I have never come across any secular historical record that begins with God as the author of human history. On the contrary, every secular history book begins with man as the central figure shaping his own history or that of others too, by either their good works or bad works. Secular history begins with the reigns of Kings or Emperors. For example, it begins with statements like: “When Pharaoh was king of Egypt or Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon…” the list is endless with names like Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Augustus Caesar, Kanji’s Khan, Napoleon, and in modern times-Churchville’s, Roosevelt’s, Stalin’s, Mao Tsetung’S, Hitler’s, Trumps and Modis etc.
But are these rulers, dictators and Presidents and Prime Ministers, along with their peoples, the Directors and shapers of human history? At an outer level, this seem to be true because many of these world leaders have influenced human history and have changed the course of history to what it has become today. But if we examine the revealed words of God from the Bible, we discover a different story all together. In this Biblical perspective, God seats on his throne in the heavens above and is directing history with men as his subjects and actors in the panorama of historical sequences and developments.
To begin with God declares in Isaiah 46: 10 thus: “Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is none else…declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My councel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.” In the same book, God further states: “Surely as I have thought so shall it come to pass, and as purposed, so shall it stand” (Is. 14:24). Also in Denial 4:35 it is revealed: “He rules in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. Psalms 22:28 also says: “For dominion belongs to God and he rules over the nations.” In Proverbs 8:15 God further declares:”By me Kings rule and Princess decrees laws.”Then in Daniel 4:17 God declares: “The decision is announced by messengers, the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know that the most high is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them even the lowliest of men.”
In the case of King Nebuchadnezzar, he was not a godly man at all, but God says to him: “You, O king, art a king of kings; the God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; in your hands, he has placed mankind and the beast of the field and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all” (Dan.2:37&38). Nebuchadnezzar of course became like a beast when he boasted from his palace that he had build Babylon by his own might and strength (Dan. 4:17). “Earlier in Dan. 2:21 God had warned that he (God) changes times and seasons and sets up kings and deposes them.” God’s prophetic words about Cyrus the next Persian king after Nebuchadnezzar was also declared thus: “He (Cyrus) is my shepherd and shall do all my pleasure; even saying to Jerusalem, thou shalt be build and to the temple, thy foundation shall be laid. (These words were spoken even when the Jews were still in Babylonian captivity).
In Biblical revelations then, this is how the kingdom of heaven rules in the kingdoms of men. If one reads the book of Daniel along with Isaiah and Jeremiah, one will discover that God had clearly outlined the sequence of the kingdoms of the Assyrian, Medo-Persian and the Persian Empire right down to the Greek and Roman Empires stretching to hundreds of years. Seen from this perspective, human history may not be our history but HIS STORY.
For quite many years, my mind had been roaming the events of history from a human perspective. But now, I am seeing history from a higher Godly perspective where I am able to see things from a higher level. In this connection, I have often wondered why a merciful God allowed a cruel Hitler to turn the world upside down with the Second World War and all the evils that accompanied it. In this line of thought, I failed to understand how a very cultured people like the German nation who were well advanced in education, the arts and music etc. could be swept up by their feet by a mere Corporal of in the 1st World War. But of late, my mind has been changing from one of puzzlement to understanding of the fact that, had Hitler not risen to power and shaken Europe to its knees, Asians, Africans, the Middle East and most of the world could still have been under the rule of the European Colonial Powers which at that time was ruling the world from just 14 % of the world’s surface. The 2nd World War did not knock off Europe unto its belly but it sure did knock her to her knees where she could no longer rule over her vast empire.
In the aftermath of the 2nd World War debacle, the British who thought that- the sun would never set on their world wide Empire- retreated back to the shores of their island home when God brought about sweeping “changes in the times and seasons” (Dan. 2:21). Britain left behind all the infrastructures that she had build in India to rule India. The train tracks, communication systems and administrative structures were not built to last a hundred years but for thousands of years. They simply gifted India all these structures that they had built in India! Following in the tracks of the British; The French, the Dutch, the Spanish, the Americans etc, all retreated from their far away world empires.
God is indeed speaking the truth when he states: “Surely as I have planed, so it will be, as I have purposed, so it will stand… for the Lord has purposed and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back? (Is. 14:24& 27).
Kaka D Iralu
