For the past weeks, we have been investigating the three institutional weapons God has given us to use in accomplishing our original task for which we were created—ruling over the earth.
We have used a diagram reflecting Dutch Reformed theologian/politician Abraham Kyper’s “sphere sovereignty” theology to illustrate how those institutional weapons function together. Each sphere has its own, unique contribution. This idea is depicted beautifully by the diagram—the “Ship of the Kingdom”—reproduced below.
This diagram represents the “big picture;” how the daily activities of our lives fit into God’s great, eternal purpose and have meaning. “Without prophetic vision, people abandon restraint“ (Proverbs 29:18). However, many of us live with no overall purpose or meaning to our lives. The diagram represents the “prophetic vision” into which all our activities fit.
God the Father, at the top of the diagram, had just retrieved from Satan, in a divine sting operation on the cross, God’s Kingdom, which Satan had stolen from Adam in the Garden of Eden. At the Ascension, 40 days after the Crucifixion and Resurrection, God gave His Kingdom (the earth and all it contained) to a man, Jesus Christ, to rule, just as He had originally given that Kingdom to a man, Adam, at creation (Genesis 1:26-28).
This Ascension event had been prophesied by Daniel 500 years earlier: ” I continued to observe the night vision—and look!—someone like the Son of Man was coming, accompanied by heavenly clouds. He approached the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. To Him dominion was bestowed, along with glory and a kingdom, so that all peoples, nations, and languages are to serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion—it will never pass away—and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13, 14).
At the Ascension, these two verses tell us, the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, was given the Kingdom. Earlier in the Psalms, David had prophesied this same Coronation:
“The LORD (God the Father) said to my Lord (Jesus),’Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool’” (Psalm 110:1). This verse prophesied WHAT God would do—give to Jesus victory over all His enemies on the earth.
The next verse, Psalm 110:2, tells us HOW He will do it, while remaining seated as King of kings, at God’s right hand! : “The LORD (God the Father) shall send the rod of Your strength (Jesus’) out of Zion (God’s people, the church). RULE IN THE MIDST OF YOUR ENEMIES” (Psalm 110:2). HE DELEGATED HIS KINGDOM TO US!
Then ten days after Jesus received the Kingdom from God the Father at the Ascension, on the Day of Pentecost God sent His Holy Spirit to actually live in and through us (Galatians 2:20). We are now positioned and equipped, for the first time since The Fall, to fulfill the job for which we were created—to rule over the earth (Genesis 1:26-28)!
Our diagram shows us how that equipping occurs. There are three characteristics God has given to the leadership of family, church and civil government, the institutional weapons we will use as we rule. They are Authority, Responsibility and Accountability, pictured in the diagram by three vertical lines flowing from Jesus to His people in these institutions.
According to our authority, the Word of God, these characteristics are applied in each institution differently. For example, in the family, final decision-making AUTHORITY rests with the husband, and he also is RESPOSIBLE for any difficulties that family experiences. He alone is ACCOUNTABLE to God.
In the church, on the other hand, authority and responsibility reside corporately with the elders, who are selected by the church. Civil government is similar to the church, with office holders chosen by the citizens. Thus, in biblical churches and civil governments, ultimate accountability lies with us as church members and citizens. We “got what we chose!”
The final piece of the structure of the Ship of the Kingdom that must be in place before we can set sail are the horizontal lines depicting how each of our kingdom weapons relate to the other two.
When God created us as (1 )His image bearers to (2.) rule over the earth, He also told us tp (3) “Be fruitful, and multiply and fill the earth” (Genesis 1:26-28). In order for our commission to rule to be fulfilled, we must REPRODUCE!
So, the family supplies the church and the civil government with a constant supply of obedient, well-trained youth, who have learned about our task in life and are ready to join in the family business of ruling!
The church on the other hand, takes those eager young adults and EQUIPS them to do so: “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11, 12). The church leaders do the equipping of the Saints; the Saints themselves do the ministry!
A big part of that ministry for which they are equipped is the civil government, the only one of our three weapons that can determine adult behavior. That is why we can never fulfill our commission to “rule” without capturing and using God’s weapon of civil government to extend the Kingdom. Therefore, the Family Supplies, the Church Equips, and the Civil Government Applies – the Gospel of the Kingdom!
These horizontal lines representing these relationships between our three weapons complete our diagram of the Ship of the Kingdom. We are ready to set sail. But what if there is no wind? If that’s true, we are going nowhere. Is there “wind in your sails?” Next week!
