Full Quiver Ministries

What situation that plagues the earth offends you? Is it homelessness? Child trafficking? Sexual abuse? What does your heart say when you think about these issues? Do you feel helpless? Does anger rise inside of you? Not looking for a judgment call here, just to take an inventory of your emotions when you think about the state of the world. What if you could do something about it?

Maybe you’re not supposed to create a 501c3 right now, but what if you could affect the world around you just by accepting and living in your identity as a child of God? I was reading Isaiah 32 the other day and was really moved by what can happen in such an instance. Let’s look at it together. 

See, a king will reign in righteousness and rulers will rule with justice.

Each one will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land. 

Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen.

The fearful heart will know and understand, and the stammering tongue will be fluent and clear. 

No longer will the fool be called noble nor the scoundrel be highly respected. 

For fools speak folly, their hearts are bent on evil: They practice ungodliness and spread error concerning the Lord; the hungry they leave empty and from the thirsty they withhold water.

Scoundrels use wicked methods, they make up evil schemes to destroy the poor with lies, even when the plea of the needy is just.

But the noble make noble plans and by noble deeds they stand.

Isaiah 32:1-8 (NIV)

I feel like I just want to break down this series of verses and walk through what will bring change in the world. Not a thorough exposition, although that would probably be fun, but like a thirty thousand foot view. Verse 1 says, “… a king will reign in righteousness…” Do you believe that condition exists? I feel like the argument against this truth is worldly focused, but I don’t think that this mindset changes the world. There is a King who reigns in righteousness and Jesus is His name (Heb 7:2)! He will reign forevermore (Rev. 11:15)! That should be the framework that all my thoughts and ambitions and desires rests on. The King of Glory who reigns in righteousness sits on the throne. Stopping there would be amazing, but I want to look at the next part of the verse also. It says, “…and rulers will rule with justice.” That’s what the NIV says, but a lot of other translations have the word ‘ruler’ translated as ‘princes’. In other words, the children of the King who reigns in righteousness will rule with justice.

I feel like the subject of the children of God being royalty and reigning ruffles a lot of feathers. It doesn’t feel humble, it’s just true. It’s not humility to discount the position Christ died so that we could be adopted into. I feel like I could rattle off a lot of scriptures about adoption and sonship and being co-heirs here, but you’ve either heard them, know them, or it would be good for you to go and look for them! See what the Lord is saying about you in his book? You are adopted by the blood of the Lamb! You are a prince or princess! What would it look like to rule in justice? What would it look like to employ servant leadership in a way that reshapes the world?

It’s my opinion that the rest of this passage is the result of the just rule of the children of God. Princes are submitted to their Father. They do not rule without power and authority, but they know that their power and authority are directly linked to their Father. They know that everything they possess are gifts from their Father. They are also in line with the Father’s heart and thought process. That’s crucial when we talk about the next part of this verse. 

The word for ‘justice’ in the original Hebrew is mispat (mish-pawt). Both this word and its root speak about the giving of a verdict. This part to me gets tricky, but I don’t feel like it’s a verdict handed down on the world, I think it’s the church. Read 5-8 again. These verses center around the foolish being seen for what they are and their misrepresentations of God being exposed. Discernment is something else I want to link to this idea also. The definition for the word is “the ability to judge well”. It feels like what the Lord is saying is that when His children judge well, render the right verdict on destructive thought patterns and beliefs, the world will begin to recognize what is fake and stop exalting it. What I’m not saying is that we should condemn people groups and sinners. Yes, condemn the sin, but live in such a way, hold a standard high, that exemplifies what wisdom, truth, and nobility really is. It is the display of what is real and authentic that will tarnish the shine of the impostor’s treasures.

I want to point out that I believe that people in the church who have misrepresented God might have done so with ‘good intentions’ but have been acting from a place of hurt and pain. Because they are convinced that God has allowed or caused their pain they choose to believe what their experience says about God without applying the truth of scripture. I’ve heard this called the doctrine of demons before and I feel like that’s accurate. It’s a way of forming beliefs that discredits His nature revealed in scripture in favor of an experience that was influenced and probably initiated by a fallen world.

We as princes ruling with justice are to pronounce judgment on this way of living and thinking. It’s a religious spirit that has a form of godliness. It’s also a false humility to look at our position as princes with anything other than acceptance with the understanding that there’s nothing I did to earn it. The title, position, power, and authority are all gifts from a loving Father that has adopted us into his family through the Blood of His only Son. Be the prince you were reborn to be. Rule in justice through Jesus’ power and authority and watch the hungry, thirsty, blind, and deaf be restored. Rule with Jesus and watch the world change.