Living as if Heaven Rules

Herod is not in power, God is. And we need to remember that by the way today. Simply put, heaven rules.

We need to live as if it does, because it does. Herod's throne was temporary, God's throne was eternal and behind the scenes ruling. Now we need to think and live and respond to our world with that overriding understanding that the creator of heaven and earth is in total control. History books are filled with stories of people whom the world deems important. Whether they're famous or infamous, historians determine the important players in the history of the world and document their achievements. But in Jesus' earthly ministry, he didn't associate himself with the powerful. That's because Jesus knew that the kings on earth had no more power than that which God allowed them. With that perspective, we see human history and its influential figures in a more godly light.

Stephen called this lesson living as if heaven rules. Let's get started. More than likely, you have never heard of these men who at one time were powerful in their respective worlds, serving at the height of their career, impacting in fact their world and beyond and some 75 or so years ago. But just in case, here's a pop quiz. What do you know about Hugh Johnson, Haile Selassie and Harlow Curtis? Hugh Johnson crafted the New Deal in 1933 under President Roosevelt. In fact, he was credited as the man that enabled Roosevelt to win the presidency so often. He was brilliant at reorganizing American business, putting it back on its feet following the Great Depression, its effects lingering to this day. Haile Selassie was the emperor of Ethiopia who traced his lineage back to King Solomon. He reigned until 1974 and was considered the defining figure in modernizing his nation.

What about Harlow Curtis? He was the president of General Motors when in 1955, for the first time in a single year, they earned $1 billion. Although these three men are from different countries of birth, different generations, they had one thing in common. All three were Time Magazine's Man of the Year.

Their faces adorn the cover as they receive this prestigious honor. The fact that you probably don't know who they are or even how their lives have impacted ours to this day proves that history comes equipped with an eraser. Even recent history, it tends to erase the legacies of people who were once called the movers and shakers of the world. It's actually a good reminder, frankly, that significance on earth isn't really what we're after.

It doesn't matter. In fact, it doesn't last. My mother used to teach us growing up, that little poem you probably learned, only one life will soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last. History all too quickly pulls out an eraser on what we might think is unforgettable. But history also provides insight, doesn't it?

It provides a clearer perspective on what matters. In fact, if you look through the inductees into this particular hall of fame that I'm mentioning, some of them would have been thought to be something unique, dynamic, special. Some of them it was proved otherwise. For instance, Time Magazine's Man of the Year in 1923, exactly 100 years ago, was Benito Mussolini. Brutal, this fascist dictator, personal ally and friend of Adolf Hitler. He styled himself as Napoleon, murdered anyone in his way. I was curious. So I wondered what Time Magazine wrote about him. So I looked it up and it was embarrassing in the light of history. It reads in part, and I quote, Mussolini exhibited remarkable self-control, rare judgment and an efficient application of his ideas. Yeah, he killed you if you got in his way.

That's efficient, for sure. It's interesting that even history caught up with him after decades of his bloody reign. His own countrymen put him in front of a firing squad. If you were living 2,000 years ago, one particular individual would have been considered the defining figure in the Middle East.

He would have won, hands down, Time Magazine's Man of the Year. He was a member of one of the most famous family dynasties in this era. A half dozen kings were all his siblings and relatives. He was appointed king over the region of Galilee by the Roman emperor himself.

He is mentioned more times by name than any other king in the New Testament. His official name was King Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great. More than likely you remember Herod the Great was the king who tried to trick the Magi, and then later ordered the slaughter of little boys in the Bethlehem region.

When he died, one of his sons, Herod Antipas, took the throne ruling in Galilee. He was equally brutal. He was immoral. In fact, he seduced his current wife into leaving her husband, who happened to be his own brother. He was a coward.

He was a killer. In fact, his new wife had become so enraged when John the Baptist publicly denounced their wedding as evil that later on Herod will comply with her desire to have John the Baptist killed. His head literally delivered to her on a platter. Now to put that in context, imagine how bad it would be today if the head of some preacher was delivered to the wife of the president.

Can you imagine these times? It will be in front of this king that Jesus will eventually stand trial. And let me tell you though, from all external evidences that we can see in the Bible leading up to this point, Herod is in control. Herod is the defining power player. Herod is defining legacies. But in hindsight, history shows us the humiliating death of Herod and the power of the gospel. Because Herod is not in control, heaven is. Herod is not in power, God is. And we need to remember that by the way today. Simply put, heaven rules.

We need to live as if it does, because it does. Herod's throne was temporary. God's throne was eternal and behind the scenes ruling. Now we need to think and live and respond to our world with that overriding understanding that heaven rules, that the creator of heaven and earth is in total control. That becomes evident in the passage before us for the first time in the record of Luke's gospel, the ministry of Jesus connects with the rule of Herod. It won't be the last time. This is the first mention and this exchange, just in the news delivered, will produce some fireworks.

Let me show you. Go to the gospel of Luke chapter 13 and let's pick it up where we left off at verse 31. Now if you're new with us today, we've been listening in as Jesus invites his audience to enter the narrow gate into the kingdom, literally into the family of God. He said in our last study, that gate is narrow and the gate is narrow, not so much in size as it is in singularity.

That's the point. Jesus will later say, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

It's that narrow. John 14, 6. He even made the statement, as we learned in our last study, that he himself is the door. He said of himself, I am the door. If anyone enters by me, they will be saved. John 10 verse 9. Now following this preaching session and this invitation, Jesus is interrupted. Verse 31 tells us here, at that very hour, some Pharisees came and said to him, Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.

Let's stop for a moment. This is an alarming message. Herod wants to kill you. We're informed in Matthew's gospel that Herod is tortured by his guilt over having killed John the Baptist. He's terrified that Jesus is John the Baptist resurrected. He's come back to life. And so he evidently plans to do what he does best. He's going to kill him.

He's efficient in applying his ideas. Now if I can break down this passage as we are about to go through it into several principles, whereby we recognize that heaven rules, so how should we live? Here's the first principle that I want to point out.

Number one. Serving the Lord faithfully will not eliminate enemies or critics. Imagine the irony of that verse again. Verse 31.

Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you. What's Jesus been doing? Forgiving people, healing people, curing the incurable, delivering people, correcting false religion, freeing people. If anybody deserved to have a long line of friends, it would be Jesus. But if any ruler on the planet had any sense, you'd think, after all the healing ministry of Jesus alone, that were it alone.

Jesus should have been invited into the highest courts and palaces of the land, yet the only time, the first time he's ever invited is when he's arrested. You ransack the scriptures, beloved, and you're going to find one account after another delivering the same principle with every opportunity for Christ. It is met with opposition. You begin to openly profess Jesus Christ as your savior and watch. Enemies will line up faster than friends. The Bible says all who desire to live a godly life will suffer persecution. 2 Timothy 3.12. Frankly, rather than the church complaining that we don't have enough friends in society, maybe we should be complaining that we don't have enough enemies. Serving God faithfully will not eliminate enemies and critics.

It will multiply them. By the way, the Pharisees, and there's some debate, a lot of ink spilled on this, but why are the Pharisees telling Jesus this? It's not because they care about him. It's not because they want him to escape.

So why? We don't really know for sure. Are they telling Jesus this because they want to drive him out of Perea, Galilee, where he is right now, and drive him back into Jerusalem where he'll come under the authority of the Sanhedrin so they can arrest him? Herod isn't in control of Jerusalem.

Pilate is. But the high priest has Pilate in his back pocket. Maybe they're saying this to drive him back to Jerusalem.

Maybe these Pharisees just want Jesus to leave their town, possibly. Or maybe they're hoping he'll hear this news and make a run for it in fear. That would, of course, discredit his claim to be in control of his destiny. He even made the claim, he said, no one takes my life from me.

I lay it down on my own account. Well, after hearing this news, if he runs for the hills, you're not in control of it after all. We don't know. But we do know that Herod has already killed John the Baptist, and now he wants to kill Jesus. So get this, the faithful ministry, the godly life of Jesus that has been so incredibly helpful, he has just gained one more very powerful enemy.

I don't know, maybe you have too recently gained an enemy. And all you're trying to do is the right thing. Here's the second principle of how we should live in light of the fact that heaven rules.

Number two, opposition should not reroute our mission nor rewrite our message. Go back to verse 31 again. At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you. And he said to them, go and tell that fox, behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. Go tell that fox.

I kind of like that, don't you? Although when I was a teenager, guys called a pretty girl a fox. Not me, of course, I was somewhere reading my Bible. But at any rate, that's what they said.

Well, that's not going on here, by the way. He's referring, as he would in this generation, with what one author called a little holy sarcasm. In the Lord's day, a fox was someone who was crafty, someone who was considered actually an insignificant person, but who was making themselves a nuisance.

That was a fox. So it's as if the Lord is saying, go tell him, you might be King Herod, but you're no comparison to the king of heaven. You might think you're something.

But history as an eraser, it'll erase you, who you think you are, and history will reveal who you really are. This is a loaded phrase. He's also saying, go tell that fox, I am not slowing down.

I'm not going to change course. Reminded me of Hugh Latimer. Perhaps if you've been to Oxford, you've seen the place where he was burned at the stake in 1555 by Bloody Mary. But before that, he was the chaplain preaching for the king and his court. He was preaching on one occasion in Westminster Abbey when King Edward VI slipped in and into the audience. And in the pulpit, as Latimer continued preaching, he said out loud, Latimer, Latimer, be careful. The king of England is here. And then he continued, Latimer, Latimer, be careful.

The king of kings is here. You go back and tell Herod, I know you're a cunning man, you're crafty, but did you notice here that Jesus says he's going to keep casting out demons and curing people? In other words, his message of forgiveness and deliverance isn't going to change. He's going to stay on track to notice, until the third day when I finish my course. This is an allusion to his glorious resurrection.

It's just a hint of it. And I'll remember it later, as Luke does and writes it down, probably with the help of Matthew. He's saying here that I'm going to stay on course and even the powers of hell aren't going to stop me. See, Jesus is demonstrating what happens when you live as if you actually believe that heaven rules, that God is sovereign.

And he's effectively saying what the psalmist says, my times, oh God, are in your hands. Sometimes it seems like life unfolds by accident, by someone else's decision, someone else's power over you, by chance, by luck, by fate or coincidence. Now, life unfolds by God's design, under God's supervision. Even sin and evil cannot derail God's ultimate purpose and plan throughout history. There are times when we do not know what God's up to.

And then there are times after just a little more time when we see it. I thought that person was in control, but he really wasn't. I thought that series of circumstances was shaping my life, but they really weren't. It reminds me of Joseph who said as an older, wiser man to his brothers when they showed up in Egypt, you meant it for evil. And let me tell you, it really was evil.

I'm paraphrasing here. It really did mess up my life. It really did bring buckets of tears, loneliness and confusion.

I couldn't believe Potiphar believed his wife. I couldn't believe they left me to rot in prison. I was forgotten.

I thought my life was over. But now, looking back over time, brothers, can you see it? You meant it for evil and it was evil. But God was superintending. God was supervising. God was overruling your evil to bring about his good. And so with that, what can Joseph do?

The unbelievable. He can forgive his brothers with that perspective. That's the third principle I want to draw from this passage.

Number three, antagonism and hatred should not eliminate a spirit of compassion. Go to verse 33 and notice what the Lord says here. He says, Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.

A little irony and sarcasm there. If a prophet is going to die, it's going to happen in Jerusalem. And he says, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stuns those who are sent to it. How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings and you are not willing.

Underscore that last phrase, you were not willing. Listen, at the heart of unbelief is an unwilling heart. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you need to understand this is a sob. This is anguish. This is not anger. This is not an expression of anger. One author wrote, his compassionate heart here is being shown to us as broken.

But I want you to get that. Even though he's just expressed trust and faith in the power of God as Father. Even though he's told Herod, you crafty little fox, you're not going to stop me for a moment. Even though he already knows Jerusalem will reject him. Even though he already knows he's going to be crucified by the nation. He starts weeping. He starts weeping.

Why? Because he is both God who knows the future and he is man who feels the present. Just like you would feel it here. William Barclay writes, nothing hurts so much as to offer love and have that offer rejected. It is life's bitterest tragedy to give your heart to someone only to have it broken. That's what's happening here in the heart of Jesus as he faces Jerusalem. He invites mankind, but mankind rejects him.

And he does what you and I would do. He weeps. There are no more tragic words in history than these.

I would have gathered you under my wings, but you, you would not. Because of their defiance, Jesus predicts their devastation. Verse 35, behold your house is forsaken. Jerusalem will be destroyed. The house of Jacob, that is the house of Israel left desolate. The house of God, the temple, that will be desolate. Both the nation and the temple will be destroyed.

The people will be scattered as it were. Today and to this day, by the way, the prediction continues as Israel fights for every square inch of land it does not yet fully occupy. But it will one day when the king returns. But in the meantime, there is no king in Israel. There is no temple in Israel. There is no high priest in Israel.

There is no sacrifice in Israel. That devastation is predicted here by the Lord. But then again, the Lord gives this wonderful prediction of a future day.

Notice verse 35 again. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. This is a reference to the return of Christ following the regathering of Israel that will take place during the tribulation period. And then Jesus returns with us, the hosts of heaven. Israel is waiting and the prophets say, they will look on him whom they pierced. Jesus says, that's going to happen here. You're going to call on me and call me Lord. A day will come, God will keep his promise, and Israel will literally inhabit the land as Christ comes to reign in that millennial kingdom and the Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 11 verses 25 and 26 on that day, all Israel will be saved. But in the meantime, most of this generation here is going to reject the Lord. And Jesus will say in John chapter 5 and verse 40, you refuse to come unto me that you might have life.

That's for Jew and Gentile. That's for us today. You refuse to come to me that you might have life. Would Jesus be weeping over you? Are you standing against him? Or are you standing with him? Or better yet, are you standing for him? Frankly, I think the only way a believer can with confidence and balance and joy and hope is to remember that heaven rules. Our times are in his hands. He's in control.

Power of nations or political leaders will never derail the purposes of God. His plans are to this day on track, on course, on time for your life as well. No matter what the external evidences seem to say, be reminded today, heaven rules. That was Stephen Davey and a message he called Living as if Heaven Rules. He's continuing his series through a portion of Luke called Ministering to the Multitudes.

We'll keep going next time. I want to invite you to sign up for Stephen's text messages. He sends a couple texts each month, usually with an offer or an update, and it's easy for you to sign up. All you have to do is send a text with the word WISDOM to 833-676-4051. Again, just text one word WISDOM to 833-676-4051. You'll get a reply right away with more instructions. Thanks for listening today. Please plan to join us next time to discover more wisdom for the heart. .