ELDER A. T. ROBINSON, by A. T. Robinson

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 21, 1902

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 79, No. 3.

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ELDER A. T. ROBINSON,

By A. T. Robinson

GOD'S KINGDOM IN THIS WORLD.—NO. 2.

From the Call of Abraham to the Rejection of Samuel.

ELDER A. T. ROBINSON,

(Dunedin, New Zealand.)

“LIGHT is sown for the righteous.” Ps. 97:11.

“Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness.” Ps. 112:4.

“Yea, of Zion it shall be said, This one and that one was born in her. . . . The Lord shall count, when He writeth up the peoples, this one was born there.” Ps. 87:5–7, R. V.

In the great day of final reckoning, every man’s case will be decided, not by the amount of light he has had opportunity to receive, but by the response in his heart to all the light that he has received. In the darkest corner of the darkest heathen lands, wherever there is a soul that responds to the faintest glimmer of light which the Spirit of God sheds upon him, that soul will be drawn to God, and will be saved in His kingdom. There will be many saved who, never having heard the name of Jesus or the sound of the gospel, when they meet their Redeemer in the kingdom of God, will ask, “What are these wounds in thine hands? Then He shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.” Zech. 13:6.

Of old times, when darkness covered the earth, and gross darkness the people, He whose eyes “run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him” (2 Chron. 16:9), saw one faithful man, whose life shone out as a beacon light upon the surrounding darkness. “For I know him,” said the Lord, “that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.” Gen. 18:19.

ABRAHAM AS SUB-RULER.

Will God now command Abram to build an ark, in order that he may be saved from another destruction of the earth by a flood of waters? He had made a covenant with mankind never again to bring a flood of waters upon the earth, and had set the bow in the cloud as an everlasting pledge of that covenant. So, instead of destroying the inhabitants of the world again, the Lord called Abram out from his country, his kindred, and his father’s house, and promised to make of him a great nation. Gen. 12:1–3. Abraham was thus established as the third sub-ruler of God’s kingdom in this world. It was God’s evident purpose that His kingdom, under the rule of Abraham and his seed, should subdue all other nations, until that kingdom should occupy and fill the whole earth. Gen. 13:14–17. The whole earth was thus given to Abraham, as it had previously been given to Adam and later to Noah. The only thing required on the part of Abraham and his seed, in order for the complete fulfillment of every promise made to them, was obedience and loyalty to God as their king. That this promise made to Abraham and his seed contemplated the occupation of the whole earth is made clear by an inspired comment thereon, found in the New Testament, which reads as follows, “For the promise that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.” Rom. 4:13.

This promise made to Abraham (Gen. 13:14, 15), renewed by His oath to Isaac (Gen. 26:3, 4), confirmed to Jacob for a law (Gen. 26:10–15) and to Israel for an everlasting covenant (Gen. 35:9–12), is referred to in Psalm 105, in these words: “He hath remembered His covenant forever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations. Which covenant He made with Abraham, and His oath unto Isaac; and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant.”

We here invite the reader’s attention to the point stated in the article preceding this one,—that God’s one eternal purpose in the existence of the nations of the world has always been that, through the agency and protection of these nations, men might have an opportunity of seeking the Lord, and that thus might be gathered out from all nations true and loyal subjects of the everlasting kingdom of God. The Lord established one nation in the earth—the nation of Israel—as His kingdom, in the dominion usurped by Satan. His great purpose concerning this nation was that they should give the light of the knowledge of God to the whole world. “Yea, He saith, It is too light a thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.” Isa. 49:6, R. V.

A POSITION OF WORLD-WIDE INFLUENCE.

In order that the nation of Israel might be to all other nations what the Lord designed

them to be, He planted them in the very center of the earth, in Palestine,—the pivot of the then known world,—and promised to make them “high above all nations which He hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honor;” that they might be a holy people unto the Lord their God. Deut. 26:19. “And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth. And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee. . . . And thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath.” Deut. 28:1–13; see also chap. 4:6–8.

Occupying this exalted position, it was the privilege of that people to multiply, and fill the whole earth with the kingdom of God. He promised them that if they would be obedient, not one of their enemies in the whole world would be able to stand before them; and that every place where the soles of their feet should tread should be theirs for an inheritance. The Lord, referring to the great privileges forfeited by that people, speaks as follows: “My people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me. So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels. Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries. The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto Him: but their time should have endured forever.” Ps. 81:11–15.

After the sojourn of Israel in Egypt and their mighty deliverance therefrom, and their forty years’ wanderings in the wilderness, when the Lord “had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He divided their land to them by lot. And after that He gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet.” When Samuel was old, the people demanded a king, thus rejecting not Samuel, but the Lord, their king.

(To be continued.)