During our COVID-19 shutdown, Pastor Zekveld plans to provide a personal reflection each weekday.
Kingdoms Totter
Psalm 46 is immensely comforting for Christ’s Church on earth, not only for its opening words, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble,” but also for its middle words:
God is in the midst of [His Church]; she shall not be moved…The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Psalm 46:4-7
What a contrast in this Psalm between the tottering kingdoms of this world, surrounded on either side by the church’s stability and security. The kingdoms of this world shudder, shake and fall, but the kingdom of Christ shall not be moved!
This is amazing, especially when you consider how weak and weaponless the church is from a human standpoint. Just a bunch of people who believe in Jesus, gather for worship, pray to God, read their Bibles, love God’s commandments, and tell others the Good News of salvation. Where’s the power in that?
Yet, mighty Superpowers shake. Kingdoms totter. Dictators dodder. They have all through history. They do now. Nations feel their frailty and are afraid.
We shouldn’t be surprised, because the nations are but men, but it still shocks us to see how quickly the world with all its power, wealth and technology can go into upheaval.
Nations the world over are in shutdown mode due to the coronavirus. They’re reeling from the tidal waves coming in from the resulting economic earthquake. The rising economies of Superpowers suddenly went crash.
And the nations are also embroiled in an oil war. Aggravated by the worldwide shutdown, crude oil fell to a historic $-37 USD per barrel this week. We have yet to see the impact this will have on relations between oil-producing nations, especially Russia, the USA, and the Middle-East.
Then there’s the W.H.O. Corruption was exposed at the highest levels of the World Health Organization in its lies and cover-up for China’s criminal mishandling of the novel coronavirus. At the same time, the Chinese Communist Party is aggressively exploiting the current crisis by tightening its grip on Hong Kong and exercising control over African nations. And what will result from the escalating tensions between America and China?
Meanwhile, the powerful dictator of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, lies in critical condition in a hospital bed following emergency open-heart surgery on April 12. Uganda’s economy is being crippled by a second wave of locust invasion. Zimbabwe is being ravaged by a second year of famine and devastating poverty. Tanzania is overwhelmed by floods. The list goes on.
Kingdoms totter. Superpowers tremble. Nations shake. It’s a global shake-up. We live in a world that’s crumbling.
I’m not saying that this is the end of the world. God alone knows when that Day will come. But we do know that the kingdoms of this earth are inherently unstable. They rise and they fall. According to the Bible, they have the number of man – 666 – the number of incompleteness and weakness. They carry within themselves the seeds of their own destruction. (see Revelation 13:18)
And one day, when the Lord returns, the kingdoms of this world will perish forever. They will experience the ultimate, eternal shutdown.
But there is one kingdom in this world that can not totter or shake. It’s the kingdom and church of our Lord and of His Christ. She shall not be moved. (Psalm 46:5)
Not because of her own strength. As Christians, we are weak and vulnerable, easily tempted and distracted. Our strength is God. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved…The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. (Psalm 46:5,7) His strength is invincible. His help is faithful and ever-present. His love is steadfast.
Jesus died to rescue this kingdom for God out of this world. His powerful life and death, and resurrection, as the Son of God, guarantees the eternal security of this kingdom.
With Him in our midst, we cannot fail and we cannot fall, even though we will face tribulation, sickness, hardship, heresies, persecutions until Jesus returns to judge the world and to take His Church with Him into the new heavens and the new earth.
Whatever earthly kingdom you belong to, be thankful for its blessings, opportunities and freedoms; serve your country well. But don’t trust in it or worship it. It will perish.
Put your hope in Jesus Christ and He will make you part of His global kingdom which will never perish, which will last forever, and where you will find eternal life with Him.
As citizens of Christ’s kingdom, what peace and stability we have to offer to people now, in a time of global shake-up and in a world that is inherently unstable.