Untitled article by J. C. Ryle

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Third-day, October 15, 1867

FromThe Advent Review & Sabbath Herald, Vol. XXX, No. 18

THY KINGDOM COME.

By J. C. Ryle

Reader, I dare say you have often heard those words, “Thy kingdom come.” They are part of the Lord’s prayer. Perhaps you have often used the words yourself. But did you ever consider what the words mean?

Reader, the subject is one about which many mistakes prevail. It is one about which it is most important to your own comfort to have clear views. Give me your attention, while I try to explain to you the kingdom of God.

I ask you then to understand, that Jesus Christ will come back again to this world one day, and reign over it as a king. He shall return with power and great glory in the clouds of heaven, and the kingdoms of this world shall all become His. And then shall be fulfilled the words of the Lord’s prayer, “Thy kingdom come.”

Then He intends “to execute judgment upon all the ungodly” inhabitants of Christendom—“to burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire”—and “in flaming fire to take vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel.” (Jude 15; Matt. iii, 12; 2 Thess. i, 8.)

Then He intends to raise His dead saints and gather His living ones, to gather together the scattered tribes of Israel, and to set up an empire on earth, in which every knee shall bow to Him, and every tongue confess that Christ is Lord.

When, how, where, in what manner, all these things shall be, we cannot say particularly. Enough for us to know that they shall be. The Lord Jesus has undertaken to do them, and they shall be performed. As surely as He was born of a pure virgin, and lived on earth thirty-three years as a servant, so surely He shall come with clouds in glory, and reign on earth as a king.

Reader, I charge you to settle it down in your mind, that Christ is one day to have a complete kingdom in this world,—that his kingdom is not yet set up,—but that it will be set up in the day of His return. Know clearly whose kingdom it is to be one day: not Satan the usurper’s, he is to be cast out: when the Lord Jesus returns in person, and not before. Know these things clearly, and you will do well.

Know these things clearly, and then you will not cherish extravagant expectations from any church, minister or religious machinery in this present dispensation. You will not marvel to see ministers and missionaries not converting all to whom they preach. You will not wonder to find that while some believe the gospel, many believe not. You will remember that “the days are evil,” and that the time of general conversion is not arrived. Alas! for the man who expects a millennium before the Lord Jesus returns! How can this possibly be, if the world in the day of His coming is to be found as it was in the days of Noah and Lot? (Luke xviii, 26–30.)

Know these things clearly, and then you will not be confounded and surprised by the continuance of immense evils in the world. Wars, and tumults, and oppression, and dishonesty, and selfishness, and covetousness, and superstition, and bad government, and abounding heresies, will not appear to you unaccountable. You will not relapse into a state of apathy and disgust when you see churches full of imperfections, and theologians making mistakes. You will say to yourself, The time of Christ’s power has not yet arrived,—The Devil is still working among his children, and sowing darkness and division broadcast among the saints,—the true king is yet to come.

Know these things clearly, and then you will see why God delays the final glory, and allows things to go on as they do in this world. It is not that He is not able to prevent evil,—it is not that He is slack in the fulfilling of His promises,—but the Lord is taking out for himself a people by the preaching of the gospel. (Acts xvi, 14. 2 Peter iii, 9.) The Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Once let the number of the elect be gathered out of the world,—once let the last elect sinner be brought to repentance, and then the kingdom of Christ shall be set up, and the throne of grace exchanged for the throne of glory.

Know these things clearly, and then you will work diligently to do good to souls. The time is short. “The night is far spent. The day is at hand.” The signs of the times call loudly for watchfulness, and speak with no uncertain voice. The Turkish empire is dying up. The Jews are cared for as they never have been for eighteen hundred years. The gospel is being preached as a witness in almost every corner of the world. Surely if we would pluck a few more brands from the burning before it is too late, we must work hard, and lose no time.

Know these things clearly, and then you will be often looking for the coming of the day of God. You will regard the second advent as a glorious and comfortable truth, around which your best hopes will all be clustered. You will not merely think of Christ crucified, but you will think also of Christ coming again. You will long for the days of refreshing, and the manifestation of the sons of God. (Acts iii, 19; Rom. viii, 19.) You will find peace in looking back to the cross, and you will have a joyful hope in looking forward to the kingdom.—J. C. Ryle.