Last week we started down this pathway of discovering the generational architecture of our Nation, One Nation Under God. Most people are completely surprised things like the 106 of the first 108 Universities founded in America were distinctly Christian.
HARVARD'S original stated purpose for its students was "to be plainly instructed and consider well that the main end of your life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ...."
PRINCETON’s founding statement was "Cursed is all learning that is contrary to the cross of Christ."
It is a tremendous blessing to have the ability to call on the Christian foundations of our forefathers. It is also a tremendous responsibility to release this Christian foundation to generations of people coming after us. Just like brokenness can pass through generations so can blessing.
Psalms 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord... ESV
Our forefathers believed that our government could only flourish if citizens of this constitutional republic were self-governing and this is why the principles of Christianity are so central to everything they constructed.
Fisher Ames argued that the Bible should be central to education because he believed it was the most effective instrument ever produced for forming the kind of character that free government requires.
John Adams said, "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net."
The American constitutional system was built for a virtuous, self-governing society. The quote is often cited to highlight the Founding Fathers' belief that external laws and government structures alone are insufficient to maintain a free society.
The Pulpit Was Central to all that was being built by our forefathers as the primary institution of public moral formation. Pastors were the most educated men in most communities. Sermons were civic as well as spiritual events. The "Black Robe Regiment" was a group of pastors who preached the moral and theological case for independence. These pastors were considered by the British to be among the most dangerous revolutionaries.
King George reportedly called them his greatest enemies. Not the generals. The preachers.
Because the founders understood what King George understood: whoever forms the conscience of the people holds the real power in a republic. Armies can hold territory. Only moral formation can hold a civilization.
Ultimately this all points to the governing of humanity by the Holy Spirit at work within us: The Government of God!
Isaiah 33:20-22 Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts! Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an untroubled habitation, an immovable tent, whose stakes will never be plucked up, nor will any of its cords be broken. 21 But there the Lord in majesty will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams, where no galley with oars can go, nor majestic ship can pass. 22 For the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver; the Lord is our king; he will save us. ESV
This does not say God “endorses” the concept of legislators, judges, and kings (i.e., government). It says He IS these things. The Holy Spirit is at work within you activating the government of God. God’s Kingdom is within you (Luke 17:21).
Today is Pentecost Sunday. We are celebrating the birth of the church that took place fifty days after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ! As Easter approached, we gave handouts and posted details on our blog making an effort to empower you to celebrate Passover in your homes.
Jesus gathered His disciples for Passover, The Last Supper, and said "this is my body, this is my blood". This was a celebration that had been rehearsed every year for about 1,400 years since the original Passover moment in Egypt.
Before the Israelites passed through the Red Sea Moses told the Israelites to take an innocent lamb and apply its blood to the door frames of their homes. Those who did experienced life. Those who didn’t experienced death. Every year after this God’s people would celebrate Passover remembering God’s faithfulness and protection and rehearsing that one day the Ultimate Sacrificial Lamb would come.
God spent 1,400 years developing a sermon illustration before revealing Christ in this context. This is God’s generational architecture. He’s always building toward something significant, and our lives are part of this Kingdom narrative.
50 days after this first Passover, Moses goes up Mount Sinai and is given the 10 Commandments. 50 days after Jesus Resurrection the Holy Spirit is given and God’s Laws are written on our hearts.
With Moses there was fire on the mountain. But with the Holy Spirit there was fire on the people. With Moses a nation was constituted but with the Holy Spirit the church was born. At Sinai, 3,000 people were killed for their disobedience (Exodus 32:28). On the day the Spirit was poured out, 3,000 were saved (Acts 2:41). Paul was being intentional when he wrote 2 Corinthians 3 calling the Law "the ministry of death" and the Spirit "the ministry of life."
Jewish law required a minimum of 120 men to establish a new Sanhedrin — a governing body, a council of authority. God didn't just pour out His Spirit on a random crowd. He poured it out on exactly the number required under Jewish law to constitute a new governing body on the earth. The Holy Spirit was establishing the government of God in the earth through the surrender hearts of humanity.
Today, on this Pentecost Sunday, we aren't just celebrating the historical event from Acts 2 or Exodus 12. The founding fathers of our nation believed that the government of this land could only thrive under the surrender to the government of God.
We are standing in a generational blueprint that has been building toward us for all these generations. This is God’s generational architecture, and we are invited to discover the eternal purposes of God that have been assigned to our lives in this generation as part of God’s overall plan!
GP2RL: Invite the Holy Spirit to fill you fresh and new every day this week and be intentional about practicing the presence of God.
