Jesus Did Not Interfere With Those in Power

Engraving From 1873 Featuring Jesus Teaching By The Sea-Side.

“Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from here.” John 18:36

“Today in the religions of the world there are multitudes who, as they believe, are working for the establishment of the kingdom of Chirst as an earthly and temporal dominion. They desire to make our Lord the ruler of the kingdoms of this world, the ruler in its courts and camps, its legislative halls, its palaces and market places. They expect Him too rule through legal enactments, enforced by human authority. Since Christ is not now here in person, they themselves will undertake to act in His stead. . . . The establishment of such a kingdom is what the Jews desired in the days of Christ. . . . But He said,”My kingdom is not of this world.” He would not accept the earthly throne.

“The government under which Jesus lived was corrupt and oppressive; on every hand were crying abuses,–extortion, intolerance, and grinding cruelty. Yet the Saviour attempted no civil reforms. He attacked no national abuses, nor condemned the national enemies. He did not interfere with the authority or administration of those in power. He who was our example kept aloof from earthly governments. Not because He was indifferent to the woes of men, but because the remedy did not lie in merely human and external measures. To be efficient, the cure must reach men individually and must regenerate the heart.

“Not by the decisions of courts or councils or legislative assemblies, not by the patronage of worldly great men, is the kingdom of Chirst established, but by the implanting of Christ’s nature in humanity through the work of the Holy Sirit. “As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.”

Sons and Daughters of God, by Ellen White, p. 146

Very timely advice in this generation!

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