p. 9 | The Book of Daniel by Editor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Jul 23, 1908

The Book of Daniel

By Editor

The Gospel of the Kingdom

THE EDITOR

By the incarnation of Christ, provision was made for establishing the everlasting kingdom of God upon earth. By taking our flesh, the eternal Son established in himself a personal union between divinity and humanity, and brought the gift of eternal life within reach of every member of the human family through his fellowship with Christ. This is the fundamental truth in the gospel of the kingdom, which is set forth with clearness in various scriptures. Thus we read: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.” “That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we beheld, and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life (and the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare unto you the life, the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us); that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you also, that ye also may have fellowship with us: yea, and our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.” “By his life and his death, Christ has achieved even more than recovery from the ruin wrought through sin. It was Satan’s purpose to bring about an eternal separation between God and man; but in Christ we become more closely united to God than if we had never fallen. In taking our nature, the Saviour has bound himself to humanity by a tie that is never to be broken. Through the eternal ages he is linked with us. ‘God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.’ He gave him not only to bear our sins, and to die as our sacrifice; he gave him to the fallen race.

To assure them of his immutable counsel of peace, God gave his only begotten Son to become one of the human family, forever to retain his human nature. This is the pledge that God will fulfil his word. . . . In Christ the family of earth and the family of heaven are bound together.” This is the mystery of the kingdom of God; and the secret which was revealed to Daniel in the night vision was the outworking of this divine principle in the establishment of the everlasting kingdom of God.

That which distinguishes the fifth kingdom from those which preceded it is found in the remarkable statement, “It shall stand forever.” Daniel foretold to King Nebuchadnezzar the downfall of his own kingdom, the rise and fall of three successive kingdoms after his, and then the setting up of the kingdom “which shall never be destroyed.” Evidently this everlasting kingdom is to be set up here upon the earth, and, plainly, its subjects are composed of members of the same human family as composed the four preceding kingdoms. The good news of this wonderful fact and how it is to be accomplished, constitutes the great theme of the gospel of the kingdom.

The Promises to David

Through the prophet Nathan promises were made to David which bear the closest relation to that which was revealed in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. The word of the Lord came thus: “Moreover Jehovah telleth thee that Jehovah will make thee a house. When thy days are fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, that shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. . . . And thy house and thy kingdom shall be made sure forever before thee: thy throne shall be established forever.” Here the house of David and the kingdom of David are joined together in the same promise, and the everlasting continuance of both is assured. In his response to this wonderful message, David in his prayer to Jehovah said: “And now, O Jehovah God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, confirm thou it forever, and do as thou hast spoken. And let thy name be magnified forever, saying, Jehovah of hosts is God over Israel; and the house of thy servant David shall be established before thee. For thou, O Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee a house: therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee. And now, O Lord Jehovah, thou art God, and thy words are truth, and thou hast promised this good thing unto thy servant: now therefore let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue forever before thee; for thou, O Lord Jehovah, hast spoken it: and with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed forever.”

The Blessing of Forgiveness

That which prevents the continuance of any house, or family, is death. The cause of death is sin. “Through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin.” “The wages of sin is death.” The eternal Son of God joined himself to the human family as the Son of David, and became one with its members in all experiences common to humanity, but without sin. He was, therefore, able to establish, or build, a house, or family, which should continue forever. But the condition of membership in this house, or family, must be freedom from sin. This is the blessing for which David prayed, in asking, “Let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue forever before thee.” This was the blessing vouchsafed to Abraham in the gospel promise concerning which the apostle Peter declared to the people: “Ye are the sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up his servant, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.” Concerning this same blessing of freedom from sin, David declared: “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom Jehovah imputeth not iniquity.”

The Priest-king

It is thus evident that in establishing a house, or a kingdom, which shall stand forever, provision must be made for the removal of sin and for the destruction of the enemy, death; and the head of this family, or kingdom, must be both priest and king—a priest-king. Of the kingship of the eternal Son there is abundant evidence. Of him Jehovah says: “Yet I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.” And the psalmist continues: “I will tell of the decree: Jehovah said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.” Pilate, therefore, wrote better than he knew when he placed upon the cross the title, “The King of the Jews.” Of the priesthood of the Son, it was declared through David, “The Lord sware, and will not repent: thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” The great difference between this priesthood and that exercised by the sons of Levi is disclosed in these words: “And they indeed have been made priests many in number because that by death they are hindered from continuing: but he, because he abideth [continueth] forever, hath his priesthood unchangeable.” The practical meaning of his everlasting continuance in its relation to salvation from sin is further declared: “Wherefore also he is able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”

A Brief Summary

The facts concerning the setting up of the everlasting kingdom may be briefly summarized thus: (1) The eternity of the kingdom depends upon the eternity of the being of the Son of God, the head of the kingdom; (2) the eternity of the kingdom involves the gift of eternal life to the subjects of the kingdom; (3) eternal life is brought within the reach of the human family by the gift of the eternal Son to become one with the human family; (4) the Son is able to establish the house, or kingdom, which will stand forever, because of his victory over sin and death; (5) the members of this household, or kingdom, must be freed from sin, since sin means death, and death would prevent the continuance of the house, or kingdom; (6) the blessing of the forgiveness of sin is made possible through the gift of the eternal Son; (7) eternal salvation from sin is ministered through the priesthood of him who “abideth [continueth] forever,” and “ever liveth to make intercession.” This is the outline of the gospel of the kingdom. Not one of these essential facts can be set aside without vitiating that gospel. To deny the incarnation, or to reject the gift of life only through Christ, or to refuse the benefits of his atonement, or to take away his ministry as priest, perpetuates sin, and prevents the setting up of the everlasting kingdom.

Building on the Rock

From what has been stated, the conclusion will be readily drawn that the house of David, which was to be established forever, is the house of God; and the apostle Paul defines “the house of God” as the “church of the living God.” Concerning the building of this house, or church, of God, and its everlasting continuance, we learn from the words of Jesus: “Now when Jesus came into the parts of Cæsarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Who do men say that the Son of man is? And they said, Some say John the Baptist; some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But who say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven. And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter [Gr. Petros], and upon this rock [Gr. petra] I will build my church; and the gates of Hades [i. e., death] shall not prevail against it.” That which enables the house of God, the church, to triumph over death, and to continue forever, is the fact that its members are the members of the body of him, who, while the Son of man, is also “the Son of the living God;” and in this mystery of the incarnation is found the secret of the everlasting continuance of those who have responded to the call “into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Grace and Glory

We must now distinguish between the kingdom of grace and the kingdom of glory. The kingdom of grace was established when the gospel was first proclaimed in the promise of the seed that

should bruise the serpent’s head. The kingdom of glory will be established when all the tribes of the earth “shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” It was the establishment of the kingdom of glory which Daniel predicted in the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, and for this the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom is the preparation. “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony unto all the nations; and then shall the end come.”

No Temporal Millennium

The time of the setting up of the kingdom was not definitely stated by Daniel, further than that it should be “in the days of those kings.” The attention of Nebuchadnezzar was directed to what shall be “in the latter days,” and the great fact announced in the interpretation of the dream was that in those latter days the God of heaven should set up a kingdom, which should stand forever. The more definite time when this kingdom would be set up must be learned from other prophecies. It is plain, however, that it is not to be accomplished by a slow process, in which truth is gradually to supersede error, and righteousness is little by little to take the place of sin. Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and its interpretation positively forbids any such view as this. The stone “smote the image upon its feet.” The result was that “then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, so that no place was found for them.” Corresponding to this description are the words of the psalmist: “Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Those conditions will be met not in the gradual conversion of the world, but in the sudden destruction of the nations that have rejected God.

In the face of such predictions there is no place found for a temporal millennium. It is not declared that the gospel will be preached to convert the world, but “for a testimony unto all the nations;” and according to the statement of the apostle Paul, “When they are saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them.” This destruction is foretold by the apostle Peter in these words: “The day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” The conversion of the world is a false hope. The destruction of the world at the second advent of our Lord is an impending event, in harmony with Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.

In This Generation

In this day, when the essential principles of the gospel of the kingdom are being denied, and the gospel of “civic righteousness” is being substituted for it, there is great need that the dream of Nebuchadnezzar should be interpreted anew to all the world, and that the great truth of the setting up of the kingdom which shall stand forever should be emphasized. The people are being told that it is the true mission of the church to prepare for citizenship in this world rather than to prepare for that kingdom which the God of heaven will set up. A mighty voice should now be heard proclaiming to the remotest corners of the earth, that “the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand;” that the great event predicted by Daniel in his interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is just upon us; and that in this generation “shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which . . . shall stand forever.”