THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN by B. L. Howe

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 1, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 13.

THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.

By B. L. Howe

The Saviour taught us to pray: “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”

Around the throne of God in heaven are the twenty-four divisions of the multitude of captives that Christ took with him when he ascended up on high. Matt. 27:52, 53; Eph. 4:8; Rev. 4:8. Their song day and night is, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty;” “for thou wast slain, and didst purchase unto God with thy blood men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.” Rev. 5:9, R. V.

Ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands take up the refrain, and heaven’s arches ring with, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.”

Who would not join that happy throng, where the will of God is done there in the fulness of joy? Ps. 16:11.

These who ascribe “honor and blessing to their Prince and Captain” (Dan. 10:13; Josh. 5:14) are those “that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word” (Ps. 103:20).

When the word is spoken, they fly very swiftly to do the will of Heaven. Dan. 8:16-9:21; Ps. 147:15.

When Christ came to this world as our Example and Saviour, his work was to “seek and to save that which was lost.” After he had been anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power, he came among the people declaring, “The kingdom of God is at hand.” Mark 1:15.

By the mouth of the prophet David, Christ, many years before this, had said, “I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart.” Ps. 40:8. When here among men he said: “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me.” John 4:34. “I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” John 5:30. “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.” John 6:38. “I do always those things that please him.” John 8:29. Thus we see, in the life of Christ, the will of God done as it is in heaven, and so he could say to the people, “The kingdom of God is at hand;” and again, “The kingdom of God is among you.” Luke 17:21, margin. It comes not with outward show (verse 20, margin), but, as the grain of mustard seed silently becomes a great plant, so the kingdom of God—Christ in you—reigns until every enemy is put down, and the will of God is done by the believer as it is done in heaven.

The King of this kingdom is love. His disposition is to treat all his subjects better than they deserve. Micah 7:18. And he invites even the rebels against his government to come to his “throne of grace” and obtain this same disposition (Heb. 4:16), and then let it reign in us (Rom. 5:21), that the will of our King may be done in us as it is done in him—in heaven.

How much better to come to this throne for wisdom to turn from sin, and for power to bring sinners to repentance, than to present our petitions to the Legislatures of States or nations, to earthly kings or emperors!

Whosoever will, let him come to the throne of grace, and learn that the kingdom of God is indeed like a king that would take account of his servants. Matt. 18:23-35. In the beginning of the reckoning the chief debtor was brought. He had nothing wherewith to pay. Only bondage and torment for himself and family were offered. He prostrated himself before his Lord and plead for mercy, and was not given time to pay, but freely forgiven the whole debt.

When God pronounced the earth and all that was therein “very good,” and crowned it with Eden beauty, and gave it all to Adam to enjoy, and then took his greatest delight in being with man (Prov. 8:31), to show him how to get the most pleasure out of all God had given him, what more could he have done? How could the one who held the dominion incur a greater debt than by giving himself and his beautiful home over to rebellion and destruction? Then when he asked to be forgiven, the Lord not only freely forgave, but arranged to buy all back, pay the price himself, and give it all to man again.

Surely here is love. He loved his own, and in the cross of Calvary we have the pledge, loves to the end—to the uttermost (John 13:1, R. V., margin), and he is able and willing to forgive and to save every son and daughter of Adam who will come unto him (Heb. 7:25); for he will turn none away (John 6:37).

What the Lord of all wants us all to do just now is to come to this throne and obtain this same infinite desire to treat all our fellow-creatures with the same everlasting love that flows like a river from the heart of our King. God wants us to take our hands off from the throats of our fellow-servants, and treat them as Jesus Christ does. 1 John 2:6.

God would have us know that he loved us so much that he invested his life in Christ in each one of us. He did this when we were all rebels. Rom. 5:8.

Now what God wants, and the only thing he wants, is for every man and woman to seek to restore his image in every one for whom and to whom he has given his life. Matt. 20:28; Col. 3:10. B. L. HOWE.