Upside down organization chart
I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can
see something of the future he has called you to share.
Eph. 1:18
I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can
see something of the future he has called you to share.
Eph. 1:18
Now we have seen who will make up this new government.
We know how long it will last.
But what will it be like? How will it work?
What will the 'management style' of Jesus Christ be like? And all the government offices around the world that represent him and his administration?
How will the average man on the street feel when he steps inside a government building, or reads about the government in the morning newspaper, or sees his own prince or princess interviewed on tv?
Will he have sort of a muffled sense of anger and hostility? That he's being ripped off? Or oppressed? Enslaved? Or will he be absolutely indifferent to it? Will it be something that makes no difference to him whatsoever -- like the price of tea in China?
Since the top man in any group always sets the tone, let's start at the top. Let's start with the King of Kings.
A government with a feeling. Well, the man at the top is the same Man who was so unhindered by vanity that he could wash the feet of the disciples. This is the One who is called 'Shiloh,' or tranquilizer. The same One who might be compared to the waters of Shiloah, a small fountain and brook just outside Jerusalem, which supplied a pool within the city, versus the waters of the Euphrates, river of Babylon, great, rapid, impetuous. The One who said his yoke was easy, and his burden light.1 The One who shall feed his flock as a shepherd.2 The One who lives in the high and holy place, in eternity, and yet says he is of a humble and contrite spirit.
Humble and contrite to the point of engraving a symbol of his own children on the palms of his hands by way of the cross. "Can a mother forget her little child and not have love for her own son? Yet even if that should be, I will not forget you. See, I have tattooed your name upon my palm."3
And:
"Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne from the belly by me, which are carried from the womb: And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you; I have made and I will bear; even I will carry and will deliver you."4
And again:
"Like as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities them that fear him."5
In most cases, whether capitalistic or communistic society, governors simply don't care that much about the people they govern. It will be a totally new experience for mankind to have governors that will relate to them in such a way. That will serve as mentors for mankind ... instead of oppressors.
Everything else will fall into place because the government will have a heart and mind that really cares. Today, quite a few people go into government service for selfish reasons, usually for reasons of vanity or money. The governors of the new world will be infinitely rich and powerful already. They will have absolutely nothing to gain from oppressing the peoples. More importantly, as followers and servants of Christ, they will have long since built the character -- through prayer and works in the Spirit -- to handle such a position. They will have long since had the new heart of the new covenant with Christ.6 Their 'old man' will have died completely and permanently; they will have shed the skin of their old creature.
A government with money to give instead of take. Since the kingdom age is essentially a recommencement of God's plan for Israel, God will request and receive the tithes to operate his government.
Will this seem onerous?
Not at all.
The tithe will be regarded as a bargain right off the bat. Many high achievers in Western countries are faced with tax brackets of 50 percent, 70 percent, and even higher. East bloc nations pay the same or more in different ways. Not only is the tithe bracket percentage much lower, people will quickly come to realize that that 10 percent is more like an investment than a tax.
Why?
Because they will see the windows of heaven open up and pour them out a blessing for it.
"Try it!" Jesus will say at first. "Let me prove it to you! Your crops will be large, for I will guard them from insects and plagues. Your grapes won't shrivel away before they ripen. And all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land sparkling with happiness."7
At this time, everyone on the face of the earth will know, really know, what this passage means: "Would any of you who are fathers give your son a stone when he asks you for bread? Or would you give him a snake when he asks you for fish? As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, your Father in heaven will give good things to those who ask him!"8
The upside down organization chart. Only a very few leaders really understand that the most effective leader is the servant of those he leads.9
Jesus, of course, understood this profoundly.
"You know that the rulers have power over the people, and their leaders rule over them," he told his followers. "This, however, is not the way it shall be among you. If one of you wants to be great, he must be the servant of the rest; and if one of you wants to be first, he must be your slave -- like the Son of man who did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life to redeem many people."10
Jesus further said that his followers were to become like children -- by contrast to the rich, sophisticated, powerful ways of the leaders of the world of that day.11 And that whoever wants to be first, must place himself last.12
Standing up for the people. When faced with success, the common scenario in our society is to divorce yourself from everyone that helped you on the way up, and hobnob with your new friends among the rich and powerful. This is the opposite of what Christ and his princes will do.
He will be gentle -- he will not shout nor quarrel in the streets making harangues like a demagogue. He will not break the bruised reed, nor quench the dimly burning flame.
What does this mean? Reading on . . . .
He will encourage the fainthearted, those tempted to despair. He will see full justice given to all who have been wronged. He won't be satisfied until truth and righteousness prevail throughout the whole earth, nor until even distant lands beyond the seas have put their trust in him.13
When Jesus was on the earth the first time, he offered Israel their kingdom, but they turned him down. But he will offer it again, and they will accept. And what he read in the synagogue that day will be fulfilled:
"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the suffering and afflicted. He has sent me to comfort the broken-hearted, to announce liberty to the captives, and to open the eyes of the blind. He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of God's favor to them has come, and the day of his wrath to their enemies. To all who mourn in Israel he will give: beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of heaviness."14
Justice . . . fast, smooth and simple. In our society, justice is not a very simple thing. The courts are hopelessly backlogged, plea bargaining is the common modus operandi, jails are overcrowded, dangerous criminals roam the streets.
In the kingdom age, this won't be the case. Those few who refuse to receive the Holy Spirit, and follow God's ways, and who then go on to commit crimes will be quickly judged and sentenced. Those resurrected saints who serve as judges in the new world will have Christ's own ability to look at someone and know them intimately, and to know what manner of sentence is absolutely just and right for the situation.
Today, with the way our system works, it's often the victim who is punished. In the next world, the system will work for the innocent and against offenders.
A government with great ability. In addition to being called "Wonderful,"15 Jesus will also be called "Counselor," "the mighty God," "The Prince of Peace." His counsels, his advice, executed through his administration will make the world, as we have seen, rich, healthy, peaceful and happy. "In him lie hidden all the mighty, untapped treasures of wisdom and knowledge."16
Multiple billions are spent in research each year, research on everything from cancer to compact disc technology. Jesus has the knowledge of all these things and more. He will share it freely when he returns.
A government loved and respected by the people. In totalitarian regimes, the government is a thing to be greatly feared and hated. In the West, the feeling is much more neutral . . . government is sort of a necessary evil, the butt of many jokes, something you have to live with. Nothing that can actually change people's lives.
A new president is elected, and the average workingman shrugs and says: "I'll still have to go to work tomorrow. My life won't change one bit." And he's right. A government is elected. A government is defeated. Life goes on.
But one day soon, the leading figure of the new government, the King, will be regarded as "wonderful." People will be as enthusiastic about Jesus then as they are about their favorite sports team or film star now.
A government that no one will trifle with. Behind all the tenderness, the concern, the desire to give, to share, to love, is an extremely powerful Person. He will not be mocked. "Out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron."
He will give out punishment just as quickly as wealth and health and happiness -- to the ones who want to test him.
The Scripture seems to indicate that Egypt, for example, may not want to celebrate the feast of tabernacles.17 And there may be other nations, too.
First, they'll lose some money. No rain, no crops, no harvest, no wealth.
Then, they'll lose even more. Just as with their ancient counterparts, a plague will be sent.
Just as the strong-willed child has to discover in a practical, physical way who's in charge, so it may be that one or more nations will have to see if Jesus is worthy of their respect. They'll find out he is.
And then settle in for 1,000 years of unparalled health, wealth, splendor and glory.
In this time when the Lord pours out his Spirit and blessings, people will thrive like watered grass or willows on a river bank.
And people will respond in kind to the tattoo and marks in the hand that Jesus himself bears.
"I am the Lord's," they'll proudly say. Or "I am a Jew." And tattoo upon their hands the name of God or the honored name of Israel. So says the prophet Isaiah.18
Such will be the feeling towards the new government.
FOOTNOTES
Chapter 13
UPSIDE DOWN ORGANIZATION CHART
1. Matt. 11:30
2. Is. 40:11
3. Is. 49:15-17 LB
4. Is. 46:3
5. Psalm 103:13
6. Ez. 36:26; 11:19; Jer. 31:31
7. Mal. 3:10-12
8. Matt. 7:9-11
9. Mal. 3 LB
10. Matt. 20:25-28
11. Matt. 18:1-5
12. Mark 9:35
13. Is. 42:2-4 LB
14. Is. 61:1-3 LB
15. Is. 9:6
16. Col. 2:3 LB
17. Zech. 14
18. Is. 44:3-5