DIVINE GOVERNMENT AND ORDER
(week 06/11)
OLUBI JOHNSON
Divine government is a theocracy: God ruling through a man within the confines of the written Word of God. It is not a tyranny or an arbitrary dictatorship: it is restricted by God’s will and purpose as revealed in the written Word of God: the Bible.
This divine government consists of bishops (overseers) with a senior bishop having final authority; deacons: those that assist the bishops in the physical organization and operation of the Church while the bishops give themselves primarily to the spiritual operation of the Church: prayer and the ministry of the Word (Act. 6:4); and saints: the Christians in the Church that are neither yet bishops or deacons and they submit to and obey the Word of God as instructed by the bishops and deacons who they can and should assist in their service in the Church.
Philippians 1:1 AMP: Paul and Timothy, bond servants of Christ Jesus (the Messiah), to all the saints (God’s consecrated people) in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the bishops (overseers) and deacons (assistants):
Numbers 27:16-21 AMP: Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation (17) who shall go out and come in before them, leading them out and bringing them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep which have no shepherd. (18) The Lord said to Moses, take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand upon him; (19) and set him before Eleazar the priest and all the congregation and give him a charge in their sight. (20) And put some of your honor and authority upon him, that all the congregation of the Israelites may obey him. (21) He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him before the Lord by the judgment of the Urim [one of two articles in the priest’s breastplate worn when asking counsel of the Lord for the people]. At Joshua’s word the people shall go out and come in, both he and all the Israelite congregation with him.
Romans 12:4-8 MKJV: For even as we have many members in one body, and all members do not have the same function, (5) so we the many are one body in Christ, and each one members of one another. (6) Then having gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, if prophecy, according to the proportion of faith; (7) or ministry, in the ministry; or he who teaches, in the teaching; (8) or he who exhorts, in the encouragement; or he who shares, in simplicity; or he who takes the lead, in diligence; or he who shows mercy, in cheerfulness.
This divine government is found in regional (not denominational) churches symbolized in the candlestick with 7 branches: 5 bishops with the apostolic, prophetic, teaching, pastoral and evangelistic anointings; and the deacons and saints.
Revelation 1:20 MKJV: the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand and the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.
Now, the will of God that was to govern God’s dealings with created beings with a free will was agreed upon by the three Persons of the God-head before anything was ever created. In this agreement was the plan of redemption that required the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus to pay for the misuse of the free will of man, so that man would not have to be destroyed if and when he sinned.
Revelation 13:8 MKJV: And all dwelling on the earth will worship it, those whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain, from the foundation of the world.
John 3:16-17 MKJV: For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (17) For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him.
Rather, it would give man the opportunity to learn that sin: disobedience to the divine will and purpose for creation was destructive (Rom. 6:23) while righteousness: obedience to the divine will and purpose was profitable (1 Tim. 4:8).
The details of this plan were unfolded over the next 4,000 years from the creation of Adam and written in the 66 books of the Bible: the written Word.
This written Word was to reveal to all men the Living Word: the Lord Jesus Christ, the plan of redemption in Him and was to be the legal basis on which all men were to relate both with God and one another.
It is a fact of human history that the moral law formally given to Moses on Mount Sinai encapsulated in the law of ‘loving your neighbour as yourself’ is universally acknowledged by all men as to what is right and what is wrong, even before and after it was given to Moses and works in the consciences of all men whether they know the Bible or not. That is why stealing, lying, selfishness and all such like are universally accepted as being wrong and evil in all societies from the dawn of man’s creation and consciousness.
Romans 2:14-15 MKJV: For when the nations, who do not have the Law, do by nature the things of the Law,these, not having the Law, are a law unto themselves; (15) who show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and the thoughts between one another accusing or even excusing one another,
The written Word is the constitution of the Kingdom of God to which God Himself is subject and cannot break or alter; it cannot be added to or taken away from:
Psalms 119:89 KJV: LAMED. For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.
Psalms 89:34 KJV: My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
John 10:35 KJV: If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;
Hebrews 6:17-18 MKJV: In this way desiring to declare more fully to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, God interposed by an oath, (18) so that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us,
Genesis 18:25 MKJV: Far be it from You to act in this manner, to kill the righteous with the wicked. And far be it from You, that the righteous should be as the wicked. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
It is the very foundation of divine government and order.
Psalms 97:2 MKJV: Clouds and darkness are all around Him; righteousness and judgment are the foundation of His throne.
The order of divine government is established by judgment and justice; this is illustrated in the reign of Solomon whose kingdom was established only after judgement had been meted out to the rebels: Joab, Adonijah, Abiathar and Shimei (1 Kings 2).
1 Kings 2:46 KJV: So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; which went out, and fell upon him, that he died. And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.
So, as we are to start experiencing from this year 2011 a foretaste of divine government in its fullness in the Church: bringing about a Church without spot, blemish, wrinkle or any such thing (Eph. 5:27) and in the nations creating wonderful economic and social conditions such that there is no complaining in the streets (Ps. 144:12-15), we are NOW to submit to and operate divine government and order
