Gems from the North (9) - Continuity of Evil

The kingdom of God grows little by little. Meanwhile, God’s sanctions against evil societies break the continuity of corporate evil.

God’s kingdom and Satan’s are locked in mortal combat. Both kingdoms seek continuity. Both seek victory. Neither is ready to surrender to the other. But the terms of battle, like the terms of surrender, are covenantal. This is not a battle that will be decided in terms of political power or any other kind of power. It is not a power play. It is an ethical battle in history based on rival covenantal commitments. If it were a power play, the conflict would have ended in Eden. There are, however, negative corporate sanctions that are applied by God in history to His covenantal enemies. These sanctions are applied because of corporate covenant-breaking by people in history. He breaks the continuity of corporate evil. He may replace one society’s corporate evil with another society’s corporate evil, but He does not allow the compound growth of the same social evil.

Meanwhile, He shows kindness unto thousands of generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments. This is God’s compound growth process for covenant-keeping in history. Little by little (with occasional discontinuities), God’s kingdom expands over time (Millenialism and Social Theory p. 284).