“Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations.” (Psalm 145:13 ESV)
We live in a world plagued by the temporary. Most things around us will be gone or replaced within five years, and any sense of longevity is overrun by innumerable flash-in-the-pan stimuli competing for our attention. We can easily become disillusioned as we survey the ruins of a world that often knows no span beyond one rotation of the earth, let alone a decade, century, or millennium.
David provides the antidote for this malady in Psalm 145:13. He reminds us that there is something that lasts beyond the dawning of a new day and beyond even the most established realities ever known or seen in this universe. If we are believers, we have a stake in an “inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading” (1 Peter 1:4).
This ought to bring profound comfort to every believer. As the world around us clamors for the capricious attention of the next viral moment, we can rest secure as citizens of the Lord’s kingdom. We need not play the game of the flesh that demands that every waking moment be a crusade of self-actualization and self-promotion. Those who seek to build such a kingdom find nothing but disappointment and exhaustion. The biggest celebrities of today will become tomorrow’s forgotten names, only remembered by their tombstones as they fade into the earth and from the minds of the living (Ecclesiastes 9:5).
Conversely, the kingdom of God is “everlasting.” David is affirming the reality that those who bear the name of Yahweh have exclusive rights to citizenship in the only kingdom that will never pass away. We can be absolutely certain that when we profess allegiance to the King of this kingdom, we gain life with him for eternity.
The Lord’s kingdom and dominion endure “throughout all generations.” This is the second time in this psalm that David references “generations”—the first being in verse 4: “One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.” Taken together, these two verses affirm both the citizens’ responsibility to persevere and the King’s promise to preserve. We do not sit idly by as the Lord unilaterally builds his kingdom apart from the faithfulness of his servants. But nor do the servants labor fruitlessly to construct something without the perpetual aid, empowerment, and promised success of the King.
A generation is often the benchmark for observing fundamental changes in a society or nation. If we think of our own history in America, the differences between Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, and Gen Z are almost too many to count, yet together they occupy less than a single century of time in human history. God’s kingdom endures through not only these four generations, but every generation from Adam to the return of Christ. There has never been a moment under the rule of Julius Caesar, Attila the Hun, Henry VIII, Napoleon, or Donald Trump at which the kingdom of God has failed to endure and prosper under the supreme dominion of God.
In our current cultural moment, we may be prone to fear the end of Judeo-Christian society as we know it. Yet, that fear must always be tempered by the absolute, steadfast promise of the verse before us today. If all earthly freedoms and prosperity were taken away in a moment, our heavenly standing as citizens of the Lord’s kingdom would be entirely unaffected. Even the most ruthless Neronian persecution or the most inhumane Soviet gulags could not diminish to the slightest degree the dignity and privilege bestowed on all whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
This is especially encouraging in missions, as God’s people go out as ambassadors into the nations. Not only are we promised that God’s kingdom will endure, but we also know that God’s authority supersedes any human authority. God’s kingdom will advance under his standard with or without the permission of those who sit on the thrones of this world. Missionaries ought not to utterly disregard the laws under which they operate, but they must remember that they are ultimately accountable to an infinitely greater Law Giver. We can learn much from William Tyndale, who proclaimed, “I defy the Pope and all his laws” when told not to translate Scripture into the common tongue of England because he knew he served a higher Master.
May we be equally bold when the moment requires, knowing that the Lord goes behind and before to establish his kingdom, of which we are privileged to be members.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father,
Your kingdom is securely held in your omnipotent hand. May we joyfully engage in the mission of that kingdom, certain of its endurance to the end.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
Prayer Requests:
- Tuesday: Pray for missionaries who struggle with timidity in sharing the gospel.
- Wednesday: Pray for missionaries working on Bible translation to carry out their task with accuracy and diligence.
- Thursday: Pray for believers who are currently imprisoned for their faith to bear their sentence with patience.
- Friday: Pray for missionaries working in medical missions, that they would offer excellent care as a platform for the gospel.
- Saturday: Pray for missionaries currently raising support in prefield ministry to be spiritually and financially prepared for on-field ministry.
- Sunday: Pray for missionaries serving among the nomadic population of Mongolia.
- Monday: Pray for the Holy Spirit to soften hearts around the world hardened by decades of resistance to the gospel.
