Deuteronomy 7:17-26; Acts 28:16-31

Little by Little: The Plan for Christian Dominion

Preached at Sycamore RPC

Kokomo, IN

October 7, 2001

 

Scripture Text

 

17 “If you should say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them?’  18 you shall not be afraid of them; you shall well remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt:  19 the great trials which your eyes saw and the signs and the wonders and the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which the LORD your God brought you out. So shall the LORD your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.  20 “Moreover, the LORD your God will send the hornet against them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you perish.  21 “You shall not dread them, for the LORD your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God.  22 “The LORD your God will clear away these nations before you little by little; you will not be able to put an end to them quickly, for the wild beasts would grow too numerous for you.  23 “But the LORD your God will deliver them before you, and will throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed.  24 “He will deliver their kings into your hand so that you will make their name perish from under heaven; no man will be able to stand before you until you have destroyed them.  25 “The graven images of their gods you are to burn with fire; you shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, or you will be snared by it, for it is an abomination to the LORD your God.  26 “You shall not bring an abomination into your house, and like it come under the ban; you shall utterly detest it and you shall utterly abhor it, for it is something banned.

 

 

“What do you want to do – blow up all the mosques?”

 

This question was asked of me in a discussion I had with a very sincere Christian this past week. I was trying to explain to him some of the things I have been sharing with you in the last few sermons:

  • That our land has forsaken the true God;
  • That the current political movement by our government leaders evidenced by the prayer service in the National Cathedral to appease all religious groups is an affront to the holy God, who has set Jesus as the only Lord of nations;
  • That we cannot allow Islam to prosper in our land, for Muslims will not tolerate rivals once they gain power.

Hearing me speak this way, he asked that question. “So what do you want to do? Blow up all the mosques?”

 

You cannot speak too clearly in these days of confusion. Let me say publicly that I denounce the shootings at mosques and the threats and killings of those from Arab or Asian descent that have occurred in recent weeks following the terrorism of September 11 th. It is unlawful, deplorable, wicked vigilantism. It has no place in Christianity or in the minds of God’s people. In what I am about to share with you this morning no one can rightly accuse me of calling for the bombing of mosques. But in these days of confusion, it is important for the church not only to speak clearly, but truthfully with its vision right from the Word of God. Important for the church to not be so scared of being misunderstood that it fails to see and proclaim what God has made abundantly clear. Namely, that God has a plan for Christians to exercise dominion over the earth.

 

Merely talking this way scares Christians today. We don’t want to be called “radical fundamentalists or “Christian Ayatollahs” (perhaps now we should say the ”Christian Taliban”). So we relegate any discussion of Christian triumph to spiritual matters of the heart, and the church remains pietistic and withdrawn. It is not even within the conscience thinking of most church-going Americans to consider – even consider! - that the Lord wants this nation to openly and unashamedly to honor Christ as its Lord. The church is scared. It is this type of fear that God directly confronts in this passage beginning in verse 17, when Moses says, “If you should say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them?’ you shall not be afraid of them.”

 

The church must not be scared to go back to our mandate found in Genesis 1:28. God blessed man, and then said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” This as historically been known as the “Dominion Mandate.” God’s plan for mankind is that the godly would see, in the words of Abraham Kuyper, “every square inch of this earth ruled for God’s glory.” Sin came in and destroyed that rule; but Christ the Redeemer has been sent to reclaim the earth as His and restore it to His people. Not in just saving them out of hell and into heaven, but using His people to bring heaven to earth. One of the wondrous aspects of that heavenly blessing is seeing nations under the voluntary rule of God.

 

Perhaps you can recall the message from last week as we saw how nations are to bless God. Do we really believe what we will be singing in a while from Psalm 72, “Men shall still in Him be blessed; Blessed all the nations shall Him call?”

 

The Lord of nations has a plan to bring His glory to bear by the work of His Spirit through the church. This plan is found throughout Scripture. It is the covenant plan made in eternity past between the Father and the Son that we read about in Psalm 2 a few weeks ago. The Father said to the Son, “Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as Your possession.” God’s plan for carrying this out is outlined here for us in this passage. Though on the surface it does speak with language that could sound like a proper application of it might be blowing up mosques, please do not jump to conclusions! In the power of the Spirit, let us listen closely for its proper interpretation and make right New Covenant applications.

 

I. Remember the wonders performed by God in earlier times on other nations.

 

Remembering is at the forefront of God’s plan for dominion. One reason the church is so very weak today is that she has forgotten to remember. Ignorant of her ancestry, unaware of her great triumphs in ages past, the modern church floats adrift without the historical moorings she so desperately needs. That is why in verses 18-19 we are instructed to remember (Please read.).

 

As Moses prepared Israel to go into the Promised Land where they would meet hostile nations that would not want them there, he instructed them to remember. Remember what God did to Pharaoh and to all of Egypt when He sent plagues, put to death their firstborn, and parted the Red Sea. Consider God’s power – the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, the outstretched arm. If you will but remember what He has done, you will not fear what lies ahead of you.

 

So important was this to Israel that this instruction is repeated throughout Deuteronomy. Listen:

 

  • Deuteronomy 5:15 “And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.”
  • Deuteronomy 8:18 “You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.”
  • Deuteronomy 15:15 “ You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this thing today.”
  • Hear this incredible prophecy that speaks of God giving the earth as an inheritance to His people. Deuteronomy 32:7-8 “Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations. Ask your father, and he will show you; your elders, and they will tell you: When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, when He separated the sons of Adam, he set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel.”

 

The church needs to remember all that God did to deliver Israel, and all that He has done through the ages to deliver the church. He has used her to change the face of nations. That is why the study of history is so important. How are children need to hear the stories of:

  • How the early church, suffering martyrdom, persevered so that the emperor Constantine and eventually the Roman Empire came under Christian rule.
  • Men in the medieval church like Boniface, whom the Lord used to bring a nation out of the dominion of the god Thor. Men like Patrick, whom the Lord used to turn Ireland from Celtic paganism to Christianity, with many kings converted.
  • Need to know Reformation did not just reform the church, or split the church, but changed the face of every nation on Europe. Let us not forget to tell them that our own Westminster Confession was formulated by an act and the oversight of the English Parliament. These nations came to the church asking for help to follow the Lord!
  • Let us hear (as we will during our class time today) the modern history of how the Chinese church, though persecuted, is triumphing in a communist land.

 

God’s plan starts with remembering. It starts with remembering first of all what these “lesser” triumphs of history all point us to. They all point us to the life, death, resurrection and ascension of the glorious Lord Jesus Christ. If we have faith in God’s power to raise His Son, need we fear that He will not act on our behalf? So let us today rejoice as we remember! Let us worship God by a service centered around remembering His works of old. Let us remember by practicing faithfully His sacraments that help us not only hear but taste the victory. Let us remember by singing the psalms like Psalm 135 we sang today, psalms which unlike most hymns recount real history, testifying to God’s triumphs in time and space. Let us remember by reading of God’s glorious victories in the Scriptures.

 

We sang in Psalm 106 that “the people soon forgot His works, nor waited for His will.” May that not be said of us.

 

II. Then institute God’s “little by little” plan.

 

After we remember, then we are ready to institute God’s “little-by-little” plan. In verse 20, Moses tells Israel that God will send the hornet against her enemies, until even the ones left hiding are driven out and perish. You are to picture this small insect that packs a wallop chasing and driving your enemies from you, unable to hide from its sting. Then God explains how this will happen. Listen to God’s little-by-little plan for Christian dominion.

 

Trust that the awesome God is in your midst (Read vs. 21). This is why we remember His wondrous deeds. God has not changed. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – He is your God! The God of Moses – He is your God! The God of King David – He is your God! The God of the apostles – He is your God! The God of the martyrs, of Boniface, of Patrick – He is your God! The God of the reformers, of our Chinese brethren remaining steadfast in persecution – He is your God! He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and He is your Father and your God. Through Christ Jesus our Lord He does dwell in the midst of us.

 

Trust Him by praying. We see this type of trust in God’s presence to overcome nations gathered against them exhibited by the early church. When faced with threats and persecution, they prayed. In Acts 4:24-30, listen to their prayer, and notice how they claim Psalm 2 and see themselves in line with the God of their forefathers:

 

“So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: “Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them, who by the mouth of Your servant David have said:

‘Why did the nations rage,

And the people plot vain things?

The kings of the earth took their stand,

And the rulers were gathered together

Against the Lord and against His Christ.’

“For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done. Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.”

 

The result of that prayer? The place they were meeting in shook, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and the boldness to speak forth the truth. May God be with us. May we trust that the awesome God already is with us and pray for victory.

 

Understand that you are in a multi-generational battle (Read vs. 22). Here is where we see the phrase “little by little” being used. Moses tells Israel that God would not drive them out with no one ready to exercise dominion. God is no anarchist. He works through authority. When the Israelites were ready to assume that authority, He would give it over to them. Yet not until they were ready. God had waited over 400 years to give them the Promised Land. Now that they were there, He was in no rush. Though they saw tremendous victories through the campaign of Joshua, it would be another 400 years before in the days of David and Solomon the land resembled a nation truly devoted to God. O the patience of the Almighty!

 

That is why no right-minded Christian could advocate the bombing of mosques. Besides being wrong, it just would result in anarchy and confusion. The church does not yet have the knowledge and vision to exercise dominion. Our battle is not with flesh and blood. Our battle is to educate a whole new generation on learning to take responsibility to see Christ exalted in all areas of life. Then we need to send them out so that little by little the strongholds of our nation - the churches that have apostatized, the schools that have humanized, the media that is corrupted, the government that has forsaken God- are penetrated by the salt and light of godly seed.

 

This is why the training of our children is of primary importance, and an important emphasis of this book as we saw in Deuteronomy 6 for instance. With the faith of Abraham, we need to look long-term to see our descendants calling and leading this nation and others to the Lord. We need to teach them to look at history, theology, and law and learn to answer questions such as, “How does a nation serve the Lord while avoiding the abuses of the past, such as the Crusades? How does it protect the rights of the citizens even as false religions are expelled?” There are answers in God’s Word. Many of these answers former generations have already given to us. If only we would learn to search for them and listen!

Keep the final goal before you. (Read vs. 23). Many are suggesting that our failure to complete the victory of the Persian Gulf War in the 90’s is why we are now on the verge of a war in this new millennium. Whether that is a right or wrong analysis, you be the judge. But it does raise an important philosophy regarding war. When fighting a battle, if you stop short of a complete victory, you will often find yourself fighting a much larger battle with a revitalized and determined enemy in the future.

 

The church today has lost the sense of the battle it is in, and the goal that is to be ever before it. That is why eschatology DOES matter, for it affects how you live NOW. If you believe the world is about to end, that the beast is going to reign and dominate the church, then you will give up. If you believe evil is just going to keep dominating the world and the church through history, then you are going to give up. If you believe the liberal church will just be like this forever, and will always overshadow faithfulness, you will give up. But if you have a goal, a goal worth fighting for and laying down your life for, then you won’t give up. We have that goal. “Disciple the nations,” Jesus said, “baptizing them and teaching them ALL that I have taught you.” Teach them not only what Jesus said in Matthew through John, but ALL that He has taught us from Genesis to Revelation. Then we will not only sing of but see the day when “blessed ALL the nations shall Him call.”

 

Beloved, how much idolatry do you think God likes? How much is He willing to tolerate among the nations? It will take time, but it will be removed. May God keep us from “stopping short.”

 

Aim not only at the Indians but the chiefs (Read vs. 24). Here is another important component in God’s little-by-little plan. You can destroy a thousand troops in battle but still lose the war. But if you can take out the general, often the victory is yours. Moses promises here that the kings of the nations would be delivered into the hands of Israel. So it was that Joshua went in and 31 kings fell before him and his armies. For the record, Joshua 12 lists them by name. God kept His promise, and kings fell before Him.

 

The church struggles today because she is afraid of going after the chiefs. When the church does get around the chiefs, it is only to have a friendly pow-wow. She is happy just smoking the peace pipe with the Muslims, Hindus and the rest of the gang. But where are the prophets? Where are the John the Baptists to call King Herod to account for taking his brother’s wife? Where are the Micaiah’s to tell King Ahab it is foolish to go to war? Where are the Elijah’s to hold before the Ahabs and Jezebels their wickedness and use it to call the nation back to the Lord? The church needs to regain its prophetic voice, and to start seeking godly influence in the high places.

 

I read another book about Calvin’s life recently (one for our children’s schooling), and was reminded again about his preface to the Institutes, which were first published in 1535. Calvin’s Institutes were written to explain to the Christian the basic tenets of the Christian life as explained by the Word of God. But Calvin had vision. The French king and government were persecuting severely the Reformed Christians in France who became known as the Huguenots. Since King Francis considered himself a Christian, Calvin addressed him in the preface. Listen to his vision:

 

To His most Christian Majesty, Francis, King of the French and His Sovereign, John Calvin wishes peace and salvation of Christ… Review, Sire, all the parts of our cause and consider us worse than the most abandoned of all mankind unless you clearly discover that we “both labor and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God,” because we believe that “this life eternal is to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent.” For this hope some of us are bound in chains, others are lashed with scourges, others are carried about as laughingstocks, others are cruelly tortured, others escape by flight…yet we shall in patience possess our souls and wait for the mighty hand of the Lord, which undoubtedly will in time appear and show itself armed for the deliverance of the poor from affliction, and for the punishment of their despisers, who now exult in such perfect security. May the Lord, the King of kings, establish your throne with righteousness, and your kingdom with equity.”

 

Calvin aimed at the chief, desiring that he would have a testimony in his rule consistent with his profession of Christianity. Yet Calvin also warned him that the King of kings would soon be knocking at his door if Francis did not help those being persecuted. Do we aim high? Now none of us have access to the president, or even the governor. Yet what about in our cities of Kokomo and Marion? Are we praying for and taking the claims of the gospel to the mayors and leaders? When they are won to the cause, the Indians will be affected.

 

When authority structures are changed, and the laws and culture influenced, that’s the time to start asking what to do about the mosques. Though I would say this – this building the Christian Scientist cultists made is serving us quite well, is it not? I’m glad no one blew it up.

 

Rid your life of any compromises­ (Read vss. 25-26). God’s “little-by-little” plan starts with you and your heart. You must be sanctified, holy devoted to the Lord. For if you are corrupted internally, then you will be found wanting in the battle. Moses called the people to shed off their idolatry, and so must we. We must be able to stand unashamed, pure in heart and mind, to do the bidding of our King. Those who, like Achan, sneak the things that God has “banned” (has declared is to be destroyed) will find themselves put under the ban.

 

The church today is ineffectual for she is so much like the world. The world’s culture and idolatry has found a lodging place in the heart of God’s people. To influence, you cannot be compromised. You cannot be warring against the affluence, pleasure, and materialism worshipped by our fellow-citizens when you know you bow down to these idols far too often yourself. If you know that you are struggling with issues that are compromising your faith and witness, then keep ridding your life of these. This book, as we keep studying God’s Law, will make sure you closely examine your life for compromise!

 

That is God’s little-by-little plan for Christian dominion. But it is no little plan. For if we will be faithful to its components, and patiently wait in faith, then we will see what Jesus has promised. His blessings upon the meek, who will inherit the earth. May we remember that what He has done in ages past He will also do in the ages that are yet to come. Let us go forth, and let us not be afraid.