The Kingdom at Hand by James White

Pacific Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, Cal. · Apr 19, 1877

FromThe Signs of the Times, Vol. 3, No. 16.

The Kingdom at Hand.

By James White

John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, “Repent ye, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” Matt. 3: 1, 2. “Now, after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye, and believe the gospel.” Mark 1: 14, 15. And as Jesus sent forth the twelve to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, he said to them, “And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matt. 10: 6–7.

We have now reached a very important point in the discussion of this subject. Many will meet us here with the popular view that the kingdom was set up at the time of the first advent. They will use the phrase, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand,” expressed by John, Jesus, and the twelve, with force, upon the minds of those who do not study the subject in all its bearings. But, as we have shown, in no sense of the word whatever, was the kingdom set up at the time of the first advent of Christ. The words “kingdom of Heaven,” and “kingdom of God,” have but two significations: first, the plan to save men by grace; and, second, the future condition and reward of the saved. The plan of salvation, or the kingdom of grace, was instituted soon after the fall; and the reward of the saved, or the kingdom of glory, is future.

The Greek word translated “at hand,” as used by Jesus, John, and the twelve, is enggizo, and is defined by Greenfield as follows: “To approach, draw near. By metonymy, to be at hand, to impend. Matt. 3: 2; 4: 17; 10: 7; Luke 10: 9, 11; Mark 1: 15.” The immortal kingdom was not at hand, according to this definition, or the obvious meaning of the phrase, in the days of John and of Jesus. In fact, Paul warned the church at Thessalonica against the idea that the day of Christ—the day to destroy earthly kingdoms, and establish the immortal kingdom—was even then at hand. “Be not soon shaken in mind,” says the apostle, “or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.” 2 Thess. 2: 2.

The Greek word translated “at hand” in this text, is enistemi, and signifies, according to Greenfield, “to place in, or upon; to stand near, be at hand, impend. 2 Thess. 2: 2.” In their bearing upon the subject of the kingdom, there is really no difference in the signification of these two Greek words. But, does Paul contradict John, Jesus, or the twelve? Certainly he does not.

What, then, did John and Jesus mean in proclaiming the kingdom of Heaven at hand? Not, that the kingdom of grace was soon to be set up. No; that had been instituted more than four thousand years before that proclamation. Neither did they urge immediate repentance on the ground that the kingdom of Heaven was at hand in the sense of being the next universal kingdom! With this view, their fervent announcement would seem to lose its force. But their proclamation had direct reference to the wonderful manifestations of divine power and grace immediately to follow during the work of confirming the covenant; Dan. 9: 27; first, by Christ, for three and a half years, and by the apostles, Heb. 2: 3, the same period of time.

John looked forward to the ministry of Jesus, which was approved of God “by miracles, and wonders, and signs which God did by him,” Acts 2: 22, and proclaimed the kingdom of Heaven at hand. And Jesus looked forward to his own ministry, and also to that of the apostles as they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following,” Mark 16: 20, and proclaimed the kingdom of Heaven at hand. This view of the subject is sustained by the commission given by our Lord to the seventy: “Go your ways. Behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.” Luke 10: 3, 8, 9. The kingdom of God in this connection can mean nothing more and nothing less than the manifestation of divine power and grace.

And with this agree the words of Christ addressed to the worthy scribe: “And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.” Mark 12: 34. This scribe was sound in the fundamental principles of God’s government. He only needed to know Christ and the power of his great salvation, in order to enjoy all the privileges and blessings of the kingdom of grace.

The Pharisees supposed the kingdom of Israel would then be established with outward show. “And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation; neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for behold the kingdom of God is within you.” Luke 17: 20, 21. But was the kingdom within the unbelieving Pharisees? The marginal reading—“among you”—helps the case. What was then among them? Christ had just cleansed ten lepers who showed themselves to the priests, and one of them returned to give glory to God. In their midst were the wonderful manifestations of divine power and grace in the miracles of Christ; hence, he said to the Pharisees, “The kingdom of God is among you.” The work of divine grace was manifested among them.

Deception has been the work of Satan ever since he so successfully deceived Eve. He led the Jews to expect in the Messiah a ruling monarch, instead of a meek and lowly teacher, and finally the sacrifice for sinners.

At the time of the second advent, and the establishment of the eternal kingdom, the people will doubtless be under as great deception relative to the nature of the coming and kingdom of Christ, as the Jews were relative to his mission at his first advent. Then he came as the humble teacher of the people, closing his mission with giving himself a sacrifice for sinners. The Jews rejected Jesus because he did not meet their vain expectations. Satan led them to look for the coming of Messiah with outward show and grandeur, when he was to come in humility. And now that he is soon to appear the second time, in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, to raise the righteous dead, and reign in his tangible kingdom forever, Satan has the delusion prepared for the people, that Christ’s coming is spiritual, at death, at conversion, or in the outpouring of the Spirit of God. Jesus anticipates the heresies of our time, and says: “The days will come when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it. And they shall say to you, See here! or, see there! go not after them, nor follow them. 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.” Luke 17: 22–24.

In close connection with the establishment of the future immortal kingdom will be the second coming of Christ with power and great glory. This prophetic event does not have its fulfillment in a plurality of ways each differing from all the rest, as in the popular applications of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman army, to conversion and to death. These mystical applications are expressed by the words of our Lord, “See here, or see there,” while the one grand event of the second advent is illustrated by the lightning that flashes across the entire heavens.

Christ, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, in his own glory, and in the glory of the Father, attended by all the holy angels, will descend. The earth will tremble, and the heavens will blaze with glory. The voice of the Son of God will call the righteous dead from their graves, and the living righteous will be changed. These will be gathered from all parts of the earth, up to meet their descending Lord. “And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Matt. 24: 31. The saints of all ages and from all countries and nations, will be in that vast gathering. “Many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of Heaven.” Matt. 8: 11. These will be the immortal subjects of the eternal kingdom. But if this kingdom is already set up in any one church, or in all the Christian churches of our time, where are these patriarchs? Search as closely as you please among the followers of Luther, Calvin, Wesley, or Alex. Campbell, and you positively cannot find Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But when the righteous dead shall all be raised and gathered home to their everlasting rest, the prophets and saints of all ages will meet in the grand assemblage of the redeemed, and together sit down in the kingdom of God, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in their midst. J. W.