Transcript

Stephen McDowell: America is the fruit of the coming of the Messiah

>> Stephen McDowell: Welcome to America's Providential History Podcast, where we talk about the real story of America and explore the hand of God in our history. Now here's your host, Stephen McDowell. Glad, you're joining us for this edition of America's Providential History podcast. Last week we began to take a look at Christ's ever increasing kingdom. We saw how the birth of America is linked with the birthday of the Savior. John quincy Adams, our sixth president, declared that in an oration he gave in 1837 that they understood you cannot comprehend, the birth of America, cannot understand America and the uniqueness of America without understanding Christ's redeeming work. Because America is the fruit of the coming of the Messiah. And so we began to take a look at how after man fell, God had a plan to restore all things. And his plan was to send the Messiah who would come and restore to man the relationship he had with God, which was severed in the fall, but also to restore to man the capacity to fulfill the mission. Why he created him in the beginning to take dominion, dominion over the earth, to rule over the earth, to cultivate the earth, to bring flourishing to the earth. Because you know, when God created all things in the beginning, Genesis chapter one, we read about that, and he gave man a mission. He created the world good. After the end of each day, he said, this is good, this is good, this is good. At the end of all the creation, he said, this is very good. So his creation is good. But his creation was not complete. Part of his plan was man, who's created in the image of God as the highest creation. He said, look, you're like me. I want you to be a co creator with me. God spoke and created all things from nothing. So his creation, his original creation came out of nothing. But he created man with the capacity to be like him, to create new things and make life better. Now we don't create from nothing, but we create from God's original resources. So they're where natural resources God placed in the earth. And God gave a man, male and female, the ability to think, to reason and to create, to use his muscular and mental energy to create new things. And with the creation of new things, with the cultivation of things, with the stewardship of the earth, with being fruitful and productive, in the earth that we. He intended man to make the earth better, to bring flourishing to the earth. But that was lost when man disobeyed God. But God's plan was to send the Messiah who would come and bring about the restoration of all things. And so Jesus came into the world, and we celebrate the coming of Christ, the birth of Christ, the Incarnation on Christmas here, the end of this month. But with the coming of the Messiah, he restored to man the capacity to do what God called him to do. So he defeated Satan, stripped him of his power, and all authority and power belongs to him. But he delegated it to man, as he did in the beginning, and said, go and make disciples of all the nations. And so we now are going and reclaiming every square inch of, of this of existence for Christ, to whom it belongs, as Abraham Kuyper said. And we can do that because Jesus stripped Satan of his power. Romans, 16:20 tells us, and the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet, under the feet of the church, under the feet of God's new family, this spiritual family that he instituted with his coming. And so many places in Scripture speak of the triumphant Church. The NewSong Testament presents the victorious kingdom of God on the earth. In history. We see in Luke 10 the fall of Satan was. Came about through the preaching of the gospel. Romans 16:20 and Revelation 12:9, 11 speak of Satan being crushed under the feet of the church. Colossians 2:15, Hebrews 2:14, First John 3:8 speak of the triumph of Christ. Romans 4:13, Matthew 5:5 speak of the church as being heir of the world. Matthew 28, 1820. In the great Commission, we see that the church is to go and disciple all the nations. And we've been given authority to do that as well. That, we spoke about. We read in. Last week's podcast how the parable of the mustard seed and leaven point to the slow and progressive growth of the kingdom of God with its ultimate triumph. And the book of Revelation presents the ultimate triumph of Christ and his church. as well, 2 Timothy 2:12 says, if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him. And so we are to reign with Christ on the earth. During this Gospel dispensation, we mentioned how when the Messiah came into the world, Jesus Christ, everything was changed. The old Covenant age where nations were deceived, none could see and understand clearly. In the Gospel age, now our eyes have been enlightened, gain insight into Christ, who He is, and the mission that he's given us. That the Messiah came with Christ and he established his Messianic, kingdom through which we go forth triumphantly. Revelation 5:10 says it and has made us into our God. Kings and priests, and we shall reign on earth. Romans 5:17, much more. They which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ. We will reign in this life by 1 Jesus Christ. 1st Corinthians 3:21 and 22. For all things are yours, whether the world or life or death, or things present or things to come, all are yours. Revelation 24a. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them. The thrones stand for the saints spiritual dominion within themselves and over the world that the saints reign. And life we reign over the flesh, we reign over the world, we reign over the devil. That we're more than conquerors in all things through Christ Jesus. And so when Jesus came, when the Messiah came, he instituted the Messianic kingdom. And this is the kingdom in which the saints reign as kings with Christ on the earth. Acts 3:21 says that he's to remain in heaven until the restoration of all things. You know the Nebuchad in the book of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar had a dream. And this dream affirms the triumph and expansion of Christ's kingdom, because it speaks of the four in this dream. And when Nebuchadnezzar saw this big statue made of different elements, that four empires were crushed, but the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. Daniel 2:35. And this stone depicts Christ in his kingdom. Those four empires were the. The, empire, the Assyrian, Babylonian. The, Greek empires, the Roman empires with the Babylonian empire, the Medo Persian Empire, the Greek Empire and the Roman Empire. And are represented in the gold, silver, bronze. Clay, bronze, iron, and mixture of clay and iron in the feet. But, the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. And so Daniel 2:44 says, and in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed. And that kingdom will not be left for another people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. So this is speaking of the Messianic kingdom, Christ kingdom that, will crush Satan and his authority. So. The great commission that Jesus gave to the church in Matthew 28 affirms the victorious advance of the Church in the Gospel age. That commission given in verse 18:20 of Matthew 20 says, all authority has been given unto me. Jesus is declaring this in heaven and on earth. All authority has been given to Jesus in heaven and earth. He then turned around and commissioned us. He said, go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them and teaching them to observe all that I commanded Now, Matthew Henry is a great Bible commentator read by the founding fathers of America. He wrote his commentaries on the Bible, Henry's commentary, and in reference to that passage of Scripture, he said, the principal intention of this passage, it's clear, is to do your utmost to make the nations Christian nations.

Matthew Henry understood the Great Commission to go and to make the nations Christian

So Matthew Henry, reflecting the view of the founding fathers of America, he understood this Great Commission to go and to make the nations Christian nations. Now in previous podcasts, we explored some of what that means to make the nations Christian nations. It's not to set up a nation where you have an established church or where everyone is a Christian, but it's basically a nation built upon biblical principles. Every nation is built upon a set of principles that are rooted in the religion of the people and what, a people consider to be ultimate. And so we're to go and to build nations upon biblical precepts upon Christian ideas. Why? Well, because those ideas work. God created the universe to function according to principles that he revealed to us in the Bible. And if we. operate our life and nation upon those principles, that will go well with us. But if we disobey them, we're going to have trouble personally. That's true, but it's true as a nation. Just look at Venezuela or North Korea, Cuba. Why do they have so much trouble and lack of liberty and no prosperity? It's because they are not operating according to God's principles, which are the only thing principles that, that work. They are right and true. And so we're to go and build nations based upon those principles. So the Great Commission is much greater than a lot of the churches considered it in recent years. The Great Commission does include redeeming men. We baptize men. That's what he said. This is how you disciple nations. You first, you convert them. Because the kingdom of God is first within man. It begins in the heart of man when we receive a new nature through the redeeming work of Christ. So the Great Commission includes the evangelistic mandate to go and redeem men, to transform men. But it also includes the Creation Commission or the cultural Mandate, that, ah, mandate that was given to man in the very beginning to be fruitful, to multiply, to fill the earth, to steward the earth, to cultivate the earth, to rule over the earth. That was why God created man in the beginning, to go and, and create new things, bring about flourishing in this earth. That was part of his plan. So we're to transform men and we're to transform nations. And that Christ provided the means for us to be able to do that because Jesus is king of all the earth. He's the sovereign one, the King of kings, the Lord of Lords. See, the nature of the king. Gives insight into the nature of his kingdom and why it's an everlasting kingdom. Of his kingdom there shall be no end. Luke 1:33, Isaiah Ah 9, 6. See, King Jesus rules by his law word. And the law word gives life and the ability to take dominion over the earth, that is to fulfill that, that mission. And so you know, every kingdom has a king, and every king has a law by which he rules. Christ rules by the law word of God. His word is the scepter by which he rules, which is according. That's what John Calvin said of his kingdom, there shall be no end. Luke 1:33. First Timothy 6, 1415 says, Our Lord Jesus Christ is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Psalm 22:28. For the kingdom is the Lord's and he is the governor among the nations. And so our Lord Jesus Christ, he is the blessed and only potentate. He's the sovereign one, the supreme One, the King of kings, the Lord of Lords. All authority has been given, unto him. And God has commissioned us to go and reclaim the earth for him. And the chief instrument that Christ will use to reclaim every square inch of his earth is the family, the natural family that he, the creation. That he made in very beginning of creation, the natural family, but also the spiritual family that is the church of God. So, so it's this through which he's going to reclaim every square inch of the earth. See.

Study providential history shows the advance of the Messianic kingdom

We, in the podcast this past year. We have been taking a look at providential history. And when you study history from a providential perspective, which is the only true view of history, because if you leave God out of history, you don't have the true true history at all. Because history is his story. He's the sovereign one. But when you take a look at study providential history, it shows the advance of the Messianic kingdom. It shows the progressive fulfillment of the Great Commission and of the discipling of nations. And this became possible through Christ coming. Binding Satan so that he could deceive the nations no more. In the old Covenant age, he could deceive the nations. They were deceived. They couldn't understand and see their purpose, their mission, who God was, the true and living God. God mercifully revealed some of that to Israel. And they to some degree did bring about advancement and example, but was very limited. But in the new Covenant age, with the coming of Christ, who gave us a new nature and then he filled us with the Holy Spirit and empowers us, we now can go and begin to reclaim every square inch. Remember, Israel is like a beachhead. This is where God launched, planted that seed of retaking the earth. And that in the past 2000 years it began to spread and spread and spread where God's people have gone to reclaim and exercise the authority of Christ. So the gospel began to spread immediately after the resurrection and ascension of Christ. Go and read the Book of Acts. It recounts how thousands were converted and became part of the new covenant People. First the Jews were converted and then Gentiles because, that promise was made by the prophets in the Old Testament as well that the Gentiles, all peoples would. Become part of God's new family, the church and Paul's time. Colossians 1:6 tells us, is the gospel spread in all the world and is bringing forth fruit and growing. Now when it speaks of the gospel spreading in all the world, it was all the known world. The known world was really the Roman Empire. And very rapidly after Christ, the coming of Christ, the death and resurrection of Christ, the sending of the Holy Spirit. So the, those early disciples we read in the Book of Acts began to preach and thousands were converted. You know, 3,000 here, myriads of thousands more. And that, first there in Jerusalem, but then began to spread out throughout the known world. And the time that Paul was writing Colossians, he said the gospel spread in all the world and is bringing forth fruit and growing. So by the end of the first century, that gospel had spread really around much m. much of the Mediterranean Sea. That was the highway by which things had taken place. By the time we get to 300 A.D. Gospel has spread all around the Mediterranean and inland to much of the country. And by 600 AD it had spread throughout all, basically all of Europe, North Africa, the area of Turkey and Asia, up in British Isles and Everywhere else. By 500 AD about 25% of the known world had become Christian. Over 40% had been evangelized. That. God's followers had gone and done what Jesus said to preach the gospel and make converts. So this great spread though, did not come, without a great cost because there was much persecution in its wake. Corrupt Rome was, was transformed and liberty increased. May have all heard of stories of how the pagan emperors persecuted and killed the Christians, how Nero would take Christians and, and Tie them up on stakes and set them aflame to, to illuminate his gardens at night and how many were. Killed in the arenas, by animal, wild animals or gladiators and others. And so there's much persecution that went along. We read about this persecution in the book of Acts and how from Stephen stoned to so many others of the disciples, really about all the disciples except John were martyred and killed in one way or another. but the church began to advance. The church being the regenerated believers grew rapidly in the known world in the first few centuries. Now even though this was the case and there's a tremendous growth of Christianity in the known world, the ratio Christians to total world population was small for most of history since the time of Christ. Really only until recent decades, only until my lifetime is Christianity spread rapidly. So from the see in 1430. only 1 in 99 people that lived in the world, about 1% were Christians by 1790 become 2% 1 in 49 by 19401 in 32, 3% of the population of the world were Christian. By 1994 that had increased to 1 in 7, 14% now today. 1 in 3 people in the world are nominally Christian. About 33% more than any other faith or belief system that there is. And perhaps one in seven are Bible believing. Christians had some kind of claim, we believe the Bible and some kind of regenerative renewal experience that, that they, that they've had. So we see a tremendous growth of the Christian faith even just in the last few decades, last two, two generations, you know, there'll be no end to the increase of his kingdom. And what we've seen the last 2000 years, it's that mustard seed was at work. It's very small at first. When it first began to grow very small, based on the whole world. Again the Roman Empire was within a few centuries dramatically impacted and changed. But, but total world population it was only in, has been in recent times where we've seen a great impact of the Christian faith. See there's been an unprecedented outpouring of God's spirit in the last half century, especially in nations unreached by Bible center Christianity. Now just to give you a few examples, the estimated percentage of the population. Who are regenerated Christians are the nation of Guatemala, about 50% estimated or regenerated Christians in Kenya over 50% 56% Brazil 33% Philippines 44% South Africa 34% Chile, 30% Nigeria, 26% Colombia, the nation of Colombia 20% South Korea over 20%. So here's some nations and most of these have been traditionally not Bible believing Christians, but that this great growth of Christianity has come just in the last number of decades. So God's kingdom has, has advanced greatly in the past century. And so again, what, what the large picture is. That Israel was a beachhead from which the Messiah came forth in accordance with God's plan, announced in Genesis 3:15, that, that he would curse Satan would be crushed under the heel of the one that would come forth from man. So the Messiah Jesus was 100% God and 100% man. It's hard for us to comprehend, but he came from the womb of Mary, from woman, and he came forth and through his atoning work crushed Satan under his heel. And so from Israel over the last. hundreds of years, really 2000 years, it spread to Europe, then spread to the United States. From the United States, since, the birth of America a few centuries ago, Christianity has began to spread all over the world. So there's been great growth of internal fruit. Many people converted. As I say, there's been more people converted in my lifetime than all of the 2,000 years prior to that. So. The ever increasing kingdom of Christ. Is a reality when you look back over the last 2,000 years. And I've had opportunity to travel to over 40 different countries to see firsthand the great outpouring of the Spirit of God in so many nations. I've spent lots of time in Brazil and Colombia, where two nations greatly impacted in the last 40, 50 years by the outpouring of the Spirit of God. Great growth there. And in the Philippines and sub Saharan African nations, a great outpouring of the Spirit of God has occurred. And the advance of the messianic kingdom has not only resulted in millions of conversions, but has also produced advancements in all spheres of life. See, as his kingdom is advanced, it's not only transformed men, but it's transformed nations. Remember, we're not only to disciple men, we're to disciple the whole nation. Cultures have been positively impacted. Where the kingdom has gone. Now the Bible tells us the kingdom of God is like a seed, and its expansion, its growth is like a seed. His kingdom does not grow by externally adding new land areas, but by the development of something that's already present. It comes as a seed. If you, if you hold a seed, you hold a tree. A tree is hidden in the sea, but you can't find the tree by cutting open the seed.

You've got to plant the seed and allow it to grow

You've got to plant the seed and allow it to grow. Similarly, God planted the seed of his kingdom in history he's watered it, tended it over time and in various nations. And it's grown first a shoot, then a plant, and finally a beautiful tree. So the maturity did not occur in the Old Covenant. That was like the seed planted is merely a, shoot coming above the ground. And the growth and maturities occurred gradually during the NewSong Covenant era. So Israel served as the place where that seed would come forth. It was planted and the Messiah came forth. And then over the last 2,000 years, the kingdom ushered in by Jesus, the Messiah has grown and grown and grown. Jesus has been extending his kingdom through his family, the church universal, who work in all spheres of life. And so we're called to not only transform men, we're to transform nations. And we're to fulfill our biblical duties in every sphere of life because we disciple nations by teaching all he commanded. And the Scripture. And Jesus's teachings are full of insight into not just spiritual matters, not just matters dealing with our relationship with God, but matters of how to live life here on this earth, how to take dominion over the earth. It speaks to every sphere of life. And what I wrote a little booklet on, the Bible as a blueprint for building nations. And in there I have listed 21 different areas of life. And I give bullet points of here's what the Bible has to say about these. yes, about worship and personal conduct, family and child raising. These are things that we can think about. The church generally teaches about those areas of life, but there's many other areas that much of the church has neglected in the past few generations especially. But the Bible speaks about, health, and sanitation work and rest, social needs, government and law, economics, business, liberty, philosophy, arts and media warfare, crime and punishment, education, science and technology, history and literature, just to name some of the areas the Bible speaks to that Jesus taught about these things. And it's our responsibility to discern what the Bible says about these and teach these. That's how we disciple a nation, teaching them to observe all that I commanded. And so. The Bible contains ideas and principles of life and liberty. And when we've looked in, those who founded America, they understood this. They went and built a nation based upon biblical ideas because they had searched them out. Those Puritans, for example, searched out biblical mandates and understood that it's our task to build our nation upon these precepts and did so. And, and it's. The Bible speaks about self government and being a moral people, presents laws of liberty, limited and just government, education and truth for all people, productivity and prosperity. Some of the general ideas that there are principles in the Bible that we can discover and apply. See the Bible in the hands of the people has produced advancement in all spheres of life. And so part of God's plan in recapturing the earth certainly centers around making available His Word to every person in a way that he can read and understand and comprehend it himself. And so that's what was so important about God delivering his law word to Israel. Before he took Israel, he delivered them out of bondage of Egypt, before he took them in the promised land. He said look, you guys are going to need something to build a society. You're going to need my law, my word. And so he revealed it to them through Moses and he the Ten Commandments. That part he wrote with his own finger on the tablets, front and back. The only part of the Scripture he directly himself wrote. Now he, he wrote all and inspired all the scripture. But that part was so important he thought that I'm going to write it down myself. And he did. And so by the time of the Messiah, every time of Jesus we had the Old Testament Scriptures written out. The law, the prophets, the histories, the wisdom books, they were available, but they were just available in Hebrew, the original languages, the Old Testament and the Hebrew. And then with the coming of Christ and the disciples, we began to have a written testimony of this new. Covenant age, what we call the NewSong Testament. So in 250 AD the complete Bible was available in only two languages. We had the Old Testament in Hebrew, the NewSong Testament in, in Greek, most, most Greek. we had a Latin version of that produced early on as well. by 400 A.D. the Bible was available in six languages. In 1450 it was available in 33 languages. In 1800 the Bible was available in 71 languages. By 2020, the whole, by 20, in 2020, 250 languages. And today the Bible is available in seven hundred and 36 languages. So the full Bible today is available in seven hundred and 36. Languages which is then available to about six billion people. And the NewSong Testament itself is available in 1658 languages which reaches 824 million more people. And portions of the Scripture are available in 1264 additional languages. So that is there 3658 languages with at least some portion of scripture. That'S been translated and available. And so that, that means that 90% of all the people, 7.23 billion people, have access to portion all or portions of the Bible in their own language that they can Read. Why is this, important? Because in order for us to go and reclaim every square inch of the earth, to go and be ambassadors, to go and do what Christ told us to do in the Great Commission, we need to have his truth, because it's his truth that gives us insight into how we're to live, how we're to build a family, how we're to build a business, how we're to build our nation. And so we need to have access to this truth. And so Christians have understood the importance of having the Bible available in the common language of the people. And that's why, over the centuries, they've worked so hard to translate the Bible into the language of the people so people can read it themselves and have access to the truth of God for themselves. And so, this, then as they began to make these Bibles available, the Bible in the hands of the people has produced advancement in, in all spheres of life. Bible translations led to advancements in religious liberty and civil liberty and education for all people, and economic prosperity, new inventions, scientific discoveries, agricultural productivity, music and arts. We told a few stories of some of people in America, product of the Christian faith, of the fruit of the Messiah and his coming into the earth. That we have, told some of those stories of that advancement. And so what I want to do in the next podcasts.

Next couple of podcasts will look at how Christianity has impacted various spheres

Next couple of podcasts, I want to begin to look at some of these areas of how Christianity and the true in the Bible has impacted religious liberty and civil liberty, education, economics, scientific discoveries, music, arts and agriculture. And see historically how. how that the truth of the Bible has impacted these areas. See Luke 133. There's no end to the increase of his kingdom, his government. And that government, that kingdom is over all. And his kingdom has impacted every sphere of life. As I've mentioned here earlier, there have been millions who've been converted even in our lifetime. But not only have individuals been converted, but every sphere and aspect of life have been impacted by the Messiah and his truth coming into the world. And so the next few podcasts, we're then going to begin to look at some of those areas that have been impacted and how they've been impacted. Now, we've written a lot about this in some of our books. I invite you to Visit our website, providencefoundation.com you can pick up America's providential history. You can pick up a book, book Transforming nations through Biblical Work, where I tell the story of 50, 60 different Christian individuals and how God has used them to bring advancements in all spheres of life. So you can read some of this story, but join us next week also as we continue to take a look at Christ's ever increasing kingdom and the great positive impact and flourishing that it's brought to mankind and how this is the, Origin of America's great liberty and prosperity. We're merely the fruit of the planting of the seed of the gospel by Christ 2000 years ago, and that we benefit and have benefited so greatly from this. And without the coming of Christ, there would be no America, the land of liberty, the land of prosperity that we have today. And this message is vital for us to understand that the Bible is the source of our law and liberty, that the Messiah and his words, recorded in the Bible are the source of the great flourishing that we have today. So I hope to have, you with us next week. God bless you.