Malachi 1:5 “And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The Lord will be magnified from the border of Israel.”

God’s kingdom continues to grow at an ever quickening pace and soon will “fill the whole earth!” The most exciting part is that He is using His church to accomplish this great work. Today, as the church extends beyond its current borders, we are establishing new territory for our Lord Jesus Christ and His eternal kingdom.

From the prophecies of Malachi, we see that the children of Israel had been successfully established within their own kingdom. Safely within the borders of their promised land, the children of Israel now watched as the their southern Edomite neighbors repeatedly failed to establish their own separate kingdom. The Edomites said, “We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places”. This was wishful thinking at best! This was never going to happen. Primarily because they were “impoverished”! They had long abandoned God, their sole source of sustenance, and now they were attempting something that was completely impossible. In a similar modern day equivalent, any society that attempts to establish itself outside of the help and guidance of God will ultimately fail. We see this exemplified clearly in the chaos of our postmodern world.

God instructed the prophet Malachi to inform the Israelites to watch from their kingdom as He would disrupt every futile construction attempt began by the Edomites. God desired for the land to be inhabited, but not by the Edomites. He wanted His people to inhabit the land; the people that were obedient to Him and served Him from a forgiven and glad heart. Witnessing Edom’s destruction, the Israelites saw “The Lord...magnified from the border”. This proved to them once again that only God could establish something sustainable. God illustrated to His people that He was going to work through them in a sustainable way to grow His kingdom that would “stand for ever.” What the children of Israel learned from this experience has modern day implications for our churches as well. We represent the kingdom of God on this earth. God works through us to establish things here properly and in a sustainable manner. When we enter into a new area of lost souls, we are driving back the lies of its previous wicked ruler. A ruler that apparently has no regard for the safety and welfare of his citizens. Otherwise, we would expect that he would build his society in a way that was proven to be sustainable. When we overtake the enemies’ positions, we come with a completely new and improved system of governance. We are saying to those on the other side of God’s territory, “Let us demonstrate to you how God can successfully establish you, your family, city, and nation as a sustainable development.” Rev James Pace