An Eternal Kingdom Promised—Events Show It to Be Near
By William H. Edwards
“Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Luke 12: 32. To some, this declaration of Jesus appears only poetic. But taken in connection with many of the strong prophetic utterances of the Word, it comes within the range of the real and the believable.
Apparently Impossible
To look at the little handful of followers of Christ as compared with the vast world of unbelievers, certainly there seems, from a human view, that no kingdom is waiting for them. Theirs is the privilege of living a life of sacrifice, abstinence from the expensive pleasures of the world that the majority feel to be so needful to happiness; and they must always set an example of righteousness and dignity to represent properly the religion of the Saviour. Of course to the Christian these are not irksome duties, but joyous privileges; but to the worldly onlooker, such a life may seem to be nothing to be coveted.
Was the Lord falsifying to His children? At the time the promise was made, He did not own a kingdom, and was one of the poorest of earth’s citizens, and as He said, had “not where to lay His head.” Yet He said to342them, notwithstanding these appearances, You are to have a kingdom.
It is not the nature of our kind heavenly Parent to make meaningless promises, and hold out to the oppressed children of men hopes that He could not or did not intend to fulfill.
The God of Heaven Sets Up a Kingdom
Dan. 2: 44 says, “In the days of these kings [the fragmentary parts of the fourth and last universal kingdom] shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed.” And Dan. 7: 17, 18 states: “These great beasts, which are four, are four kings [or kingdoms], 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.”
Again, verses 21 and 22: “I beheld,” says the prophet Daniel, “and the same horn [kingdom] made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.”
But how are the children of God to secure the kingdom? For, says Paul, “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal.” 2 Cor. 10: 4. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but . . . against spiritual wickedness”—margin, “wicked spirits.” Eph. 6: 12. And Jesus said, “All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.” Matt. 26: 52.
Gained by Endurance
God gave to ancient Israel the land of their enemies; but they had to fight for it, and He gave them the victory. In the last days, the kingdom is promised; but this time, the children of God do not fight, but simply endure and are patient while God fights for His church.
“Therefore wait ye upon Me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for My determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them Mine indignation, even all My fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of My jealousy. For then will I turn to the people a pure lip [margin], that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent.” Zeph. 3: 8, 9.
Events That Reveal It
Turning to Luke’s gospel, the twenty-first chapter, we discover specifications which enable us to determine that the age in which we find ourselves living is in the end of time. Christ spoke of wars and commotions that would occur, but charged His disciples not to be terrified, for these things must first come to pass. Nation should rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, but the end is not distinguished by that alone.
He stated further that there would be great earthquakes in many places. This prediction has been and still continues to be fulfilled; for from sixteen earthquakes in 1,700 years prior to the advent of Christ, the number has increased to 120,000 in the last fifty years, occurring in all parts of Europe, in the United States, Mexico, South America, Central America, Asia, Africa, and the islands of the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean. Two thousand occurred in the year 1907, and they are felt now at the rate of eighty-two a day, or thirty thousand a year. It is estimated that there have been six million earthquakes since the Christian era began. Still the end is not yet, and the record of the Scriptures is that these are but the beginnings of sorrows.
The best evidence that the kingdom is in sight is the moral condition of the world today, approximating if not exceeding that of Sodom and Gomorrah in God-defying effrontery to commit all kinds of sin. Satan, the great author and agent of sin and rebellion, has been properly uncovered before the angels and the inhabitants of the unfallen worlds through the wickedness he has caused men to commit. To prolong time much further would but add to the misery of the miserable, and accomplish no good; so God promises that “He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.” Rom. 9: 28.
“In the Days of These Kings”
Referring again to Daniel’s prophecy, God says that “in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom.” What kings is He speaking of?
John says, in the Revelation, the seventeenth chapter and the tenth verse, that there are seven kings, or forms of kingdoms, shown in his vision as being controlled by a church power under the appearance of a woman. This generation has to deal with the eighth head (verse 11), which is of the seven, and this eighth beast is the one that goes into perdition.
Can we locate that power characterized by the eighth beast? It is described by the prophet in his own words as one that he saw, and then he did not see it, and again he did see it. What power has played such a part as this since the establishment of the Christian church? Only one—papal Rome, existent, then for two years nonexistent, and then reestablished—receiving the death stroke in 1798, and starting again into new life in 1800. This can be no other than the deadly wound that was healed. Rev. 13: 3.
It is believed that the deadly wound was inflicted when General Berthier, of the French army, took the pope, Pius VI, prisoner, in 1798, and he died in exile at Valence, France, August 29, 1799. But the healing process was begun when the papacy was reestablished in 1800; and it will be healed when she can use the words prophesied in Rev. 18: 7, “I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.”
The Kingdoms Unite Their Power
This “king maker,” for whom is claimed the power to dethrone or set up princes at his will, may again have the deciding voice in the formation of a map in the Old World. The line of demarcation of the original ten kingdoms of Europe into which the Roman Empire was divided by the hordes from the north, later reduced to seven by the uprooting of the three Arian kingdoms by the “little horn” power which took their place, has been so changed or obliterated as to be unrecognizable to-day; but these kingdoms served as landmarks in history long enough to verify prophecy referring to the past. But however much those kingdoms have been or may become changed, merged, or obliterated, ten kingdoms belonging to that church power will exist contemporaneously with the beast for one hour, or a brief time, in the end of the world; and Rev. 17: 13, 14 states that these ten kingdoms give power and strength to the beast, and are of one mind to make war with the Lamb.
They make war with the Lamb when they interfere with His business on earth, His church, His people. But the record says that the Lamb shall overcome them; for He is Lord above lords, and King above kings. The ten kingdoms belonging to this beast power very soon learn the falsity of their ground, and hate the church kingdom, and make her desolate and naked, and eat her flesh, and burn her with fire; for God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His will, and give their kingdom to the church power, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the last verse of the chapter says that the woman John saw sitting on the scarlet colored beast full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns, is that church which looked to the prophet like a great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.
“Come Out of Her”
The call is now sounding all over the world, by voice and pen, to “come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.” Rev. 18: 4, 5.
The time is here when the statement of Rev. 13: 8 is fast fulfilling, that “all that dwelt upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Millions upon millions who never intend to unite with Rome are intimidated by her, and must eventually be swept into her fold. But the statement of God’s word is still sure, that the saints possess the kingdom, those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
That the time for the saints to take possession of the kingdom is near at hand is proved by wars; many and great earthquakes; distress of nations, with perplexity, and men’s hearts failing them for fear of what is coming next; the poor increasing in number and wretchedness, while great fortunes they have helped to amass are held by a few; evil men and seducers waxing worse and worse, and increasing vastly in numbers, so that it is dangerous to life to have wealth or beauty, and men stealers and women stealers are everywhere to entrap and to destroy.
Thinking men, who are not Christians, admit and declare that the world is becoming so wicked that it must fall to destruction by its own weight of evil, unless some power for good shall soon turn the tide, and the current flow in an opposite direction. But the student of the Bible, the child of faith, knows that343this frightful condition is portentous of the end, when the time is ripe that the saints are to possess the kingdom.
Fear not, little flock; for, says Christ, it is a pleasure for your Father soon to give you the kingdom.
