There are still two terms which remain that I have not yet covered.
Then I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.”
Revelation 10:11
Then the angel said to me, “The waters where the prostitute is ruling represent masses of people of every nation and language.
Revelation 17:15
REV 5:9 | REV 7:9 | REV 10:11 | REV 11:9 | REV 13:7 | REV 14:6 | REV 17:15 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
φυλῆς | ἔθνους | λαοῖς | λαῶν | φυλὴν | ἔθνος | λαοὶ |
γλώσσης | φυλῶν | ἔθνεσι | φυλῶν | λαὸν | φυλὴν | ὄχλοι2 |
λαοῦ | λαῶν | γλώσσαις | γλωσσῶν | γλῶσσαν | γλῶσσαν | ἔθνη |
ἔθνους | γλωσσῶν | βασιλεῦσι1 | ἐθνῶν | ἔθνος | λαόν | γλῶσσαι |
Glossary
- [φυλή] phulē – race, clan, kindred, tribe
- [γλῶσσα] glōssa – tongue, language
- [lαος] la-os’ – people, people groups, common people, laity
- [ἔθνος] ethnos – race, tribe, gentile, nation, foreigner, non-Jew, ethnic grouping
- [βασιλεύς] basileus / basileia – king, kingdom, monarchy, fiefdom
- [ὄχλος] ochlos – company, crowd, multitude
I wrote in the previous Gem: In addition to the independent nation states there are 48 monarchies.
- There are fifteen Constitutional monarchies in the British Commonwealth.
- There are eight monarchies listed as Other European Monarchies.
- There are a further two European Mixed Monarchies.
- There are ten Muslim Monarchies.
- Four East and Southeast Asian Constitutional Monarchies
- Five Other Sovereign Monarchies
- Four Non-Sovereign monarchies – making 48 monarchies in total1.
1 If you would like a list of the monarchies within each of the above categories, ask me. A number of my readers asked for the list of the world’s monarchies so here they are for you all.
The Realms of the 48 Monarchies
- The British Commonwealth Monarchies (Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, and the United Kingdom). (15)
- Other European Constitutional Monarchies: Andorra, Belgium, the Kingdom of Denmark, Luxembourg, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Kingdom of Norway, Spain, and the Kingdom of Sweden. (8)
- Andorra is unique among all existing monarchies, as it is a diarchy, with the Co-Princeship being shared by the President of France and the Bishop of Urgell. This arrangement creates a unique situation among monarchies.
- European Mixed Monarchies: Liechtenstein and Monaco are constitutional monarchies in which the Prince retains many powers of an absolute monarch. For example, the Constitution gives the Prince of Liechtenstein the power to veto any law that the Landtag (parliament) proposes and vice versa. (2)
- Muslim monarchies: Absolute monarchs remain in Brunei, Oman, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates and are classified as mixed, meaning there are representative bodies of some kind, but the monarch retains most of his powers. Malaysia and Morocco are constitutional monarchies, but their monarchs still retain more substantial powers than in European equivalents. (10)
- East and Southeast Asian constitutional monarchies: Bhutan, Cambodia, Japan, and Thailand have constitutional monarchies where the monarch has a limited or ceremonial role. (4)
- Other sovereign monarchies: Four monarchies do not fit into one of the above groups by virtue of geography or class of monarchy: Tonga, Eswatini and Lesotho in Southern Africa; and Vatican City in Europe. Of these, Lesotho and Tonga are constitutional monarchies, while Eswatini and Vatican City are absolute monarchies. (5)
- Eswatini is increasingly being considered a diarchy. The King, or Ngwenyama, rules alongside his mother, the Ndlovukati, the dualism is designed to be checks on political power. The Ngwenyama, is considered the administrative head of state, while the Ndlovukati is considered the spiritual and national head of state.
- The Pope is the absolute monarch of Vatican City by virtue of his position as head of the Roman Catholic Church and Bishop of Rome; he is an elected rather than hereditary ruler. The Pope need not be a citizen of the territory prior to his election by the cardinals.
- Non-sovereign monarchies: A non-sovereign monarchy is one in which the head of the monarchy is subject to a sovereign state. The non-sovereign monarchies of Malaysia, the emirates of the United Arab Emirates, the Sultanate of Sulu, and kingdoms of Uganda. (4)
Now let’s take a look at 1 Samuel 8 in order to gain God’s perspective on these Kingdoms.
“Look,” they told him, “you are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.” Samuel was displeased with their request and went to the LORD for guidance. “Do everything they say to you,” the LORD replied, “for they are rejecting me, not you. They don’t want me to be their king any longer. Ever since I brought them from Egypt they have continually abandoned me and followed other gods. And now they are giving you the same treatment. Do as they ask, but solemnly warn them about the way a king will reign over them.”
1 Samuel 8:5-9
This is how a king will reign over you,” Samuel said. “The king will draft your sons and assign them to his chariots and his charioteers, making them run before his chariots.
1 Samuel 8:11
The king will take your daughters from you and force them to cook and bake and make perfumes for him. He will take away the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his own officials. He will take a tenth of your grain and your grape harvest and distribute it among his officers and attendants. He will take your male and female slaves and demand the finest of your cattle and donkeys for his own use. He will demand a tenth of your flocks, and you will be his slaves. When that day comes, you will beg for relief from this king you are demanding, but then the LORD will not help you.”
But the people refused to listen to Samuel’s warning. “Even so, we still want a king,” they said. “We want to be like the nations around us. Our king will judge us and lead us into battle.”
So Samuel repeated to the LORD what the people had said, and the LORD replied, “Do as they say, and give them a king.” Then Samuel agreed and sent the people home.
1 Samuel 8:13-22
I believe God never intended Israel to be like the nations around them. Government by way of a king was not in His plan. He was Israel’s King; Israel was rejecting God as their King. They wanted a tangible, touchable king like the nations around about them. Instead they were meant to be satisfied with God as their King. After all He had proved that He could look after them without doubt. They were to be a people who were submitted and ruled by the King of Kings. However, they chose to forsake God as their King, choosing instead a king they could see, even though their king would do all the things Samuel explained to them.
My question then needs to be broadened to include all 48 Monarchies listed above. Does God include the monarchies listed above in the same category as Israel? In other words does God want these ‘countries’ listed above in the same category as Israel? They were not to choose to be a monarchy because God is their King. No, I don’t believe God wants all of these 48 monarchies to be classified with Israel. How can I say that so categorically? Because He has not made the same promise to the forty-eight that He did to Israel. I am just working through Amos at the moment in preparation for using this book as an example in Deeper Bible 601 on Biblical allusions. This verse leaps off the page at me. Timely, I think you will agree.
You only have I known (chosen) of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.
Amos 3:2
Add to that verse this one:
For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God’s household. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God’s Good News?
1 Peter 4:17
As much in all as I would love to consider myself one of the chosen nation, I am not and for that I am grateful. Because with great privilege comes great responsibility. Besides, I am a Kiwi and a citizen of New Zealand. For a long time New Zealanders have considered our nation to be God’s Own or as some claim, God’s Zone. But that is just not true, we are far from either. In fact under Jacinda Ardern’s leadership we have slipped even further from God’s grace than we could imagine. Besides this is all conjecture anyway, because God has only claimed one early nation as the children of promise – Israel. But now God has opened the way through Jesus’ blood to make as many who choose Him, Jesus Christ, to be called Children of God and therefore inheritors of the promise. It could not be clearer. There are not 48 kingdoms there are only two. You are either in the Kingdom of Light or you are in the Kingdom of Darkness. I believe every person knows which they are in.
Yes, I am sending you to the Gentiles to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God’s people, who are set apart by faith in me.
Acts 26:17-18
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
John 3:19-21
9And they sang a new song with these words: “You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10And you have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God. And they will reign on the earth.”
Revelation 5:9-10.
You have noticed this verse, haven’t you? The verse we have brought with us over the duration of this Gem series. If you have said “Yes” to Jesus then you have become part of the Kingdom of Priests for our God.
Now let’s look at the term multitudes.
You can see for yourself it occurs only once in Revelation 17:15 where it is translated as one of the list of four in 32 translations and as a qualifying adjective of the noun ‘people’ in 2 translations. One of those translations is the New Living Translation which considers [ὄχλοι] ‘multitudes’ to be an adjective or qualifier of people – masses (multitudes) of people. The CEV translates this string as “crowds of people from all races and languages”. But all other translations and I believe the Greek text, lists the four terms with the substitution of ‘multitudes’ for [φυλῆς] tribes. However the intention is clear.
There is more to say on this when we come to closing this chapter and dealing with the final song in Chapter 5. What is depicted in Chapter 5 is very different from the scene painted in Chapter 17 which we will come to at the right time. I am just saying at this point that there is a difference between the translations in the way they handle this list in chapter 17 but that does not need to concern us at this point. This Gem is the last in the series Tribe, Language, People, Nation – Does it Matter?
The trouble with kingdoms of heaven on earth is that they’re liable to come to pass, and then their fraudulence is apparent for all to see. We need a kingdom of heaven in Heaven, if only because it can’t be realized.
Malcolm Muggeridge
A kingdom founded on injustice never lasts.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca
The whole point of the kingdom of God is Jesus has come to bear witness to the true truth, which is nonviolent. When God wants to take charge of the world, he doesn’t send in the tanks. He sends in the poor and the meek.
N. T. Wright
The doctrine of the Kingdom of Heaven, which was the main teaching of Jesus, is certainly one of the most revolutionary doctrines that ever stirred and changed human thought.
H. G. Wells