Principalities

A recent community study through the Gospels using the Bema Discipleship Podcast has brought some clarification for me. In one of the podcasts (Season 3, Episode 75) Mr. Solomon credits Alexander the Great with establishing this sort of New World Order, in which he uses education, healthcare, a strong army, and entertainment to create a new kind of kingdom. Immediately, my mind went back to Nimrod. Taking a step back I could see the big picture. Are humans building a house for the Holy One by consecrating the earth for His Presence to dwell here? Or, are humans creating a great tower, castle, or dwelling in which their names will dwell? What human rulers have done is they have taken God’s commands from the seven days of creation and corrupted them into self-worship, which is the basic definition of idolatry. 

Day One– Wisdom builds God’s house and in the post, Man and Beast, I mention how the house of humans is laid on a foundation of rebellion. 

Day Two– God desires that we are like birds who dwell in the upper waters, or the shamayim. Even Yeshua encourages us to be like birds and trust in God to clothe and feed us. 

Matthew 6:26: “Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your Father in heaven feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”

The human rulers of the earth try to convince us to dwell in the lower waters, those self-sustaining waters, or utter reliance on human systems. Food, healthcare, and other physical needs should never be entrusted to corrupt human authorities. 

Day Three– This day is about kingdoms and seeds. The tree kingdoms have a seed inside of them and produce fruit with seeds. The parable of the sower is a story where Yeshua tells us that seeds are words. Education is full of seeds. Every seed we allow to be planted in our hearts will produce fruit. If you hand your children over to the world systems to plant seeds into them for eight hours a day, then you will reap the fruit of that. Today’s young generation regurgitates what parents, colleges, and public educators have planted into them. Guard your hearts, and guard your children’s hearts.

Psalm 119:11: Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.

Matthew 15:18:  But the things that proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and those things make the man unholy.

Day Four– The Greek word for principality is arche, which the Blue Letter Bible defines as beginning, origin, ruler, chief, leader, or magistrate. A magistrate is a civil officer or a lay judge who administers the law dealing with minor offenses, pointing me back to the luminaries created on the fourth day whom God commanded to divide between light and dark, just like He did on Day One. Principalities and luminaries have the same duty of ruling over the day and the night. Principalities, in my opinion, are corrupt authorities. A commentator connects six out of fifty-eight mentions of principalities to angels, most likely because they are in the heavens. Luminaries created on the fourth day also abide in the heavens, or places of authority. In Romans 8:38, Paul mentions both angels and principalities and would not have used two separate words to describe celestial beings. He is saying that neither angels or celestial beings, nor human rulers can separate you from the love of God. Rulers and judges are essential to a kingdom because they keep the peace or create lawlessness. If this part of a kingdom becomes corrupt, most likely, we are headed into a de-creation cycle. Alexander the Great and the Hasmonean dynasty instituted Priests and Judges into places of authority that the Holy One did not anoint. The Priesthood and Sanhedrin (Jewish Justice System) became defiled by greed, accumulating wealth, and the abuse of power. Human systems have corrupt justice systems. If believers, called a Kingdom of Priests, blur the lines between holy and common, clean and unclean, we are responsible for the demise of a just world. 

Day Five– The command on this day is to multiply after like kind. Fish and birds are supposed to be fruitful in this way. In a de-creation pattern, death is always the end result. Whether it is in the womb, or climate change advocates telling us that it is not good for the earth to have a lot of babies, or violence producing death, life is not an essential element to a human kingdom. God’s House is where life is numero uno. We should be obsessed with words, deeds, and thoughts that produce life and always do justice, which is to protect those who cannot protect themselves. 

Day Six– Man is given dominion over God’s creation. Dominion has a few different definitions. A beast king will tread down the earth and its inhabitants, but a righteous king will bring the subjects into a Shabbat rest by defeating enemies that cause disorder. The Bible talks about Yeshua defeating sin, death, and oppressive governing systems. He also brings the earth and all of creation into submission to God, which was a responsibility God gave to Adam. 

1 Corinthians 15:24-28 NIV: Then the end will come when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority, and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under [the Messiah] When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.

If I were to consolidate the Bible into a paragraph, I would say it is a story of a loving God creating a House and filling it with living things that work perfectly to produce more living things. Humanity took God’s creation pattern of building a house where God’s name dwells and built a castle for themselves. Idolatry is when we take the powers that God has handed down to us and use them to exalt ourselves. Ask yourself, “As a whole, does our world seem to be in rebellion against tyranny or truth? (Day One) Does our government encourage us to rely on them for food, healthcare, or sustenance? (Day Two) Do they want to teach us and fill us with knowledge and truth, counter to what is in the Scriptures? (Day Three) Do we have a righteous justice system, or are we lawless, every man doing what is right in their own eyes? (Day Four) Does our world encourage life in all stages and forms? (Day Five) Is our President, King, or Prime Leader leading us into chaos or order?” (Day Six) Throughout any pattern, we should ask whether our entertainment feeds the Spirit of God inside us or lust in all of its forms. 

Romans 8:5 NIV: Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.