Of Empires And The Kingdom

Many Christians are concerned about the possibility of America’s decline and the effect it would have on the kingdom of God. I’m not so worried.

God chose to send His Son to establish the kingdom of God on earth during the reign of the Roman Empire. On its face, this would seem odd timing.

Why not rather choose a time when leadership is more fractured and the kingdom of God could spread with less opposition?

We know in retrospect the Roman Empire through its network of roads and trade routes became the means through which Christianity spread throughout the known world.

After Constantine became a Christian in 312 A.D. he began looking for a place to build a new city and escape the decadence and decay of Rome. He found that city in Byzantium, soon to become Constantinople. The Byzantine Empire, the first Christian empire, would last for 11oo years and the Lord would use it as a conduit for the advancement of the kingdom of God into Eastern Europe.

When Constantinople fell to the Muslims in 1453, Christians mourned. But as it turned it out it was not the end of the kingdom of God because two years later the printing press was invented and it became the vehicle God would to further the Reformation and the advance of the kingdom of God.

By the early 1900s the British Empire had become the largest empire the world had ever known and a conduit for the spread of Christianity around the world.

As the British Empire declined in the twentieth century the United States emerged as the world’s superpower. The United States also became the country responsible for sending the most missionaries and money around the world to foster the spread of Christianity.

What is the lifespan of America? Who knows? The Byzantine Empire lasted over 1,100 years. There were times when it looked like the empire would collapse, but it then revived to live for hundreds of years. America may have another 100 years or another 1,000, but ultimately it doesn’t matter.

It doesn’t matter because, as history has proven, while the kingdom of God may benefit by empires, its continued existence is not dependent upon them. GS

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