What's wrong with human rulership? Why are people
so incapable of right governance?
by Peter Nathan
A vital part of the destiny of those whom God has called
and with whom He is working is rulership. We are called to a future of rulership-assisting
Jesus Christ in His reign in the Kingdom of God (Revelation 5:10; 20:4) and ultimately
reigning over "all things" (Hebrews 2:6-8; Revelation 21:7).
What kind of rulership will we be involved in? We are all familiar with rulership
in this day and age. Although we consider ourselves enlightened-and government today
is, in general, considerably more responsive to the needs of the governed-it's easy
to see that human government is far from perfect. Tragic accounts of leaders plundering
their national treasuries, intimidating and sometimes eliminating political rivals
and abusing their positions for personal gain and aggrandizement are all too common.
The desire for rulership over others for all the wrong reasons is an ingrained
part of human nature and an all too frequent part of the human experience. If the
rulership we see exemplified in the world is the best we have to look forward to,
the future doesn't look reassuring.
The Bible has much to say about rulership from a human and a godly perspective.
What are the differences in the perspectives, and how should those differences affect
what we think and do?
