One of the challenges to understanding the fallen state of mankind is to comprehend the depth of the fall. A major lesson of the Old Testament is to reveal the complete inability of mankind to ever be able to do enough good works to be acceptable with God. This was one of the apostle Paul’s points in his argument on human depravity in Romans. He said:

. . . all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
(Romans 3:23 ESV)

The classical Christian view of total depravity is that mankind is salvifically impotent in all his faculties—mind, will, and emotions. This means that man can not self-save from the penalty of sin and death, rather mankind needs a savior.

Because of his mercy, God provided a savior—Jesus. The first clear mention of this is in Genesis 12:3 (see above), which the apostle Paul interpreted as a prophetic declaration of the gospel of the grace of Christ (Galatians 3:8), that is, salvation by faith. The Old Testament story is largely preparatory revelation of how the prophecy of Genesis 12:3 was fulfilled in Jesus. Part of this story was how Egypt was used to preserve Jesus’ familial heritage.

Jesus was promised to be a descendant of Abraham through his son Isaac and grandson Jacob. Jacob’s son Joseph was maliciously sold into slavery in Egypt by his jealous older brothers. God then strategically positioned Joseph to be the second-highest ruler in Egypt and, as such, he was responsible for food procurement and distribution. The Lord revealed to Joseph that famine was coming; he had seven years to prepare, which he did wisely. When famine came, Joseph was prepared to be the agent of salvation for his own people.

This Old Testament story illustrates how God saves from natural calamities, such as famine. God provided the land of Goshen to be a place of protection, provision, and prosperity for his people in the midst of peril.

One of today’s perils is debt. The world is awash with debt at every level—organizational, government, and personal. The mind-set that supports debt-based economics, as practiced today, is based on Keynesian economics, which is rooted in atheism. Contrary to Keynesian economics, God’s system of economics is not based on debt. Debt inherently presumes an obligation of repayment, but Keynesian economics denies the necessity of repayment. If God’s system is correct, there will be a clash between Keynesian economics and God’s system in the form of a financial reset at some point—a financial reckoning—and it will, most likely, be severe. Therefore, we need to prepare for this peril as Joseph prepared for famine. After all, the promises of God are sometimes fulfilled through a land of Goshen.

The Christian community needs to be wise enough to organize modern-day lands of Goshen that will be places of protection, provision, and prosperity for the people of God. (A more current example of a land of Goshen is the nineteeth-century Clapham community led by William Wilberforce.¹)

Here is your business tip. Kingdom management is bringing order out of chaos, that is, aligning everyone and every initiative in an organization with the will and ways of God. Management must always seek this objective with all stakeholders. One aspect of alignment with God is the prudent use of debt. Management should always be aware of the peril associated with the imprudent use of debt associated with Keynesian economics. Given the record levels of global debt, at all levels, there is looming peril. Wise management will recognize this risk and seek the Lord for wisdom to prepare for a financial reset by finding and/or establishing modern-day Goshens for the people of God.

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