These Last Days (2)

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. James 1.17

God’s household
In these last days, God has begun to establish His economy on earth – His “household,” His way of doing things, His administration for gathering together and reconciling all things on earth and in heaven.

His Kingdom has come, and is coming – on earth, as it is in heaven. We are living in the last days, in the fullness of the times.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, God is pursuing a plan to restore all things to Himself, so that His original very good (Gen. 1.31) purposes might be realized, increasingly in time and finally, fully, and completely when time as we know it is no more. This plan involves His Kingdom, which unfolds and advances in and through all those who have come to know Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. The followers of Jesus Christ have been called to a stewardship – an economy – by means of which we are to affect everything and everyone with the power of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Spirit (Rom. 14.17-19).

But what does that mean? How should we as Christians expect our lives to impact the world around us for the Kingdom economy?

A new order
As God works in and through each believer, a new order of the ages flows to life, beginning with each individual, and demonstrates the cleansing power of the Gospel to make all things new, and vivifying power of the Word and Spirit of God to turn the world rightside-up (Heb. 4.12; Acts 17.1-9).

While the Kingdom economy is too vast in scope, and too glorious and beautiful to describe in a short space, we can mention at least three aspects of that economy which we may expect increasingly to realize, as we focus on and pursue them, making the most of the time of our lives in these last days.

First, the divine economy comes to expression from the unseen world to the world of things we can see. It flows to earth and through all its cultures, societies, and institutions as a good and perfect gift from God, embodied in His Spirit, according to His Word, through those who have made the Kingdom turn. In order to understand, therefore, what the shape of the divine economy should look like in any situation, Christians need to be well-versed in the landscape of unseen things, as that is revealed to us in the Scriptures.

Yeah, right away we got problems. Because for too many Christians, the world of unseen things, which is so crucial to full faith in Christ (Heb. 11.1), is largely terra incognita.

The unseen world exists all around us. It is the dwelling-place of Christ, Who is seated at the right hand of God. He is served by myriads of angels, celebrated by unnumbered departed saints, and, with the Father, dispatches His Spirit to make us willing and able to do the work required for advancing the Kingdom economy.

The unseen realm abounds in patterns of beauty, embodiments of truth, and exemplars of goodness from which we may draw in the time of our lives, as we work to bring the economy of heaven to expression on earth. If we’re ever going to make progress in the Kingdom economy, we need to become better acquainted with that realm from which it derives and flows.

Second, the norms and standards of the Kingdom economy are unchanging and unalterable. God’s declared intentions – His Law and promises – remain the same for all times, and provide the motivation, vision, and protocols for all who take up the work of the divine economy. Certainly applications of God’s standards will be adjusted from time to time and place to place, but the standards do not change and must not be neglected or altered to suit our temporal convenience.

The Kingdom economy brings an administration of love and justice to earth for these last days, but not through the politics of human governments or markets. Love and justice abound on earth as the Church of Jesus Christ learns, teaches, and obeys His Law unto love for God and neighbors.

Third, the divine economy is unfailing and unyielding. It is moving forward, flowing and developing and advancing, expanding to take more and more of the world into its purview and power, and nothing can withstand its progress or divert its course (cf. Dan. 2.44, 45; Is. 9.6, 7).

Either we are flowing and advancing with the Kingdom, or that divine economy is leaving us behind.

His Kingdom is forever!
God does not change, His purposes do not change, and His determination to expand His economy into all the world will not be set aside by the schemes of unbelieving men or the neglect of faithless saints.

Make no mistake about it: It’s the Kingdom economy that matters above all else. They are stupid indeed who ignore the reality of this new order, fail to take up their place in it, or foolishly consider that, somehow, they might be able to ignore, resist, or withstand it.

For reflection or discussion
1.  What are some ways our world today seems to be “upside-down”? Why is this so?

2.  Meditate on Acts 17.1-9. What was it about those first Christians that caused their neighbors to see them this way?

3.  Faith, the writer of Hebrews tells us, is the evidence that we live in and hope for the unseen world (Heb. 11.1). What “unseen” world? What “evidence”? What do we mean by saying that the divine economy has its provenance in this unseen realm?

Next steps – Preparation: How familiar are you with that unseen realm from which the divine economy flows? Talk with a church leader about how you might become more “at home” in the unseen things of Christ. After all, full and flourishing faith depends on this (Heb. 11.1).

T. M. Moore

This week’s ReVision study is Part 10 of a 10-part series, “The Kingdom Economy.” You can download “These Last Days” as a free PDF, prepared for personal or group study. Simply click here.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.