Kingdoms of Control

“Whoever controls the media, controls the mind.” ~ Jim Morrison

“Freedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control.” ~ Epicetus

“Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be.” ~ Thomas a Kempis

“Men are more easily governed through their vices than through their virtues.” ~ Napoleon Bonaparte

“It is only when a man tames his own demons that he becomes the king of himself if not of the world.” ~ Joseph Campbell

“The creative process is a process of surrender, not control.” ~ Julia Cameron

“Perhaps that’s another reason true intimacy is so frightening. It’s the one thing we all want, and must give up control to get.” ~ Donald Miller

"Like a city that is broken into and without walls Is a man who has no control over his spirit." - Proverbs 25:28

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." - Galatians 5:22-23

Kingdoms of the World
1. The World is subjected to the rule of men.
  
  "God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth."" - Genesis 1:27-28
  1. Fill – מָלָא – fill, accomplish, complete, satisfy, consecrate, make whole. Think of a jar being filled up to, and maybe past, the brim. In a garden, this looks like propagation.
  2. Subdue – כָּבַשׁ – tread down, trample, subjugate, bring into bondage. Think of a walking path being made by repeatedly treading the path or placing rocks on it. In a garden this looks like pruning, trimming, clearing, and binding.
  3. Rule – רָדָה – to rule over, have dominion, dominate, tread down, possess. A neutral term for exerting control over someone or something. Leviticus warns not to “rule with severity over one another”. The Psalms eagerly await the rule of God and of the upright.
2. The First Kingdom, Babel
  
  "It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. They said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly." And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. They said, "Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth."" - Genesis 11:2-4
  1. City –עִור – any place that is guarded by a watch.
    1. Root word can also mean to be terrified.
  2. Tower – מִגְדָּל – In scripture this means any raised platform, but particularly one used for military purposes.
    1. This tower in particular was also possible due to the new technology of the time: bricks.
  3. Whose “head is in the heavens” – in the Ancient Near East the gods held their council in the heavens and would meet on mountain tops.
    1. To build a tower into this realm is to claim equal power/status or to attempt to bring the gods to you.
  4. Make for ourselves a name – create a communal character to which we belong and conform.
    1. Nationalism/Patriotism – subversion of family identification or religious vow by nationalistic identification.
  5. Putting it all together.
    1. Let’s make a place where we will gather together in fear, make ourselves strong and contend with the gods so that we will be powerful enough to control our own destinies.
3. The Underdog Kingdom, Israel
  
  ""For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. "The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. "Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments; but repays those who hate Him to their faces, to destroy them; He will not delay with him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face." - Deuteronomy 7:6-10
  1. Lovingkindness –חֶסֶד – to desire, to love, to show goodness towards, to be kind, to be gracious or merciful. A deep word that always coincides with a choice or commitment to the other and carries not only emotional connection but impetus to action.
    1. The neurological correlate is the joy bond in the ROPFC
      1. Strongest bond of this type is that which exists between infant and mother while nursing
      2. Can be redeveloped when interacting with someone who is genuinely delighted to be with you.
  2. Bond is formed in spite of how pathetic Israel is because YHVH has chosen them and made covenant with them in their weakness.
    1. Not strategic, but relational.
    2. “I love you because I love you.”
      1. The only real kind of love, all else is self-love being projected or repressed.
        
        I love you because you’re so smart…
        
        … and what that says about you loving me.
        
        … because I like using your intelligence.
        
        … now you say it back… any time now…
        
        I love you because I love you.
        
        Be awesome if you want to, I’ll celebrate it.
        
        Fall apart if you want to, I’m here for it.
  3. This passage clarifies the punishment of the guilty in Exodus 34, one of the most foundational passages in the Torah.
    
    "Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations."" - Exodus 34:6-7
    1. Compassionate –רָחַם – to love deeply, to be affectionate, to have mercy, to have compassion, to caress. Properly: to be soft or to be tender towards another. Think of a mother gently soothing a child with caresses and kisses and you’ve got it.
    2. Forgives –נָשָׂא – To lift up, to bear, to carry, to take away, to relieve a burden. This is not really a legal term, but a practical one. In other words, God’s forgiveness is not about cleaning the slate, but about removing the weight.
    3. Unpunished –נָקָה – to declare innocent, to leave unpunished, to pardon or to absolve. Essentially, there is nothing that God “ignores” or forgets. As we can see clearly in other scriptures, it either becomes a story of redemption or a weight we refuse to let go of…
    4. To the third and the fourth [generations] – Generations doesn’t exist in the text. Rather, it ends in a Hebrew idiom that accurately says, “to the third and the fourth”. This is a phrase that means, “as many as it takes” and could be used with all kinds of numbers.
      
      "There are three things which are too wonderful for me, Four which I do not understand:" - Proverbs 30:18
      1. AKA… I keep thinking of things I can’t wrap my mind around.
      "There are six things which the LORD hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him:" - Proverbs 6:16
      1. AKA… this isn’t an exhaustive list, but man… These are bad!
  4. Putting it all together.
    1. Israel will be the example nation because they are the weak, messy, minority that God has chosen to demonstrate His consistent character towards. They will be the small band that is defended and protected against all odds, who is forgiven and healed each time they stray, who are treated kindly and compassionately by their God, but who will also suffer the intense punishment that comes with being hateful towards Him.
    2. This is a continuation and a nationalization – with a goal towards globalization – of the same kind of relationship God had with Abram.
      1. I love you.
      2. I will make a place for you.
      3. I will bond Myself to you.
      4. I will restore you.
      5. Yeah, I’ll do it again.
      6. I will bless all the other nations through My faithfulness to you.
      7. Yes, even when I have to work in spite of you.
    3. In contrast to Babel
      1. You don’t settle based on fear, but based on where I tell you to go.
      2. You don’t trust yourself for strength.
        
        No bricks.
        
        No chariots.
        
        No counting your troops.
      3. I dwell with you, in your midst.
        
        Tabernacle.
      4. I change your name, you don’t make one for yourself.
The Divine Counsel – Thrones, Powers, Principalities, and Strongholds.
1. Babel in the Heavens.
  1. People given over to the gods they’re trying to encounter.
    
    ""When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,
    When He separated the sons of man,
    He set the boundaries of the peoples
    According to the number of the sons of God.
    "For the LORD'S portion is His people;
    Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.
    "He found him in a desert land,
    And in the howling waste of a wilderness;
    He encircled him, He cared for him,
    He guarded him as the pupil of His eye.
    "Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,
    That hovers over its young,
    He spread His wings and caught them,
    He carried them on His pinions.
    "The LORD alone guided him,
    And there was no foreign god with him." - Deuteronomy 32:8-12
    1. According to the number of the sons of God. - Here we see that the separation of languages in Genesis 11 is coincident with the “sons of God” [lesser divine beings] being assigned to different nations.
      1. Babel’s desire [and those like Babel] to access the power of the lesser gods instead of the Creator is described by Paul in Romans:
        
        "Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen." - Romans 1:24-25
      2. Some translations read, “sons of Israel” based on an inaccurate manuscript, both the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Septuagint read, “sons of God”.
      3. Also, there was no Israel at the time, so…
  2. The gods are given to the nations… and will be judged accordingly!
    1. The assignment.
      
      ""And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. "But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be a people for His own possession, as today." - Deuteronomy 4:19-20
      1. Host of heaven – though this is clearly referring to the sun, moon and stars which have been given to everyone, we also need to remember that every culture on the earth viewed the celestial bodies as having spiritual counterparts, including the Israelites, so it’s also referring to divine beings.
    2. The judgment.
      
      "God takes His stand in the Congregation of God/Divine Council;
      
      He judges in the midst of the gods/divine beings.
      
      How long will you judge unjustly
      
      And show partiality to the wicked? Selah.
      
      Vindicate the weak and fatherless;
      
      Do justice to the afflicted and destitute.
      
      Rescue the weak and needy;
      
      Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.
      
      They do not know nor do they understand;
      
      They walk about in darkness;
      
      All the foundations of the earth are shaken.
      
      I said, "You are gods/divine beings,
      
      And all of you are sons of the Most High.
      
      "Nevertheless you will die like men
      
      And fall like any one of the princes."
      
      Arise, O God, judge the earth!
      
      For it is You who possesses all the nations." - Psalm 82
      1. Here we see that the divine council being reprimanded by God for the ways that they are allowing/enabling injustice in the cultures that they have been assigned to.
      2. These divine beings are facing an impending death and destruction if they don’t start to uphold the cause of the weak and needy.
        
        Spoilers… doesn’t seem like a lot of them are going to do that.
2. Spiritual Wars with Earthly Kingdoms
  1. This tendency of humans to seek spiritual power from other divine beings is not unique to the Tower of Babel. Like at the tower, nations are seen throughout scripture exchanging worship for power and make their own covenants with divine beings.
    1. The Prince of Persia
      
      "In those days, I, Daniel, had been mourning for three entire weeks. I did not eat any tasty food, nor did meat or wine enter my mouth, nor did I use any ointment at all until the entire three weeks were completed. On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, while I was by the bank of the great river, that is, the Tigris, I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a certain man dressed in linen, whose waist was girded with a belt of pure gold of Uphaz. His body also was like beryl, his face had the appearance of lightning, his eyes were like flaming torches, his arms and feet like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a tumult. ... He said to me, "O Daniel, man of high esteem, understand the words that I am about to tell you and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you." And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling. Then he said to me, "Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. "But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia. ... Then he said, "Do you understand why I came to you? But I shall now return to fight against the prince of Persia; so I am going forth, and behold, the prince of Greece is about to come. "However, I will tell you what is inscribed in the writing of truth. Yet there is no one who stands firmly with me against these forces except Michael your prince." - Daniel 10:2-6, 11-13, 20-21
    2. The Rulers of Tyre
      1. The man
        
        "The word of the LORD came again to me, saying,
        
        "Son of man, say to the leader of Tyre,
        'Thus says the Lord GOD,
        "Because your heart is lifted up
        And you have said, 'I am a god, I sit in the seat of gods In the heart of the seas';
        Yet you are a man and not God,
        Although you make your heart like the heart of God--
        ...
        'Will you still say, "I am a god,"
        In the presence of your slayer,
        Though you are a man and not God,
        In the hands of those who wound you?
        'You will die the death of the uncircumcised
        By the hand of strangers, For I have spoken!' declares the Lord GOD!"'"" - Ezekiel 28:1-2, 9-10
      2. The cherub
        
        "Again the word of the LORD came to me saying,
        
        "Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him,
        
        'Thus says the Lord GOD,
        
        "You had the seal of perfection,
        
        Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
        
        "You were in Eden, the garden of God;
        
        Every precious stone was your covering:
        
        The ruby, the topaz and the diamond;
        
        The beryl, the onyx and the jasper;
        
        The lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald;
        
        And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, was in you.
        
        On the day that you were created They were prepared.
        
        "You were the anointed cherub who covers,
        
        And I placed you there.
        
        You were on the holy mountain of God;
        
        You walked in the midst of the stones of fire.
        
        "You were blameless in your ways
        
        From the day you were created
        
        Until unrighteousness was found in you.
        
        "By the abundance of your trade
        
        You were internally filled with violence,
        
        And you sinned;
        
        Therefore I have cast you as profane
        
        From the mountain of God.
        
        And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub,
        
        From the midst of the stones of fire.
        
        "Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty;
        
        You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.
        
        I cast you to the ground;
        
        I put you before kings,
        
        That they may see you.
        
        "By the multitude of your iniquities,
        
        In the unrighteousness of your trade
        
        You profaned your sanctuaries.
        
        Therefore I have brought fire from the midst of you;
        
        It has consumed you,
        
        And I have turned you to ashes on the earth
        
        In the eyes of all who see you.
        
        "All who know you among the peoples
        
        Are appalled at you;
        
        You have become terrors
        
        And you will cease to be forever.””” - Ezekiel 28:11-19
    3. The King who Resisted
      
      "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the satan. And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." But He answered and said, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.'" Then the satan took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, 'HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU'; and 'ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.'" Jesus said to him, "On the other hand, it is written, 'YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.'" Again, the satan took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, "All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me." Then Jesus said to him, "Go, Satan! For it is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.'"" - Matthew 4:1-10
      1. Jesus does not respond to his hunger.
      2. Jesus does not respond to his fear.
      3. Jesus does not respond to his “vocation”.
      4. Jesus maintains his attachment to God as first priority.
      5. Notice that none of the temptations are “bad”, the temptation is not in the quality of the action, but the reason for which it’s done.

Vessels for Glory

Worship & Reality Modification

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