Bringing The
Heavenly Kingdom To Light (1) The Origins of Earthly Kingdoms
The
theme for the church this year is ˇ§Carry the vision of the Kingdom within
us, and be equipped to work for the Lordˇ¨. Kingdom means the Kingdom of God,
otherwise known as the Heavenly Kingdom. It is not an earthly kingdom with
borders, a populace and political regimes. If we canˇ¦t grasp what the Kingdom
of God refers to, then it will be difficult to discuss carrying its vision
within us, let alone equipping ourselves for it and striving ardently for the
Ruler of the Heavenly Realm. To have an understanding of this aspect, we must
first go back to the Old Testament to learn the origins of earthly kingdoms and
their development, so that we can perceive the will of God in the bringing to
light of the Heavenly kingdom. During the next few weeks, I will share with
everyone here some personal insights.
Besides recording the beginnings of heaven and earth and all
mankind, the Book of Genesis also provides an account of the origins of earthly
kingdoms. Basically, before the Flood (Genesis Ch. 1-7) Man had not established
any kingdoms on earth. We only saw that after leaving God and losing His
protection, Man felt insecure - like Cain, driven away by the Lord after
killing his brother in jealousy, who feared the pursuit of men and a life of
listless wandering. So when he departed from God, he built a city for himself
and named it after his own son, calling it Enoch (4:17) This was the first city
on earth. Cain did this in order to highlight his own achievements, seek a
personal feeling of safety, and gain more recognition and remembrance for his
son. So his objective was still human-centered.
When Man began to multiply, they still did not install kings or
sovereigns. Their leaders were possibly just a group of founders with creative
talent. ˇ§Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents
and raise livestock. His brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of all who
play the harp and flute. Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all
kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain's sister was Naamah.ˇ¨
(4:20-22) From a human perspective, the descendants of Cain had more
accomplishments than the descendants of Seth. Thatˇ¦s because after Man lost his
close association with God, his focus fell onto improving his life on earth and
satisfying his worldly pleasures and comfort. He substituted Godˇ¦s position
with things of the earth. This is the reality of Man through the ages.
After the Flood (Genesis Ch. 8-11), Man multiplied again on earth.
Some descendants of Noah moved eastward. They wanted to build a city and a
tower on the plain of Shinar. The tower was to reach to Heaven. Its purpose was
so that they could ˇ§make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the
face of the whole earth." (11:4) Behind it was actually the arrogant
motive of honouring Man and rejecting God. The result was Godˇ¦s intervention,
making their construction of the city and tower a failure by confusing their
language. The city was thus given the name of Babel, meaning ˇ§confusedˇ¨. So
they scattered all over the earth, each following his own language and clan to
establish nations at different places. (10:5,20,31,32) Nimrod, the grandson of
Ham, became a mighty warrior on the earth through his extraordinary wisdom and
abilities. Using Shinar as his base, he established many kingdoms, which were
Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Calneh. From there he went to Assyria, where he built
the great cities Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah and Resen. (10:10-12) The Chinese
Union Version translates the last verse as ˇ¨that great cityˇ¨. The King James
Version translates it as ˇ§the same is a great cityˇ¨. From then on, earthly
kingdoms centered on the cities and continually increased and expanded. Here we
see that Nimrod was not deterred by the intervention of God to end his
ambitions to build cities and establish kingdoms. He continued to extend his
influence, hoping to forge together a mighty nation on earth in order to
propagate his own name and reputation.
By: Daniel To