Mark Tabata’s Weekday Devotionals:
Monday December 1 2025
(More Bible Studies Available @ www.marktabata.com)
To Receive These (And Other) Free Bible Studies And Updates Via Email, Contact Mark Tabata @ 606-216-1757 (Text Message) Or hazardhomecoc@gmail.com (Email)
Daniel 7:25 (CEV)-This king will speak evil of God Most High, and he will be cruel to God’s chosen ones. He will try to change God’s Law and the sacred seasons. And he will be able to do this for a time, two times, and half a time.
One of the great lessons that we learn from the study of the Da Vinci Code and the controversy of Jesus and Mary Magdalene deals with the relationship between Christianity and civil government. From the beginning of the church, we see that the Lord has always called His people to be first and foremost citizens of the kingdom of Heaven.
Philippians 3:20-21-For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.
The church is separate and apart from the kingdoms of the world. The history of the Council of Nicaea and the Roman Emperor Constantine marked a terrible turning point in the history of the world. The merging of the state and the Christian world produced one of the darkest epochs of human history.
Who was Constantine? He was a Roman Emperor who used Christianity (which was actually more similar to Catholicism than to biblical Christianity when he was living) to stabilize the Roman Empire in his time. He was a pagan, but (allegedly) converted to Christianity. This was a result especially of a supernatural vision that he had. With his conversion, he brought about several reforms which blended the church with the state. Under his leadership, ministers of the Gospel began to receive salaries and stipends from the government: church buildings were returned to Christians: and the state began to become intimately involved with matters of the church. At the time, these reforms sounded wonderful! But it soon led to the compromising of the Gospel and the further leavening effect of politics upon the weakening faith.
Prior to the time of Constantine, the general belief among Christians was that our duty to the government included praying for the salvation and guidance of civil leaders, complying with their laws (in as far as they did not violate the Law of God), and paying taxes (1 Timothy 2:1-7; Romans 13:1-8; Acts 5:29). This was emphasized in a doctrine known among the early Christians as “the two kingdoms.” David Bercot elaborates:
“One of the ironic things about the church today is that one of the basic core beliefs of Christianity has almost been totally lost. The belief I’m referring to is sometimes called the doctrine of the two kingdoms. This was a teaching that was universally believed by the primitive Christians and yet it’s a teaching that you hardly ever even hear of any more. Yet unless you fully grasp this doctrine and all of its ramifications you will never be able to understand primitive or early Christianity. Certainly in their view you will never be able to understand authentic apostolic Christianity. So throughout this message we are going to be looking at what the early Christians meant by this doctrine and what it means for us today. I’ll begin by first defining the doctrine of the two kingdoms: To put it in a nutshell, it’s the belief that there are two kingdoms or two realms in existence today. They are the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of this world. There is the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. According to this teaching, the kingdom of God is of necessity separate and distinct from the world order around it. The kingdom of God isn’t something in the future or something that we come into after we die or after Christ returns. It is something here and now in the true disciples of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, the kingdom of God isn’t some spiritual, symbolic or figurative kingdom; it’s something concrete with its own set of laws, values, leadership and its own worldview like any other kingdom. As a result, God’s people reside in this world merely as foreigners and aliens because they are already citizens of another kingdom. So they live by a whole different set of laws. They have different values and a different outlook on world issues than do the citizens of this world. The Kingdoms of the World Under this teaching, the kingdoms of this world are part of the kingdom of darkness. That’s because Satan is the God of this present world. Now that doesn’t mean that Jesus Christ and His Father are not involved in the kingdoms of this world because God is still the one who is ultimately in control of the kingdoms of this world. Even though they don’t acknowledge it, the earthly rulers derive their power from God; however God’s governance of the earthly kingdoms is something completely separate and distinct from His oversight of His kingdom. The important thing to remember is that these two kingdoms cannot be mixed…However the truth is that most professing Christians today are thoroughly part of this world. They are part of its government, its mindset, and its commercial organizations, and it has been that way ever since Constantine. For the early Christians this wasn’t a matter of lip service; it was a stark reality. They truly were citizens of a different kingdom than the people around them, and the Romans took note of how different and peculiar these Christians were..” (David Bercot, What the Early Christians Believed About the Two Kingdoms, 20-55 (Kindle Edition): Amberson, PA: Scroll Publishing)
What happens when Christianity is combined with the state?
What results from the merging together of the Word of God with civil government?
The Dark Ages.
God calls the church to be a guide for the nations and peoples of the world, not to join itself to the world. Our work in the world-and our strength in the Lord-is unique from any nation. The church is of no nation, and yet of all nations. We are involved with politics of the world in far as being expedient for the proclamation of the Gospel and in being a voice for the voiceless. As Michael Brown has pointed out:
“As expressed by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn at his commencement address to Harvard University June 8, 1978, “We have placed too much hope in political and social reforms, only to find out that we were being deprived of our most precious possession: our spiritual life. In the East, it is destroyed by the dealings and machinations of the ruling party. In the West, commercial interests suffocate it.” 37 To be clear, we should have political involvement since politics intersects with culture and culture intersects with morality and the kingdom of God intersects with politics and culture and morality. But we interact as citizens of a heavenly kingdom not owned by a party or a politician, standing for causes and issues more than for people or parties. We are above politics, even while we vote and lobby and work within politics. We breathe a different spirit and carry a different identity, one that is beyond party affiliation. As for our witness to our communities, we are to be far better known as followers of Jesus than as supporters of a candidate. Yet all too often the opposite is true. Everyone knows who we are voting for, but far fewer know whom we worship. The signs in the front of our yard say it all, as do the hats and shirts we wear and the bumper stickers on our cars. We shout our support for Trump (or Obama or Biden) for the world to hear while we virtually whisper our solidarity with Jesus. (We must use wisdom we say.) And worst of all, we become just like the political system at its worst—crude and cruel, boisterous and bigoted, divisive and demeaning, merciless and mocking. What has happened to our heavenly calling? What has become of our union with the Lord? Instead of a beautiful aroma there is a stench. Instead of the Holy Spirit there is carnality. Instead of peace and joy there is turmoil and strife. We resemble bickering children more than priests in God’s temple, carrying ourselves like angry sports fans rather than like His sacred bride. We sound more like nasty political pundits than the people of God or the members of Messiah’s body. How did this happen to us? God’s Word calls us to live like this: “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5: 1–2). How different this is than the spirit of politics. But, to repeat, this does not mean that we disengage from politics, especially when we live in a Democratic Republic like America. (We’ll return to this subject often in the pages that follow.) It’s the way we engage that matters. We never sell our souls. We never compromise our values. We never trade expediency for ethics. In short, we do not lower ourselves into the muddy waters of the political system—and they are muddy; shall we call them a swamp? Instead, we get involved as members of a third, higher party, casting our votes and calling for action in keeping with our moral and ethical values. We transcend politics just as a disciplined, elite athlete transcends the jeering of the crowd. He or she doesn’t run into the stands and scream at a heckler. To do so is both demeaning and dangerous. In fact, if a professional athlete acted that way, they would be fined and disciplined. They are expected to be above such squabbles, bigger than the fans and their petty insults.” (Michael L. Brown, The Political Seduction of the Church: How Millions Of American Christians Have Confused Politics with the Gospel, 33-34 (Kindle Edition): Vide Press)
What to take from all this?
First, let’s not confuse Christianity with nationalism. It is good to be proud of our nation (I am unashamedly American). It is good to speak favorably of political decisions and politicians that promote good. But we remember as Christians that we are first and foremost citizens of Christ’s kingdom, and proclaimers of His Word. Just as God works through America (and other nations), He calls us to be His light-bearers to the world around us.
Second, let’s learn from history-especially from Constantine-the dangers of blending Christianity into any platform of nationalism. The Gospel transcends any state, and the way of Christ leads us to a deeper and higher calling than the citizenships and laws of the nations of the world.
Third, let’s pray harder for our leaders to be saved and to bring forth policies that honor God and benefit the mutual welfare of our fellow man.
Father, help us to learn the balance between being citizens of Your kingdom and citizens of the nations in which we live and minister in our sojourn here. Thank You for Your patience in guiding us, and for Your mercy in the many ways that we fall short. Help our leaders to see their need for Your redemption, and to lead in ways that will honor You and help our fellow humans who are made in Your image. We praise You! Amen.
Leave a Reply