God's Plan

[ClaytonB]

I know nothing about Drake as a person. In his heart, he might be the biggest demon or the greatest saint, only God knows that. So I'm not sharing this music video to focus on Drake in respect to the philanthropy shown in this video. Instead, I want to focus on a larger pattern/symbolism:

“And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians.” (Exodus 3:21,22)

The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. The Lord had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians. (Exodus 12:35-36)

When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. (Deuteronomy 6:10-12)

The story told in the music video is that nearly $1M had been budgeted by the studio for the production of this video but, instead of producing a standard music-video, Drake chose to give the money away and produce a shoestring budget video about those acts of philanthropy instead.

This story is a portrait-in-miniature of the Kingdom of God -- "How can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house." (Matthew 12:29) The strong man being plundered is Satan (see context), and this is the pattern on which the Kingdom itself operates. The wicked themselves live off of the proceeds of plunder, so God plunders them to reward the righteous -- he permits them to build vast wealth and public works to feed and sustain themselves, then he seizes everything they have built and gives it to the righteous.

The key distinction between the grand arch of God's Plan and, say, the portrait-in-miniature painted in Drake's video, is that the Kingdom is not based on limited information or the skewed judgments of man -- it is based on the omniscience and infinite wisdom of God. This message is important to understand because the so-called "elites" get so much attention for their "audacity" and we're all supposed to be terrified of them, as though they have some kind of power-in-themselves. They have no power in themselves, they have no secrets -- not a single one! -- and everything they are building under the delusion that they have power in themselves and they can keep things secret from God himself is being built by the divine appointment of God himself in order to be seized and given to the righteous.

We should not confuse this divine vice-assets-forfeiture program with communism or other forms of human-directed wealth-distribution. Quite the opposite, corrupt human "wealth-redistribution" is always just robbery in fancy-robes. And it is this very form of wickedness which God plunders in his own unfathomable ways and redistributes into the hands of the righteous. In addition, even though things in this world are operating, for now, on this principle of "the wicked build, the righteous inherit", it must always be kept in mind that this state-of-affairs is completely temporary. Soon, the wicked will neither inherit nor build, they will only burn. But until then, the call of the Gospel -- God's Plan for the world -- is for the righteous to set the example of faith. Because it is faith, not philanthropy, which is building the Kingdom.

Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their work in darkness and think, “Who sees us? Who will know?” (Isaiah 29:15)

Has not the Lord Almighty determined that the people’s labor is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing? (Habakkuk 2:13)

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19-22)

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5)

Don't fear the wicked and their schemes! Fear God!