Collate; pull together your memory of Scripture.
There were Three Rebellions: (1) The Fall in the Garden forced us into mortal bodies and made us focus on a worldly existence; (2) the Watchers crossed the boundary into this world and gave birth to the Nephilim, getting directly involved in mortal existence while remaining themselves immortal; and (3) after the Tower of Babel division of humanity, the Elohim Council corrupted their authority by seducing the human nations into worshiping their elohim guides instead of God. Thus, the Creator built His own nation from Abraham.
All three of these were broken at the Cross. We no longer need to focus on our worldly existence; we died with Him on the Cross. The power of the Watchers and Nephilim have been subjected to Christ our Lord. And God no longer has any use for a political nation on this earth to represent Him. The Kingdom of Christ is a spiritual empire with representatives in the whole realm of Satan. We may be placed under human authority for the time being, but we belong to none of them.
God tore the Temple Veil in two; the entire ritual law and the identity of Israel as a human nation evaporated. Now, everyone who was previously under that ritual identity must come to Christ on the same terms as every Gentile. We all must renounce our fleshly identity and allegiances in favor of feudal submission to Christ as Lord. While our primary duty is striving to live by His Covenant Law in our hearts, we know that our human success is His problem; it’s really not in our hands.
The priorities that guide us, and the actions we take before the eyes of humanity, will appear to them as any number of things. Those who see only with human understanding will have no grasp of what we do. But the Elect will see with spiritual eyes and feel the divine call to higher things.
If you live by fleshly concerns, you will not be able to grasp divine priorities. If you do not nail your fleshly nature to the Cross, it will dominate you, holding open the door for Satan and his allies to come and go in your soul. Genuine spiritual warfare is you fighting your own fleshly nature with three advantages: Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross that makes us acceptable in His Presence, the message of His teachings, and our willingness to suffer in the flesh.
The New Testament teaches us to parse Scripture by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We are warned that such parsing and the resulting application will not always be the same for every earnest follower of Christ. Paul used the example of dietary habits as something best left to the convictions of the individual believer. He said the same about ritual holidays. The final issue is the command of Christ to sacrificially love your spiritual family despite their peculiarities. Our greatest accomplishment is our ability to love each other despite all the fleshly reasons to hate or simply not care at all.
Some of what the Apostles taught was contextual to their times, their situation. Other teachings were more universal. We aren’t expected to agree on where we land on a lot of things. This is not an intellectual exercise; human logic is not competent to assess these questions. They are evaluated in the heart of conviction. You should be looking for a path that allows you to cling to each other, not an excuse to exclude each other.
Jesus said don’t get wrapped up in human governments, the space and time boundaries humans draw in their fleshly pursuits. Paul said that we should try to get along with whatever human government dominates where God sends us, but that in the final analysis, we owe the Lord faithfulness to His Law that we love God as our feudal Master, and that we thus love His family. Our sacrificial love for our fellow believers is all He really requires of us. As far as He is concerned, that fulfills all our obligations to human law.
We are all shepherds of His flock. Fanatical devotion to His family is our only cause. What do your convictions demand on their behalf?
We do not live under the classical Roman Empire. We live under a world where the entire range of human political concerns are in a state of flux. The major governments of this world are fragile, ready to explode or implode at the drop of a hat. It won’t take much to dissolve any of them. It’s very hard to keep track of their policies. It seems laws are formed and then removed by the same whipping tornado of aggregate human passions.
Follow your convictions. That might mean keeping your head down and hoping the storm doesn’t touch you. Some may need to flee an impossible situation, such as Jesus pointed out in Matthew 24:15ff. Some of you will be called to resist in concrete ways, simply because that’s the only way to shepherd those under your covering. I can’t give you a single, unified plan. Live by your convictions.
If the Lord granted you the vision for it, keep track of what you see going on around you in this time of tribulation. If possible, anticipate the very real needs of your flock. Crunch time is here; economic challenges have already been set loose by war over Iran. It may take a while, but the damage has been done and it will echo into our lives all too soon.
One command He gave us: Tend His sheep.
