What a little cat can teach us about delighting in God's Word.

Government is God's servant for good, so God's servants can serve there with excellence, patience, persistence, and blessing. This study can show you how to enhance your own participation in public service.

“Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise;
Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
Your father’s children shall bow down before you.
Judah is a lion’s whelp;
From the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He bows down, he lies down as a lion;
And as a lion, who shall rouse him?
The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
Nor a lawgiver from between his feet,
Until Shiloh comes;
And to Him shall be the obedience of the people. Genesis 49.8-10

Bridge to the kingdom

Moses represents in many ways a bridge to a fuller, broader understanding of God and His Kingdom. We recall that Moses is the author of the Law of God, the first five books of the Bible. His purpose in compiling and writing these books was to establish Israel as a people directly descended from God through Adam, Abraham, and the patriarchs. They were a people of God’s covenant, mandated to rule the earth and exercise dominion under their Most High King.

“Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Exodus 19.5, 6

A growing sense

By the time Israel descended into Egypt, the idea of a kingdom, involving them as a people specially chosen by God, had begun to gain some traction in the thinking of at least some of their leaders.

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” Genesis 17.1 2

God’s covenant

With Abraham we tend to think more in terms of “covenant” than of “Kingdom.” God called Abraham to enter with Him into a covenant of promise, in which he would know blessings from God and become a blessing to all the families of the earth (Gen. 12.1-3).

“No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.” Genesis 17.5-7

No king but God

Abraham had some experience of earthly kings, and it wasn’t all that great. Shortly after his appearing in Canaan, two episodes involving earthly kings must have colored Abraham’s view of such people in something of a negative light.

Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. Genesis 2.15

The three tasks of dominion

We’ve seen that, from the beginning, God instructed His people in the work of rule, of exercising dominion over the creation.

Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1.28

From the beginning

The idea of rule and dominion under God – the idea of a Kingdom – has been present from the first days of humankind’s sojourn on the earth. On the day God created Adam and Eve, He instilled in them an idea of dominion, a call to exercise authority, by God’s command and according to His purposes, in acting upon the creation and creatures around them.

The LORD reigns, He is clothed with majesty;
The LORD is clothed,
He has girded Himself with strength.
Surely the world is established, so that it cannot be moved.
Your throne is established from of old;
You are from everlasting. Psalm 93.1, 2

Kingdom confusion

I can think of few Biblical teachings on which it is more important for Christians to be clear than the teaching concerning the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God is a consistent Biblical theme. Visionary leaders have seen it from Adam to Jesus to John, and in this study, you can see it, too.

Ecclesiastes 11.10

¹⁰ Therefore remove sorrow from your heart,
And put away evil from your flesh,
For childhood and youth are vanity.

Ecclesiastes 11.9

⁹ Rejoice, O young man, in your youth,
And let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth;
Walk in the ways of your heart,
And in the sight of your eyes;
But know that for all these God will bring you into judgment.