The Kingdom of Christ by Gordon F. Granger

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jul 1, 1908

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 34, No. 27.

The Kingdom of Christ.

By Gordon F. Granger

WHAT sort of a kingdom did Jesus come into the world to establish? The Socialist says: “A state of society in which all have all things in common,” that is, communism. Question the man who, like the old deists, saw in the world nothing except the beautiful; Christ to him is an enigma. Even the gay theologians of to-day fail to recognize this dark enigma of sin in the human race and Christ’s relation to those who are in bondage.

Of late a deal of comment has passed from mouth to mouth over the words of Dr. Smyth, of New Haven, who in a Christmas sermon said among other things: “It is not merely worldliness that is coming in (the church), but much religion is withdrawing itself from the church.” He indicates that these are signs of a new age.

Go where we will, we find men excusing themselves, and we all are cognizant of the fact that there is death and decay in the church. Is God’s arm shortened that these conditions exist? Has the Holy Spirit withdrawn Himself?—No! God is the same God, immutable; but poor, mutable man is at fault,—he will not hear and act. Matt. 13:15, “For this people’s heart is waxed gross.” We must come into an experience where we recognize the fact that nothing save perfect obedience to His will can save us and make us influential citizens of His kingdom. We can not trust in mere rites or machinery. False zeal on the part of the people in the days of Amos led Jehovah to say: “Come to Bethel, and transgress; to Gilgal, and multiply transgression,” because theirs was a service void of spirituality.

Christ came not into the world to take part in the bickerings and strifes of men, as the Socialists claim. “The Gospel,” as a great German scholar remarks, “is not one of social improvement, but one of spiritual redemption. Forms of government were not for Him to change; ‘Render therefore unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s.’ He came into the world realizing that man had gone astray; He came not as a Socialist, but as a Saviour, to bring men into the new and living way.”

In a lecture given by the last Bampton lecturer, St. Mary’s Oxford, he said, “I see the signs of a new religious order, the greatest the world has known, drawn from all nations and classes.” Does this mean a new Catholicism? Some of us believe we are living in the last days. We see the signs of His coming. It will be the consummation of His spiritual kingdom. We read in the word His message. Thank God for the light.

One thing we must do. We must not be deterred by the lethargy of others. Let us strive to possess the ingredients of character portrayed in Matt. 5:3-12. We must be “pure in heart;” and with this purity shall go out of our lives an influence which shall powerfully affect men. Matt. 5:13, 16.

Past history shows us that there was a time when men piled up bulls and goats and thought they were serving God. Men marched under Christian banners to fields of carnage to destroy their fellows. Men have gone out in the interest of science, and have forgotten that man is God’s masterpiece, and that it is our supreme duty to save men.

In Luther’s day, men were saying, Faith is a power vested in the church by mere outward authority. Luther went back to Paul. Paul was a runner. Faith to him was not an act but an activity. Luther caught Paul’s meaning. He said, Faith is a living, busy, active thing. We must be runners for God. Such living faith saves men.

Brethren, the doors of helpful opportunity are open before us. Christ stands calling for helpers. May we, armed by the divine panoply of God, go forward to deliver this message of truth to the world; then He shall come, and we shall hear Him say, “Well done,” and at that just bar find a joyful acceptance. GORDON F. GRANGER.