The Next Universal Kingdom
By Tyler E. Bowen
It Will Be Literal, and Stand Forever—An Ancient Prophecy Concerning It—All Earthly Kingdoms Go Down Before It Since nations began to form, they have waged battles to determine the boundary lines of their territory. They fight to increase their territory, or to maintain that already possessed. A kingdom is dependent upon subjects and territory. The Bible clearly states that just ahead, ere all the generation now living shall pass off the stage of action, another universal kingdom shall be ushered in. Not that this kingdom will begin its reign here then; but its King comes to get His subjects, and make desolate all other kingdoms by making desolate the earth itself. That kingdom will be as literal as any universal kingdom of the past. There will be a literal King,—a Man once born into our world, a Man as well as God, being the Son of God; literal subjects,—men, women, and children, the same as have composed other kingdoms of earth, yet changed into saints; and likewise territory as literal and tangible as has formed any kingdom upon the earth—this very same earth upon which we now live, rebuilt into its Edenic state. And when this new kingdom shall be set up here on this earth, one thousand years and more hence, it will not be supplanted by another. It shall remain forever. SPIRITUAL THINGS NOT VISIONARY
The moment one refers to spiritual things, which are not now seen, that moment many minds at once wander blankly into space. They think something like this: “Oh, how do you know? We can see what we now have. These things about us are real; but as to some future state—a heaven to which you refer—all that seems visionary, unreal, and far off. We prefer clinging to what we know we now have, that we can sense and feel, and let the future take care of itself.” Thousands reason like this. But such reason very foolishly. They are wonderfully shortsighted. The things that now are, are transient, and soon to pass away; while the things that are not now seen, are as literal as are the things about us, and these shall, when they come, continue to all eternity. The very truth of it is, these things that we now see, are really the visionary, the unreal, the most transient and easily to pass away from us of all things in the realm of human thought; while those which are just ahead are of all things that the mind can contemplate the most literal, the most tangible, the most enduring. Twenty-five hundred years or more ago, the Infinite One, the Framer of all worlds, including the earth, opened up to the mind of the prophet Daniel the history of the earth from that time until the years of eternity should measure off the cycles of its enduring history. Hear these words outlining the purpose of Jehovah concerning the earth: “These great beasts [that Daniel had seen in a vision], which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.” Dan. 7:17, 18. Notice how lightly God speaks of the four kings arising “out of the earth” as compared with the reign of “the saints of the Most High” who are to possess the same kingdom, the same territory over which these four universal kings ruled, and that their possession, or reign, was to continue “forever, even forever and ever.” After Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome (for these are the four kings mentioned), with their mighty world sway, have all been swept away—all become like a tale that is told, a watch in the night forever past—then on and on and ever on, so long as the Most High Himself shall exist, the kingdom of the saints shall literally continue, and be possessed by them. Ah, which then will be the visionary, the far-away, and unreal? The eternity of the past is as far away as the eternity of the future. But in never-ending delights, the ever-present present shall be within the grasp of the dwellers of that real country, that real home, “even forever and ever.” REVEALED TO NEBUCHADNEZZAR
To Nebuchadnezzar, the first monarch to wield the scepter over the whole earth, the Most High revealed the same future history of the earth. And of the time when the fourth kingdom should become old, crumbling with age, even as iron and clay reveal weakness, we read this: “Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.” “In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.” Dan. 2:34, 35, 44. SOME FACTS ABOUT THE FIFTH EARTH KINGDOM
These are very important statements. From them we learn: (a) that the God of heaven brings to an end these earthly kingdoms which we think are so tangible and real; (b) that they are all consumed together; (c) that the instrument used to smite these wicked kingdoms becomes like a mountain, and fills the whole earth; (d) that this fifth kingdom, as literal and real as the others, shall have no end. When is it that God smites these kingdoms? and what is the stone? Their being smitten and broken is one event, their being carried away is another. “And I saw,” writes the apostle John, “heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns; and He had a name written, that no man knew, but He Himself. And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His name is called the Word of God. [“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” John 1:1, 14.] And the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations: and He shall rule them with a rod of iron: and He treadeth the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords.” Rev. 19:11-16. The second coming of Jesus Christ in power and great glory is depicted in the above scripture. Just prior to that event, a special resurrection will take place (see Dan. 12:2), in which representatives from past generations will be raised, some to be saved, and some who will not; and all these witness that majestic scene. The nations will then be smitten by the Stone, Christ; and from His mouth will go forth the word—the “sword”—before which the ungodly cannot stand. At that time, the earth will be broken down at the presence of the Lord. Isa. 24:19, 20. The earth will be turned, so to speak, upside down. There will be left no inhabitant in it. The cities thereof will all be broken down. Truly the nations will then be smitten. WHEN NO PLACE IS FOUND FOR WICKED NATIONS
But it will be one thousand years after Christ’s second coming that these four kingdoms shall all be consumed together, and no place found for them any more. They have made the saints transients in the earth. They have persecuted them, sawn them asunder, made them wander in sheepskins and goatskins, while they themselves acted as though they possessed the whole earth, and were to have possession forever. Then, at the end of the one thousand years, by the voice of Jesus Christ, all the unsaved Babylonians, Medo-Persians, Grecians, and Romans will be brought out of their graves, and be together here before their Judge, and again see these very ones whom they have persecuted. It is at that time that the wicked are to become like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind, figuratively speaking, is to carry them away, “that no place” is “found for them.” They will then become the offscourings of the earth, as they have made the saints to be; and a whirlwind of fire from God in heaven will burst in upon them, and they will be consumed from off the earth. Literally there will be no place9found for them any more. The earth is not theirs, they have no other dwelling place prepared for them, and consequently they must cease to exist. A REAL PLACE PREPARED FOR THE SUBJECTS OF CHRIST’S KINGDOM
But with the people of God it is not this way. Jesus said: “Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again, and will receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” John 14: 1-3, A. R. V. Just as literally as Peter, James, and John, and the others listening that day to Jesus, were men; just as literally as they were sitting in an upper room in Jerusalem; just as real and tangible as was Jesus, their divine Lord, telling them these things,—likewise real and tangible and visible are the place He has prepared—that glorious city above, which shall come down upon this earth of ours—and the people who shall be the dwellers there. And as literal shall be the reign, in much splendor and glory, of the fifth and last kingdom, soon to be ushered in, to occupy the earth, as has been the reign of these kingdoms we know. Who would not want to be there? The King has invited you to become one of His subjects in that glorious kingdom just ahead. Will you accept His invitation?