The Government Will Be on His Shoulders

For us, a child is born,
    a son is given to us,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Yes, the best hope in Jesus is that the government will be on his shoulders.

However, do we believe that “the government will be on his shoulders”?

Why do many Christians feel, think, and act like the government is not on Christ’s shoulders?

Some bolster this point of view through the apocalyptic scriptures. I see some friends post on FB declaring that it’s happening! It’s happening! The government is taking over!

Wait a minute, haven’t we believed what Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 9:6? 🙂

But it is in the future – “will be on his shoulders”, some may argue.

So? Because you think and perceive that the government isn’t on Christ’s shoulder, you will “take the law on your hands” or take Christ’s role in your hand?

What does that make you, then?

How about, in all humility, ask, seek, and find out what the Lord God is doing towards holding the government on his shoulders?

Let us be reminded of Moses’s encounter with God in Exodus 33, specifically, verses 14-22.

¹⁴ The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

¹⁵ Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. ¹⁶ How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

¹⁷ And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”

¹⁸ Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”

¹⁹ And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. ²⁰ But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

²¹ Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. ²² When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”

Moses’ encounter with God reminds us of having that firm faith to move when God moves with them. “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here,” Moses begins his prayer.

In doing God’s mission, we should be able to ask the questions that Moses asked.

• How will anyone know that you are pleased with your people and me unless you go with us?
  
• What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on earth?

Did Moses see God or His glory? The Lord said to Moses in Exodus 33:22-23:

“There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I pass by. Then I will remove my hand, and you will see my back, but my face must not be seen.”

The Lord God allowed Moses to see his back, but this is more than enough assurance of God’s presence.

Will faith and obedience in the Word and Presence of God distinguish us from all the other people on the earth?

What else distinguishes us from all the other people on earth?

Don’t we believe that the Almighty God never stops working?

We might have sung about it in our worship service.

That “Way Maker” song, specifically the part where it keeps repeating…

Even when I don’t see it, You’re working
Even when I can’t feel it, You’re working
You never stop, You never stop working
You never stop, You never stop working

Waymaker

To those who have sung “Way Maker”, what happened with all those litany and expressions during our praise and worship singing, chanting God as being the way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness?

Isn’t it hypocritical to be chanting all those, but we aren’t trusting God as our way maker?

Some of us are playing the “way maker” role. And that doesn’t distinguish us from the unbelievers.

Let us confidently believe that the government is on Jesus’ shoulders and, in all humility, ask, seek, and find out what God is doing in our government and our country.