City Life Starter

The Word

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful and deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Revelation 21:22-27

That is the key to history. Terrific energy is expended–civilizations built up–excellent institutions devised; but each time something goes wrong. Some fatal flaw always brings the selfish and cruel people to the top and it all slides back into misery and ruin. In fact, the machine conks. It seems to start up all right and runs a few yards, and then it breaks down. They are trying to run it on the wrong juice. That is what Satan has done to us humans.

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Book 2, Ch 3

Exegesis

I always found the study of history and sociology fascinating, even to the point of getting degrees for both subjects in college. This has taught me a lot about the world we live in, while having the ability of taking what I learned and putting it through the lens of a Christian worldview. What I quickly realized was that, no matter how many centuries have passed, humans cannot succeed without God.

While studying Karl Marx, you see a man who believed that religion couldn’t solve the problems of the society. He thought that the only fix would be to remove those in power and run a society where people were in control and everyone worked for the common good. Well, Karl Marx could not foresee a middle class, how important faith is, and the destruction that communism ultimately brought to the world. Culminating in the rise of Stalin and the murder of tens of millions of people and a society deprived of God, with no hope or meaning in life.

On the opposite end you had prominent thinkers such as Adam Smith who proposed a free market, laissez-faire approach to the economy with a democratic government system. Even though this economic/political system ultimately proved to be a much better solution, it had its own faults. It functions based on the understanding that greed helps spark innovation and competition. Yet, without any government intervention, this system created the rise of monopolies who controlled production, removed competitors, and paid off politicians to gain an even higher profit margin. A great depression took place in the 1920’s, only for new ideas to develop and government regulations being put in place.

This is very brief history lesson, and the point here is that C.S. Lewis speaks to this exact issue. God gives man a creative and brilliant mind to solve the problems of this world. Yet, each and every time, something goes wrong. This is because we are dealing with a fallen world and sinful people who believe that they can be their own god. This world cannot give us the perfect government or the perfect economic system because it has a fatal flaw. This flaw is sin, or as C.S. Lewis puts it, spoiled goodness.

God gave John the visions of Revelation for the purposes of giving Christians something to look forward to in a world that was filled with persecution and death for even believing in the faith. Emperor Nero was burning Christians and he ran an empire that was corrupt from within. Yet, the vastness of the Roman empire helped to spark the spread of Christianity throughout the known world.

The fact is, is that we are living in an enemy-occupied territory, and if we do not focus on God’s ultimate conclusion and His plan to defeat Satan once and for all, we lose our path in this life and forget why we are here.

Application

As Christians, we should always stand up and fight for justice, and we do so with an understanding that, if we can help people realize that the end goal is heaven and the perfect kingdom that follows, then we are not living for this life, but the next. Do not trust in any solution that may seem to solve the problems of this world if it isn’t Jesus. Nothing can fix the world except that which points to Jesus and the healing that only He can bring. We need to be a people that helps save others and add their names to the Lamb’s book of life. God runs the perfect kingdom and a far better system of government than we could ever imagine or achieve on this earth.

Prayer

Father, help me to trust in you. That you are in control and see the future. Everything will be in place as you have predicted. Help me preach your word and to seek after others for Your kingdom. Thank you Father for saving me, and help me never to forget my first love. In the name of Jesus I pray, Amen.