DIRECT PROOF THAT THE KINGDOM IS FUTURE by Joseph Harvey Waggoner

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 14, 1874

DIRECT PROOF THAT THE KINGDOM IS FUTURE

By Joseph Harvey Waggoner

The Kingdom of God.—No. 3.

DIRECT PROOF THAT THE KINGDOM IS FUTURE.

Dan. 2:44 reads thus: “And 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.” Some of the characteristics of this kingdom we will first notice.

1. It shall never be destroyed, but stand forever. It is an everlasting kingdom—the same that Peter spoke of when he set before them the hope of an entrance into it. This is also promised to Christ in Luke 1:32, 33: “The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David; and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” Now this cannot refer to the present position of Christ on his Father’s throne in Heaven, for that cannot in any sense, be called the throne of his father David; and there will be an end to the exercise of his priestly office on the throne in Heaven, as all must admit. Probation will end, and the Lord who now pleads for sinners will come to take vengeance on the ungodly. See 2 Thess. 1:7, 8; Rev. 6:16, 17.

2. It shall not be left to other people; that is, the people who take it will possess it forever. They who possessed the preceding kingdoms passed away, and “other people” took them. But Dan. 7:18 says: “But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.” As the kingdom is eternal, so must the people who take it be immortal, else they could not possess it forever. Paul’s argument on the resurrection of the righteous makes this point clear. He says that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.” “Flesh and blood” is an expression used to indicate a corruptible, mortal state, as the context proves. The corruptible, mortal man cannot inherit an incorruptible or everlasting kingdom. But he says also, “This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality;” and this will take place at the sounding of the last trump, or, as he says again, in 1 Thess. 4, when “the Lord himself shall descend,” when “the trump of God” is heard, and when “the dead in Christ shall rise.” Then the saints of God will rise immortal; but that is the time also when Jesus says they shall “inherit the kingdom.” And that is, indeed, the first time in their existence when it will be possible for them to inherit an incorruptible, everlasting kingdom.

The following are the words of the Saviour on this subject. Matt. 25:31–34. “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory; and before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats; and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” He who is an heir does not yet inherit; when he does inherit, his heirship ceases. The saints are now heirs of the kingdom; they will inherit it when the Lord Jesus comes in his glory.

3. These testimonies prove that this is the restoration of the kingdom and throne of David, of which the prophets speak. It will not be denied that the kingdom which the God of Heaven shall set up, which shall stand forever, and fill the whole earth, will be ruled over by Jesus Christ. Again, it will not be denied that Christ is the one referred to in Eze. 21:27, as “he whose right it is,” to whom the crown is to be given. And this makes Dan. 2 parallel; that is, the setting up of the kingdom in Dan. 2 refers to the restoration of the kingdom and crown overturned, according to Eze. 21. And of course the same is referred to in Luke 1:32, 33: “The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David; and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” Now, if it could be proved that a score of kingdoms had been or would be set up, it would be no proof on this subject unless it could be shown that one was set up which bore the characteristics of that kingdom which is the subject of the scriptures here quoted. This remark will be better appreciated when we consider the following important fact:—

Jesus Christ occupies two different thrones at different times. This is clearly proved by his own words in Rev. 3:21: “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.”

An effort has been made to evade the evidence of this text by declaring that it was only one and the same throne; that it was the Father’s who gave the right of it to Christ, and then became his to give to other overcomers. And to confirm this view, reference is made to Matt. 28:18, where Jesus said, “All power is given unto me in Heaven and in earth.” But it is assuredly forcing a construction of Rev. 3: 21, to say it refers to only one throne. The obvious meaning of the text forbids it. And in regard to Matt. 28:18, if it can be shown that he, at any time, receives another dominion, after he spoke those words to his disciples, then it is already shown that the objection is invalid. On this we notice,

a. This “all power” can refer to nothing else than his right to sit on his Father’s throne, which is the throne of the whole universe.

b. On that throne he was “set down” at the time the Revelation was given to John.

c. Paul to the Hebrews, in chapters 7 and 8, shows that he is a priest after the order of Melchisedek on “the throne of the majesty in the Heavens.”

d. In Ps. 110:1, the Father says to him, “Sit thou at my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool.” Also in verse 4, we learn that his sitting on the Father’s right hand is the same that is spoken of by Paul, as a priest after the order of Melchisedek.

e. In Heb. 10:13, the apostle says he is set on the right hand of God, “from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.” Then when he is on the throne of his Father in Heaven, possessing the power spoken of in Matt. 28:18, his enemies are not yet put under his feet, but he is “expecting” it, according to the promise of the Father.

f. In 1 Cor. 15:25, it is said: “For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet.” This “reign” evidently refers to his sitting on the throne of his Father, at his right hand, till his foes are, by his Father, made his footstool, or put under his feet. It must be plain to the understanding of every one that while he is on his Father’s throne in Heaven a priest after the order of Melchisedek, he is expecting a dominion or authority different from that which he possesses on that throne. He is there as a priest; on the throne of his Father David he will not be a priest. Notice with care the harmony of the following evidences:—

The position of Christ on his Father’s throne, as priest, is for a limited time. As this will be admitted by all who believe that there is a future judgment, that Christ will come to raise the dead, that he will come to take vengeance on his enemies, there is no need to argue the point. It is proved clearly by the reading of the text which calls him to that position, “Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool.” To this, Paul also refers when he says, “For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.”

But in contrast with this is the decisive fact that Christ’s reign on his own throne, or that which he inherited from his birth, is eternal and unending. Thus the angel said to Mary, “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David; and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom THERE SHALL BE NO END.” Of his reign on his Father’s throne in the Heavens, Paul said, “Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God.” Now, if he has but one “reign,” and is to occupy but one throne, then this language is inexplicable; for, in that case, it speaks of “the end” of that of which it is said “there shall be no end;” and says he shall reign “until” a certain event, while yet that event does not indicate its termination. But, admitting that there are two thrones, one, that of his Father, on which he sits as priest until his foes are made his footstool; the other, that of David, which he takes at the close of his priesthood, and which he occupies thenceforth, forever, and all is clear and harmonious.

There is no controversy in regard to the time when he began to occupy the throne of his Father in Heaven. And he will sit thereon during the whole time of his priesthood. He was on that throne when the Revelation was given to John on Patmos, and when Paul wrote his letter to the Hebrews.

But we follow down the stream of time as marked in the Revelation, till the third woe comes upon the earth, and the seventh trumpet is sounded. Rev. 11:14–17. Of the locality or order of this trumpet there is no question. It closes up the present dispensation. It ushers in “the time of the dead that they should be judged,” and the time of giving reward to all the servants of God, which Jesus said is at the resurrection of the just, and at his coming. Luke 14:14; Rev. 22:12. Under this trumpet it is announced that “the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” Now it is by reason of their becoming his that he appears as “King of kings, and Lord of lords;” and that they are his enemies who are at that time put under his feet, we learn by Rev. 6:15: the kings of the earth hide themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of the mountains, because the day of the Lamb’s wrath is come; and also by Rev. 19:19, where the kings of the earth and their armies are gathered against the Lord Jesus and his army. This is immediately preceding their destruction.

With this agrees also the prophecy of Dan. 7:9–14, where the kingdom and dominion over the kingdoms and people of the world are

given to Christ as he is brought before the Father when the Judgment is set and the books are opened.

And again, a most decisive testimony in regard to the time and order of these events is found in Ps. 2:7–9, as follows: “The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

Ps. 110:1, shows when they will be given, to wit, when he ceases to sit at his Father’s right hand as priest; it also declares that they are his foes, and the same is shown in this text, in that he dashes and breaks them in pieces. Most decisive testimony on this subject is given by our Saviour in Luke 21:31. Speaking of the signs of his second coming, he says, “When ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.”

In the fulfillment of the prophecies the world has seen the kingdoms of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome, pass away. Rome was divided, as represented by the toes of the image in Dan. 2, and the horns of the terrible beast of Dan. 7. The “little horn” arose and did its murderous work of wearing out the saints of the Most High. Its power has consumed away, and it is near to its entire destruction. As the failing wick gives out its sudden glare just before it sinks into utter darkness, so will the papal power receive civil aid for a short time during the troubles of the coming day, and then sink into utter and eternal ruin.

The signs spoken of by our Saviour are nearly all fulfilled. We have the strongest assurance “that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand;” or, as he says again, our “redemption draweth nigh.” For this we are waiting. We hope to hear our blessed Saviour say, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom.” Until that glorious day shall appear, we still pray, “Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.” J. H. WAGGONER.