I have a question for you. Now I want you to really think about this and take your time in coming up with an answer. Let’s say one morning you come out of your front door, leaving for work or whatever you have planned that day, and there is a protest on your walkway. The ants have banded together, they have signs and banners, and they are chanting at you. You’re wide awake now and you lean in to hear what they are saying. What you hear amazes you. They are telling you that they want your house and your property and they want you to move out. They say that they no longer believe you are the rightful owner. What would you do? I don’t think it would take you too long to go back into your garage and get out the raid. Am I right? I want to quote to you Psalm 2:1-3:
Why do the nations rage, And the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us break Their bonds in piecesAnd cast away Their cords from us.”
Why am I comparing us humans to ants? Because I want you to see things from a different perspective. We look back at the generation that rejected Jesus and crucified Him and we wonder why they did that. But if you look at the circumstances they were in, under Roman occupation, you will quickly realize that they were looking for a Messiah who would come as king and deliver them from their enemies. They didn’t want a suffering servant who died for their sins. So they rejected Him. Fast forward two thousand years and I’m going to suggest that this generation, and perhaps a couple before us, don’t want a conquering King. No, I think we want a suffering servant. We want a docile lamb of God who takes away our sins, heals our diseases and makes us happy. We do not want a God who is King of kings and Lord of lords. Oh no, that would require repentance, humility and fear of the Lord. I don’t believe there is a whole lot of that left on the earth right now. Do you? But let’s go back to Psalm 2:4. Do you know what God does in response to the chanting and protests and breaking free from His rightful ownership of this earth? He laughs. I would say that is about right. I think if I had the ants protest on my property, I too would laugh. And yet, this generation teaches that God is not in control. It teaches that we are! This generation of leaders teaches us that the gospel is about your salvation. I’m sure you’re thinking, well isn’t it? No, actually the gospel is about the Kingdom of God. The “good news” is this: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth!” (Matthew 28:18) Yes, Jesus died for our sins, no question. But that is only part of the equation. Listen to what Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 24:14: “And this ‘gospel of the kingdom’ shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come”. He said “this gospel of the kingdom”, not this gospel of your salvation. So what is the good news? Jesus is the King who sits above all rule, authority and power. Period. We don’t like that however, so we come up with all kinds of beliefs and opinions and we twist the Scriptures to fit our desires. We blame the devil and we come up with all kinds of reasons for why the devil is actually in control, not God. And this year, of all years, makes no sense! I think that God is once again stepping into our little lives, and turning our tables over, and throwing out the money changers and rebuking the leaders and shutting down the churches and saying, “worship Me, and Me alone”! I believe that this year is God’s mercy, not His judgement. He is making it very easy right now to come back to Him and choose to make Him Lord of our lives. I personally don’t want to get sprayed with raid. Do you?
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