Topical Studies
What the Bible says about
Ambassadors of God's Kingdom
(From Forerunner Commentary)
John 17:16
What would Jesus do in a time of political election? He would not take part. He would warn true Christians, “Come out of her [this world], My people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues” (Revelation 18:1-4). Jesus calls Christians out of the ways of this world, including its political systems. Just as Jesus did, we are expected to provide a true witness of God's way of life. We are to support what God is doing on earth so that the good news of Christ's return to establish God's Kingdom is proclaimed. Our focus needs to be on God's plan and His gift of salvation and eternal life so that we and all those He has called are prepared to participate in God's government on earth when it is established (Daniel 7:18, 22; Revelation 2:26-27; 5:10). An ambassador of Christ is not to involve himself in the politics of this present evil world. Human governments, corrupted by the ruler of this world, are doomed to be replaced by the benevolent rule of the Kingdom of God. Though we are in the world, we are not of it. Our mission—as advance emissaries of His Kingdom—is to give a true witness of God's way of life (Proverbs 14:25; Isaiah 43:10-12; Matthew 5:13-16; Acts 1:8; Revelation 20:4) and to warn the world of its predicament and present danger, proclaiming to all nations the good news of the Kingdom of God.
Martin G. Collins
Would Jesus Christ Vote? (Part Three)
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John 18:36-37
Pilate was concerned that Jesus was interfering in the politics of his day, but Jesus told him that, even though He was born to be King, His Kingdom was not of this world. Christ will establish His rule on earth as King of the world at the appointed time He returns. While Jesus did preach to the world by warning it (Matthew 4:25; 5:1), He remained separate from its politics. His primary audience was His disciples, whom He taught God's way of life. He called them out of this present, evil age—out of its customs, philosophies, and ways—to a life of separation from the world (II Corinthians 6:17). He told them, “Follow Me.” He did not mean for Christians to leave the world physically. He knew they must live in it, but He taught that they should not be of it. In His final prayer, He requests, “I do not pray that you should take [My disciples] out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world” (John 17:15-16). Thus, Christ's disciples live in this present world as if they were foreigners, guests of the nations where they reside, as ambassadors for Christ and His coming Kingdom. When God calls a person to repentance and conversion, He summons them to forsake former allegiances and transfer all loyalty to Christ. As Paul writes in II Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
Martin G. Collins
Would Jesus Christ Vote? (Part Two)
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2 Corinthians 10:13
An apostle has a measure of rule or authority within the church. In another place, Paul refers to himself as an ambassador. An ambassador is a high governmental personage who represents a yet higher authority—his government—and he is in that position to carry out the dictates of his nation in its relationship with another nation—a foreign nation. The ambassador resides in the foreign nation while representing his own nation, and he has authority, for example, over those who are under him at the consulate.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Unity (Part 3): Ephesians 4 (A)
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