HOW IS THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST SET UP?
By W. N. Glenn
How the Word Is Perverted.
"THE world for Christ" is a very popular slogan in these days. It is one of the many mottoes of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and of the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor. The Christian Citizenship movement, a system of religious politics, is now being held up as the means by which this great achievement is to be accomplished. It is now so common that it has become almost a fad for the champions of this political scheme to refer to the conversion of the world as a promise of God. And in support of this alleged promise they quote from the second psalm: "I will declare the decree; 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." Verses 7, 8. There are two important points which are overlooked in using this scripture to prove that the world is to be converted to Christ, and that Christians are to take it for him by political means: (1) God said to Christ, "I [not the people] shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." (2) A great mistake is made in not quoting the next verse of the psalm, which tells what Christ is to do with the heathen when they shall have been given to him: "Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." This does not look much like their being converted before they are given to Christ; for we can hardly believe that he would treat a converted people in such a manner. The parallel of this scripture is in Daniel 2. There the kingdoms of earth are represented by a great image which Nebuchadnezzar saw in a dream. The head of gold was Babylon, the breast and arms of silver were Medo-Persia, the belly and thighs of brass were Grecia, the legs of iron were Rome, and the feet and toes of iron and clay represented the kingdoms of the world after the breaking up of the Roman Empire. Then a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon its feet, and broke it to pieces. "Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them; and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth." Daniel's interpretation of the dream calls this stone the kingdom which the God of heaven shall set up, "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." Why will the Lord break in pieces all the kingdoms of earth at his coming?—Not because they will all be converted, but, on the contrary, because they will be utterly and irretrievably turned to their own ways. "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot: they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed." Luke 17:27-30. The apostle Peter emphasizes this great truth when, speaking of the coming of the Lord, he refers back to the flood, and says, "The world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished; but the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." So when the Lord comes he will not find the kingdoms of earth in a converted state; but he will find the earth as it was in the days of Noah and Lot, full of the "vessels of wrath fitted for destruction." But what will become of all this hurrah about "taking the world for Christ"? When the masses of Christian professors shall have entered "the gateway of politics" to wire-pull for a religious government, what will become of it all? This is what the Lord says about it: "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Who, then, will have place in the kingdom of Christ?—"Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth." "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." We find the will of God in his Word. Christ was a doer of the Word, as James enjoins all of his disciples to be: "Be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." When men make hobbies of certain expressions in the Word of God, giving to them a fictitious construction, and ignoring the plain meaning as shown in the context, they can not rightfully claim to be either teachers or doers of the Word. Therefore they can not be doing the will of God, and are not prospective subjects of his kingdom. They are merely perverters of the Word. W. N. G.