Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with the Moment of Truth, where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. And today, I want to challenge you to think about what would a Christian world government look like? Oh, hmm. I know how utterly strange and foreign a Christian world government sounds to many of you.

In fact, it may even seem like a true oxymoron. That is, two ideas that are mutually exclusive, incompatible with one another, two ideas impossible of existing together simultaneously like matter and antimatter in the same room. Now, most American Christians can barely bring themselves to think about a nominally Christian government in America, much less a world government that's Christian in principle and its institutions. So, I may be asking you to stretch your imagination for a moment today, but please bear with me.

Let me first begin by asserting something that every Christian would agree on, and that is Christ will rule in all of creation in due time. Christ will rule in all of creation in due time. Almost every Christian that I know of can agree with that because texts like Revelation chapter 20 say this in verse 4, then I saw thrones and seated on them were those to whom authority to judge was committed. That's us. Also, I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or on their hands.

They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. Oh, that's in the Bible as well as many, many other texts. And all of us who take the Bible seriously thus agree that there will be a world. There will be a world in which Christ reigns and there will be a world government eventually in redemptive history. And precisely when that will come to complete fruition is where we differ.

And there are basically three broad views being taught with some differences within each one of them. But before I sketch what a Christian world government would look like, what the character of a Congress of Christian constitutional republics would look like, let me briefly, ever so briefly, summarize how other Christians view what a world government ruled by Christ would look like, okay? Number one, the first two of a world government, Christian world government ruled by Christ. Number one, Christ will establish a world government as king when he comes again. This is the most popular view currently.

It's called dispensational premillennialism, meaning simply that Christ will return in great power and glory before the onset of a millennium. That is a thousand years. Thus you have premillennialism. Christ will return before, pre that thousand year period, literal thousand year period of a millennium. And that will be a thousand years of peace and perfect rule in a final dispensation.

That's a God's sovereign rule over his creation in a set period of time. Thus you get dispensationalism. That's a big two words, isn't it? Dispensational premillennialism. Say that 10 times fast, but that's indeed just simply the core idea.

And then in this scheme, Christ will rule as sovereign king from Jerusalem for a literal 1,000 year period. Literal, because that's what the Bible says, right? So it must be a literal thousand years. So goes the understanding. And then until then, there will not, yea, cannot be a godly government of peace and perfection.

According to dispensational premillennialism, there cannot be a godly government of peace and perfection. In fact, things will just get worse and worse until all things devolve into a great tribulation just before Christ returns, according to dispensational premillennialism. And most premillennialists say that the church will be raptured before that happens. But there are then also a variety of fine-tuned differences among premillennialists too, which we are not going to get into right now.

The important thing for our discussion is that it is very difficult, yea, nigh impossible, for a contemporary Christian with these beliefs to even entertain the notion of a godly Christian constitutional republic in one place like the United States of America, much less a world government based upon the promise of a congress of Christian constitutional republic. So it's really a stretch for those who hold these beliefs. Then secondly, the second view that's out there is number two, Christ will establish a world government as king when he establishes the eternal state.

Christ will establish a world government according to these folks, which we call amillennialists, that is, Christ will establish a world government as king when he establishes the eternal state, and not until then. This is a view of longstanding in the church. I used to hold this too, and it dates from the early centuries of the church, and it's called amillennialism. And in this view, the millennium spoken of in Revelation, that's that thousand years, the idea of a millennium. It's Latin for one thousand.

This is a symbolic number indicating that Christ is reigning now through an indefinite period, a symbolic period, an indefinite period of time until he comes again. And when he does, he will usher in the eternal perfected state of peace and prosperity. And all of the promises of the Bible towards that end will be fulfilled then. And until then, we cannot expect such a period on this side of Christ's return, only after he comes again, this idea of peace, prosperity, and perfection.

And so, while we may see some good things happen in the world of humanity and creation because of the positive influence of the church, we cannot expect peace, prosperity, and perfection here and now, especially a godly world government composed of Christian constitutional republics. That's view number two. Then finally, view number three, which is the one I hold. That is, Christ will establish a world government as king here and now prior to his return. Christ will establish a world government as king, and he'll do it here and now prior to his return.

All Christians believe, indeed, that Christ will come again to establish peace, prosperity, and perfection that will endure for eternity. We all hold this. The question is, how much of that goodness will be expressed here and now on this side of his return? Post-millennialists, post-millennialists believe that many of the promises towards that end will be fulfilled before Christ returns again. And that, that will happen after the millennium.

Christ's return will happen after the millennium. That is, after a period of peace, prosperity, and perfection, which Christ will achieve through the church. This includes a godly world rule by Christ through his church as more and more people come to know King Jesus. And we see that happening around the world. The church has never been larger, full of more adherents than it is now.

More and more people will come to know King Jesus. And then as we progressively grow as well in our walk of sanctification such that we cannot govern ourselves, but rather be governed as we ought to be by our Lord. And then be such people as can establish a human government through which Christ can rule us. That's what we look at in post-millennialism. And that's when promises like this will come true.

From Isaiah, the wolf shall lie down with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together. And a little child shall lead them. They shall not hurt or destroy and all my holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Unquote from Isaiah chapter 11. Isn't that a beautiful verse?

Indeed, post-millennialists embrace the idea that one day in the future, right here in redemptive history, this side of redemptive history, the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. We look forward to that day. Peace, prosperity, and relative perfection will obtain over the whole earth precisely because all nations will know the Lord. And they will be ruled by him as well. Revelation 12 talks about the birth in a great beautiful figure of the woman in Revelation chapter 12.

That woman, Revelation 12 says, she gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. And of course, that male child was indeed Jesus the Christ. And this is one of the most oft-quoted scriptures in the Bible. That is the idea of the Messiah ruling all nations with a rod of iron. And it's a quotation from Psalm number two, one of the most oft-quoted scriptures in the Bible that speaks of Messiah's rule over the nations, nations, not just the numberless host in heaven in the eternal state, but the nations.

That is, nations are groups with language, borders, culture, and government. It is those from whom the church has been established too. Revelation chapter 5, verses 9 and 10 say this, worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals. And that, of course, was the lamb who had been slain. And the scroll that he took, the seven-sealed scroll, is indeed an inheritance.

It is indeed a deed of possession by a son. The worthy are you to take that seven-sealed scroll and to open its seals. That is, to inherit what's within. For you were slain, and by your blood, Revelation goes on to say, by your blood, you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And you have made them a kingdom and priest to our God, and they shall reign on the earth, unquote.

But it is not just us, dear listener. Christ's sovereign rule extends over all the nations. From Psalm chapter two, verses eight and nine, the father says to the son, ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage in the ends of the earth, your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. And more to the point for us, as Revelation declares to us, it will be the church through whom Christ will rule those nations of the earth.

And they, that is the church, shall reign on the earth, right? Indeed, it is us, the saints of the church. It is us who, as Revelation 20 says, come to life to reign. We come to life, and that life is the spiritual life of the new birth in Christ. And in it, we reign for a thousand years.

Consequently, it will be the saints of the church through whom Christ will rule in government over the nations of the earth. Christ indeed will rule. But just as he manifests himself now in the world by living in us, Christ does by the presence of the Holy Spirit, doesn't he? Christ manifests himself now in the world by living in us, his saints, that is the church. So will he manifest himself in governing the world through us, the saints, that is his church.

Indeed, he will govern the world in human government, then through us, but it will be Christ reigning in us, his saints, the church. But if you are like me, many objections bubble up like lava in an earthquake, right? Objections bubble up to the notion that any measure of peace, prosperity, and perfection can be reached in this life, this side of Christ's return, especially when it comes to human government, right? Do not soil the garments of the gospel with human government and politics and culture, right? Well, let me deal with these several popular objections first.

There's three of them I hear quite often. Number one, in fact, I used to give these myself. Number one, objection. Absolute perfection is not attainable on this side of eternity, right? Well, we're not saying that we will achieve absolute perfection this side of eternity.

No, no, no, no. No one who advocates the biblical doctrine of post-millennialism thinks that we will become absolutely perfect in this life. No, by no means. That will not come until, as the apostle Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 15, he says, when all things are subjected to him, that is to Christ, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. Oh, that will be the eternal state, a beautiful and blessed time.

But what we are saying is that just as we, as individual saints, become progressively more and more sanctified as we grow in our Savior, well, so the world has become, is becoming, and will become more and more sanctified as Christ works in and through the nations, as we've seen will happen. And we can, as well, produce empirical evidence of this throughout history. History bears us out in this, and more on this later. I'll expand on this in days to come to a greater and greater degree.

But the second objection that comes up quite often is, the Bible tells us that Christ's kingdom is not of this world, and that we should stay out of politics, right? The old separation of church and state, canard. The Bible teaches us that Christ's kingdom is not of this world, and so we should stay out of politics. That's how the argument generally goes. Because, well, famously, many Christians understand Christ's response to Pontius Pilate as categorically rejecting manifesting Christ's kingdom in a political way.

Remember what Christ said to Pilate when asked if he was a king. He said, my kingdom is not of this world, Jesus said. My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world, Jesus says in John chapter 18.

But, dear listener, in its context, we see that Jesus here is distinguishing the respective sources and origins of their kingdoms, not their impacts. Pilate's kingdom with its source and origin in the world, Rome. Jesus' source and origin is from heaven. In reality, Christ's kingdom was bound to overcome human government in due time precisely because it is sourced and originates from heaven. And history, once again, can only confirm this for us.

Because although Christ's kingdom began very early to change human governments, all you have to do is read the book of Acts to see this, the first major advance was the conversion of the emperor Constantine in the early fourth century. Read a history book and you'll see the transformative power of the gospel all through history. The gospel has been changing politics, society, and government ever since. Witness the Constitutional Republic. Beautiful form of government.

That form of government I think we will see in a Congress of Christian Constitutional Republics. Well, the third objection is, number three, the world is only getting worse and not better. Oh, I hear this all the time. How can you say things will perfect and become prosperous and peaceful when the world is only getting worse and not better? And this is an argument from historical myopia.

Ah, a very limited, small, pinched view of history. Read a history book once again. If we are only judging the growth and progress of the gospel by what is transpiring in our generation and what is happening in my life, then we are terribly short-sighted. Because over the long course of redemptive history, we can demonstrate, and we can do this and we'll do this in days to come, we can demonstrate that humanity is far better off for having the gospel of Jesus Christ change us than we were in ages past. We can do this.

Especially in the West, dear listener, those nations transformed by the gospel have made us better as a world, whether it's in science or technology, the arts, yea, even politics and government. A couple of good books that will help inform you in these areas are, number one, The 500-Year Leap by Dr. Cleon Skousen. Oh, what a beautiful book this is. As I've, a number of years ago, I spent many, many weeks unpacking the book, The 500-Year Leap by Cleon Skousen. He does precisely this, documents how the world has been improved and better, culminating in the Constitutional Republic of the United States during this 500-Year Leap, as he calls it.

Well, then, another book, too, one of my favorites, a nice brief treatment, but thorough nonetheless, is by a man named Jonathan Hill. And the book is, What Has Christianity Ever Done For Us? And the subtitle is, How It Shaped the Modern World. Christianity Has Shaped the Modern World. The title of that book by Jonathan Hill, What Has Christianity Ever Done For Us?

These two books will help get you started on being historically informed. And because we know then that the gospel has indeed improved our world, improved our lives, made the world a better place in which to live, not heaven by any means, not meant to be either. Nevertheless, because Christianity has indeed improved our lot. Consequently, we can affirm with every confidence that in God's own due time in redemptive history, that, as Isaiah says, the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. What a day that will be.

And it will be that knowledge of the Lord that will enable the perfection of human government such that he shall judge between the nations, as Isaiah says in chapter 2. He, Christ, will judge between the nations and shall decide disputes for many peoples, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore, unquote, from Isaiah chapter 2. Now, that doesn't mean that there will be no more war or conflict and suffering between now and then.

Well, that's a day to come, but there's still plenty of war, conflict, and suffering coming. As we have been learning in Revelation, and I've been preaching through Revelation for some months now, and we've been seeing the nature and course of that book, and we see as part of the warp and woof of the book of Revelation, the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, and the destruction and fall of the Roman Empire are indeed pictures and models and examples of how Christ is going about his conquering of his enemies, even today.

We see in Revelation chapter 19, for example, from his mouth, that is Christ's mouth, from his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. So Christ is indeed conquering, and he is indeed doing so via some of the instruments of the world, of the earth, war being one of them, and this is one of those little-known facts of Revelation.

That is, that Revelation originally referred to those two cities, Jerusalem and Rome, but did so to model how Christ was going to take possession of his inheritance that's been given him in the seven-sealed scroll. That's the nature of the seven-sealed scroll, is that it is a will and testament bequeathed to the Son, which Jesus did indeed inherit. And each of those seven seals, as they're broken, reveal to us again how Christ is conquering all of creation as his inheritance, as his possession. And thus will he, that is Christ, utterly vanquish the corrupt, wicked rule of demonic men that we see so prevalent in the world today.

Oh, we see it becoming more and more clear, don't we, in the United States of America, why we must have a revolution? Because, indeed, Psalm 2 says, once again, why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us, unquote, from Psalm chapter 2, right? That's exactly what those in the deep state are attempting to do in the United States of America today.

But the Psalm goes on to say, he who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord holds them in derision, then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury, unquote. God will triumph over the deep state one way or another. Will we be a part of it? Will you be a part of it? All of this will happen in the course of redemptive history, dear listener.

It may take a long time. It has taken us over 2,000 years to get where we are today, and it may take another 200 or 2,000 years to get to where, as Isaiah says, the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea, and to where he will rule them with a rod of iron. But we'll get there, dear listener. We will get there. It's as certain as the scriptures.

And what will characterize this world government will be chiefly justice. Chiefly justice. And we're going to unpack this more carefully and more closely than in days to come. The further character and nature and structure of a Congress of Christian constitutional republics the world over. What a day that will be.

Indeed, there will be a world government, dear listener. It might as well be Christian, which would you rather have? The demonic, devilish world government that's coming our way courtesy of the United Nations and the deep state in America, or a truly Christian constitutional republic? A Congress of Christian constitutional republics that indeed represent the rule of Christ in the hearts and minds of men and women in the lives of the church. The church has been spreading like a mustard seed, growing fantastically for the last 2,000 years.

Every nation, every continent, every island has a church. Now the church has been growing and flourishing, and will indeed one day take its place to rule in the world and bring a larger, peaceful, prosperous, and perfected world to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is for that for which I am laboring, dear listener. I hope you are too. And I labor with all my might and main for indeed that day when the world will glorify her maker and her creator through a peaceful, prosperous, and more perfected world government that is a Congress of Christian constitutional republics around the globe.

I work for this day, I labor for this day, and I hope you do with me as well. And you can help us do this in our worship services on Sunday, New Geneva, is meeting and has been meeting right on through since Easter. Meet with us. We ask you, come across our threshold, check us out, find out who we are. We indeed are New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

We meet on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. And you can call us for more information and also check out our new place on KID's website. That is KIDnewsradio.org. KIDnewsradio.org. And we've got a catalog of our sermons.

We are also at 1130 on Sunday now, in addition, instead of those two former times, but we meet for holy worship as a church on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. And you can call us for more information at area code 208-523-0196. Feedback and information, area code 208-523-0196. that wants us today. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.