Of God’s Expanding Empire
From Another Place
One of the most famous scenes in The Bible has a supplicant Jesus standing before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. The steely-eyed governor asked his prisoner:
“Are you the king of the Jews?”
“Are you asking for yourself,” Jesus calmly replied, “or are others asking that about Me?”
“What?” blurted Pilate. “Am I a Jew? Your own people and chief priests have brought you before me. What have you done?”
And then, Jesus said, “My Kingdom is not of this world. If it were, then My servants would fight to prevent My arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now My Kingdom is from another place.”1
And because of what Jesus said here about His Kingdom not being “of this world,” most people assume that only Heaven is worthy of being pursued, and that the Earth should be forever viewed as an enemy of God’s Kingdom. As a result, generation after generation of the faithful have spawned all kinds of philosophies that denigrate anything to do with the present world.
Story Continues Below
Says Richard Price—the founder and CEO of Academia.edu—on his podcast In Depth With Academia:
On Earth as It is On Heaven: The Promise of America, Technology, and the New Earth is:
To hear Price’s book review of On Earth as It is On Heaven, CLICK HERE.
To hear Kent discuss the promises of God that pertain to God’s Kingdom on Earth, particularly as they pertain to the nations of the West, with Zen Garcia, the host of the Internet talk show Momentary Zen, CLICK BELOW.
Story Continues From Above
Many who hold this view naturally point to the fact that this is because ever since Adam and Eve’s expulsion from Eden we live as fallen creatures in a fallen world. And as a believer in Scripture myself, I’d certainly agree that this is an accurate depiction of the human condition.
However, just as importantly, in spite of our fallen state as descendants of Adam and Eve, The Bible is just as clear on many other aspects that are just as worthy of our consideration. As for the true nature of our world, despite its present predicament, Scripture declares:
The Earth is the Lord’s and all its fullness—the world and all who live in it.2
The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the Earth is full of His loving devotion.3
For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it’s received with thanksgiving.4