All true Christians are being trained to be kings and priests in Christ's coming Kingdom.
Jesus said, "And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations—'He shall rule them with a rod of iron; they shall be dashed to pieces like the potter's vessels'— as I also have received from My Father" (Revelation 2:26–27). We read, "And they sang a new song, saying: 'You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth'" (Revelation 5:9–10). Most of us realize that— based on these and many other familiar scriptures—we should be preparing to rule over cities and nations under Christ in His coming world government. Obviously, then, we should also be learning the principle and practice of right judgment. For ruling and judging are definitely intertwined.
Scripture shows that God often used Moses, His human leader over the ancient Israelites, to "judge" them: "And so it was, on the next day, that Moses sat to judge the people; and the people stood before Moses from morning until evening" (Exodus 18:13). As the human leader, under Christ, Moses constantly had to make basic decisions or "judgments" about problems and disagreements among God's people: "When they have a difficulty, they come to me, and I judge between one and another; and I make known the statutes of God and His laws" (v. 16).
Making all these decisions took a lot of time and effort. So Moses' father-in-law wisely counseled him to "select" or appoint (not hold "votes" for!), "able men such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens" (v. 21).
What were these appointed leaders to do? "And let them judge the people at all times. Then it will be that every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they themselves shall judge. So it will be easier for you, for they will bear the burden with you" (v. 22).
Today, in the Living Church of God, we have a number of older, dedicated ministers who, like me, were personally trained by Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong— men such as Mr. Dibar Apartian and Mr. Richard Ames. We have been trained in, and are very familiar with, the workings of God's government in the Church as taught and practiced by Mr. Armstrong for decades, as Christ guided the Church through him for some 52 years! We deeply understand that, as Mr. Armstrong explained so thoroughly over the years, Church government is not based on politics and "voting." It is based on genuinely applying the laws of God to each situation, and— with prayer, meditation and a multitude of counsel—asking God's guidance to make right decisions on fundamental Church policies and practices. As God guides me, and through His guidance of our genuine Council of Elders—on whom I continually rely for wise counsel—we strive to follow the above described principles. We in the Living Church of God truly understand the reality of God's soon-coming government, and our need to rightly practice that government now as preparation for our future responsibilities.
We see that the Apostle Paul instructed the Church of God at Corinth to learn God's government. "Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?" (1 Corinthians 6:1–3). In verses 4–6, Paul challenged the Corinthians on why they did not, apparently, trust Christ to guide His servants to judge disputes between brethren rather than going to the courts of this world.
In Ephesians 1:19–23, Paul was inspired to tell us that the living Jesus Christ is directly guiding His Church, and that God, "Gave Him to be the Head over all things to the Church." So it is clearly Christ's responsibility to guide His ministers in judgment! Even in the Old Testament, God tells us that righteous King Jehoshaphat "set judges in the land throughout all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city, and said to the judges, 'Take heed to what you are doing, for you do not judge for man but for the Lord, who is with you in the judgment. Now therefore, let the fear of the Lord be upon you; take care and do it, for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, no partiality, nor taking of bribes'" (2 Chronicles 19:5–7).
Today, Christ leads and judges through His faithful ministers—those who preach the Truth and zealously do the Work. In Matthew, God directly instructed His people, "Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that 'by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.' And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 18:15–18).
In the New Testament, every single example of a dispute brought to the Church was handled by the ministry. So, if brethren have irresolvable disputes, they should bring these to Christ's ministry and trust Him to guide His servants to make the right judgments! This is all part of our training to become kings and priests within a comparatively few years. It is vital that we learn to genuinely trust Christ to guide His ministers who are truly doing His Work today! When King Saul of Israel disobeyed and "watered down" the instruction God gave him through His servant Samuel, God inspired Samuel's response: "So Samuel said: 'Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he also has rejected you from being king'" (1 Samuel 15:22–23).
As we all should know, the Bible is the revelation of God's mind—of the way He thinks and acts. It reveals the way He judges! So we need to trust Christ fully to lead His human servants in all kinds of "judgments" involving Church doctrine and practice.
In explaining how to keep the Sabbath and Holy Days, the Apostle Paul was inspired to tell us, "So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ" (Colossians 2:16–17).
Paul clearly instructed God's people not to let false teachers or misguided brethren direct their observance of God's Sabbaths and Holy Days, "which are a shadow of things to come." The Sabbath pictures Christ's coming Millennial Sabbath rule. The Holy Days, as we know, foreshadow the entire plan of God right up to the White Throne Judgment. So we are not to let misguided men "judge" us as to whether or how we should observe these scripturally commanded festivals. But who does make "judgments" about how to observe the Sabbath and Holy Days? Paul says, "Let no one judge you…. but the substance is of Christ."
The inspired Greek word here is not "substance," but soma—a Greek word always translated elsewhere as "body." In fact, soma is translated as "body" one chapter earlier in this very book of Colossians: "And He is the head of the body [soma], the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence" (Colossians 1:18). So it is the "body" of Christ—the Church served by its ministry—that God has designated to guide His Church in matters that require decisions to preserve unity. This would include such things as the details of how to keep the Sabbath and Holy Days—that is, which day to observe as the Passover or Pentecost, how to observe the Sabbath and Holy Days, whether it is sometimes permissible to eat out on the Sabbath, where to observe the Feast of Tabernacles at various locations, and other similar matters.
As you can see, if each individual member "decided for himself," where and when and how to keep God's festivals, for instance, tremendous confusion would result! Remember: "God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints" (1 Corinthians 14:33).
So it is vital for the unity in God's Church and for our training as future kings and priests that we all learn now to genuinely trust Christ to guide His Church in all these matters. It is the responsibility of the ministry to make "binding and loosing" decisions regarding divorce and remarriage problems, how to apply God's statutes in today's society regarding first, second and third tithe administration, and other such matters important to His Church.
It all goes back to the need to develop genuine faith that Christ is alive, that He is the actual living "Head" of the Church and that He will guide His ministers in making all of these "judgments." Brethren, as we prepare for the very real government of God soon to be set up on this earth, let us truly grow in our faith in God's ability to guide His true servants in His government— now and forever!