A world ruled by God,,, what would it look like?

Psalm 67
For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm. A song.
1 May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face shine upon us,
Selah

2 that your ways may be known on earth,
your salvation among all nations.

3 May the peoples praise you, O God;
may all the peoples praise you.

4 May the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you rule the peoples justly
and guide the nations of the earth.
Selah

5 May the peoples praise you, O God;
may all the peoples praise you.

6 Then the land will yield its harvest,
and God, our God, will bless us.

7 God will bless us,
and all the ends of the earth will fear him.

Today, while having QT, somehow, think God impressed on me His heartbeat, His burden, for the world. It's so easy getting caught up in the daily matters of one's own life, and pursuing his/her own dreams and visions, that one forgets the bigger picture - John 3:16. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son..."

And not just evangelism. In reading the Psalms (with glances at Isaiah too), I'm struck by how much the psalmist desired to see God's ways known by all the nations on earth. Thinking about the Uni District vision, it really reminded me again of the importance of having a vision that is bigger than ourselves - a God-sized vision in fact.

And I realised I don't have that burden or burning desire to make His ways known... "that your ways may be known on earth,your salvation among all nations." Listen! Can you hear God's heartbeat for this world even now, this heartbeat so strong that it would cause Him to send His very own Son to come down and die an excruciating death on the cross for our sins?

Listen... listen to the Father's heart. Can you hear Him saying, "Who will go for us? And whom shall I send?"

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Then saw this article - timely! - "Arabs Take Epic Sahara Camel Trek to Spread Gospel". Do read the whole article - it's really very inspiring!

Over the next several years Shama’s original handful of believers expanded to nine worship groups. As they listened to Luke’s teaching about church planting - and read in Scripture about God’s work in the early church - they conceived a grand plan to take the Gospel far into the desert.

“We didn’t tell them specifically how to do it, but about a year ago, they said, ‘We really feel like God wants us to go to another people group,’” Luke recounts. “They prayed and prayed about where they should go, and they felt led to go to a people out in the Sahara.”

The nomadic Muslim people group they selected was non-Arab, from a different tribe, notoriously fierce - and not especially friendly to outsiders. Even the women of the group were said to carry knives and guns.

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So after all that reading, it made me think. What would a world ruled by God really look like?

When one thinks of a world ruled by God, I guess one is naturally inclined to think about fundamentalist states and repressive "theocratic" regimes that claim to rule in the name of God.

But the Bible paints a much more wonderful picture. In Isaiah, God said,

"Behold, I will create
new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
nor will they come to mind.

But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I will create,
for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight
and its people a joy.

I will rejoice over Jerusalem
and take delight in my people;
the sound of weeping and of crying
will be heard in it no more.

And the description given in Revelation is even more touching...

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.

I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."

In Singapore, our safe little cocoons, it's so easy to forget the very real sufferings and pains going on in the rest of the world. But I believe that God really wants to change the world from inside-out. And He already started it more than 2000 years ago. Am I with Him today in becoming a world-changer?