There are two kingdoms active on Earth – the kingdom of man and the Kingdom of God. We need to understand the distinction between the two because our hope for the future will only remain intact when we are devoted to Jesus and His Kingdom.

Of the Lord’s Kingdom, Isaiah wrote, “There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore” (Isaiah 9:7).

While the presence of the Church within each nation on Earth is to be an influencing presence displaying righteousness and justice, the kingdoms of this world will rise and fall. In that rising and falling, the Lord will continue to increase His authority as His people pursue intimacy with Him when the world has abandoned His truth.

In contrast to the ever-increasing influence of the Church, a worldly kingdom will demonstrate that “Her oppressors have become her masters” (Lamentations 1:5). In their abandonment of truth, they will pursue “immorality and gave no thought to her future” (vs. 8). The kingdoms of the world did not consider the future and the coming judgment for their sin.  Their sins were woven into ropes of bondage that would hitch them into a “yoke of captivity” (vs. 14).

This bondage will happen because they chose to follow their cultural prophets. These false prophets “Said so many foolish things, false to the core. They did not save you for exile by pointing out your sins. Instead, they painted false pictures filling you with false hope” (vs. 14). In this neglect of God’s word, they “invited terrors from all around” (vs. 22).

Among the people of God, it will be different. The Lord will lead us, “with fairness and justice” (Isaiah 9:7). This will happen first within our ranks and then whenever a nation chooses to live in submission to God’s truth. 

We are living in a never-ending, always-increasing Kingdom. To believe anything less will bring us under the influence of spirits not aligned with God’s will. Without God’s leadership, a vision of the future is designed to discourage our faith and overwhelm us with evil substitutes. That end is not God’s goal or His will for the Church. We are part of a never-ending, always-increasing Kingdom that will never end.