About Jesus   Steve Sweetman

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Our Vantage Point

The media has been fixated on the fight over what has been called America's "fiscal cliff".  Republicans and Democrats are at each other's throats.  Democrats blame President Bush.  Republicans blame President Obama.  The electorate blames those they elected.  Blame is flying in all directions.  From my vantage point, national and international politics, economics, and social trends, are becoming progressively more chaotic.  People are scratching their heads in dismay and frustration.  Such head scratching should be left to the non-Christian.  Those of us who have entrusted our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ shouldn't be dumbfounded by any of these things.    

What frees the Christian from scratching his head is one important historic mile stone.  Historians talk about the birth, the rise, and the fall, of empires and nations, but they miss the birth of the most important empire ever.  I'll give the secular historians some credit.  They can't actually see this empire with the naked eye, and the empire's ambassadors have done a lousy job representing the empire throughout the centuries.  

Whatever the case, in Acts chapter 2, the first disciples of Jesus received the Holy Spirit into their lives.  As the Holy Spirit entered them, they entered the kingdom of the Spirit, otherwise known as the "Kingdom of God".  Part of the miracle of Acts 2 is that this invisible, spiritual, and eternal, Kingdom of God, penetrated time and space as we know it.  A new empire was born.      

The first Christians may have lived in various Roman provinces, but their primary residence was in the Kingdom of God.  Their allegiance was to this kingdom and to its constitution.  They considered themselves aliens in the Roman Empire . (1 Peter 2:11)  They viewed Roman politics, economics, and social trends, from a heavenly vantage point.  They had no reason to scratch their heads in dismay and frustration over national issues.  They simply expected such things from a depraved society.    

Those of us who have received the Holy Spirit in our day reside in the Kingdom of God as well.  We may live in Canada, America, or, wherever, but our primary residence is in a heavenly kingdom.  We view national affairs from a heavenly perspective.  Concerning national affairs, you can say that we're on the outside looking in.  We understand the root cause of the so-called "fiscal cliff" and the multitude of other messes like it.  It's sinful humanity expressed in national politics, economics, and social trends.  We've known for quite some time that all nations are heading for a cliff that will make the "fiscal cliff" look like a slight dip in the road.  There's no need for any Christian to scratch his head in dismay and frustration.  Our first allegiance isn't to our falling nations, but to an eternal and spiritual kingdom that will soon appear in physical form.      

How citizens of the Kingdom of God should live in relation to the kingdoms of men is clearly set forth in the Bible, the "Constitution of the Kingdom".  This constitution addresses such issues as our kingdom rights, privileges, and responsibilities.  It also addresses how we should live as aliens in our foreign nations.  It teaches us how to understand political, economic, and social trends from our kingdom vantage point.    

The sad fact of the matter is that the most important constitution in human history is being ignored, downplayed, and reinterpreted, by many of its constituents.  If we are to ever understand the times and places in which we live from our kingdom vantage point, we can no longer afford to neglect its constitution set forth by its "Founding Father". 

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