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A Biblical View of Globalism and Nationalism, part 3

God has always revealed His goals from the beginning, but He seldom (if ever) reaches His goal in a single step. He created Time as a staircase with major resting places along the way to set forth progressive principles that are not yet perfect or complete.

For example, God instituted the Old Covenant, not as a permanent feature, not as his goal, but as a means toward His goal. He instituted types and shadows, not as final goals but as patterns by which we might understand the goal before reaching it. These patterns provide us with road maps that encourage us to press on toward the goal.

The Kingdom under David was a pattern of things to come, but the actual Kingdom of God is a much greater manifestation than the nation that David ruled.

Normally, the big plan begins small. God turned the page of history when He called one man, Abraham, to be the trustee of a global kingdom. A few generations later, God took one nation, Israel, and “married” it at Mount Horeb. Although only a few people were present to make vows, they represented more than just themselves. Their descendants were bound by the vows of their fathers. The few represented the many.

In Deuteronomy 29, all who were part of the Israel nation, including foreigners, gathered to “enter into the covenant with the Lord your God and into His oath” (Deuteronomy 29:12). The people represented the whole earth, even those who had no knowledge of the true God or would ever hear what the Israelites had done. Deuteronomy 29:14, 15 says,

¹⁴ Now not with you alone am I making this covenant and this oath, ¹⁵ but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God and with those who are not with us here today.

This shows that the Kingdom of God is a form of representative government. It is NOT the case that the covenant was made only with Israel, for all Israel was present but God also applied that covenant with “those who are not with us here today.” God’s oath was going to affect all of mankind, not just Israelites.

You could say that God was a globalist from the beginning. He created all things, and hence, He had a vested interest in all things. Even though He started with just one man, His scope of interest was global. In Numbers 14:21 God told Moses,

²¹ but indeed, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord.

When God said, “as I live,” He was swearing an oath upon Himself, because there was no one greater on which to swear an oath. In the context, God was having apparent difficulty getting the Israelites to cooperate and to enter the Promised Land. When Moses reminded God of what the neighbors would say if God should fail, that was when God opened up the floodgates of truth and blurted out His intention to fill the entire earth with His glory.

That brief revelation exposed the divine intent, the goal of the Kingdom, and the global scope of the divine promise. God was working nationally at the time, but He was planning globally.

The Dispersion of Israel

God married Israel at Mount Horeb, but this was an Old Covenant marriage, where God married a bondwoman. The bondwoman was pictured as Hagar in terms of Abraham’s immediate family; however, on the national application, Israel itself was Hagar. The individual citizens of Israel were thus portrayed by Ishmael, the child of the flesh. In other words, the nation of Israel that God married at Mount Horeb was not the heir of the promise, for only through the New Covenant (Sarah) can one become an heir of the promises of God (Galatians 4:30).

God’s marriage with Israel was rocky from the start. She committed adultery almost immediately by worshiping the gold calf (Exodus 32:4). Israel received a lot of marriage counseling over the years through the prophets. But finally, that marriage ended in divorce (Jeremiah 3:8), and in accordance with the law of divorce in Deuteronomy 24:1 KJV, God sent her out of His house.

Israel was thus removed from God’s house and sent to the land of Assyria. This ended God’s marriage to “Hagar.” According to the law in Deuteronomy 24:2-4 KJV, the bill of divorce allowed “Hagar” to remarry. The Law of Tribulation in Deuteronomy 28:64 prophesied that when Israel was to be scattered into other lands, she would “serve other gods.” In other words, those ex-Israelites would be married to false gods until the time of the end.

Meanwhile, the kingdom of Judah remained in the land of Canaan for another century and then was taken to Babylon temporarily for 70 years. Some of them returned later in order that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, where the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2).

The histories of Israel and Judah, then, took different paths. Each nation had its own calling. Judah’s calling was to bring forth the Messiah (“ruler”) who was to carry the Dominion Mandate. Israel’s calling was to bring forth the sons of God by the Fruitfulness Mandate. Another way of putting it, Judah carried the Scepter, while Israel carried the Birthright (1 Chronicles 5:1, 2).

The Regathering

Hosea 1:11 prophesied that Judah and Israel would be reunited under “one leader” (Christ). The great breach between Israel and Judah was to be repaired in the end (Isaiah 58:12). While there was disunity, the fullness of the Kingdom was impossible. While the Scepter was separate from the Birthright, the Kingdom could not be established. The King needed to be united (married) to the Kingdom.

This new marriage was to be a New Covenant relationship, unlike that which was established at Mount Horeb. God’s first marriage ended in divorce, but His New Covenant marriage was designed to last forever.

No one will be part of the Sarah company apart from faith in Christ, who is the Mediator of the New Covenant. No one can claim to be married to God by virtue of his/her physical descent from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Neither can one claim to be married to God by virtue of the Old Covenant marriage ceremony that occurred at Mount Horeb—because that marriage ended in a lawful divorce.

The new marriage is based upon better things, as the book of Hebrews tells us. It is, in fact, the only/exclusive manner in which one can have a relationship with God. Jesus said, “no man comes to the Father, but through Me” (John 14:6). One must acknowledge and believe that Jesus gave His life as a sacrifice for sin and was not merely murdered by His enemies for the sake of truth. His blood must be applied to the altar of the heart in order to be lawful (Leviticus 17:4).

If men attempt to recreate an Old Covenant marriage relationship with God, they must do so through Moses, not through Jesus. But such a marriage is already null and void, because it ended in divorce many years ago. No Old Covenant relationship has validity any more, for it was proven to be inadequate. God has no intention of trying to recreate an Old Covenant relationship with any man, nation, or religion.

God is now doing a new thing, something that will actually succeed, a relationship that will never end in divorce.

The prophets often spoke of the regathering of Israel under the Messiah. Isaiah says that others will be gathered along with the dispersed Israelites, for he tells us in Isaiah 56:6-8,

⁶ Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, every one who keeps from profaning the sabbath, and holds fast to My covenant; ⁷ even those I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar; for My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples. ⁸ The Lord God, who gathers the dispersed of Israel, declares, “Yet others I will gather to them, to those already gathered.”

In the original temple built by Solomon, the king declared that it was to be a house of prayer for all people, including foreigners (1 Kings 8:41, 42, 43). This is a truly globalist view, for Solomon in his wisdom understood that God intended to include all nations in His Kingdom. In fact, the first Kingdom failed in order to establish something greater and broader in scope.

One might think of the original kingdom of Israel as a model for something greater, a type and shadow rather than the final reality. All men, regardless of their ethnicity, were to gain citizenship in the Kingdom in the same manner—by faith in Jesus Christ. By swearing allegiance to King Jesus, they were to be granted equality in the Kingdom.

Isaiah 45:23 gives God’s oath through the prophet,

²³ I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance.

The apostle Paul adds to this revelation in Philippians 2:11, “to the glory of God the Father.” The glory of God is in the fact that He will succeed in making this happen, not merely in giving men the opportunity to bow their knees. When God makes vows, He does so with the knowledge that He has the power to succeed. He does not vow things that are outside of His control. If some portion of mankind, in the end, does NOT confess (literally, profess) Christ to the glory of God the Father, then God’s oath will have failed.

All will bow and profess Christ, however, for this is how His glory will cover the earth (Numbers 14:21).

Leveling the Playing Field

By reducing salvation to a single act through one Man (Christ), the regathering of Israel and “others” is effective for all, regardless of ethnicity or nationality. Paul says in Romans 3:22 that “there is no distinction.” He repeats this in Romans 10:11, 12, 13,

¹¹ For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” ¹² For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him; ¹³ for “Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.”

This regathering, then, began in the first century as men and women everywhere began to call upon the name of Jesus. It began in Jerusalem, particularly on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:47) but spread to the rest of the world in later years. It has continued throughout the Age of Pentecost, between the two comings of Christ.

As the Age of Pentecost ends and the Age of Tabernacles Age emerges, the Kingdom of God will form a government of its own, complete with land that will grow until it fills the whole earth. The Kingdom started with one man and his family. It grew into a nation. And finally, it will become global.

The Kingdom will be made up of rulers and citizens, but all will be required to have faith in Jesus Christ and to declare Him as King. It will not be a Jewish kingdom, nor an Israelite kingdom as such, but all people, regardless of ethnicity, will become citizens of the Kingdom. It will constitute the united Kingdom of Israel, and all its citizens will be Israelites by right of citizenship. There will be one law for all people, as the law of God demands.