The Kingdom of God grows organically, like yeast spreading through a loaf of bread. The reason is that society must be changed from the bottom up. The Kingdom of God cannot be imposed from the top, but must rise up from the bottom. Replacing one set of rulers with another changes nothing, because the same principalities and powers remain in control. The only way to break free is for political power to be defused. Defeating and evil government by military force will not advance the Kingdom. The use of military power releases a spirit of violence, which undermines the Kingdom of God. Using democratic power to topple political leaders and replace them with others does not advance the kingdom. Democracy raises up human power and authority, which opposes the power of the Spirit. Jesus gave his disciples clear instructions to start in a particular place and start with a person of peace (Luke 10:5,6). Some places are easier to work than others. Those who are serious about advancing the Kingdom of God will identify those easy places and build a beachhead, from which the kingdom can gradually spread, Ten by Ten, and Hundred by Hundred As new Tens are established, the spiritual forces of evil will be gradually pushed back and the beachhead of peace will expand.
The Kingdom of God advances slowly, street by street and village by village.
Ordinary life now faces many new challenges. The world is getting increasingly violent and unstable and individuals and families struggle without the support that used to come from Tens Fifties and Hundreds. We may be going into a time of trouble, distress and judgement. Christians should be prepared for troubled times. To cope with the disorderly world that is merging, Christians and their families must get together in Tens to provide support and protection for their communities.
Leaders of Tens will establish relationships with other tens to share in protection and support.
Tens in the country will produce food to give to tens in the cities.
Tens in the city will distribute surplus food received from the country to people in needs.
Tens in the city with surplus wealth will supply Tens in the country with the resources that they need.
The Ten at either end of street may agree to watch the entrance to the street to ensure that undesirable people do not enter the street. This may be the best form of protection against theft or looting during a time of disruption.
Tens and Fifties will provide spiritual protection for their communities by standing together in unity. They will watch over each other and stand together to resist the power of the enemy. While they walk in obedience to Jesus, the enemy will have no grounds for attack.
Other people in the neighbourhood will continue to sin and some may allow evil into their lives. However, none of these people will have authority over anyone else in their community. This limits the ability of the spiritual powers to interfere in the lives of others.
The only people in the neighbourhood with authority over others are the elders. They are submitted to each other, so their authority is constrained. The elders will be watching over each other, so if one come under attack or falls into sin, the others will deal with the issue to get victory over evil.
Tens and Hundreds provide spiritual protection for each other and the people in their neighbourhood.
The only authority in the street will be exercised by the elders of Tens. They are protected by submitting to each other.
The members of Tens and Fifties get spiritual protection by submission to their leaders.
The members of the Ten are not submitted to regional and national political powers and the spiritual principalities that cling to them.
Jesus destroys principalities and powers by removing the centralised political and religious power structures that support their power. Wherever emperors, kings and presidents gain authority, evil spiritual forces can attach themselves to that authority. When political power evaporates, principalities and powers are reduced to being common evil spirits beaten by the cross. They gain spiritual power by taking advantage of political power, so the collapse of power and authority leaves them with no place to stand.
Tens and Hundreds are the solution to spiritual protection. In the Biblical model, authority is concentrated at the lowest level in the Ten, and that authority remains miniscule, because membership in a Ten is voluntary. A little bit of authority is passed up to the Hundred, but it can be easily withdrawn. During a crisis, some authority may be extended to a Thousand, but this authority can always be taken back, if the leader loses the plot, or when the crisis ends. This diffusion of authority foils the plans of the enemy. Evil spirits can no longer concentrate their attacks on a few powerful people, but have to spread themselves thin. As they disperse to deal with authority that is diffused throughout society, they become fragmented and powerless.
Many Christians have an overinflated view of the enemy’s power. They believe that our struggle is against spiritual forces that are almost as powerful as the Holy Spirit. The truth is an illusion. The spiritual forces of evil have leveraged their power by gaining control over political and religious leaders. When political and religious control collapses, demonic power will be greatly diminished. When confined to one-on-one battle, they will be easily defeated. When Big Government collapses and Tens Fifties take and Hundreds take their place, a great spiritual victory will occur.
If the Tens and Fifties serves effectively, the local people will participate in some of their activities, especially those that advance justice, protection from crime, welfare and defence. When the non-Christians in the neighbourhood participate in the activities of the Ten or Fifty, they will have to compromise with their standards of behaviour.
The lifestyle of Tens and Fifties will be shaped by love for one another.
Christian leaders will not control Christians in their care, but will serve them. They will also seek to serve the other people in their street. The people living in their neighbourhood will respect their leadership because they will have observed their kindness and love. When this has happens, something special has happened in in the neighbourhood.
Following Jesus example, the church should be restoring Tens, Fifties and Hundreds in the places where we live. Every church should be attached to a particular locality. Ideally, there should be one Church at each location and each location should have one Church.
In my book, Being Church Where We Live, I described how a church should function as a local community. Each church should be led by four or five elders, each with a different gifting, submitting to each other to produce unity. Each elder would provide oversight for about five or six families. If all the families overseen by one elder lived close to each other in a local community, they would become a Ten. This group of connected families would be able to fulfil all the functions of Tens, as described above.
If the church had five elders, each providing oversight of a Ten, the entire church would be a Fifty. If specific needs arose, a couple of local churches could link through their leaders to become a Hundred. The leaders of the Hundred would ensure that the justice, protection and welfare are provided to everyone living in their community.
If Christians moved back to a more biblical model of church, Tens and Hundreds would be restored back to our communities. However, we would have to get out of their cars and auditoriums and move closer together.
A neighbourhood church could be a unifying factor in modern urban society, if Christians formed Tens and Fifties in the places where they lived. They would restore cohesiveness to the neighbourhood.
Jesus first step when he began his ministry was to form a Ten. 1. Welfare – the church provided support to people who fell into poverty. The Christians who met together in homes also shared their financial resources.
Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve—designating them apostles—that they might be with him. These are the twelve he appointed (Mark 3:13-16).
By the time of Pentecost, the new church had become a Hundred.
They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) (Acts 1:14-15).
When the church expanded quickly, they continued to share in Tens, Fifties and Hundreds.
Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts (Acts 2:46).
The early church undertook many of the roles that that had been undertaken by Tens, Fifties and Hundred in Moses’ time.
Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need (Acts 2:45).
Deacons developed new methods for caring for the poor (Acts 6:1-7).
2. Defence – the church provided protection for their community.
The religious and political leaders in Jerusalem were extremely hostile to the new church that was emerging. The Christians protected themselves by sticking together.
All the believers were together (Acts 2:44)While they were together, the authorities could not touch them.
When Peter was arrested, the believers went into bat for him.
So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him (Acts 12:5).They used spiritual weapons and an angel released Peter. He returned to house of Mary the mother of Mark.
The Book of Acts records the effects.
There were no needy persons among them (Acts 4:34).The Greek word translated as “needy” is “endees”. It is not the usual word for “poverty” and is only used once in the New Testament. It is a compound of the word “bind”. Luke seems to be saying that no one “bound by injustice” was among them.
These early Christians were not in a position to not deal with individual injustices that had left some people destitute and others wealthy. They resolved these problems with overwhelming generosity.
Many of the new Christian sold property and gave it away.
All who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold (Acts 4:34).The word “possessor” is interesting. Luke used a noun formed from the Greek word “ktamomai”, which means acquire, or procure. He also used the word “ktema” which comes from the same root (Acts 2:45; 6:3). This is the word used to describe the property of the rich young ruler (Mark 10:22).
Luke did not use the normal word for “inheritance”. This suggests that the early Christians were not giving away their inheritances, they were giving away property that they had received by other means. Some may have been gained fairly, while some would have been acquired by injustice. Some of those giving their property away would have take this action because they believed that it was acquired unjustly.
The church should be strengthening the foundations of society, but this is not happening in the modern world. Western society has been shaped by the automobile and the church has gone along for the ride. The car has brought great freedom, but we have paid a huge price in loss of fellowship. Church has become something that we drive to, not something that shapes the community where we live. This severely weakens the relationships between Christians, so most modern churches are almost as socially fragmented as the rest of society.
Unfortunately, most people do not see the modern church as an answer to their heart’s cry. It is seen as another institution that meets personal needs with programmes run by professionals. The megachurch model does not develop community, because it just replicates the national state model of concentrating power and delivering services from the top to the bottom.
Tens and Hundreds formed naturally in tribal societies through family connections. Industrialisation, globalisation and urbanisation have eliminated these links from modern society, so that individuals and families live in isolation from each other.
The collapse of community is greatest in modern cities, where migration and urbanisation have broken down traditional community relationships. Social mobility prevents stable relationships from developing and family life is breaking down. People feel like cogs in a machine and life is characterised by loneliness and personal insecurity.
Modern suburban culture creates barriers to communication and encourages individualism. People drive in and out of the suburb for work, shopping and recreation, but rarely meet with each other. As communities break down and fear rises, high fences are going up between houses isolating people from each other. This isolation means that most people do not belong to the community where they live.
This isolation and dislocation of urban society has been accompanied by the aggregation and accumulation of political power to the modern state. We now face the bizarre situation where needs are concentrated in individuals, but power and money is concentrated in the national state. This leaves families and individuals powerless before a faceless government. Justice, defence and welfare come from the top, whereas they are best provided at the bottom.
To restore the cohesion of our societies, Tens, Fifties and Hundreds must be restored to our communities, but it is not clear how this will happen. Politicians have an inbuilt tendency to push power and money to the top, so they will always weaken society at its lowest level.
The rise of kings destroyed the system of local judges that emerged in Moses time. By the time of David, the people of Judah were unable to get justice within their Tens and Hundreds. They had to go to Jerusalem and seek an audience with the king, who had usurped the local judges’ role. David was a military leader, God had not make him a judge.
His son Absalom gained popularity by courting people who had been unable to obtained justice from the King.
Whenever anyone came with a complaint to be placed before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out to him, "What town are you from?"…. Then Absalom would say to him, "Look, your claims are valid and proper, but there is no representative of the king to hear you." And Absalom would add, "If only I were appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who has a complaint or case could come to me and I would see that he gets justice" (2 Sam 15:2-4).Absalom gained respect by offering justice to people who could not obtain it. When the administration of justice is centralised, justice disappears. David was a good man, but he could not provide justice for everyone. He simply did not have time to investigate and judge every case. David was trying to do what Moses did when he applied the Pharaohs method, before Jethro challenged him.
People had to travel to Jerusalem to get their case heard. This was costly because while they were waiting for their case to come up, they would have to pay for accommodation in an expensive city. They would also be neglecting their family and farm left at home. Only those with power, privilege and money could gain access to a king’s justice.
Permanent kingship requires heavy taxation, and taxation soon became a cause of injustice. A king would always side with his tax collectors, so a king cannot administer justice fairly. The justice provided by Tens and Hundreds had disappeared, by the time Israel had its second king.
An example of Tens and Hundreds being used for political control can be found in the history of China. During the imperial period, China was divided into eighteen provinces and 1,300 districts. These districts were too large for a magistrate or governor to control, so a system of surveillance was introduced.
Households were organised by the thousand and then subdivided into sub-groupings of hundred and then ten. Headmen kept a register of everybody in each group, recorded comings and goings, and reported offences to magistrates. Villagers were required to tell the headman of any illegal behaviour they encountered—failure to do sow was a crime (Jonathon Fenby, The Penguin History of Modern China, p.6).
The Chinese Tens and Hundreds were not voluntary associations that emerged within society, but were imposed from the top to achieve control over society. They are fulfilment of Samuel’s prophesy. These counterfeit Tens and Hundreds were a tool for control, not a source of cohesion.
Evil is never original. It copies and distorts the real thing.
Membership of a Thousand had been temporary. When the threatening army was defeated, the Thousand would be disbanded and the people would return to their homes (Jos 22:6). The only social structures with a permanent function were the Tens, Fifties and Hundreds, and participation in them was voluntary.
Under the kingship, the Thousand ceased to be a temporary and voluntary force that was called up to deal with a particular, external threat. They become a permanent method tool of imposing the king’s control over society. The members of Tens lost their freedom of action and came under the permanent control of the king. An authority that arose from the bottom of society through submission was replaced by control from the top.
Samuel warned of another serious consequence of the transition to kingship.
Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties (1 Sam 8:12).
The King will appoint some of the young people who have been conscripted into his service to be commanders over thousands and fifties. This was a radical change. Under the previous system, the leader of a Fifty or Hundred was appointed by the members of the Tens who joined it. The leader of a Thousand was appointed by the leaders of the Hundreds, who agreed to participate in it during the season of threat. These leaders would have already established trust within their Ten, Fifty and Hundred. Membership of a Hundred and a Thousand was voluntary, so if the Tens did not like the decisions of a commander of their thousand, they could withdraw. In this structure, leadership emerged from the bottom and submission to leadership was voluntary.
Leadership functions the same way in the Kingdom of God. Leaders are given authority by people who voluntarily submit to them. If this authority is abused, voluntary submission can be withdrawn and the authority will evaporate.
The emergence of kingship turned this model on its head. Instead of leaders emerging from within, they would be appointed from outside by the king. The members of a Fifty or Thousand had to submit to the King’s appointee, even if he was made foolish decisions. Refusal to obey the King’s lapdogs would bring down the wrath of the king. Submission ceased to be voluntary.
The king would tend to appoint younger people who had recently been in his service, because they would be more loyal to him. These leaders would often lack experience, so they would force the people they controlled to do foolish things. Authority imposed from above fosters foolishness.
1 Samuel 8 is a really important passage. It describes how the new social structure that God had given to Israel was replaced by a systems of kings copied from the surrounding nations. This was a shocking change, as kingship uses Imposed Authority, which is Satan’s method of control.
Samuel warned of another effect of appointing a king, which is not well understood.
This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers (1 Sam 8 11,13).The king would take young people to serve in his army and palace. For a critical period during their growth to maturity, when they would normally be developing into a role in their Ten, Fifty or Hundred, the young person will be taken out for a period of service to the king.
Loyalty to the King will replace their loyalty to their Ten, Fifty and Hundred. They would lose respect for leaders of their Ten and might never be fully grafted back in. Their relationships with other young people in the king’s service will be stronger than their relationship with leaders of their Ten and Hundred. Taking young people out of their local communities during their formative years undermines the structure of society.
The Bible never refers to Ten Commandments, but uses the expression “Ten Words” in three different places to describe the words of the covenant written on the tablets of stone.
Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Words (Ex 34:28).
My guess is that the reference is not to the number of commandments, but to the people who would use them most. Perhaps the statement should be translated as follows.
Moses wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Words for Tens.
God’s covenant was a covenant with the entire community, but the commandments written stone were his covenant with the Tens and they would be implemented by the Tens. The Ten Commandments are really Words for Tens..
The Commandments are not for plaques on the wall of a State Courthouse or National Parliament. They are words for Households, Tens and Hundreds, because they are the ones that will apply them.
Christians frequently refer to the Ten Commandments. Our problem is that there are not ten commands, but only nine. We have to do a fiddle to make the nine commands into ten. The Roman Catholics splits out coveting your neighbour’s wife, from other coveting to get an extra commandment (Ex 20:17). Protestants split off Exodus 20:4 and to make worshipping other gods different from crafting idols. This is dangerous, because it seems like physical idols are the only false gods. This is not true.
In the modern world, political powers and governments are the most serious false gods. From God’s point view, putting too much trust in the government is morally equivalent to carving a wooden idol to worship. Many Christians would not have a carving from Africa in their home, but they happily expect a new President or Prime Minister to transform their life situation.
Political rulers do not become false gods by the scope of their power, or expanding the size of their empire. The false god is created by the attitude of the people being governed. When people trust and worship political power, the government becomes an idol.
The resources and capabilities of a Ten will be too limited to deal with many situations. A number of Tens will need to come together to deal with any larger threats to their community.
If all of the adults in a village came together for a specific purpose, they would be a Fifty. If a couple of villages got together, they might be a Hundred.
Fifties and Hundred derived their authority from the Tens that comprise them. They can only act, if the leaders of the Tens give permission.
Fifties and Hundreds can be used for four main purposes.
Defence – sometimes several Tens will come together to deal with an external threat to their society.
Welfare – Financial support might flow from one Ten to another. If a household or Ten was forced to sell their land, a senior member of a connected Ten would buy their land and hold it in trust until the next Jubilee.
The land must not be sold permanently... you must provide for the redemption of the land. if one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells some of his property, his nearest relative is to come and redeem what his countryman has sold (Lev 25:24,25).
Justice – The relationships between the Tens that make up a Hundred will be important for resolving issues of justice.
Marriage – A young man will generally need to go outside his Ten to find a wife. He will have a better chance of finding a wife in his Hundred or neighbouring one.
A Ten had several important functions. Protection – the men of the ten shared responsibility for protecting their families. They kept their families together while they were crossing the wilderness. They continued to provide protection once they were in the Promised Lands Food – the members of the Ten shared the they gathered in the food. Welfare – A member of the Ten would make an interest free loan to another member of the Ten who is in financial trouble (Deut 23:19-20). Employment – The Ten would provide employment for everyone who belonged to it. Resolving Disputes – Most issues would be relational and would be resolved by family love. A few might need to be referred outside the ten for resolution. Education – the families of the Ten assisted would assist with educating each other’s children.
