Constitutional and cultural Submission
As we have observed, the constitution of the kingdom is: ‘Love the lord your God with all your heart mind and soul, and your fellow human as much as yourself’. A constitution has to be unpacked for practical reason. In the real world, conflicts and disagreements appear as humans try to grasp the essence of these principles in contrasting circumstances.
For a short time things were perfect. God settled in the centre of the Garden, by the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge. Adam had found a soul-mate in Eve, and the world around them was perfect. But three is a crowd and Satan interfered. I have often wondered if the two children were born before Adam and Eve were excluded from the garden, would Cain and Abel have been the best of buddies? Was it the blame game between Adam and Eve that they had learned from their parents? We shall never know. But see here, this is the beginning of World-Kingdom hierarchy. This couple were vying for superiority in pecking order. They were trying to establish a hierarchy of blame. Eve picked the fruit, Adam ate it. Who is the subject and who the object in this incident? There is neither, because the two had become one. Both had disobeyed. Motivation of guilt, sought absolution of blame, that as the natural law consequence built into disobedience. There is no hierarchy for humans established by playing the blame game, all have sinned and fallen short.
‘Marriage’ is a Kingdom-of-God word, that requires willing submission. ‘Body’ is another. ‘Branch and vine’ are Kingdom-of-God words, requiring willing submission. So is ‘Flock’. ‘Household’ is a Kingdom-of-God word, that requires willing submission. Likewise, ‘Temple’. Enough, you have the picture. Interdependence is a Kingdom-of-God principle. Office, that seeks to be in a hierarchy, does not stem from the office, but the motivation of the person holding it. If the World-Kingdom motivation, ‘I am more important than you, ever creeps into the Kingdom-of-God, it destroys the very culture of the Kingdom-of-God. When the motivation, ‘You are more important than me. I need you, let me encourage and support you’, motivates the community, it demonstrates Kingdom-of-God culture. That turns the subject, object argument upside down. If the subject or the object of the kingdom motivation is demand, it is World-Kingdom. If the subject or the object freely and genuinely recognizes worth, the motivation is Kingdom-of-God motivation. Kingdom-of-God people have learned the basic constitutional principle when, its subjects and the objects fully understand interdependence.
Understanding foundations of Kingdom-of-God community is to understand there is no power structure, but a mutual support system. God has all power and all authority, but He does not use it, except to bless the whole kingdom. Protection of self, or office, is not a valid reason.
Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?266
As it is, Peter had chopped off the ear of one soldier. And Jesus had used his power to restore it. Position in the Kingdom-of-God requires not only submission but self-control. Imagine it had been James and John with the power.
And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, ‘Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?’ Jesus turned and rebuked them. 267
Our Kingdom-of-God constitution, has a procedure for the use of power. It is not within the ambassadors remit to use it. Can you remember back in the introduction, we were introduced to the watchers? Ambassadors report back as part of the watchers team. Remember how, in Daniel and Ezekiel, we saw watchers discussing in council with Yahweh-Elohim, about the Nations? How they put the case and waited for Yahweh-Elohim to decide the outcome? That is Kingdom-of-God constitution. Jesus here reveals the principle. He has the power, but is not willing to use it outside Kingdom-of-God constitution principles. ‘If I ask, He will send’, is the power, ‘Nonetheless, as you will’, declares the motivation and the submission. And he sent the message by medium of prayer, which is the same medium we all have.
The essential nature of submission in relationships
Without submission a kingdom is divided.
Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:268
But, if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.269
One day, when the fruit of human heart is fully matured, He will use that power and authority in a final death Judgement. But that is for later.
When Moses expanded the constitution in the Torah, he built that in:
When a man hath newly taken a wife, he shall not go out with the army, neither shall any kind of business be imposed upon him; he shall be free for his house one year, and shall gladden his wife whom he hath taken.270
The principle is: get the relationship right before you embark on the mission. If the relationship is not secure, the mission will fail. The Satan principle is to pick them off one by one. Get Eve while she is alone and Adam is busy ‘doing’, ministry in the garden. Don’t take them in twos lest they support each other. Get David while he is so busy being King, that he neglects his family relationship. Then Israel will divide their allegiance among his children. Don’t to get all Israel to take spoils of war and disobey God, just get Achan to do it, A small village like Ai will bring the nation down if you can get one man out of line. This is probably the most over used tactic of the Satan. Just break the relationship bond within the Kingdom-of-God and you can bring it down. Just one or two will do. The major task of the ‘watchers’, (ambassadors), is to be:
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
Jesus’ teachings were necessary, because the Kingdom-of-God works on different values, taught by World-Kingdoms. World-Kingdoms are presently under the hand of the prince of this world.
The greatest significance must be found in the wilderness battle. The Satan managed to get Jesus alone. There he tried to divide the Trinity family. ‘I can give you the kingdom now if you break rank with the Father and The Spirit and fall in with me’. But the bond of relationship between the three was too well established.
Again, the Devil took Him (Jesus) up into an exceeding high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And said unto Him, All these things will I give thee, if you will fall down and worship me.271
Don’t miss the preeminence in Jesus’ teaching on relationships. Metaphors of the kingdom makes it clear that the Gospel is a call to allegiance in relationships. We can describe our relationship with God in many other ways: Adoption, Redemption, Marriage, Covenant, Salvation, Friendship, Building, Sheep, Vine, Friends, Bride, water, bread and so on. Each of these has its values because it communicates different images and ideas. But none are possible without a strong relationship. The Kingdom-of-God is nothing, if it is not founded on this kind of relationship with its king.
Pharisees promoted World-Kingdom values of behaviour. Behaviour will never get a person into the Kingdom-of-God. The only way in is through relationship that changes motivation deep of the heart. It starts with Gratitude that the Servant-King has established a safe corridor, from World-Kingdoms into the Kingdom-of-God. That safe route brings everyone down to the same level. Gratitude for the love is what sows the seed of love, which is what allows the Kingdom-of-God to function.
You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you;
266 Mat 26:53
267 Luke 9:54
268 Because the residents of God's Kingdom are still in fleshly bodies, division may arise from time to time. Jesus gave instructions for handling such divisions in Matthew 18:15-35.
269 Matthew 18:19-20
270 Deuteronomy 24:5
271 Matthew 4:8-9