p. 345 | Information Wanted by Editor

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 4, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 22.

Information Wanted.

By Editor

‘EDITOR SIGNS: I read in Alexander Campbell's works, vol. 6, page 332, ‘At the time Christ taught his disciples to pray, he was himself preaching to the people, saying, Reform, for the kingdom of Heaven approaches. He dictated what is called the Lord's prayer, as a model for their use, to be repeated until the inauguration of the reign of Christ. That glorious reign began on the day of Pentecost, and inasmuch as the kingdom of Heaven has commenced—the reign of Christ has come, what propriety . . . in our use of the Lord's prayer, ‘Thy kingdom come?’’

‘Now I heard a minister say the other day that the world is growing worse; and I see by the papers that all Europe is preparing for war, building vessels, fortifications near boundary lines, and buying American iron-clads. People are making larger cannons, and almost everything of a destructive nature is being made more destructive. It seems to me that things are growing worse. If Jesus was here personally, and wished to take a boat-ride as he did anciently, he would be in danger of running into torpedoes. Earthquakes are more numerous than they used to be. Cyclones and water-spouts, ocean disasters, conflagrations, homicides, suicides, and cold-blooded murders increase as time rolls on.

‘In Luke 1:33 I read of Christ: ‘He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.’ Now if Christ has been ruling for the last 1800 years, do you think there is a prospect of a change soon taking place for the better? or do you think sin and destruction will still increase forever? If the translation in Luke 1:33 is correct, and Christ has been ruling since the day of Pentecost, what will the future be? I have been praying for a long time, ‘Thy kingdom come,’ and have been sincere in it. Have I been doing wrong? Please give me light. G. H. S.’

This whole subject is presented in full in our pamphlet entitled, ‘Refutation of the Age to Come,’ to which we refer you. But we will give a few very brief answers to your queries:—

You do right in using the Lord's prayer.
The translation of Luke 1:33 is undisputed.
The world will wax worse and worse, even in the last days. See 2 Tim. 3:1-13.
If Christ is now ruling the world, and will rule it forever, and it is growing worse, your inference is admissible that the world may grow worse and worse forever under his reign. But the affirmation of Campbell is not correct.

5. By Rev. 3:21 we learn that Christ is now on the throne of his Father as a priest (Heb. 8:1-5), in expectation of another which he calls his own throne. That which he now occupies he will resign to his Father (1 Cor. 15:24-28), because his priesthood will end, and he will come to execute judgment or take vengeance; 2 Thess. 1:7,8; Rev. 6:15-17. But his own throne which he inherits from his father David, he will never resign when he takes it. On that he will fulfill Luke 1:32, 33. This reign did not begin on the day of Pentecost, but does begin under the sounding of the seventh trumpet, under the third and last woe; Rev. 11:14-19. Of this the saints, rich in faith and loving God, are yet heirs; James 2:5; into this they have hope of having an entrance, for it is yet a subject of promise; 2 Pet. 1:1-11; and they will remain heirs until Jesus comes, when they will ‘inherit the kingdom.’ Matt. 25:31-34. We might largely extend the proofs, but this is quite sufficient to incite us to pray yet more ardently: ‘Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven.’ When this prayer is fulfilled, then, and not till then, ‘the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.’ Ps. 37:11.

Throwing the Lord's prayer in the past is only one step in this system of interpretation toward putting entirely away from us the words and teachings of Jesus. A Disciple paper, one of Mr. Campbell's followers, in answer to a question on church discipline, said that Matt. 18 was not to be applied to church matters now, as it was spoken before the kingdom was set up. A minister once preached against the Sabbath, from the text, ‘This is my beloved Son; hear him.’ After the sermon we referred him to the words of Jesus in Matt. 5, on the perpetuity of the law, and he confidently replied: ‘That was spoken before the day of Pentecost’! How, then, shall we ‘hear him,’ for all that he spoke was before the day of Pentecost? We heard a labored argument by a prominent Disciple minister in which he tried to prove that ‘the commission’ given by Christ to his apostles does not belong to the Christian age, because it was given before the day of Pentecost. Alexander Campbell, in preaching his views of the kingdom, laid the foundation for an immense amount of theological error and folly.