“Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.” – Ephesians 5:21

“The fear of God” is both the efficient cause that moves a true Christian willingly to perform all duty to man, and also the purpose that he refers everything that he does. . . . the fear of God is an awe-filled respect of the divine majesty. Sometimes it arises from faith in the mercy and goodness of God. When the heart of man has once felt a sweet taste of God’s goodness, and found that all his happiness consists only in His favor, it is struck with such an inward awe and reverence, that it would not displease His majesty for anything. Rather, it would do whatever it knows to be pleasing and acceptable to Him.

William Gouge, Building a Godly Home: A Holy Vision for Family Life, 8.

The reason why all are bound to submit themselves one to another is because everyone is set in his place by God, not for himself, as for the good of others. . . . Let everyone therefore, high and low, rich and poor, superior and subordinate, magistrate and subject, minister and people, husband and wife, parent and child, master and servant, neighbors and fellows, all of all sorts in their various places take notice of their duty at this point of submission, and be careful to put it in practice.

William Gouge, Building a Godly Home: A Holy Vision for Family, 6.

All biblical books, particularly those with an epistolary character, are written communications that link an author to an audience within the setting of a particular historical, social, and cultural context, so that all of these factors should be taken into consideration as a basis for interpreting the text.

Revelation 1-5, Volume 52A (Word Biblical Commentary)” by Dr. David Aune

Bavinck also writes that an evolutionary understanding of the human race as perpetually improving has led to a false understanding of the role of education in society. The belief that man has “evolved himself from the smallest beginnings” leads to the belief in the “grand and mighty man” ([Philosophy of Religion] 272). Having an overestimation of the ability of man, apart from Christ and revelation, leads only to man as the source of redemption. Bavinck goes on to explain that when the constant improvement of mankind is the telos of humanity, this view will eventually lead to a utilitarian society.

TBR Article (bavinckinstitute.org)

I have noted a tendency among some Christians to find some inconsistency between moral effort and justification by grace through faith. . . .

So Scripture commands us to yield our lives to God (Rom. 6:19; Phil. 3:13-14; Col. 3:10; Heb. 12:1), to strive for holiness (Rom. 8:13; 2 Cor. 7:1; 1 Thess. 4:3; Heb. 12:14; 1 Peter 1:15; 2 Peter 1:5; 1 John 3:3), to don the whole armor of God (Eph. 6:10-20) in order to fight against Satan and his angels, to put to death our sinful dispositions (Rom. 8:13; Col. 3:5). We can win this battle, not by the sword, but by truth, righteousness, the gospel, faith, salvation. Our only offensive weapons are the Word of God and prayer. This may seem a puny arsenal to the rulers of this world, but God tells us that it has more power than any of those rulers. People sometimes say mockingly, “Well, we can always try prayer.” But God’s weapons are more powerful than anything in the mockers’ arsenal. A gun will subdue a man, but only the sword of God’s Word wielded in prayer, will subdue Satan.

John M. Frame, Systematic Theology, 988.

The power or authority of church government is a spiritual power. Spiritual, not so perfectly and completely as Christ’s supreme government is spiritual, Who alone has absolute and immediate power and authority over the very spirits and consciences of men, ruling them by the invisible influence of His Spirit and grace as He pleases (John 3:8; Rom. 8:14; Gal. 2:20), but so purely, properly, and merely spiritual is this power that it really, essentially and specifically differs, and is contradistinct from that power which is properly civil, worldly and political, in the hand of the civil magistrate. Now, this power of church government is in this sense properly, purely, merely spiritual, and that may be evidenced many ways according to Scripture. Accordingly, the rule, fountain, matter, form, subject, object, end, and all of this power is only spiritual.

Jus Divinum Regiminis Ecclesiastici, (Naphtali Press Special Editions, volume II), 103.

Synods and councils are to handle, or conclude, nothing, but that which is ecclesiastical: and are not to intermeddle with civil affairs which concern the commonwealth; unless by way of humble petition, in cases extraordinary; or by way of advice, for satisfaction of conscience, if they be thereunto required by the civil magistrate.

Westminster Confession of Faith (1647), 31.5.

Having reached the end of our discussion we may now endeavor briefly to formulate the important principles embodied in our Lord’s teaching on the Kingdom of God and the Church. They are teh following:

In the first place, the kingdom-conception involves the historic unity of Jesus’ work with the Old Testament work of God. These two constitute one body of supernatural revelation and redemption.

Secondly, the doctrine of the kingdom stands for the principle that the Christian religion is not a mere matter of subjective ideas or experiences, but is related to a great system of objective, supernatural facts and transactions. The kingdom means the renewal of the world through the introduction of supernatural forces.

Thirdly, the kingdom-idea is the clearest expression of the principle that in the sphere of objective reality, as well as in the sphere of human consciousness, everything is subservient to the glory of God. In this respect the kingdom is the most profoundly religious of all biblical conceptions.

Fourthly, the message of the kingdom imparts to Christianity, as Jesus proclaims it, the professed character of a religion of salvation, and of salvation not primarily by man’s own efforts but by the power of the grace of God. The kingdom represents the specifically evangelical element in our Lord’s teaching. The same principle finds subjective expression in his teaching on faith.

Fifthly, Jesus’ doctrine of the kingdom as both inward and outward, coming first in the heart of man and afterwards in the external world, upholds the primacy of the spiritual and the ethical over the physical. The invisible world of the inner religious life, the righteousness of the disposition, the sonship of God are in it made supreme, the essence of the kingdom, the ultimate realities to which everything else is subordinate. The inherently ethical character of the kingdom finds subjective expression in the demand for repentance.

Sixthly, that form which the kingdom assumes in the church shows it to be inseparably associated with the person and work of Jesus himself. The religion of the kingdom is a religion in which there is not only a place but in which the central place is for the Saviour. The church form of the kingdom rightly bears the name of Christianity, because in it on Christ everything depends.

Finally, the thought of the kingdom of God implies the subjection of the entire range of human life in all its forms and spheres to the ends of religion. The kingdom reminds us of the absoluteness, the pervasiveness, the unrestricted dominion, which of right belongs to all true religion. It proclaims that religion, and religion alone, can act as the supreme unifying, centralizing factor in the life of man, as that which binds all together and perfects all by leading it to its final goal in service of God.

Geerhardus Vos, The Teaching of Jesus Concerning the Kingdom of God and the Church, 191-194.

Peter’s confession [Matthew 16:16-8; cf. Matthew 14:33; John 6:69], therefore, was distinctly a confession which stood in contrast with the rejection of Jesus by others [John 6:66-69]. From this we may gather, that the church of which Jesus speaks will have for its peculiarity the recognition of the Messiahship of Jesus in contradistinction from the denial of this Messiahship by those without. But this follows not only from the situation in which the words were spoken, we may also draw the same conclusion from the tenor of the words themselves. When Jesus says, “I will build my church,” he evidently places this church over against another, to which this designation does not apply. The word Ecclesia is the rendering of the Hebrew words Qahal and ‘Edah, which latter were the standing names for the congregation of Israel. In such a connection “my church” can mean nothing else than “the church which by recognizing me as Messiah will take the place of the present Jewish church.”

It would be a mistake, however, to suppose that the new church will rest exclusively on a subjective belief regarding the Messiahship of Jesus. Our Lord says emphatically, “I will build,” and thereby appropriates for himself the objective task of calling this church into existence by his Messianic acts. Though Peter confessing be the foundation, the church is not of Peter’s or of any human making, the Lord himself will build it.

Geerhardus Vos, The Teachings of Jesus Concerning the Kingdom of God and the Church, 142-144.

Excerpt from Chapter 6, “Eternal Predestination: Election and Reprobation,” in Wilhelmus à Brakel, The Christian’s Reasonable Service, Vol. 1, 245-246.

Objection: I feel within my heart that I am not one of the elect but rather a reprobate, and that therefore I shall never be converted.

Answer: This is an untruth and nothing but imagination. No man can know whether he is a reprobate because God has not revealed this in His Word. The Lord does not have such intimate communion with the ungodly that He would make this known to them in an extraordinary way.

Objection: Some have known this, such as [Francis] Spira and others.  

Answer: They had no knowledge of this but it was mere imagination. I am neither suggesting that their imaginations could not have been true, nor that they did not belong to the elect, all of which could be true. I am saying, however, that they neither knew this from Scripture nor from immediate revelations, but rather from their imagination. It has happened that some who with such certainty imagined themselves to belong to the reprobate, just as these others, were subsequently converted. Others who were already converted received much assurance concerning their election.  

Objection: Those who have sinned against the Holy Ghost know that they are reprobates.

Answer: Those who have sinned against the Holy Ghost are indeed reprobates: however, such do not come to repentance after the commission of this sin, but persevere in wickedness and without any sensitivity continue in their rage against God. Since therefore you neither know nor are able to ascertain this, and all this is but imaginary, why are you then so foolish to torment yourself with unfounded imaginations? 

Objection: I know that I am unconverted, have once been enlightened, and that I have been hardened under the use of so many means. May I not conclude my reprobation out of all this? 

Answer: Suppose that you are presently unconverted, have resisted previous enlightenment and conviction, and have hardened yourself against the Word of God; even then you may not conclude your reprobation, for you can still be converted. It is also possible that you are neither conscious of your own condition nor of the grace which the Lord has already granted you. It is one thing to be a recipient of the life of grace, but it is additional grace to be conscious of those things which God has granted us. No matter how you view your state, you cannot know whether or not you are a reprobate, and therefore ought to desist from this foolishness and reject it outright. 

Thirdly, let the revealed will of God be your guide. In the gospel God offers His Son Jesus Christ, inviting all who are desirous to come to Him to do so. He promises that all who believe in the Son will have eternal life, while promising at the same time that none will be cast out who come to Him. God will never damn anyone but for his sins. God does not prevent anyone from repentance, believing in Christ, and salvation. God is not the cause of anyone’s damnation. Man and his own free will are to be blamed for the fact that he lives an ungodly life, and it is therefore just when God punishes and damns him for his sins. Let the Word of God be your rule and cease from entertaining these haughty imaginations. Seek Christ, believe in Him, pray, do battle against sin, and believe, so that, by proceeding according to Scripture, you will be saved. This way is both a steadfast and safe way.

The Dragon is a picture of Satan (Rev. 12:9), who in Revelation 13:1 imitates what God did in Genesis 1:27. But what sort of imitation does Satan produce? It is not genuine, but counterfeit. . . . Now Satan is a counterfeiter. He counterfeits God the Father by producing a counterfeit “son,” the Beast. The Beast is clearly a counterfeit of Christ the Son. Satan aspires to be God and to control everything for himself. He has a plan, analogous to the Father’s plan. He will work out his plan through his executor, the Beast.

Is there then a counterfeit of the Holy Spirit as well? Yes there is, in Revelation 13:11-18. Another beast comes out of the earth (13:11). This beast is later identified as “the false prophet” (16:13). The False Prophet works “miraculous signs” (13:13), reminiscent of the miraculous signs worked by the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts. Through miraculous signs, the Holy Spirit draws people to worship Christ. Analogously, the False Prophet promotes worship of the Beast (13:12). As “another Counselor,” the Holy Spirit has the authority of Christ (John 14:16, 18). Similarly, the False Prophet “exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf” (Rev. 13:12). The Holy Spirit guides us into the truth (John 16:13). The False Prophet deceives (Rev. 13:14).

The Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet, therefore, form a kind of counterfeit trinity. They are linked together as a threesome when they organize people for the final battle (Rev. 16:13).

Vern S. Poythress, The Returning King: A Guide to the Book of Revelation, 18-19.