Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible

Narrator (Male): The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals presents the timeless teaching of Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse.

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse: Men grasp power, hold it for a moment, then go down into the dust. Their successors grasp once again at power, hold it for a moment, and likewise go into the dust. Behind all the rulers who do not acknowledge the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ are the sinister forces of Satan. Paul reminded the believers at Ephesus that we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

But just as the power of Satan was taken from him judicially at the cross of Christ and consequently will be taken from him actually at the second coming of Christ, so the powers of men will be broken and removed from them. When the seventh trumpet sounds, the loud voices from heaven cry: The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.

Announcer (Male): Over a half a century ago, the late Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse, then pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, saw the need to spread God's word beyond the hearing of his local congregation. He started the radio ministry which has become known as Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible. The application of God's word as taught by Dr. Barnhouse is as relevant today as when he first taught over the radio airwaves decades ago.

The message we'll be featuring on today's edition of Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible is entitled The Kingdoms of This World. When Adolf Hitler and the Nazis came into power, he declared that the Third Reich would last for a thousand years. As it turns out, he was off by about 985 years. Earthly kingdoms and regimes may boast great power and influence for a time, but all of them are fleeting and temporary. But the kingdom of God will last forever and its power and glory will know no end. The scripture text for this edition of Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible: Romans chapter 14 and verse 17. Here again is Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse with a message entitled The Kingdoms of This World.

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse: Through the Lord Jesus Christ, we come unto thee, our Father and our God, and in the Holy Spirit. We have an eager desire to know thy word and to be submitted to it. We ask thee for the special filling of the Holy Spirit that is necessary for teaching the word and that is also necessary for hearing it. Bless each listening heart in this hour and use the word to thy glory. We ask it in the name and for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen.

We continue with our study of Romans 14:17, the kingdom of God. In our previous study, we noted that there were different aspects of the kingdom of God. There is the universal kingdom which includes the rule of God over the entire creation. Perhaps the most important of all Christian doctrines is that of the sovereignty of God. The idea inherent in the word kingdom, Malkuth, is not that of territorial surface but of sovereignty. Who is God? Jehovah. Who is Lord? Jehovah, who holds all power in the universe? Jehovah. Who created all things? Jehovah. Who controls all things? Jehovah. Who has all dominion in the universe? Jehovah.

This means that God is in absolute control of everything, and that nothing has ever happened or could ever happen outside his will and beyond his power. At this point, some may ask if we are teaching that God is the author of sin. The answer is a flat no. Sin originated in Lucifer. God created all things in absolute perfection, but he gave freedom of choice to his first creatures whom we call angels. We're willing to accept the difficult aspects of the problem. God has all knowledge. God has always had all knowledge.

God knew when he created Lucifer that he would rebel and become the devil. God could have created him differently if he had wished. God was not astonished when Lucifer became the devil. But none of this makes God responsible for sin. Sin originated when this highest of all creatures determined to follow his own will and acted contrary to the will of God the Creator. I believe that this is revealed by God in the prophecy of Ezekiel, in one of the key verses of the scriptures where he says to Lucifer: You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you.

Now because of this outbreak, God perfectly judged the creation and set in motion the laws of disintegration and decline that produce erosion, rot, fermentation, decay, and death. The exploding, expanding universe is one of many witnesses to the curse that is upon the visible portion of God's kingdom. The killing virus that is too small to be seen in a microscope is another such witness. We conclude that in his universal kingdom, God reigns with absolute sovereignty, absolute authority, absolute control. Nothing gets out of his hand. Nothing could come to pass or exist without the permission of the Lord Jehovah.

Recognizing this situation, we understand the prophecy of Amos: Does evil befall a city unless the Lord has done it? Under these conditions, we understand that famous prophecy of Isaiah which has been so often twisted. The older version renders it: I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create evil, I the Lord do all these things. The Revised Standard Version diminishes the force of it, translating it: I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe, I am the Lord who do all these things.

The whole context of the Bible makes it impossible to invest this verse with any immoral connotations. The Lord God Almighty is holy and righteous altogether. He is light and in him dwells no darkness at all. I would not like to leave this verse, however, without suggesting that there is another explanation. Sin began in Satan. Later on, sin began in the heart of Adam in a de novo outbreak. But though the responsibility is entirely on these two beings, Satan and Adam, they did not know where sin would lead.

They did not know that God had made all the rules under which sin could be practiced. When Adam disobeyed God, he was like a man who knew nothing of the law of gravity and had stepped from a high cliff. He plunged into that which he had not imagined, but which existed nevertheless, according to divine laws. It can be seen therefore, that although the universal kingdom of God once existed without any second will, in its present status and condition, there are opposition and rebellion.

The Bible contains the record of that change and a prophecy of the method and manner of return to the former status. This is what we ask for when we pray: Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Having established these conclusions, we now proceed to look at some phases of life in our universe that are described in the Bible in terms of kingdom truth. First we look at the claim of Satan to be the possessor of the kingdoms of this world.

In the course of the temptations of Jesus, Satan was soundly defeated in his first attempt to get Jesus Christ to rely on his deity rather than on his humanity. Because you are the son of God, Satan said, command these stones to become bread. Since he was confronting God in human form, it would be less demeaning to be overcome by the supreme deity than by a man who was lower than the angels. Christ answered with words that set the level of the encounter: It is written, man.

In other words, Christ was overcoming him in the power of humanity yielded to God rather than directly in the power of his supreme deity. The second temptation was to get Jesus to rely on a single verse in scripture to the exclusion of all other revealed truth. It was a bold bid to turn human faith into fanaticism. Christ answered simply: You shall not tempt the Lord your God. Although completely defeated, Satan tried once more, and the third temptation is perhaps the most loathsome in the history of the universe.

Cringing, crawling, craven creature, Satan full of wisdom and perfect in beauty, threw all his cards on the table. Anxious for his worth to be acknowledged, Satan showed Christ the kingdoms of the world and said to him: All this power will I give thee and the glory of them, for that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I give it. Here for once, the father of lies told the truth. He knew that Jesus Christ was the Lord Jehovah. Satan knew that when he himself was created, God had invested him with the kingdoms of this earth and their power and their glory.

God states this in Ezekiel: I have set thee so. The Hebrew is not uncertain as the Revised Standard footnote alleges. Satan offers to abandon everything if just for once he could see God on his knees admitting how wise and beautiful Satan was. The important truth here is that Satan claims power and the kingdoms of this world. In effect he is saying: Mine is the kingdom and the power and the glory. A few days later in the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus taught his disciples to worship in prayer, saying: For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

The Revised Standard Version leaves this sentence out of its translation, saying in a footnote: other authorities, some ancient, add in some form: for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen. Why didn't they follow the ancient authorities? Can it not be seen that this particular sentence is that which Satan most hates in the Sermon on the Mount? Can they not see the announcement of his destitution? The epistle to the Colossians reveals what happened to the kingdom, the power and the glory of Satan when the Lord Jesus Christ died upon the cross.

We read: He, God, disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it, that is in the cross. It should be noted, however, that in the orderly procedure of the plan of God, the sentence of destitution has been passed, but it has not yet been executed. Satan still has his foothold in the lower heavens to which he ascended in his first assault on the throne of God, as Isaiah tells us. Satan also has a localized throne upon this earth.

From this brief sketch of the kingdom and power of Satan, we proceed with but passing mention to the establishment of human kingdoms. Nimrod, the first despot, received his power from Satan. Nevertheless we must not forget that there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. How wonderful that everything the enemy does is within the framework of the plan of God. No matter what his devices, no matter what his plans, he ultimately must lick dust with his food and acknowledge that there is no power but of God.

In our former study, we saw that God enforced his plans until Nebuchadnezzar recognized that the most high rules the kingdom of men and sets over it whom he will. Men grasp power, hold it for a moment, then go down into the dust. Their successors grasp once again at power, hold it for a moment, and likewise go into the dust. Behind all the rulers who do not acknowledge the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ are the sinister forces of Satan.

Paul reminded the believers at Ephesus that we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. But just as the power of Satan was taken from him judicially at the cross of Christ and consequently will be taken from him actually at the second coming of Christ, so the powers of men will be broken and removed from them.

When the seventh trumpet sounds, the loud voices from heaven cry: The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. And the enthroned elders fall on their faces and worship God, saying: We give thanks to thee, Lord God Almighty, who art and who wast, that thou hast taken thy great power and begun to reign. Now having considered the universal kingdom of God and its realms which are now in rebellion against him, that of Satan and that of wicked men, we now turn to the aspect of God's kingdom on earth whereby he intends to bring all rule and authority under himself.

We know that God could have ended all rebellion against himself by the simple pronouncing of his word. But he did not. God chose to establish a kingdom on this earth under the sovereignty of men appointed by himself to fulfill his purposes. In our previous study, we outlined the formation of the Davidic kingdom and noted the strong promises whereby God covenanted with Israel that this kingdom should never end. These promises are still valid. In the light of this we can understand why Satan and his followers have always hated the Jews.

Anti-Semitism is the most logical fact of biblical history. Satan hates the Jews because God has promised to restore them and to rule the world through them. Peace will come to this earth, not through a League of Nations nor through the United Nations, but through the fulfillment of the dreams of Zionism. Not the Zionism of which men dream apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, but the Zionism of the Bible which sees Christ acknowledged and worshipped and his kingdom established through a redeemed and restored Israel.

Apart from this, there is no hope for peace on earth. We can understand all of the efforts of Satan to destroy the children of Israel. Egypt was the first place where Satan worked with man to destroy Israel. In giving instructions for the Passover, Jehovah said: I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and I will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment, I am the Lord. How many times did Satan stir up the rulers of the Philistines to attempt the destruction of Israel?

The stories of the book of Judges give us some of the details. The powers of Babylon, of the Medes and the Persians were flung at the little land and the little people by men who did not realize that they were actually flinging their power at the great God of the universe. The Greeks followed the Persians, and Antiochus attempted to destroy the nation of Israel. Then came the Romans, who laid heavy hands on the land and the people.

How many attempts there were to destroy Jesus Christ personally, from Herod's slaughter of the innocents when Jesus was less than two years old, to the rage of the leaders who sought to push him over a cliff and to stone him, and the fury of Satan who attempted to destroy him in a great storm at sea. Even after Christ died and rose again, Satan poured out his great wrath upon the people. In 70 AD, the armies of Titus destroyed Jerusalem and killed hundreds of thousands of the Jews.

The same wrath has pursued them through the centuries. The Inquisition, the pogroms of Russia and Poland, the prison houses of Dachau and Belsen under Hitler, and most terrible of all, the spiritual anti-Semitism which rages subtly today. And so it will be down to the last persecution of the Lord's people which is described in the 12th chapter of Revelation, where Israel, the woman clothed with the sun and with the moon under her feet, is persecuted by the Antichrist.

In spite of all this, God will bring to pass all that he has promised concerning the kingdom which he has given to Israel. The fact that his people are scattered among the nations today will not prevent their regathering. The scattering was prophesied in the book of Deuteronomy. Several chapters are devoted to the theme, but the heart of it may be summed up in these verses: And as the Lord took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the Lord will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you, and you shall be plucked off the land which you are entering to take possession of it.

And the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. And among these nations you shall find no ease, and there shall be no rest for the sole of your foot, but the Lord will give you there a trembling heart and failing eyes and a languishing soul. Your life shall hang in doubt before you, night and day you shall be in dread and have no assurance of your life.

In the morning you shall say: Would it were evening, and at evening you shall say: Would it were morning, because of the dread which your heart shall fear and the sights which your eyes shall see. And the Lord will bring you back in ships to Egypt, a journey which I promised that you should never make again, and there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no man will buy you.

The prophecy of the scattering was written by Moses hundreds and hundreds of years before it happened, and its fulfillment has taken place to the letter. Shall the prophecies of the regathering of Israel, coming from the same God and at the same time, be less sure? We shall, the Lord willing, see more of this kingdom in our next study. And our God and Father, we pray thee that the Holy Spirit shall take these words to each heart and give us a greater love for thy word as we understand how thou hast made the words of prophecy so sure. We ask it in the name and for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen.

Announcer (Male): The power and influence of this world's kingdoms are only temporary, but the glory and majesty of God's eternal kingdom will shine brightly throughout the ages to come. We hope you have benefitted from today's message, The Kingdoms of This World. To listen to additional studies by Dr. Barnhouse, visit us online at alliancenet.org. An audio copy of today's message is available by calling us toll-free at 1-800-488-1888. Today's message again is entitled The Kingdoms of This World, or simply request message number R14-30.

We would also like to make available to you a free CD copy of Dr. Francis Schaeffer's message entitled, What Difference Does Inerrancy Make? At the heart of Dr. Barnhouse's ministry was the bedrock conviction that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God. But many people believe that the Bible is just a man-made book of fantastic tales, or that it merely contains the word of God mixed in with errors and human ideas.

That's why we're making available to you a free CD copy of the message, What Difference Does Inerrancy Make? by Dr. Francis Schaeffer. This powerful message reinforces the vital doctrine of biblical inerrancy and its critical importance to every area of your life. Ask for your free CD copy of What Difference Does Inerrancy Make? when you call or write.

Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible is a radio ministry of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We exist to promote a biblical understanding and worldview. Drawing upon the insight and wisdom of Reformation theologians from decades and even centuries gone by, we seek to provide contemporary Christian teaching which will equip believers to understand and meet the challenges and opportunities of our time and place.

We also produce the radio broadcasts The Bible Study Hour, featuring the teachings of the late Dr. James Montgomery Boice, and Every Last Word, featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Philip Graham Ryken. For a complete list of radio stations carrying our programs, visit our website at alliancenet.org.

Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible comes to you through the generous gifts of listeners like you. If you have benefitted from the broadcast and would like it to continue, please prayerfully consider a donation to help us keep this ministry on the air. For more information or to make a contribution to further our work, contact us by calling toll-free 1-800-488-1888. Again, that's 1-800-488-1888.

Write to us at Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, Box 2000, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. Visit us online at alliancenet.org. Remember to request your free resource catalog featuring books, audio teachings, commentaries, booklets, videos, and a wealth of other materials from outstanding reformed teachers and theologians, including Doctors Donald Grey Barnhouse, James Montgomery Boice, Martin Lloyd-Jones, and Philip Graham Ryken. Thank you for listening. Join us again next time for more classic teaching on Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible.