God Has a Long Reach

Back in August I was driving across Missouri and saw signs for the air base where the stealth bombers are headquartered. Those bombers are amazing because they can leave Missouri, fly thousands of miles across the ocean to their target, and be back home the next day. That is a projection of power. Great powers have great reach.

I think about China. Both in time and space their power is projected. The Great Wall of China is thousands of years old. That is a vestige of former kingdoms, but it has lasted through time. That is a long reach in time and a Chinese projection of power. Today there was a story of Beijing being caught using AI to harass Chinese religious nationals here in the United States. China is crushing religion in their own country and are following it here in the States.

Greenland has been in the news recently because the United States has an arrangement that is deemed strategic. Greenland is right in the path of possible missiles from hostile governments. So, the United States is interested in having some sort of defensive network there. It has always been that great powers have great reach.

In II Chronicles 36 you read of the dissolution of the Northern and Southern kingdoms of Israel. The Assyrians conquered the Northern Kingdom, and later the Babylonians conquered the Southern Kingdom. You find a projection of power. Verse 4 says the king of Egypt made the king’s son and later the next king’s brother king of Judah. In other words, the king of Egypt was king of the king of Judah. That is a projection of power.

Second Chronicles 36:6 says, “Against him [the next king of Judah] came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon.” He also brought the vessels of the house of God to Babylon. So, you find this projection of power. First, it was Egypt and later it was Babylon.

Then, verse 22 says, “In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD God of heaven given me: and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem.” Years after the Babylonian captivity there was another kingdom and king, namely Cyrus. He sent many of those who had been taken from Judah back to their land along with provisions to begin rebuilding. He did that because God had given him power and charged him with the responsibility of how to use that power. If Egypt, Babylon, and Persia had reach, this is a greater reach than all of those. It is the God of heaven, and God has a long reach both in time and in space.

When we talk about God’s character, we often preface it with the prefix omni-, as in all, all power, all present. God is omnipotent and omnipresent. God has a long reach. That is a reason for a couple of things in my life. It is a reason to be humble. Sometimes we get so enamored with our own power and ability, but the fact is no one will remember us in a hundred years. God has a long reach in time and in space, longer than a stealth bomber and more long-lived than the Great Wall of China. God has a long reach, and that is a reason to be humble.

Second Chronicles 36 says of one of the kings of Judah, “He did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God, and humbled not himself.” Even when Jeremiah the prophet spoke to him from God, he was not humbled. Ezra 1:7 says that eventually Cyrus of Persia brought back the vessels of the house of the Lord which Nebuchadnezzar had looted. The Babylonians had taken the treasures of the house of God and offered them before their own pagan god as if to say, “Our god has given us victory over Jehovah.” That was naïve at very best. It was pride. He is not the God of some little province. God is the God of heaven. That is a reason to be humble.

God’s long reach is also a reason to be hopeful. It is a reason to be patient. Once again II Chronicles 36:12 says that this king “humbled not himself.” Verse 21 says that all that was done in regards to Judah was done “to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath.” Israel had rejected God and gone far from Him. They weren’t even keeping the basic tenets of what had been given them to do like periods of rest. The Bible says that the land kept its sabbath because it had no choice. The people were taken captive.

That captivity was long, seventy years. In Jeremiah we read of false prophets who said, “Just a few days and God will restore you to the land.” Jeremiah said, “No, occupy and pray for the peace of the land where you are, and be patient. God knows the thoughts He thinks toward you. They are thoughts of good and not of evil, but God is going to have a time of captivity.” So, God has a long reach in time and space. It is a reason to be humble and to be hopeful.

Ecclesiastes says, “Better is the end of the thing than the beginning thereof.” That means it is better to be patient than proud. There is a connection between pride and impatience. When I am impatient, I want what I want, and I want it now. Ultimately, when I get taken up with my own day, agenda, and abilities, I forget that God has a long reach across time and space. He is the God of heaven and He is also, according to Ezra 1:3, the God of Israel.

Today, I am glad He is the God of me. If you know God by faith in His Son Jesus Christ, then He is your God as well. Maybe you are tempted to be smug or impatient, but I want to encourage you that there is a God and He has a long reach.