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The Sabbath-School

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Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 27, 1882

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 8, No. 17.

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The Sabbath-School.

By Ellet Joseph Waggoner

Notes on Lesson for May 6.

Two Kingdoms.

In the 17th chapter of Luke, from the 20th verse onward, the kingdom of God is the subject of consideration. The two kingdoms, the kingdom of grace and the kingdom of glory are contrasted. The Pharisees asked when the kingdom of God should come, and Christ answered that it was then among them. "Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ," and he was there in their midst. As the representative of the kingdom of grace, he was not going to assume the pomp and "outward show" which the Pharisees thought would mark the first advent of Christ. His work was so unostentatious that it could only be perceived by the changed lives of those who obeyed his teachings. "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, and canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit of God." He then told His disciples that in the days to come, when oppressed by trials, they would long for his presence. Their earnest desire for his coming would render them liable to be led astray by deceivers, who would profess to be Christ, saying, "See here; or see there." Said he, "Go not after them, nor follow them." And that they might have no doubt in their minds, he told them that his coming would be visible to all. "For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day." Previous to this, however, he would have to suffer many things, and be rejected by those whom he came to save.
Thus the two kingdoms are contrasted. The kingdom of grace was to perform its work of preparing subjects for the kingdom of glory, quietly, as the seed that is cast into the earth, or the leaven hid in the meal. But when Christ is revealed as the King of glory, it will be "in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God," bursting on their astonished gaze, vivid as the lightning flash.
E. J. W.