychological dominance. It is designed to say I own you.
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  Your legacy is my plaything. Belshazzar is holding a cup
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  dedicated to the temple of the Living God, praising lifeless
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  idols. And the prophet Daniels brought
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  in, and he tells the king straight to his face, The God in
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  whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you
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  have not honored. That is a chilling sentence.
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  God is literally supplying the oxygen and Belshazzar's lungs at
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  the exact moment Belshazzar is using that breath to blasphemy
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  him. The audacity of it is met with
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  immediate, terrifying judgement. The handwriting appears on the
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  wall. Mennay Mennay Tekel Parson
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  weighed, measured and found wanting.
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  The illusion of his impenetrable fortress was shattered.
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  That very night the Meadow Persian army diverted the
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  Euphrates River, marched under the walls of Babylon through the
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  dry riverbed, and terminated the empire.
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  Belshazzar was killed. The contrast between
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  Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar is deliberately stark.
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  One king is humbled and restored.
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  Another king is proud and destroyed.
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  Together, these case studies prove that the breath and the
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  ways of every king, whether they acknowledge it or not, are
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  entirely in the hand of God. The physical walls of Babylon
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  could not stop the decree of heaven.
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  Now, having established how God ruled over a specific
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  geopolitical nation in the Old Testament and how we
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  orchestrated the empires around them, the source material shifts
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  the discussion to how this theology applies to the current
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  era. We move from national Israel to
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  the multinational church. But before we get to the modern
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  application, we have to look back at the original promise
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  made to Abraham. God promised Abraham that he
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  would be the father of a multitude of nations.
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  For centuries, that promise carried a mystery.
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  How could the father of one specific ethnic nation, Israel,
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  simultaneously be the father of a multitude of nations?
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  The Apostle Paul unpacks this in Romans chapter 4.
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  He points out that this promise was a prophetic guarantee of the
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  inclusion of non Jewish nations through faith in the Messiah.
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  The texts maintain a clear dispensational distinction here.
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  Let's break that term down for the listener.
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  For the listener who might not have a seminary background, a
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  dispensational distinction simply means recognizing that
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  God structured his relationship with his people differently in
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  the Old Testament versus the New Testament.
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  Right? In the Old Testament, the people
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  of God were synonymous with the nation state of Israel.
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  They had physical borders, a physical temple, and civil laws
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  governing their society. But in the New Testament, with
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  the arrival of Christ, that structure changes drastically.
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  The visible people of God are no longer confined to a single
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  ethnic, political or national identity.
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  The Church is not a nation state.
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  We do not have a capital city on earth, we do not have a standing
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  military, and we do not have an earthly king sitting on a
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  physical throne. Here's where it gets really
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  interesting. The text says our citizenship is
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  in heaven. The church is not a political
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  state. This shift proves that God was
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  never an exclusively national deity.
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  His plan was always global from the very beginning.
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  The ethnic boundaries of ancient Israel were never intended to be
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  the final chapter. They were the historical vehicle
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  designed to bring the Messiah into the world, to preserve the
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  Scriptures, and to demonstrate the holiness of God.
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  Once the Messiah arrived, the vehicle had fulfilled its
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  primary function. The implications of this
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  structural shift are massive for how believers Live Today.
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  Because the Church is not a geopolitical nation.
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  She is a Pilgrim people sent out into all the nations her.
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  Warfare is not physical, it is spiritual.
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  Her expansion is not achieved by drawing new boundary lines on a
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  map, forming political action committees, or conquering
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  territory with the sword. Her expansion is achieved
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  exclusively by Gospel proclamation.
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  She bears witness to Christ in the midst of countless different
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  languages, governments and cultures.
• 19:48
  But we must clearly state that this change in the form of God's
• 19:51
  people does not mean God has stopped governing the nations.
• 19:55
  The same Lord who ruled over Babylon and Assyria is still
• 19:59
  governing all modern rulers. Raising up kingdoms, restraining
• 20:03
  evil, and directing the course of current history.
• 20:05
  His kingship is just as comprehensive today as it was in
• 20:08
  the days of Daniel. The stage is the same, but the
• 20:11
  covenant community is now scattered across the globe,
• 20:14
  united by faith in Jesus Christ rather than by physical borders.
• 20:17
  And that entire thread of Old Testament kingship demands a
• 20:21
  perfect king. We saw human kings in Israel,
• 20:24
  guys like David and Solomon, who were given tremendous privilege
• 20:27
  in covenant promises. But they were deeply flawed.
• 20:30
  They were mortal. They compromised.
• 20:32
  They sinned grievously. David committed adultery and
• 20:34
  murder. Solomon allowed his foreign
• 20:36
  wives to lead him into idolatry, building high places for false
• 20:40
  gods right outside Jerusalem. Their failures were actually
• 20:43
  pedagogical. They taught Israel to long for a
• 20:45
  greater ruler. They prove that no normal human
• 20:48
  being, no matter how wise or well-intentioned, could bear the
• 20:51
  weight of a perfect eternal Kingdom.
• 20:53
  Every time a human Kingdom failed, it pointed forward to
• 20:56
  the necessity of a divine king. This leads us directly to the
• 21:00
  Christological fulfillment. Jesus is the son of David.
• 21:04
  He is the root and the descendant.
• 21:06
  The texts declare him to be the true king of kings who rule the
• 21:09
  nations with a rod of iron. In Jesus, the absolute kingship
• 21:13
  of God and the specific earthly kingship promised to the line of
• 21:17
  David finally meet in perfect unity.
• 21:20
  Christ is the prophet who perfectly interprets the divine
• 21:23
  will, speaking in nothing but the truth.
• 21:25
  He's the priest who ransoms a people from every tribe,
• 21:28
  language and nation by offering his own blood as the perfect
• 21:31
  sacrifice for sin. And he is the King who rules
• 21:34
  with absolute sovereignty over all creation.
• 21:36
  But that raises a massive question.
• 21:38
  If Jesus is ruling right now as King of Kings, why does the
• 21:42
  world look so chaotic? This raises an important
• 21:44
  question indeed. How should believers view
• 21:47
  Christ's current rule when we see wars, corruption, and
• 21:50
  massive injustice on our news feeds every single day?
• 21:53
  The source texts argue that all of human history is currently
• 21:57
  subordinated to His return. He is gathering His redeemed
• 22:01
  from the ends of the earth right now and granting them entrance
• 22:04
  into His invisible eternal Kingdom.
• 22:07
  Every geopolitical event, every rise and fall of modern nations,
• 22:10
  every shifting border is being orchestrated behind the scenes
• 22:14
  to facilitate the gathering of this multinational church.
• 22:17
  History is not drifting aimlessly.
• 22:20
  It is moving with absolute precision toward the day when
• 22:23
  every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus
• 22:26
  Christ is Lord. Bringing all this theology of
• 22:29
  Providence directly into your daily life, into the modern
• 22:32
  societal debates we see everywhere, requires us to look
• 22:35
  at the practical application of these doctrines.
• 22:37
  The texts call for the total annihilation of human autonomy.
• 22:40
  The breath of every politician, every tech billionaire, every
• 22:43
  tyrant on the news today is held firmly in God's hand, just as
• 22:47
  Belshazzar's breath was. Now the authors take a very
• 22:50
  specific and controversial stance on modern social
• 22:53
  movements and we need to report on their argument accurately.
• 22:56
  We are not endorsing any side here, just conveying what the
• 22:59
  text argues. Right.
• 23:00
  Our goal is to present the source materials perspective.
• 23:04
  The source material explicitly refutes what it calls the false
• 23:07
  refuges of today. It specifically names liberal
• 23:10
  theology, the social Gospel, and critical race theory.
• 23:14
  The text argument is that these modern frameworks make a
• 23:16
  fundamental theological error. They seek to build an earthly
• 23:20
  utopia through secular pragmatism, and they attempt to
• 23:23
  find human identity in social grievances rather than in
• 23:26
  Christ. Regardless of where you stand
• 23:28
  politically on those frameworks, the text theological point is
• 23:31
  that prioritizing the church's energy on political
• 23:34
  transformation or worldly definitions of social justice
• 23:38
  misses the mark entirely. Because our citizenship is in
• 23:40
  heaven. The church is not called to fix
• 23:42
  the geopolitical map. The church is called to preach
• 23:45
  the gospel. The source material is adamant
• 23:48
  that the Church must not confuse the eternal Kingdom of Christ
• 23:50
  with any earthly political order.
• 23:53
  When a church ties its hope to a specific political party or a
• 23:56
  specific social movement, it loses its prophetic voice and
• 24:00
  its heavenly identity. And when we understand this, we
• 24:03
  are led to what reformed theology calls the third use of
• 24:07
  the law. Wait.
• 24:08
  Let's pause there for the listener who might not be
• 24:10
  familiar with that phrase. What does the third use of the
• 24:13
  law actually mean in plain English?
• 24:16
  Certainly in Reformed theology, the law of God has three primary
• 24:20
  uses. The first use is to restrain sin
• 24:22
  in society, like a bridle on a wild horse.
• 24:25
  Makes sense? The second use is to show us our
• 24:27
  sin and drive us to Christ for salvation, like a mirror
• 24:30
  reflecting our flaws. The third use applies
• 24:33
  specifically to those who are already saved.
• 24:36
  It means that the law of God and the truth of His Providence
• 24:38
  guides the believer to walk in a way that honors him out of
• 24:41
  gratitude. We do not obey the law to earn
• 24:43
  salvation, we obey it because we have been saved and we want to
• 24:47
  please our King. So the doctrine of absolute
• 24:49
  Providence is not supposed to make us passive or fatalistic.
• 24:52
  It is supposed to provide incredible missiological
• 24:55
  courage. If God is absolutely sovereign
• 24:57
  over every nation, and if He has decreed the gathering of His
• 25:01
  people, then the Great Commission is a guaranteed
• 25:03
  success. We can go into the hardest, most
• 25:06
  hostile places on earth to preach the gospel knowing with
• 25:10
  absolute certainty that the King of Kings has already numbered
• 25:13
  the days of every hostile regime.
• 25:16
  That reframes everything. It means the believer is
• 25:19
  entirely freed from panic. We do not need to lose our minds
• 25:23
  over elections or economic crashes or the shifting of
• 25:26
  empires. We don't have to wring our hands
• 25:28
  when a new superpower rises or an old one falls.
• 25:31
  Understanding God's meticulous Providence results in a life
• 25:34
  marked by profound weight, marked by massive humility
• 25:38
  because we know we are not the masters of our own destiny.
• 25:41
  It results in patience because we know God's timing is
• 25:43
  flawless, even when it involves centuries awaiting.
• 25:46
  And it results in courage because the ultimate victory is
• 25:49
  already secured by Christ. It completely reorients the
• 25:52
  Christian life away from worldly anxieties and anchors it in
• 25:55
  eternal realities. The map of the world is
• 25:58
  temporary, but the Kingdom of God is forever.
• 26:01
  It truly is. To briefly recap, our
• 26:03
  progression is deep dive. Today.
• 26:05
  We started by looking at God's inherent kingship authority that
• 26:08
  He holds by nature, not by human consent like the true CEO of
• 26:11
  history. We saw how he set the boundaries
• 26:13
  of the nations at Babel to restrain a human pride.
• 26:16
  We walk through the graphic humbling of Nebuchadnezzar's
• 26:19
  descent into a beastly state and the terrifying immediate
• 26:23
  judgement of Belshazzar's corporate style arrogance
• 26:26
  proving God's absolute mastery over the greatest empires.
• 26:30
  We traced the massive shift from a National Geographic Israel to
• 26:34
  a global Pilgrim church gathered entirely by Gospel proclamation.
• 26:39
  And we landed on the final eternal universal reign of Jesus
• 26:42
  Christ, the true Son of David. We want to reinforce to you, the
• 26:46
  listener, that every ounce of earthly majesty you see on the
• 26:49
  news is borrowed. It is fragile, it is temporary,
• 26:53
  but the Everlasting King is just.
• 26:55
  He is righteous and his dominion will never end.
• 26:58
  That is the immovable rock upon which the Christian faith
• 27:01
  stands. We want to leave you with a
• 27:03
  final thought to ponder long after this audio stops playing.
• 27:06
  Something to really chew on. If the chaotic, terrifying
• 27:09
  geopolitical headlines you read tomorrow morning are actually
• 27:13
  the precise, calculated instruments God is currently
• 27:16
  using to gather his ransom people from every single nation,
• 27:21
  wait, let me rephrase that. Let's think about this deeply.
• 27:23
  If those terrifying headlines are the very instruments God is
• 27:25
  using to gather His people, how does that completely alter the
• 27:28
  way you consume the news?