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Dominion in the Kingdom: Part 2

In his book, Rediscovering the Kingdom, Myles Munroe says on page 40, "There are no peasants in the Kingdom, only sons."

Peasants were the product of the Feudal System in the Middle Ages. The Feudal System was a system where the king owned all the land, and the people merely had the privilege of using it, if they were given that authority. Thus, only the king truly had "rights." All others lived according to privilege granted to them by men. The king gave sections of land to his nobles, and the peasants were the servants of the nobles.

The original purpose of the Dominion Mandate in Gen. 1:26 was to give man authority over the land, the animals, the plants--nature itself. This Mandate is explained further in Psalm 8:6-8,

" (6) Thou dost make him to rule over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet, (7) all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, (8) the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes through the paths of the seas."

There is no hint of a Feudal System here. Many years later, Nimrod was the first to subject men to himself by force and to set up the first true human government. Gen. 10:10 says, "And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel. . ."

Nimrod usurped the God-given authority of Noah and Shem, both of whom were alive in Nimrod's day. Nimrod, then, was the first of a long line of antichrists. Noah made no attempt to subject men under him, but to rule by example and by teaching.

Still later, God gave the Dominion Mandate to the tribe of Judah, separating it from the Fruitfulness Mandate (which was given to Joseph and simply called "the birthright"). This anticipated a development of authority in the form of kings. Christ eventually came of the tribe of Judah in order to qualify by law as the King holding the Dominion Mandate from Adam. He was thus the rightful ruler of the earth, and Psalm 8:6-8 was thus specifically applicable to Him.

By this ingenious plan, the Yahweh of the Old Testament became the Yeshua of the New, according to prophecy, and took back the usurped kingly authority from man. It placed the rightful dominion back in heaven where it belonged.

When Israel went into the Promised Land, they were not ruled by kings, but by judges. A biblical judge functioned primarily as the one who settled disputes. There were, of course, Levites who served on the lower courts, but there was also something like an appeals court, as we read in Deut. 1:16, 17,

" (16) Then I charged your JUDGES at that time, saying, Hear the cases between your fellow countrymen, and judge righteously between a man and his fellow countryman, or the alien who is with him. (17) You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not fear man, for the judgment is God's. And the case that is too hard for you, you shall bring it to me, and I will hear it."

Moses acted as the appeals court judge in those days. Joshua succeeded him, and this continued with the judges in the Book of Judges. These judges were presumed to be directly accountable to God and who had the ability to pray to seek the mind of God in any case. He then could advise or counsel the lower court judges. When given an actual case, the lower court judges would learn the law from him so that they were now better qualified as well.

This is the ultimate form of government set forth in the Bible to govern a Christian Nation. We also find it prophesied in Isaiah 1:26,

"Then I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning; AFTER THAT you will be called the City of Righteousness, a faithful city."

In other words, God is going to restore the type of government by judges and counselors "as at the beginning" of Israel's history in Canaan.

This will be the job of the overcomers at the time of the First Resurrection, when God raises all overcomers from past ages, unites them with the present-day overcomers, and appoints them as judges and counselors to administer true justice for all.

These overcomers will be from every nation on earth, for God has desired a cross-section of humanity that would be accepted by their own people. It is also part of the law of impartiality that comes forth in Acts 11 with Peter's vision of the animals being lowered in a sheet. Peter learned from this vision not to call any man common or unclean. Acts 10:34, 35 says,

" (34) And opening his mouth, Peter said, I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, (35) but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right, is welcome to Him."

Each overcomer, like David, is a man after God's own heart. An overcomer is therefore not like King Saul. In our training, along with David, no overcomer is perfect. Overcomers do sin, but they also have a teachable spirit and a pliable heart. They know how to repent, because in their humility, they are less interested in being "right" than in knowing the mind of Christ.

Even though the overcomers will inherit the earth, they will not abuse that authority but will seek the welfare of others. There are some Christians who can't wait to rule over others so that they can watch them burn. There are some Muslims who seek martyrdom in order to be awarded seventy virgins in paradise. One would have to ask what evil deed those virgins did that they would be doomed to serve such people for all eternity. All such concepts of paradise are rooted in a self-serving view of divine authority. Those views assume that authority is forever, when, in fact, it is a temporary condition until all are brought into full sonship as equals.

There are no peasants in the Kingdom of God. There is neither male nor female, bond or free. But in a Christian Nation--even in the coming Age--the perfected order has not yet arrived, and so we still see authority structures in place.

In the Tabernacles Age to come, the primary difference will be in the fact that God has raised the overcomers from the dead to serve as judges and counselors to interpret the law of God according to the mind of Christ. They will teach the people how to apply it properly without lawlessness and without legalism.

There will still be sin in the earth, because there will still be death (mortality). Isaiah 65:20 speaks of infants and old men, and if people die at the age of 100 they will be considered too young to die. Paul says in Romans 5:12 that because death has passed into all mankind, we therefore sin. In other words, we sin because of that inner weakness called Death. Most translations miss this point, because the translators have misunderstood Paul since the days of Jerome's Latin Vulgate. But the wording says, "and so death spread to all men ON WHICH [eph ho] all sin."

The point is that during the Tabernacles Age to come, most people will be born and will die after a lengthy life. Life spans will increase, but mortality will not yet be overcome, except in the case of the overcomers. Christians will not be in heaven, but will form the Christian Nations here on earth (Rev. 21:24). Only in this way can the Stone Kingdom fill the whole earth (Dan. 2:35). Only in this way can Jesus' prayer be answered, "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven."