p. 1 | THE KINGDOM OF GOD

Publishing Committee · Rochester, N. Y. · May 30, 1854

THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

THERE is no subject in the whole circle of Christian literature which is more important in its bearings on the right understanding of the Bible, than the meaning of the term "The Kingdom of God." This term is sometimes used, perhaps, in reference to God's universal kingdom or government over all worlds and beings; but generally, as used in the Scriptures, it refers to a dispensation of God among men, on earth. In this work it will be my object fully to present and discuss this subject.

I. ADAM AND HIS RACE, KINGS—THIS EARTH THEIR KINGDOM.

That God made this earth for man, and man for the earth, is very clear from the account given of the creation, in the first chapter of Genesis. After the creation of all things, God saw that there was not a man to till the ground. "And God said let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowls of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." Gen. i, 26.

The evidence is here distinct, taken in connection with Gen. ii, 5-8, that the world was made for man, and man for the world. The dominion given to them constituted them kings. The territorial dominion of Adam and his progeny, was all the earth, and all that was in earth, air and sea. All was subject to him while he was subject to God; but when he rebelled against God, the whole animate creation rebelled against man; and even the elements of nature themselves, have become his enemy. Man lost the kingdom, and the devil obtained it.

Two causes concurred to deprive man of the kingdom and dominion of the world. 1. The revolt of all creatures from his authority when he sinned; and 2. His own mortality. For, had the inferior creation remained in perfect obedience, he could not continue in authority because of death. But death was not in the original plan. Death entered the world by sin. "So death passed upon all men."

II. JESUS CHRIST IS TO FILL THE PLACE OF THE FIRST ADAM.

"The first man, Adam, was made a living soul; the last Adam a quickening spirit." "The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven." 1 Cor. xv, 45, 47. The first Adam having lost the earth, together with his life, the second Adam came to purchase and restore both the one and the other. Thus the apostle, in Eph. i, 13, 14: "In whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession." Heaven, the heaven of heavens, was never under the dominion of any other but the God of heaven, that it should be purchased. But this earth was lost, and Jesus Christ has purchased and will redeem it. Adam's race were dead in law; Jesus Christ has tasted death for them, that he might bring them forth into second life from the grave; "they that have done good, to the resurrection of life; they that have done evil, to the resurrection of damnation." The one class will come forth to "everlasting life," the other to "shame and everlasting contempt." Then the dominion of Christ shall be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth.

III. THE GENTILES NOW HAVE THE DOMINION OF THE WHOLE WORLD.

In the third year of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, (Jer. xxv,) began the famous 70 years' captivity of the Jews in Babylon. In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar, he had a dream, (Dan. ii,) which none of his wise men could either tell or interpret. But Daniel, being divinely instructed, did both. He said, "Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee, and the form thereof was terrible. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them 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."

"This is the dream: and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field, and the fowls of the heaven, hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all." Dan. ii, 31-38.

The universality of a kingdom could be no more strongly asserted in human language than is this dominion of the king of Babylon. No spot on the round globe, where an animate being dwells, that is not included in his ample dominion. The Jews had previously enjoyed an independent government from the world; but then the Jewish and all other governments were merged in this one government. Whatever historians may say to the contrary, it is certain that, according to inspiration, God looked on that monarchy as being the head and representative of all governments on the globe. The church has never from that hour to this, either in her Jewish or Christian form enjoyed an independent government, free from dependence on or tribute to the Gentiles. Nebuchadnezzar was only the beginning of a series of just such universal monarchies.

"Thou art this head of gold." "After thee shall arise another kingdom (the breast and arms of silver) inferior to thee;" (Medo Persian; ) "and another third kingdom of brass, that shall bear rule over all the earth." This was the Macedonian kingdom, under Alexander the Great and his successors. Here is the same universality again declared as in the Chaldean kingdom.

"The fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise." This fourth kingdom is the Roman empire, and was to succeed to the same great government of the world which its predecessors had enjoyed. And to gain that empire, it was to break in pieces and bruise all the former kingdoms. The latter part of the kingdom, shadowed forth by the feet and toes which were to be of iron and clay, was to be of a divided character, partly strong and partly broken. But even in this divided and weakened state, it was to be the great leading government still.

In its last extremity, while its feet were in existence, a stone, cut out without hands from the mountain, was to smite the image on his feet, that were of iron and clay, and grind them to powder; iron, clay, brass, silver and gold together, like the small dust of the summer threshing-floors, and the wind carry them away, and no place be found for them.

The image is to be annihilated before the stone and wind; for that which has no place cannot exist. To exist, a thing must have place. Hence, that which has no place cannot exist. The governments of this globe, all of them being included in and shadowed forth by the image, will be annihilated by the fall of the stone, and leave the earth vacant or destitute of government, unless some other is provided to fill its place. The reign of these four monarchies is called by the Saviour, (Luke xxi, 24,) "the times of the Gentiles;" and by Paul, (Rom. xi, 25,) "until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in."

This image is to be destroyed, it should be observed, not by the rolling of the stone until it grinds it to powder, increasing its own size as the image decreases; or in other words, rolling up Anti christ, the image, into Christ, the stone, until it becomes a great mountain and fills the whole earth; but by dashing in pieces the image, sweeping it all away; and then by a sudden expansion, filling the earth. This process of demolishing the image and enlarging the stone, is thus explained in the 44th verse: "In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever." But if it dashes them in pieces and annihilates the Gentile kingdoms, and fills the earth which they now fill, then the two cannot be contemporaneous, but must succeed each other; the last of them to endure eternally. In examining the nature of this kingdom I shall notice—

V. CHRIST'S KINGLY CHARACTER AND DOMINION.

1. He is the promised Son and heir of David. That Christ is David's Son, and the Son of promise, and his Son "according to the flesh," is abundantly established by Peter, Acts ii, 30: "Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne." This promise and oath to David is found, 2 Samuel vii, 12, 16: "And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. And thy house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee: thy throne shall be established forever." According to these strong testimonies, David's throne and house is to be perpetuated eternally in Christ. The temporal succession of kings of David's line have failed. But the everlasting succession has not failed, nor will it; this, David foresaw, and spoke before of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither did his flesh see corruption. The same flesh that went into the tomb came up, and is now in heaven. And he has "the key of David," (Rev. iii, 7,) signifying that he only has the heirship of that house so long shut, and can open and no man shut, and shut and no man open. That house was shut when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem and carried Zedekiah captive to Babylon. God pronounced the doom thus, by Ezekiel: (xxi, 25, 27:) "And thou profane, wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end." "I will overturn, overturn, overturn it; and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him." From Zedekiah's captivity and the ruin of Jerusalem, there has been no king of David's line reigning in Jerusalem. There never will be, until he comes whose right it is, and takes the kingdom. "The Lord God will give to 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." Luke i, 32, 33. "Of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end upon the throne of David and his kingdom, to order it, and establish it, with justice and judgment, henceforth and forever."

2. His reign is to be personal and visible. This is clear from the fact that Christ is the Son of David according to the flesh, and is to sit on David's throne. That throne was on earth and at Jerusalem. And "The Lord of Hosts [is to] reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously." Isa. xxiv. 23. "The tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them." Rev. xxi, 3. Being then, a king "according to the flesh," and of David's line, and his reign being over the saints, it must be a personal and visible reign.

And for this purpose he is to come again on earth, just as he went into heaven, which was bodily and visibly; with a body of flesh and bones. Luke xxiv, 39. If it be objected to this, that Christ did not go into heaven with the same body in which he rose from the dead, but that it was spiritualized when he ascended to heaven; I reply, I shall grant it when the law and the testimony can be produced which declares it. But the Bible not only affords no intimation of such a change, but the whole tenor of its testimony is, that he went up as he arose from the grave, and will come again in like manner.

VI. THE TERRITORIAL DOMINION OF CHRIST.

1. It is to be all the territory now occupied by the great image of Nebuchadnezzar's dream.—"Wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of heaven hath he given into thy hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all." Dan. ii, 38. "A stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image."—"Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces together," "like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors, and the wind carried them away." "And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth." Dan. ii, 35. Then in verse 44, when the explanation is given, it is said, "In the days of these kings, the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever." The stone is to break these kingdoms, and the kingdom of God is to do it. Then the stone, Christ, and the kingdom of God are the same. The enlargement of the stone will be by gathering together, in the fullness of the dispensation of times, all things in him, whether they be things in heaven, or things in earth, or things under the earth, even in him. Eph. i, 10. Thus will his body be perfected and his kingdom organized. Then the meek will inherit the earth. The second Psalm is also another testimony on this point: "Yet have I set my king on my holy hill of Zion. 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." The testimony here is decisive on the point, that the Son of God is to possess the uttermost parts of the earth. He adds, "Thou shalt break them [the heathen] with a rod of iron, and shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." This is all the conversion of the heathen promised in the second Psalm.

2. The Saviour himself has taught us the same thing in Matt. xxv, 34: "Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." There was a kingdom prepared for and given to man as soon as he existed, and even before he was brought into being. That kingdom or dominion was "all the earth;" and also all that earth, air, and sea contained. Gen. i. (See Sec. 1.) The Bible furnishes us with no hint that God ever prepared any other kingdom for man when he laid the foundation of the world. This kingdom, then, Christ is to restore and give to his saints.

3. A text already noticed, (Rev. xi, 15,) teaches the same doctrine: "There were great voices in heaven, saying, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever." Numerous other texts might be presented, all showing the same thing. But these must suffice for the present.

VII. THE METROPOLIS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

1. Its locality. It is Mount Zion and Jerusalem. Ps. ii, 6. "Yet have I set my king on my holy hill of Zion." Isa. xxiv, 23. "Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously." The throne of David, which Christ is to inherit, and on which he is to reign forever, was established there, and is forever to be there. Ps. cxxxii, 11-18. "The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David, he will not turn from it, of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne. If thy children will keep my covenant, and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne forevermore. For the Lord hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest forever; here will I dwell; for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provisions; I will satisfy her poor with bread. I will also clothe her priests with salvation; and her saints shall shout aloud for joy. There will I make the horn of David to bud; I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed. His enemies will I clothe with shame; but upon himself shall his crown flourish." Nothing can be more clear and strong than this declaration of the Lord that he will dwell there forever, and the throne of David be there, and his horn (kingdom) flourish there.

2. The City. Not "Jerusalem that now is, and is in bondage with her children," but Jerusalem that is above, and is free, and is the mother of us all." Gal. iv. The "New Jerusalem, which cometh down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." Rev. xxi.

It is the city for which the patriarch Abraham looked, (Heb. xi, 10,) "which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." For this city he looked as the promised inheritance of the land of Canaan. And a city twelve thousand furlongs, or fifteen hundred miles square, as is the city described in Rev. xxi, would require all the territory promised Abraham for its location. And if all the saints of God are to "have right to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates into the city," such a city would be none too large for their ample accommodation. This is "the city of the living God;" the tabernacle of God which shall be with men, in the New Earth.

Until that time comes, Jerusalem is to be trodden down of the Gentiles, even until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled; or until the image is dashed in pieces, and no place is found for it, and the stone fills the whole earth. Then there will be a race at Jerusalem who will say, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." They will be the redeemed from the east, west, north and south, who shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in the kingdom of God; while the unbelieving Jews will be cast out into outer darkness, where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

VIII. THE SAINTS OF GOD WILL BE FELLOW-HEIRS WITH CHRIST.

The inheritance, by purchase and by promise, belongs to Jesus Christ, the Son of God. "But as many as receive him, to them he gives power or privilege to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." God sends forth the spirit of his Son into their hearts, crying Abba, Father. And the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God; and because children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ. Rom. viii.

Christ is the head, and the church the body composed of the members of Christ. He is the true vine for whom the goodly vineyard, the land promised to Abraham, and once occupied by the men of Judah, (see Isa. v,) was prepared, and to whose use it is now soon to be devoted; his believing people are the branches of that vine, and with the vine and root, or good olive tree, they will be transplanted into that holy soil, to flourish in immortal bloom and vigor forever and ever. In the explanation of the vision of the four beasts, (Dan. vii, 18,) it is said, "But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever." Also, in the 27th verse of the same chapter, "The kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High." Again, (Matt. xxv, 34,) "Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom." These constitute the seed of Abraham. "If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Gal. iii. These, too, constitute the house of Jacob, over whom Jesus Christ is to reign forever and ever. Luke i, 33. They will reign with Christ as his subjects, and assist, under him their king and head, in the government of the kingdom; and enjoy all its immunities. The kingdom will be the same as when God originally gave it to Adam and his family. They had dominion, but Adam, by virtue of his relation to them, was their superior and head; but they were all children, and were to reign with him. "Let them have dominion." Christ is the last Adam, and sustains a similar relation to the church as Adam did to the race. Adam gave them mortal life; Christ eternal life. Now if we suffer with him we shall also reign with him.

IX. THE TIME AND CIRCUMSTANCES WHEN THE KINGDOM OF GOD WILL BE SET UP.

1. It will be when the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled. The governments of the Gentiles, shadowed forth in the great image, (Dan. ii,) have certain predicted changes to pass through; and cannot pass away until they have fulfilled the prediction. When they have done that, the stone, Jesus Christ, will demolish them, and the God of heaven set up [or cause to stand] his kingdom.

4. It will be when the Nobleman (Christ) who is gone into a far country to receive a kingdom, returns. The object of the parable, (Luke xix, 11-27,) was to correct the false notions of those who "thought the kingdom of God should immediately appear." The parable taught them that Christ, the nobleman, would first go away and receive his kingdom, and in the meantime leave his servants in possession of his property to occupy till his return; that at his return, he would reckon with and reward his servants if faithful, and cast them off if unfaithful; and then bring forth and slay his enemies. Such a return of the nobleman has not yet taken place, nor have the servants of Christ yet received their reward in his kingdom. Nor have his enemies yet been destroyed. Then he has not yet received his kingdom or set it up.

5. It will be at the end of this world, (or age.) The parable of the tares of the field, (Matt. xiii, 24-30, 36-43,) is designed to teach the same great doctrine. "The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man that sowed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way." Both the tares and wheat sprang up, and the servants came and inquired, "Sir, didst not thou sow good seed?"—"from whence then hath it tares?" "An enemy hath done this." "Shall we go and gather up the tares?" "Nay, let both grow together until harvest," &c. "Declare to us the parable of the tares of the field." "He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; the field is the world;" (kosmos) the globe and its creatures. "The good seed are the children of the kingdom," its heirs. "The tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be at the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." Now the tares grow together with the wheat in the world, or what is promised to Christ for his kingdom; then the tares will be cast out, and the righteous be glorified in the kingdom of God. It cannot take place until the end of the world, or age, which began with the preaching of John the Baptist, until which time the law and the prophets continued. But since then the kingdom of heaven is preached. That was the last age, or dispensation, of probationary time. When it ends, the tares and wheat will be separated, and the one be burned up, and the other glorified. Until that takes place, there can be no such state on earth as that wherein all shall know the Lord, from the least to the greatest. Then it will be thus: for they shall see, not through a glass darkly, as now, but face to face.

X. THE EMBRYOTIC STATE OF THE KINGDOM.

There are various texts in the Bible which seem to convey the idea of the present existence and the progressive character of the kingdom of God. It is from such texts the notion has been derived that Christ set up his kingdom at the time of his first advent. Some of those texts we will consider.

1. The parable of the mustard seed. Matt. xiii. 31, 32: "Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field: which indeed is the least of all seeds; but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. The usual construction of this parable, is, that the seed represents the smallness of the church in its beginning, consisting only of the twelve apostles of Christ sent out to evangelize the world; that this little beginning is to eventuate in the universal triumph of the church of Christ, and the conversion of the world and introduction of millennial glory.

But is not the meaning obviously this, that Christ is the mustard seed; that in his death he was planted, and in his resurrection he germinated into new life; and that every soul saved through his death and resurrection is an additional branch to the tree? The branch of the mustard tree no more literally lives and flourishes and bears fruit by its union with the stock and root, and the sap it receives from the root, than the Christian has spiritual and eternal life from the indwelling of that quickening spirit which raised up Christ from the dead. It is to the church the sap of life. The indwelling of the quickening spirit of Christ in the believer is the mystery of godliness. It is religion; so that each believer can say, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life that I now live in the flesh is by the faith of the Son of God. It is the resurrection power and eternal life. The blood of Adam, which all men derive by natural generation, does not give them second life, or raise them from the dead to eternal life! But the spirit of him that raised up Christ from the dead, if it dwell in us, will quicken our mortal bodies also. This being the case, it will readily be perceived that the perfection of the tree cannot consist in its universal triumph over the world in any one age of probationary time. For while there is yet one more member to be added to the tree, or while death reigns in the world, the tree must of necessity be in a state of imperfection and immaturity. But in the dispensation of the fullness of the times he shall "gather together in one, all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in him." Eph. i, 10. Then there will be a perfection of the tree, and each branch will be in its place, mature and perfect. It cannot be before.

2. The parable of the leaven. Matt. xiii. 33: "Another parable spake he unto them: The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." This, like the former parable, has been supposed to predict the ultimate and universal triumph of Christianity in this world. The leaven is the gospel, the three measures of meal the world of mankind; the leavening process the increase of the means of grace and conversion of sinners through those means, until the whole world shall be converted.

But does it not rather express, by a figure, a definite for an indefinite number of persons; each one of whom receiving the spirit of Christ, will, if the leaven be permitted to work there, be conformed, when Christ appears in glory, to his glorious image.

But those measures of meal, (persons,) which do not receive this spirit, have no life in them; they can have no hope of glory. Reader, have you that blessed spirit dwelling in you? Examine yourself and see whether you be in the faith. Christ is in you except you are a reprobate. But if the three measures of meal mean the whole world of mankind, then the leavening process will go on till all are saved; and Universalism is true. But it is not so; but each of Adam's race is a measure, and each must receive the spirit for himself, or not be saved.

This spirit is what I call the kingdom of God, or the germ of that kingdom in the believer. It was in Abel, as well as in Paul and the beloved disciple. So were Abel and Enoch, and a host of worthies in Old Testament times, in Christ by faith, as well as apostles and martyrs under the gospel; the embryonic kingdom was begun when the great plan of redemption by Jesus Christ was first promulgated. It was no new kingdom which Christ established when he came on earth. He introduced a new dispensation or age, and the last one which the world will enjoy before his kingdom comes.

Christ was born to be a king; but his kingdom is not of this world. That is, say some, it is not an outward and visible kingdom; but a spiritual reign. Nay, but Christ has nowhere taught us that his reign is spiritual; but, it is "according to the flesh" he is David's Son, and is to sit on David's throne. His kingdom, although to be a visible one, and on the renewed earth, yet is not of this world, under its present organization, and while the Gentiles have the dominion of it, but in the world to come. Christ is now exalted to his Father's throne, to be a "Prince and a Saviour." He is an heir to, and expectant of a throne; and will come to it at the appointed time.

[To be Continued.]