Broken Cisterns*

We have been talking about the Torah and the Prophets, and how they express the grace of God. In the present political turmoil that has gripped the globe, debates have arisen regarding the forms of governments that exist or should exist. Three forms of government, especially, are prominent in the world today: democracy, autocracy, and theocracy. We should define these terms because each of these forms of governing also appears in the Word of God. Democracy is defined as a system in which eligible members of society elect politicians to represent them. The term "eligible" can unfortunately be interpreted in different ways. There have been times in our history when women, blacks, and poor people have been considered ineligible to vote. An autocracy is defined as absolute rule by one person. We have seen the negative aspects of this type of government in Russia, China, North Korea, and other nations. Finally, a theocracy, it may surprise you to hear, is a government where people rule in the name of God or a god. Some theocracies, either currently existing, or proposed by certain groups, rule in the name of a god of another name who is nothing like the God of the Bible, or is an outright misrepresentation of God, and of the government which God has planned for man. The title of this message comes from the prophet Jeremiah who wrote a Word from God in correction of His people: "...I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness...Israel was holiness unto the LORD, and the firstfruits of his increase...What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?...And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made mine heritage an abomination." (Jer. 2:1-7). The LORD also condemned the fact that His priests did not seek Him, the rulers that handled the law didn't know Him, and the prophets prophesied by the demon god, Ba'al: "Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the LORD, and with your children's children will I plead...my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit. Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the LORD. For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me (written with an Aleph-Tav, which identifies Jesus Christ) the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." (v. 8-13). Jesus spoke of the rivers of living water coming from Him that Isaiah prophesied. These living waters were the waters of the Spirit of God, and eternal life (see Jn. 7:37-39, Jn. 4:13-14). Zechariah prophesied of the living waters of God also: "...And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem...And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day there shall be one LORD, and his name one." (Zech. 14:7-9). However, the people of God forsook Him, and chose ways, like broken cisterns, that could not hold these life-giving waters. Men have rejected God and His life-giving waters before. Descendants of the eight people who came off of the ark after the flood, having one language among them, sought to build themselves a different system in order to avoid the commandment of God to have dominion over the whole earth. They built a city instead so as not to be scattered across the earth, and then they built a tower to reach the heavens. Like the broken cisterns of Jeremiah, they built these things of bricks and mortar, but God confounded their language and scattered them anyway (Gen. 11:1-9). The name of this city and tower was called Babel, which means confusion, or to confound. We can say that the government systems of the world today that men have built have also confused and confounded us. We see an example of God's people choosing an autocracy in 1 Samuel 8. Samuel was a prophet and judge of Israel. His two sons who were also judges were corrupt and took bribes and perverted justice. The elders of the people gathered together and demanded that Samuel make them a king to rule them instead like the other nations around them (v. 1-5). This was not God's plan of government for them. The LORD told Samuel that the people were not rejecting Samuel, but were rejecting Him, "that I should not reign over them" (v. 7). The LORD told Samuel to to give the people a warning about the manner of the king that shall reign over them: "He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots...he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields...your vineyards...your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants...he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work...and ye shall be his servants. And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day." (v. 9-18). The people refused to listen to Samuel's warning, and said, "...Nay, but we will have a king over us; That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out befoe us, and fight our battles." The LORD told Samuel to listen to the demand of the people and make them a king (v. 19-22). The people of God thought it would be better to have a man rule them, than God - to become the servants to a man, rather than God. In a similar manner, the people of God insisted to Pilate that the oppressive Caesar was their king, thereby rejecting Jesus (Jn. 19:10-12, 15-16). This kind of choice did not reflect God's plan of government for His people. We have another example in scripture where a group of men convinced two hundred and fifty of the princes of Israel to overthrow the government that God had established, being Moses and Aaron, to lead His people to safety, and into their inheritance. The rebels used the argument against Moses: "...Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift you up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD? And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face..." (Num. 16:1-4). Moses then brought forth the Word of the LORD that the LORD would show who were His, who is holy and chosen by Him to come near to Him. The LORD caused the earth to open and swallow those who had challenged Moses and Aaron based upon a self-serving twisting of the truth of God's presence among His people (v. 30-35). Paul wrote to Timothy of the perilous times of the last days saying in part that men would be "lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." (2 Tim. 3:1-5). This describes the men who rebelled against Moses, Aaron, and most of all, God, and it also describes what we see in people and governments of today. Paul's advice to Timothy in the face of these things: "Preach the word...for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." (2 Tim. 4:1-4). God's government is superior to what man chooses as government. This is God's vision of government for His people: "Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine." (Ex. 19:5). The LORD then commanded Moses to sanctify the people, and to tell the people to wash themselves: "And be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon Mt. Sinai.(v. 10-11). The New Testament also testifies of this same government of God: "...Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone (referring to Jesus), elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded...a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy." (1 Peter 2:6-10). God's kingdom government, built upon the chief cornerstone who is His Son, creates a holy nation of people that serve Him as kings and priests, a royal priesthood, whose purpose is to show forth the praises of God. There are people who call themselves Christians who believe that this kingdom government of God is made up of only certain kinds of people, from certain races or ethnic groups, but this is a lie. The Book of Revelation clearly describes the kings and priests of God (Rev. 1:6) as coming from every kind of people saved by the Lamb, Christ, the chief cornerstone: "...for thou (the Lamb) wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth...and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years...Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years." (Rev. 5:9-10, Rev. 20:4-6). The government of God for the earth, promised from Exodus onward is the reign of Christ, and our reign with Him as priests and kings, being partakers in His resurrection. This government of God is not based upon being Democrats, Republicans, Liberals nor Conservatives, but a government ruled by the living waters of Christ, resurrection life, and the praises of God. *Based on Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson's 2/26/23 message to the church. To contact us, submit a prayer request, give a praise report, or to support this ministry: P.O. Box 154221, Waco, TX, 76705 OR Everlastingcovenant@ymail.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, theshroudofturin.org, and END TIME SCHOOL, also on Facebook. You can also get a free ebook titled "The Shroud of Turin- A Perfect Summary" at www.TheShroudofTurin.org/freebook.