The Most
High Ruleth
is a study about world government — past, present, and
future.
There is
an existing universe that God not only brought into
existence but one over which He also exercises absolute,
sovereign control. And the Bible is God’s revelation to man
concerning His actions in the preceding respect, especially
as these actions relate to the earth and to man.
Man is
a latecomer in the universe. He was created after
God’s creation of the physical universe, after God’s
creation of angels, and after God's government of the
universe had been established and was in full operation.
Man’s existence dates back only six millennia, and he
was brought into existence for the specific purpose of
replacing a disqualified provincial ruler in God’s kingdom,
one who had been ruling for a prior unrevealed period of
time.
Man was
created to replace the ruler whom God had, in the beginning,
placed over the earth (Ezekiel
28:14).
This ruler, Satan, disqualified himself because of his
rebellion against God’s supreme power and authority (Isaiah 14:12-15).
And man was subsequently brought on the scene to take the
scepter and with the woman rule this one province
in God’s kingdom in the stead of Satan and his angels (Genesis
1:26-28).
Thus,
matters surrounding man’s fall and redemption both revolve
around the reason for his creation — “. . .
let them
[the man and woman together] have dominion
. . . .”
Satan
knew why man had been created, and he immediately set about
to effect man’s disqualification (through disobedience), as
he himself had been disqualified — an act which, if
successfully accomplished (as it was), would allow Satan
(though disqualified) to continue holding the scepter (Genesis 3:1ff; cf. Luke 4:5,
6).
And
redemption, remaining within the same framework of thought,
simply has to do with God providing a means whereby He could
not only bring man back into a right relationship with
Himself but also a means whereby He could ultimately bring
man into a realization of the purpose for which he had been
created (Genesis 3:15; cf.
Hebrews 2:5).
This is
the manner in which Scripture not only begins in the book of
Genesis
but also concludes in the book of
Revelation
(22:1-5).
And all intervening Scripture must be viewed and understood
within this same framework.