UNDER GOD’S CONTROL
In these last days, the Lord’s eye is not fixed on world powers but on the church of Jesus Christ. God is not focused on the economy, on the rise of world religions, on the roaring of the heathen. According to Isaiah, the nations are to God “as a drop of a bucket” (Isaiah 40:15). They are all under His sovereign rule and reign.
God knows all about terrorist threats, wars and rumors of wars. His Word warns that the heathen will rage, secular powers will try to outlaw Christianity, and fast-growing, anti-Christ movements will boast they’ll rule the world and destroy Jesus’ followers. The Bible says this about it all:
“The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us” (Psalm 2:2–3). In short, “Let’s cast away all moral hindrances, all moral landmarks of the past.”
Here is God’s reaction to these earthly powers and demon-influenced men: “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision” (2:4). No matter how desperate things look, everything remains under God’s full control.
I’m thankful for this word from the Psalms. More and more, we hear reports of secularism wiping out the evangelical church in Europe; of Islam being the fastest growing religion in the world; of homosexuals hijacking entire denominations; of Christ’s church growing so weak it no longer has any impact on society. Yet God’s Word declares, “On Christ the Rock God will build His church.”
“The gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Nothing from the bowels of hell can hope to destroy Christ’s church. His eye is always on His people, and through everything He warns Satan and his hordes, “Do not touch the apple of My eye.”
“Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake” (Isaiah 54:15). Do you see what God is saying here? “The devil is going to come at you. Enemies out of hell will gather together against you. But Satan will not succeed.”
God knows all about terrorist threats, wars and rumors of wars. His Word warns that the heathen will rage, secular powers will try to outlaw Christianity, and fast-growing, anti-Christ movements will boast they’ll rule the world and destroy Jesus’ followers. The Bible says this about it all:
“The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us” (Psalm 2:2–3). In short, “Let’s cast away all moral hindrances, all moral landmarks of the past.”
Here is God’s reaction to these earthly powers and demon-influenced men: “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision” (2:4). No matter how desperate things look, everything remains under God’s full control.
I’m thankful for this word from the Psalms. More and more, we hear reports of secularism wiping out the evangelical church in Europe; of Islam being the fastest growing religion in the world; of homosexuals hijacking entire denominations; of Christ’s church growing so weak it no longer has any impact on society. Yet God’s Word declares, “On Christ the Rock God will build His church.”
“The gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Nothing from the bowels of hell can hope to destroy Christ’s church. His eye is always on His people, and through everything He warns Satan and his hordes, “Do not touch the apple of My eye.”
“Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake” (Isaiah 54:15). Do you see what God is saying here? “The devil is going to come at you. Enemies out of hell will gather together against you. But Satan will not succeed.”