Bringing God's KIngdom

It has always been a matter of great concern to me that many countries that are ruled by dictators or tyrants, have a praying Church, yet it seem as if their prayers are not answered. Despite all their crying out to God, the dictator carries on ruining the country and devastating people’s lives. When I see these rulers cruelly subjecting people, making their lives a misery, selfishly exploiting the country to the detriment of the poor, I want God to judge them.  And I want him to judge them now. I want their dictatorships overturned and something nasty to happen to the tyrants. So why doesn’t God act?  I’ve been seeking God for the answer to this.

First of all, this cry for justice has echoed down the centuries. The psalmists were often heard to say, ‘How long, O Lord?’ before you act (Psalm 13: 1, 35: 17, 79:5 and others) and in the book of Revelation we hear the martyrs waiting in heaven asking the same question. They long for God to act  - to be God in fact.

I felt God say that he loves every one of those dictators and he is giving them an opportunity to repent, because the punishment they will receive is so awful, so fearful, so horrific and it will last for eternity, that God is giving them opportunity to turn from their wicked ways. Nebuchadnezzar was given that opportunity and he in fact repented.  Every dictator and tyrant will be judged justly and with righteousness but it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. 

Whilst I understand this, it feels very unsatisfactory. What about the poor people suffering terribly at their hands? If feels like their lives are worth less than the dictator and their oppressive regime. God assured me that he loves all and will provide and protect all who turn to him. 

The kingdoms of this world are not the Kingdom of our God. God says he rules and reigns even in the darkest hellhole as Corrie Ten Boom found in the Nazi concentration camps. 

Too often people want a Godly government to do what the ecclesia, the Church ruling and reigning, should be doing. Christians pray for the overthrow of an ungodly government to be replaced by a Godly government instead of realising that it is the Church who must reign and bring God’s Kingdom into their lives, regions and nations. 

Where God’s Kingdom comes through the Church, people are saved, healed, delivered and provided for. They may live under a heavy burden but they should not only look for earthly governments to save them. Our prayers must not be just for the overthrow of evil and wickedness which we must do but much more for the establishment of God’s Kingdom rule and reign. As God’s Kingdom is established, the darkness has to flee as His Kingdom brings light and life. 

Heidi Baker of Iris Ministries

I watched a clip from Heidi Baker of Iris Ministries in northern Mozambique which illustrates this perfectly.  The whole area is a terrible war zone. As she spoke you could hear helicopters flying overhead to continue their warfare. The entire huge campus of Iris Ministries was full of internally displaced refugees and in the midst of this the Kingdom had come. People were being fed, saved, healed. The Mozambique government could do nothing. They were too busy fighting a war. The Church had arisen and brought the Kingdom. It wasn’t easy but God was showing his love to all.

What is our role in all this in the West? The poor need the prayers and the financial support of the rich and the rich need the prayers of the disadvantaged. We must pray not so much for a change of government but for God’s Kingdom to come. That in the midst of injustice, in the midst of tyranny, God will come in loving power through his Church, side-lining the oppressor. 

It doesn’t seem fair and it isn’t but in the midst of oppression, God will come overthrowing evil and bringing his love and at the end of all things, everyone will be judged in righteousness and all wrongs righted.