GOD'S KINGDOM IN THIS WORLD. From Adam to the Call of Abraham.
By A. T. Robinson
ELDER A. T. ROBINSON.
(Dunedin, New Zealand.) “For the Lord Most High is terrible; He is a great King over all the earth.” Ps. 47:2. “I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen.” Mal. 1:14. “The Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.” Dan. 4:17. “That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the Most High over all the earth.” Ps. 83:18. The preceding scriptures, and many other passages which might be cited, clearly set forth the fact that the Lord God of heaven holds the position of supreme ruler among the nations of earth. In the beginning, when the work of creation was completed, and the Creator looked with satisfaction upon His handiwork, pronouncing all “very good;” “when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy,” the dominion of this earth was given to Adam, as prince, or sub-ruler. Gen. 1:26. The garden, which “the Lord God planted . . . eastward in Eden,” was established as the capital of Adam’s dominion, and the promise was given to him, on condition of loyalty and obedience on his part, that at the touch of his hand the whole earth would be subdued and become like the garden of Eden as rapidly as his posterity should “multiply, and replenish the earth.” Through the sad story of the temptation and fall of man, we learn that Adam forfeited his position as prince of this world. All that he possessed, all his dominion, then passed over to Satan, for “of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.” Thus Satan attained to the position of “prince of this world” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; Luke 4:5-7), “prince of the power of the air.” Eph. 2:2. In giving the dominion and rulership to Adam the Lord did not relinquish His position as supreme owner and ruler of this world. “The tree of knowledge of good and evil” was placed in the garden as a test of recognition on man’s part that the whole world belonged to the Creator. When man had yielded himself, with all the dominion that had been committed to him, as the lawful captive of Satan, even then the Lord Jehovah did not relinquish His claim to the ownership and dominion of this world. He did not abandon man and his forfeited dominion, as the hopeless captive of Satan. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Messianic prophet inquires, “Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered?” The answer to this hope-inspiring question is not long delayed, for in the next verse comes the glorious response, “But thus saith the Lord, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered.” Isa. 49:24, 25. To open a door of hope, and save man from becoming the helpless, hopeless captive of Satan, a seed of “enmity” against Satan and evil was dropped into the human heart, prompting every man in this world to a better and holier service than that of the master under whose dominion he had fallen. Help was laid “upon One that is mighty,” who took upon himself man’s nature, and on his behalf, met and conquered every temptation that Satan could ever bring upon humanity. Thus sin was condemned in the flesh,—in human flesh,—and its right to rule in the human heart was overthrown. In the promise given to Adam, that the seed of the woman should bruise Satan’s head (Gen. 3:15), was the promise of the “second Adam,” who would wrest from the usurper the rulership of this world. The prophet Micah, more than three thousand years after the fall of man, strikes this note in the great plan of human redemption, in these words, “And thou, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.” Micah 4:8. This plan of salvation was put into operation immediately after the fall of man, and during the generations of the patriarchs, from Adam to Noah, all who would return to the loyalty and obedience of their King had the opportunity of doing so, and were reclaimed as subjects of the kingdom to be restored. When, as the result of Adam’s failure, “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil every day,” and that “the earth was filled with violence,” He purposed to destroy man from off the earth, save the family of one man, in whose heart the light of truth had not become extinct. With sin entirely blotted from the earth, except what might be lurking in the hearts of this one family, Noah was instated as Adam’s successor in the sub-rulership of this world. The same dominion was given to Noah which had formerly been given to Adam (Gen. 9:1, 2), with the command repeated to “multiply, and replenish the earth.” It is clearly seen by this command given to Adam and repeated to Noah, to “be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth,” that it was God’s purpose that the whole earth should finally be occupied by His people. When Noah’s posterity had apostatized from the true God, and had turned to sun worship, Nimrod, the reputed father of the sun god, boldly set at defiance the purpose of God that the whole earth should be peopled, saying, “Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” The Lord, by confounding their language, overthrew this scheme of human devising,19making it the very means of fulfilling His purpose that man should scatter abroad over the face of the earth. Be it carefully noted at this point, that in scattering men abroad, and dividing them into different nations, God’s one and eternal purpose in the existence of these nations was that they should afford men the opportunity of seeking the Lord and returning to Him as their rightful king. For this purpose the time and the territorial limits of every nation that has ever existed on this earth, or that ever will exist, was predetermined before any nation had an existence. For positive proof on this point, compare carefully the following passages: Gen. 9:19; 10:32; Deut. 32:8, 9; Acts 17:26, 27. In less than three hundred years from the time of the flood, Noah and his descendants had so utterly failed of accomplishing God’s purpose in the earth, that but one feeble torch of truth was left to shed its light upon the surrounding moral darkness. The whole world had relapsed into apostasy and idolatry.