The Kingdom of God

[Resource Manager]

 

THE KINGDOM OF GOD

 

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. (Revelation 21:1-5).

 

A poet has written of “The weariness, the fever, and the fret Here where men sit and hear each other groan” (John Keats; Ode to a Nightingale). But no one with a balanced outlook would suggest, any more than did the poet himself, that the lines adequately represent all that life is: the beauty and glory of earth and sea and sky; the joy of human fellowship; the wonder and happiness of mere living itself in its finest moments—all these are also life, and for some they constitute a large part of it. But equally no reasonable man will deny the reality of the weariness, the fever, and the fret; will deny-that life brings considerable suffering to some, and a measure of pain to all. Indeed, even our happier experiences sometimes fall short of their possibilities because of our awareness, even in the moment of joy, of the background of human sorrow against which it is realized, of the uncertainties that lie ahead of us, of the fleeting nature of all things under the sun — and our own lives in particular. Much of our sorrow and pain is inherent in the nature of things: it is a part of the law we live by that we should have to contend with hardships in our natural environment and with ills that our flesh is heir to. But our woes are aggravated by shortcomings in our human relationships, by the unkindness, injustice and cruelty that characterize men’s contacts with one another. We have good cause to deplore what man has made of man, as well as to lament the difficulties and inadequacies of our natural lot. The general blight that overlies the scene of human life is intensified by insufficiencies in man’s own nature, insufficiencies which become especially apparent in his dealings with his fellows.

 

THE BIBLICAL EXPLANATION

 

This essentially unhappy situation, which is our common experience, is accurately and poignantly foreshadowed in the Biblical account of the ‘Fall’ of man. There we read of a curse pronounced by God upon human life in consequence of the disobedience to His law of the first progenitors of our race:

 

“Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” (Gen.3:16-19)

 

Sorrow and toil, hardship and death: such was the sentence, and such is our lot. Through our first parents, disobedience, or sin, as the Bible so frequently calls it, came into being, bringing a twofold evil in its train: a curse upon the arena in which the human drama is enacted, involving man in a constant struggle for existence; and a sentence upon man himself, carrying with it a bias towards continuing attitudes and acts of sin, separating him of necessity from unrestricted communion with an all-righteous God, and bringing him finally and inevitably to the grave. The impact of this second curse upon a sensitive personality is most movingly expressed in some words which the apostle Paul wrote to the Christian community at Rome:

 

“I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:18-24)

 

The terrible consequences of the Fall in regard to human relationships is early seen in the account in the fourth chapter of Genesis of the murder of Abel by his brother, and thereafter throughout the Biblical record, as indeed in human history generally. The worser aspects are effectively summarized by Paul, again in his letter to the Romans, in a collocation of quotations from the Old Testament:

 

“Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: their feet are swift to shed blood: destruction and misery are in their ways: and the way of peace have they not known” (Rom 3:13-17)

 

No other explanation accounts so precisely and so comprehensively to the character of human life as we know it, ‘and as history represents it to us, as does the Biblical account of the Fall and its consequences. An eminent modern historian1 pointedly comments in this connection:

 

“Those who do not believe in the doctrine of the Fall can hardly deny that human history has always been history under the terms and conditions of the Fall”. (Herbert Butterfield; Christianity and History p.106)

[Resource Manager]

“KINGDOMS ARE CLAY, OUR DUNGY EARTH ALIKE”

 

As the population of the earth has increased men have organized themselves into communities, and ultimately into kingdoms. The first of which the Bible makes mention is that established in Mesopotamia by Nimrod, “the mighty hunter before the Lord” (Gen. 10:8-10). The governing of these kingdoms, and of the empires that have from time to time developed from them, has varied between benevolence on the one hand and extreme ruthlessness on the other; but always they have been subject to the vicissitudes and transcience that are inherent in human life. There is more than superficial truth in the Shakespearean metaphor “Kingdoms are clay, our dungy earth alike” (Anthony and Cleopatra, Act 1 Scene 1). Wars between kingdom and kingdom; bitter rivalries and conflicts within particular kingdoms; inequalities, injustices and insecurity even in the best-regulated kingdoms: such is the constant story.

 

Philosophers and poets have devised Utopian schemes for the better ordering of communal life; and men of goodwill have from time to time striven to give effect to them, have even succeeded within limits in notably improving social conditions and political relationships. Yet the essential problems remain, and the essential inadequacies of human systems and of the kingdoms built upon them persist to our own day:

 

“The deeper malady is better hid; The world is poisoned at the heart.” (William Wordsworth The Borderers, Act 2)

 

NEW HEAVENS AND A NEW EARTH

 

We turn to the contemplation of a brighter scene and a better hope, as described by the prophet Isaiah:

 

“Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed. And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord.” (Isaiah 65:17-25).

 

“New heavens and a new earth”: it is clear from the words following that this does not mean a freshly-created heavens and earth in the absolute sense, but rather a new order of things, a new way of life, upon the existing earth (Peter uses similar language in the same way in 2 Peter 3:5-7, 10:13). The new order is very different from that with which we are familiar: weeping and crying are no more; life is considerably prolonged and premature death and decay are alike unknown; man lives in happy security from the fear of conflict and oppression, and the work of his hands is richly blessed; the pervading harmony is fittingly symbolized in the peace that prevails even in the animal world; and, most important of all, a closer communion between man and God is suggested in the words, “It shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24). An earlier verse in the same chapter indicates that the dominion over this new order is vested primarily in a descendant of Jacob through the tribe of Judah: “I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains” (Isaiah 65:9); we may at first think this a strange, perhaps even trifling, detail: we shall see that in its tremendous implications it is of a piece with the rest of the chapter.

 

We spoke of Isaiah’s prophecy as representing “a better hope” than the other schemes we have referred to, and some evidence may reasonably be required as justifying the phrase. The evidence is largely in the character of the hope itself, and in two features particularly. First, all other schemes have been human in conception and in execution; this is divine in both: “I create”, says the Lord. And secondly, the failure of human systems is due fundamentally to the persistence through them all—with little effective check — of sin: men who are themselves sinners have not the power, nor often even the will, to control consistently their own sinful tendencies or those of their fellows; but in the new heavens and new earth foretold by Isaiah sin, although not destroyed completely (hence the continuance of death) is rigidly restricted in its operation: “‘The child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed” (Isaiah 65:20). And this is a radical change that appeals to us as giving a very real hope of better things, as reasonably accounting at once for the prolongation of life and for the immeasurably improved conditions in which it is enjoyed: the restraint upon sin is seen naturally to involve a marked reduction in the virulence of the curse that accompanies it. This is a hope, then, which commends itself to us as securely founded because in its reference to the control of sinfulness it cuts at the root from which all our unhappiness springs, and because in its indication of the divine origin of the new order it provides for the power and authority necessary to bring it into being. All this, however, as we readily recognize, begs the question as to the authority of the Bible itself: how far can we trust in its integrity? What evidence is there to support its claim to be itself divine in its ultimate origin? This is not a question we can examine at any length here: it has been dealt with very effectively elsewhere (e.g. Islip Collyer, Vox Dei – the Voice of God). We think the answer lies finally in the conviction which close and continuing contact with it begets in those who approach it in an appropriate frame of mind—approach it, that is to say, with the open-mindedness and humility which is proper to the examination of any major work of literature, and not least to the study of a book whose tone is so exalted and whose claims are so far-reaching as the Bible’s. But there are other, more readily apparent, evidences of the Bible’s authority, and one or two of these will emerge incidentally in the course of our remarks.

 

The reader may next object (and quite reasonably) that the blessings described by Isaiah appear to be restricted to Jerusalem and “her people”—presumably the Jewish nation. And, whilst recognising the happy era in store for that people, he may well ask of what interest or consequence this may be to the world in general. It is emphatically the case that the new order has its focal point in Jerusalem and her people, and this will become increasingly clear as we proceed; but other passages in the Bible show that the blessings of which we have read extend abroad from Jerusalem to all the earth. One such passage is the eleventh chapter of Isaiah’s prophecy, Space does not permit us to quote it in full, but we ask the reader to consider carefully verses 1-12.

[Resource Manager]

THE BLESSING OF ALL NATIONS

 

Here we have a picture of conditions very similar to those described in Isaiah 65. There is emphasis on the prevalence of righteousness and the suppression of sinfulness; the atmosphere suggested is one of peace and harmony, again extending to the animal world; and there recurs, word for word, the statement, “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain” (Isaiah 11:9, 65:25).

 

But there are some important additions:

 

First, the reference in chapter 65 to a descendant of Jacob, through Judah, as the primary “inheritor” of the mountains of the Lord is here considerably developed. He is identified more narrowly now as being the stock of Jesse (the father of David) who was himself of the tribe of Judah; he is clearly shown to be the great ruler and judge of the new order, exercising dominion as the representative of God Himself, imbued with the Spirit of God, and by that token infallible in discernment, irresistible in might (65:1-3). The whole passage is this time specifically related to what is said of him, and from him the new era is seen to take its characteristic tone: it is a righteous era because it is ordered by one who is himself absolutely righteous and has the power from on high to give unimpeded effect to his will.

 

Next, the corning of this great descendant of Jesse, and the inception of the new era, is associated with the regathering of the Jewish people from the various countries into which they have been dispersed: “He ... shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth” (verse 12). This is a most interesting prophecy inasmuch as when the prophet uttered it the inhabitants of the northern, ten-tribed kingdom of Israel had only very recently been taken captive by the king of Assyria, Shalmaneser, and dispersed amongst the provinces of the Assyrian Empire (2 Kings 17), and some hundred years were to elapse before a similar fate overtook the southern kingdom of Judah at the hands of the Babylonian Emperor, Nebuchadnezzar; but this captivity was only temporary, and it was not until the first century of the Christian era that the Jews were finally driven from Palestine by the Romans (AD70) and the land left in Gentile hands. The return of the “outcasts” from “the four comers of the earth” under the aegis of the descendant of Jesse is not yet realized, but our own generation has witnessed a most significant prelude to it in the re-establishment of the people as a nation once more in its own right and in its own land. Isaiah was in effect foretelling both the scattering of the people and their regathering, and in this his prophecy agrees with many others in the Bible—for example those of Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28 and Jeremiah 30-33. The facts we have mentioned confirming the accuracy of the prophecy (they are immeasurably more impressive when considered in detail) are among the incidental evidences of the Bible’s divine origin which we shall notice from time to time.

 

A very clear prophecy of the restoration of the nation of Israel, and its association with a righteous King of David’s line, is found in Jeremiah 23: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is the name whereby he shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness”.

 

The last feature which we have to remark in the prophecy of Isaiah 11 concerns the extension of the divine new order from Jerusalem into the whole earth. To the words, “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain”, is added the comprehensive promise, “for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (verse 9). We are reminded of an earlier promise which God had made to Moses:3 “As truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord”; and of the similar words of Habakkuk:* “The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea”. Other verses in Isaiah 11 confirm the extension of the promise to the nations generally: “In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious ... He shall set up an ensign for the nations” (verses 10, 12).

 

Earlier, however, than all these prophecies are the great promises which God made to the forefather of Jesse and David, and indeed of the whole Jewish nation—the promises to Abraham. When He first called Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees, God foretold that “a great nation” would be born of him (Genesis 12:2), and that through him would come blessing for “all the families of the earth” (Gen.12:3 cf. 28:14). The promise was repeated from time to time and was later renewed to Isaac and Jacob. One statement of it specially associates the blessing of the nations with a particular individual among Abraham’s descendants: “Thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” (Genesis 22:17)

[Resource Manager]

THE PEACE OF JERUSALEM

 

Many passages in the Bible emphasize the importance of Jerusalem in God’s purpose; not a few indicate the widespread recognition of her position in the new order as “the city of the great King” and the source from which emanates blessing for all the earth. Thus the Psalmist declares: “Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King” (Psalm 48:2). The 102nd Psalm looks forward to the day of Zion’s glory and exaltation and says that in that day “the nations shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth thy glory” (Psalm 102:15), and again, that “the peoples are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the Lord” (Psalm 102:22). Isaiah speaks of the time of Israel’s re-gathering and Jerusalem’s glory as associated with the baring of God’s holy arm “in the eyes of all nations”, so that “all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God” (Isaiah 52:10)

 

God says, through the prophet,

 

“For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory” (Isaiah 62:1).

 

In the ordering of the new heavens and the new earth Jerusalem will be the centre of worship for all nations: “It shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord” (Isaiah 66:23). Zechariah speaks of the same situation as following upon the regathering of the Israelites in their land:

 

“Many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts. In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold, out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.” (Zechariah 8:23)

 

Two passages in particular seem at once to serve our present purpose of demonstrating the world-wide character of the blessings associated with Jerusalem and to portray most movingly and comprehensively the special quality of those blessings. Micah declares:

 

“In the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it.” (Micah 4:1-4)

 

The other passage comes from the prophecy of Zechariah:

 

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the nations: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.” (Zechariah 9:9-10)

 

In short: the peace of Jerusalem is the peace of the world; and it was no spirit of narrow patriotism that inspired the Psalmist to urge us to pray for that peace:

 

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces” (Psalm 122:6-7)

[Resource Manager]

THE JUDGMENT OF THE NATIONS

 

The reader will have noted the reference in Micah’s prophecy to God’s “rebuking” of the nations. The institution of the divine order is not effected, as some people would have it, merely by a slow and gradual process through which the hearts of all men are eventually influenced into willing harmony with God’s purposes. History and our own experience teach us that the heart of man is made of less tractable stuff than this naive view of the situation suggests. To mould it to anything approaching the divine likeness involves the earnest effort of a lifetime; and few are willing to make the effort. To establish His way of life upon the earth God must necessarily intervene in a decisive and cataclysmic manner in human affairs, and must forcibly subdue and destroy the opposition that will inevitably be raised against the King of His appointing.

 

So the second Psalm informs us. The opening verses describe the opposition of the nations and their rulers to the authority of the Lord and His King:

 

“Why do the nations rage, and the peoples imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us”. (Psalm 2:3)

 

But the decree has long gone forth that the righteous Son of David’s line should have dominion over the earth, and the might of man is but a puny obstacle in the path of its accomplishment:

 

“He that sits in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon 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 nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt break them in pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Psalm 2:7).

 

There follows the warning to the kings of the earth to “serve the Lord” and “kiss the Son” if they would turn from themselves the destroying power of the divine wrath; and the promise of blessing for all who put their trust in the Son and accept his dominion.

 

Two points of detail may be noted in passing. First, the King appointed by God is referred to as His “anointed”; the Hebrew word (mashiach) is the same, as that translated “Messiah” in Daniel 9 (verses 25 and 26), and “Messiah” became in the course of time the most common of the titles by which the King was known. And secondly, a specially intimate relationship between God and His King is indicated in the reference to him as “begotten” of God as His “Son”. The fuller significance of these details will become apparent later.

 

We must content ourselves with a very brief reference to other passages where there is mention of the divine judgments preliminary to the establishment of the rule of God in the earth; but the reader is urged for his greater satisfaction to study the passages in their entirety.

 

Isaiah speaks of a time of strange, and fierce disturbances in the world, and associates with this time the “punishing” of the kings of the earth and the resultant Supremacy of the Lord: “Then shall the moon be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously”. Joel, Ezekiel and Zechariah all speak of nations coming against Jerusalem to battle, and of the terrible judgments poured upon them by God. “The Lord shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem”, declares Joel;

 

“and the heavens and the earth shall shake ... So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain.” (Joel 3:16)

 

Ezekiel foretells the re-establishment of the Israelites in Palestine and the subsequent formation of an alliance of nations to the north who come down upon the land “to take a spoil” (Ezekiel 38:12). Again the result is divine intervention and divine judgment, and the destruction of all opposition; and Ezekiel goes on to describe the building of a temple in Jerusalem as the centre of worship in the age to come (ch.39). The closing chapters of Zechariah’s prophecy are particularly striking and informative. In addition to describing the destruction of God’s adversaries among the nations they refer also to the chastening and cleansing experiences to be undergone by the Jews themselves; for the day of the Lord’s glory brings humiliation for Jew as well as for Gentile, and only those who readily submit to the chastening process can hope for the divine favour and for a part in the new order. In the case of the Jews the chastening is the consequence of a most strange and unlooked-for development: the recognition in the Messiah of one whom formerly they had rejected and slain!

 

“It shall come to pass in that day that (1) I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And (2) I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.” (Zechariah 12:10)

 

With such humiliation for all flesh is the reign of God introduced. We are reminded of the words of Isaiah: “The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day” (Isaiah 2:11).

 

Of that exaltation Zechariah himself concludes triumphantly: “And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and His name one”. (Zechariah 14:9)

[Resource Manager]

THE KINGDOM OF GOD

 

If the Lord is King over all the earth, it is fitting that the earth in its regenerate condition should be described as His “kingdom”. Such, in fact, is the term used by Daniel, whose prophecies concerning the kingdom deserve the closest attention.

 

The second chapter of Daniel describes a vision of the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, and its interpretation by the prophet. In his vision Nebuchadnezzar saw a mighty image, human in form, composed of various metals: “The 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”. Eventually a stone, “cut out without hands”, was seen to strike the image:

 

“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 2:32-35)

 

Such was the vision: what of the interpretation? The image, said Daniel, represented a sequence of human empires, beginning with that of Nebuchadnezzar himself:

 

“Thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise” (2:40).

 

After the fall of the iron kingdom, that kingdom would not pass to a fifth great power, but would, as represented in the feet and toes part of iron and part of clay, be divided into a number of lesser kingdoms, some strong and some weak, “but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay” (2:43).

 

And the stone that smote the feet of the image, broke it in pieces, and became a great mountain filling the earth—what did that signify? The destruction of human rule and the establishment of a divine kingdom on the earth:

 

“In the days of these (lesser) 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 for ever” (2:44).

 

Some passages in the Bible containing language of a symbolical character offer difficulties in interpretation because the meaning of the symbols cannot always be surely known; that is not the case here: no human speculation is required in the interpreting of Nebuchadnezzar’s vision: the interpretation is supplied by the prophet himself, and it is precise and clearly defined and beyond the possibility of misunderstanding by a careful reader. And history confirms its truth.

 

The empire of Nebuchadnezzar was to be succeeded by three others; they were, in the outcome, the Medo-Persian, the Greek and the Roman. The fourth empire was to be divided: from the time of the Roman Empire in the fifth century AD its territory has in fact remained to our own day divided amongst a number of lesser, independent powers, and no fifth great empire has arisen in its place—though not a few ambitious men have sought to establish one by the power of the sword. Only the final phase of the prophecy remains to be fulfilled—the coming of God’s own kingdom.

 

In the historical fulfilment, stage by stage, of this prophecy, we see another incidental but powerful indication of the ultimately divine origin of the Biblical writings. The firm confidence of the prophecy itself and the unequivocal character of its details (four great empires, not three nor five—nor, as a mere man would be likely to suggest, a steady succession; the “iron” character of the fourth empire; the breaking-up at a definite stage into lesser kingdoms)—these things, added to the fact of their vindication in history, all witness to the existence behind the utterances themselves of a Mind which sees the end of all things from the beginning; they give convincing support to the apostle Peter’s contention that “the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21).

[Resource Manager]

Other points call for mention. A natural reading of the Biblical passages already quoted leads us to understand that the kingdom of God is in the absolute sense a divine order of things existing in substantial and visible form upon the earth we now inhabit, albeit a “new earth” cleansed of the evils which now defile it. It is a literal kingdom, having a real King and being ruled, as from a capital, from the real city of Jerusalem. In all our later considerations of the subject, this fact must never be lost sight of. It is abundantly emphasized in Daniel’s prophecy. The kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar was a historical kingdom in the normal meaning of the word; so too were the three great kingdoms which followed and the less powerful kingdoms to which they in turn gave place. It is surely a most unnatural and illogical wresting of the plain meaning of words to attribute to the Kingdom of God which overthrows and supplants these kingdoms any less real and substantial a character than they have themselves. The difference between the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of men lies not, essentially, in a change of meaning in the word “kingdom”; but in the immeasurably superior quality of its rulership and its way of life.

 

One element in this superiority is suggested by the prophet’s statement: “It shall stand for ever”. The Hebrew word here translated “for ever” does not always have quite the force we normally “attach to the meaning of the English phrase, that is ‘for eternity’ in the absolute sense: it may, and probably generally does, mean that in effect; but it may also refer to a particular age or era (“for the age” or “age-lasting”), and it may simply mean “for a very long time”. It is clearly important to establish the meaning of the word here, and in this we are assisted by a consideration of the context in which the same word appears in the seventh chapter of Daniel’s prophecy.

 

This chapter is concerned with a vision seen by the prophet himself: its significance is similar to that of Nebuchadnezzar’s vision, but this time various animals are used as the symbols instead of a human image. After describing a great divine judgment upon the nations (Daniel 7:9-12) the prophet continues:

 

“I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like unto a son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:14)

 

The word “everlasting” in this passage is the same in the Hebrew as that rendered “for ever” in chapter 2. And the context clearly defines its sense as “eternal”: for the kingdom here spoken of is everlasting in the sense that it “shall not pass away”; that it “shall not be destroyed” (We could not necessarily deduce this from the statement in chapter 2 that the kingdom “shall never be destroyed”; for in the original Hebrew, “never” is simply the negative of “for ever”, and therefore begs the question).

 

We cannot doubt, then, that from the moment of God’s decisive intervention in human affairs His dominion over the earth remains unbroken unto eternity. “Dominion” in a general sense and “a kingdom” specifically are given to the “one like unto a son of man”; and his kingdom is unlimited as to both extent and time.

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THE SAINTS OF THE MOST HIGH

 

But who is this “one like unto a son of man”? We may be tempted at a first reading to identify the figure with the one whom we have variously referred to hitherto as the Son of David’s line, the Son of God, and the Messiah; for it is to him, we have seen, that the dominion is in fact to be given, as the Lord’s anointed King. Our view of the matter would not be altogether wrong, and yet the interpretation given to Daniel himself shows that it would do but imperfect justice to the symbol.

 

In the vision the giving of dominion to the one like a son of man had followed the judgment upon the beasts. In the interpretation the same sequence is followed: Daniel is told first that the beasts “are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth”; and then that “the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever”. (Daniel 17-18, repeated 22, 27)

 

The one like a son of man, in other words, represents not an individual but a host. The host does not exclude the one, supreme, individual Son of Man who is also Son of God; but what the interpretation makes clear is that the dominion which is primarily his is nevertheless shared with others who with him form a corporate and united host whose essential oneness is fittingly symbolized in the single figure standing before the Ancient of days. And this host is described as comprising “the saints of the Most High”. Who are the saints? Most of the words translated “saint”, in both Old and New Testaments, have the literal sense of “set apart”, “separate”, and thence “holy”. The primary meaning is that of being chosen and set apart by God for His service. Thus in the Old Testament the Israelites are referred to as the saints of the Lord with respect to their being called out of Egypt to journey through the wilderness as God’s own people; in the New Testament the term is used consistently of the believers in the Christian gospel, called apart from the world by the grace of God to know Him and to serve Him. But it is a two-edged word: for those who are separated in the first instance by God have a duty to separate themselves thenceforth from other attachments, and consciously to dedicate themselves to the doing of His will. The true saint is holy, first, in the sense that he has been called apart by God: but also in that his whole manner of life is a deliberate seeking after holiness and purity in obedience to the divine commandment, “Be ye holy, for I am holy”.

 

These, then, the “holy ones” of the Lord, sanctified by His grace and so far as in them lies faithful to the end of their days to the demands of their high calling—these are they whom Daniel sees, together with the Son of Man, invested with power over the nations in the age to come.

 

Other passages in the Bible also represent the saints as sharing in the work of divine judgment and rulership:

 

“Let the saints be joyful in glory. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; to execute vengeance upon the nations, and punishment upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints.” (Psalm 149:5-9)

 

Isaiah is no doubt referring to the saints when he speaks of the Lord reigning in Jerusalem “before his ancients (or, elders) gloriously” (Isaiah 24:23). Zechariah speaks of the saints as accompanying the Lord at His coming against the nations at Jerusalem: “Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.” (Zechariah 14:5). Moses describes the coming of the Lord “with ten thousands of his saints” to execute judgment upon the ungodly (Deuteronomy 33:2).

 

And to the apostle John, exiled in Patmos, comes a message from “one like unto a son of man”, who is this time the individual “Son of God”, to this effect: “He that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I have received of my Father.” (Revelation)

 

If we are tempted to object to the violence of some of this language let us reflect a while on what is involved in the absolute righteousness of God, and marvel rather at the riches of His grace and forbearance towards the ungodly—marvel too at the folly of men which resists so long and so stubbornly His offer of life.

[Resource Manager]

LIFE FOR EVER

 

One further and vital fact emerges from the richly informative Book of Daniel. It would seem to be involved in what we have read so far that the saints who share with the Messiah the rulership of the earth must, with, him be possessed of life for evermore: if the kingdom is given to them for eternity they must themselves live unto eternity. But man, we saw, is born to die, to return at the end of his days to the dust out of which he was originally created: how, then, can he know life eternal? Only, it is clear, by a rising again from the dust. Such a resurrection is in fact plainly taught in the last chapter of Daniel.

 

At the beginning of the chapter Daniel is told of a time to come which “shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time”. And at that time, he is informed, “Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever”. To Daniel himself, in the last verse of the book, the promise is given: “Thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days”. (Daniel 12:2)

 

“Many”—not all—shall awake; for not all are called to know God’s ways. And individual judgment is indicated in the discrimination which is made between those who rise to life and those who rise to shame. But those among the called of God who have been wise and faithful in their calling “shine” as the lights of the new heavens and earth.

 

It is not only in Daniel that we read, in the Old Testament, of the resurrection from the dead. The Psalmist expresses his faith that “God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave”. Isaiah speaks of some who are dead and “shall not rise” (Isaiah 26:14), and of others who shall “arise” and “live”; and the latter are apostrophized thus: “Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead”. (Isaiah 26:19)

 

The prophet Isaiah says that God “will swallow up death in victory… will wipe away tears from all faces” (Isaiah 25:8). Through Hosea God speaks of those whom He will ransom from the power of the grave: “I will redeem them from death: O death, where are thy plagues? O grave, where is thy destruction” (Hosea 13:14, cf. 1 Co. 15:55)

 

THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL RESTORED

 

The kingdom of God has its focal point in the land of Israel; its King is of the royal line of Israel; and Israel was itself in a very real sense the kingdom of God in earlier days. For when God called the nation from Egypt it was that they might be His people; when they were settled in the land of Canaan and asked for a king like the surrounding nations God told Samuel that they had not rejected him, but God Himself, that He should not be King over them. When human overlords were in fact appointed it was recognized that they drew their authority from God and that He remained ultimately King. David speaks of Solomon being chosen by God “to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel”, and the record in the Book of Chronicles tells us that Solomon “sat on the throne of the Lord as king instead of David his father”. The Queen of Sheba acknowledges that Solomon reigns because “God delighted in thee to set thee on his throne, to be king for the Lord thy God”; and Abijah, a king of Judah after the division of the kingdom, rebukes Jeroboam, the king of Israel, with the words, “Ye think to withstand the kingdom of the Lord in the hand of the sons of David” (2 Chron 13:8)

 

Through faithlessness the kingdom was overthrown, but it was always the purpose of God to restore it; and we have seen that the restoration of Israel is an integral part of God’s larger purpose of bringing blessing to all nations. The kingdom of God is, then, in a sense, the kingdom of Israel restored—but it is a kingdom purified of all infidelity and defilement, and enlarged to incorporate “all people, nations and languages”; a kingdom in which Jerusalem, “the mountain of the Lord”, becomes the centre of a divinely-ordered scheme of things whose benefits extend throughout the earth; a kingdom necessarily inaugurated by acts of divine judgment upon the nations but characterized thereafter by the abolition of war and of the fear of war and by the establishment of an age of blessing unparalleled in history since the Fall of man: human rule, with all its inadequacies and injustices, is no more; sin and its consequences are kept rigidly in check amongst the mortal populace of the earth and life is greatly prolonged in a happier world; the righteous Son of David who is also Son of God rules over the nations, together with the faithful saints of all earlier ages, immortal now like him; and the nations are responsive to the new order of things and gladly learn and walk in the ways of the God of Israel, with whom the communion of all men is enlarged. Such is the promise of the prophets. Such is the kingdom of God.

[Resource Manager]

THE MINISTRY OF JESUS

 

This kingdom is the theme of the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, as the New Testament clearly shows. The theme is in fact announced by the great forerunner of Jesus, John the Baptist, who, Matthew tells us, preached in the wilderness saying, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt 3:2). Matthew normally speaks of the kingdom as “of heaven”; the other Gospel writers call it “the kingdom of God”. That the terms are virtually identical is demonstrated (1) by a comparison of the parallel records of the same incident in the different Gospels; and (2) by Matthew’s own occasional use of the phrase “the kingdom of God”, especially in 19:23-24, where he records Jesus’ words: “Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven ... It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God”. The kingdom is ‘of God’ because it is divine in its inception and in the quality of its way of life; it is “of heaven” in the same sense — heavenly, that is, in origin and in character.

 

Jesus’ own ministry is introduced by Mark with the statement that “after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:14-15). Matthew and Luke record the same fact in similar terms (Matt 4:17, 23; 9:5 Luke 8:1). The teaching of Jesus, his parables in particular, is full of references to the kingdom. The word was ever on his lips, the prospect ever before his mind. When he first sent forth the twelve it was with the instructions, “As ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt 10:7). And similarly the seventy were told: “Into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you ... heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you” (Luke 10:9). His last words to his disciples before his death included the promise of renewed association with them in the kingdom: “I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Matt.26:26). And after his resurrection he appeared to them from time to time during a period of forty days, “speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God”. (Acts 1:3)

 

His final instruction to them before his ascension was to “preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15), and the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles are a testimony to the zeal and faithfulness with which this charge was carried out; what was true of Philip was true of all: they preached “the things of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 8:12)

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JESUS THE CHRIST

 

“The name of Jesus Christ”: the word is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew “Messiah” and means, like that word, “the anointed”. For Jesus is the Son of God and Son of David’s line, the altogether righteous one anointed of the Lord to bring justice and peace to a world that “groaneth and travaileth in pain” (Rom 8:22). Jesus is King.

 

Such is the consistent witness of the New Testament. Thus Matthew introduces his gospel record as “the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matt 1:1), pointedly associating Jesus with the two great forebears with whom in the Old Testament the promise of the Messiah was pre-eminently linked. Mark’s record opens with the words, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1), emphasizing the divine element in his parenthood which was also to be a mark of the chosen King. John testifies to beholding the glory of Jesus, “glory as of the only begotten of the Father” (John 1:14).

 

The opening of Luke’s record is particularly detailed in its linking of Jesus with the Old Testament promises of the Messiah. Words could not be more precise in this respect than the angelic announcement to Mary concerning the son to be born of her: “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 for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end”. Every phrase in this declaration has specific origins in the Messianic prophecies we have considered. No less clear is the angel’s description of the manner of the divine origin of Mary’s son: “The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God”. Son of David he was by virtue of his descent through Mary; and Son of God through the influence upon the womb of Mary of the Holy Spirit, the power of the Highest.

 

Mary herself recognized the angel’s salutation as a “remembrance” by God of the mercy promised of old “to Abraham and to his seed for ever” (Luke 1:55). Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, spoke of the coming of Jesus in similar terms as a fulfilment of what God had spoken “by the mouth of his holy prophets” and a remembrance of the divine covenant with Abraham. And the aged Simeon, to whom it had been revealed “that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ” (Luke 2:26), welcomes the infant Jesus as the Christ, and speaks of him as a source of blessing both to Israel and to the nations generally, “a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel” (Luke 2:32).

 

All the New Testament writers speak of Jesus in terms consistent with these preliminary pronouncements; all attach to his name the title “Christ” as its natural and proper adjunct. And Jesus himself had a full consciousness of his unique origin and mission, and welcomed the attribution of Messiahship as a statement of simple fact. Nothing is more illuminating in this connection than the record in Matthew of Peter’s confession of faith. “Whom say ye that I am?” Jesus had asked the disciples. And Peter answered: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt 16:16; cf John 6:69).

 

“The Christ”, “the Son”: these were precisely the titles given in the second Psalm to him who is there also represented as “King”. And was not Peter therefore emphatically asserting the right of Jesus to take the nations for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession? How did Jesus react to this striking assertion? “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” In this last, pregnant phrase Jesus at once attests the divine inspiration of Peter’s utterance (it was no human speculation like the other suggestions Matthew records concerning the identity of Jesus); and also implicitly accepts the attribution of divine Sonship — “my Father, who is in heaven” (Matt 16:17)

 

On other occasions, too, Jesus emphasized his kingly calling. To the question of John the Baptist’s disciples, “Art thou he that should come, or look we for another?” he replied: “Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me” (Luke 7:22). To the Pharisees who, on the occasion of his ride into Jerusalem, called on him to rebuke the disciples for welcoming him as “the King that cometh in the name of the Lord”—to these Pharisees he declared, “I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out” (Luke 19:40). To Caiaphas who adjured him to confess whether he was “the Christ, the Son of God”, he freely admitted, “As thou hast said”; and added the striking claim, “Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven” (Matt 26:64). When Pilate asked him if he were King of the Jews he replied, similarly, “As thou sayest”. And to his own disciples he spoke with joy and longing of the day when he, the Son of man, should “come in his glory” and “sit upon the throne of his glory” as “the King” (Matt 19:28; 25:31).

[Resource Manager]

THE KINGDOM OF JESUS

 

It is involved in all that has been said in the last few paragraphs that the kingdom referred to in the teaching of Jesus and in the New Testament generally is identical with that foretold by the prophets. The fact is so obvious, both in the nature of the case and from the New Testament passages already quoted, that there should be no need for us to labour it further. But because of misunderstandings that have arisen as to the character of the kingdom, we shall refer to just a few of the numerous indications in the New Testament that the kingdom there spoken of has the same substantial existence on the earth as that preached in the Old.

 

The first of the beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount is: “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”; shortly afterwards comes the promise: “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth”. The two promises are of course identical: the beatitudes are all blessings on the righteous that have their ultimate fulfilment in the age to come; in that age, Jesus indicates, the meek and the poor in spirit alike inherit the earth as partakers in the kingdom of heaven. In harmony with this is the prayer which he taught his disciples on the same occasion: “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven”. (Matt 6:9)

 

To those who remained nearest to him through his trials Jesus promised: “I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:30, cf Matt 19:28).

 

To their question at the time of his ascension, “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” he replied, “It is not for you to know the times and seasons” (Acts 1:2). But the reply is in itself an implicit assent to the fact of his kingdom’s being, as we gathered from the Old Testament, the kingdom of Israel restored; and Jerusalem is for Jesus, as for the Psalmist, “the city of the great King” (Psalm 48:2; cf. Matt 5:35).

 

When Paul preached the gospel at Rome he “expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses and out of the prophets” (Acts 28:23).

 

The Revelation of the risen Jesus to John in Patmos includes a hymn of praise which the saints are represented as singing to “the Lamb”:

 

“Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth” (Rev.5:9).

 

Later John receives a vision of the accomplishment of the purpose of God the description of which is in effect the New Testament counterpart of Daniel 2:44: “The seventh angel sounded; and 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 for ever and ever”. (Revelation 11:15)

 

Again, the kingdom of Jesus, like that of the Old Testament, is established after the destruction of all that is at war with its central principles of righteousness and peace: “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 ... Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matt 13:43). These last words are an obvious echo of Daniel’s promise that the wise should shine in the kingdom of God “as the stars for ever and ever” (Daniel 12:3). And much of the teaching of Jesus and the apostles is concerned with the promise of immortality that we saw to be associated with the kingdom in the Old Testament. “There is no man”, says Jesus, “that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife or children for the kingdom of God’s sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.” (Luke 18:30)

 

All these passages confirm that the kingdom as preached by Jesus and the apostles is one with that proclaimed by the prophets of earlier ages. The New Testament is the complement, not the contradiction, of the Old; For in Jesus of Nazareth “all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen” (2 Cor 1:20).

[Resource Manager]

THE LAMB OF GOD

 

Nevertheless, the ride into Jerusalem had as its sequel not glory and the kingdom, but shame and the cross. For Jesus is not only King; he is also Saviour: he is, in the phrase of John the Baptist, “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Involved in the promise of the kingdom there is, we saw, the promise of life everlasting; but men die because they are sinners, and they cannot live before God everlastingly unless their sin be removed. This, in the providence of God, could only be achieved through the death of the righteous Son of His love, whom He gave to be the propitiation for our sins, “that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (1 John 4:10; John 3:16). Thus we read, in the hymn of the saints to the Lamb, “Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood” (Rev.5:9), and this redemptive sacrifice is the necessary prelude to the saints’ becoming kings and priests and reigning on the earth. Thus also the strange and cryptic prophecy in Zechariah has its striking fulfilment in the rejection of Jesus by the Jews: “They shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him” (Zech 12:10). Other Old Testament prophecies (notably that of Isaiah 53) are also vindicated in the rejection, death and resurrection of Jesus; so that after his resurrection Jesus could point his disciples to the Old Testament and say, “Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day” (Luke 24:46).

 

So it is from heaven that Jesus must return to establish his kingdom. “I will come again”, he promised his disciples; and spoke, as we have seen, of drinking the fruit of the vine new with them in the kingdom. The disciples who gazed after him as he ascended into heaven were told: “This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:9). The apostle Peter is found, shortly after the day of Pentecost, urging the Jews gathered in Jerusalem to repent, saying that God “shall send Jesus Christ ... whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:21). “Our citizenship is in heaven”, writes Paul to the Philippians, “from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Phil.3:20)

 

THE CALL OF JESUS

 

It is the sacrificial, saving aspect of his work that gives to Jesus’ ministry its characteristic emphasis. Of what, for lack of more fitting words, we might call the material and political benefits of the kingdom of God the Jews of Jesus’ day were sufficiently conscious; even among their best minds there was a tendency to rest in the contemplation of the future glory of Israel and the destruction of their enemies. This attitude is pathetically reflected in the reaction of James and John to the refusal of the Samaritans to receive Jesus “because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:53). “Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?” How poignant is their Master’s rebuke! “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” (Luke 9:55)

 

Men looked for the judgment to come, forgetting or being ignorant of, the mercy of which they themselves stood so sorely in need. The calm and peace of the kingdom of God can only be perfect for those who are freed, first, from the nagging realization that to all the beauty about them they must one day bid farewell; and freed, secondly, from the persistent war with the sin that is in their own members: to those, that is to say, who are made righteous and made after the power of an endless life. But both of these qualities are gifts of the grace and mercy of God; and the teaching of Jesus was primarily directed to making men aware of their need of this mercy; aware, too, of his own part in bringing it near to them. There were references from time to time, as we have seen, to the objective characteristics of the kingdom; but these were incidental to his main purpose. Constantly in his discourses he urges upon his hearers the need for recognition of their sin-stricken condition; for that “repentance” which is in effect a re-direction of their modes of thinking and living—towards God and away from self; for the meekness and humility that are the necessary prelude to the exaltation of the divine nature which they hope to share; for the love that is without dissimulation and is extended even to enemies; for faithful endurance of trial, since it is through much tribulation that they must enter into the kingdom of God; for watchfulness unto the end lest when their Lord return he find them sleeping. The parables of the kingdom are a study in themselves and a rich source of spiritual counsel and moral guidance. And all the emphasis of Jesus’ teaching is on the fact, later so succinctly stated by Paul, that “the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit”. (Rom. 14:17 for a fuller treatment of the responsibilities of discipleship see H. A. Twelves: Christian Discipleship.)

 

Only if men lived in righteousness, peace and joy during their mortal years did they give proof of the earnestness of their seeking after these characteristic qualities of the life of the kingdom; only if they purified themselves now did they make apparent the genuineness of their professed desire to be like him who is altogether pure: only so could they be vindicated before the judgment seat of Christ at which they must all appear (Rom.14:10-12); only so could they become finally incorporate into the body of the saints in light, members of the one, new man in Christ Jesus who is the fulfilment of Daniel’s vision of the symbolic “one like the son of man” (Daniel 7:13, cf. 1 Cor. 12:12-14; Gal. 3:26-29; Eph. 4:11-13).

[Resource Manager]

THE URGENCY OF THE CALL

 

A sense of urgency pervades all the teaching of Jesus. The note is struck especially, but by no means only, in the references of John the Baptist and of Jesus himself to the kingdom being “at hand” (Matt.3:2, 4:17). That this did not refer to the kingdom in the absolute sense is clear from other statements of Jesus in which that kingdom is obviously regarded as a more distant prospect. The parable of the nobleman who “went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return” (Luke 19:12) was spoken specifically for the benefit of those who, as Jesus approached Jerusalem, “thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear” (Luke 19:11); and in Luke 21 Jesus prepares his disciples for a lapse of time by describing a number of events that must occur before the coming of the kingdom: “When ye see these things coming to pass”, he says, “know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand” (Luke 21:23). But in a very significant sense the kingdom of God did come near to the Jews of Jesus’ generation: for in him and in the disciples he gathered about him men of discernment might perceive the nucleus of the kingdom; and in the miracles he wrought they might see the powers of the kingdom age in active operation: “If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God”, he told the Pharisees, “then the kingdom of God is come unto you.” (Matt.12:28). In this sense the kingdom of God was most emphatically “among” them, or “in the midst of” them (Luke 17:21), and they had a unique opportunity of appreciating its character and responding to its call.

 

Today the kingdom is not at hand in this distinctive sense; nevertheless, wherever the true disciple, or community of disciples, exists, there is the kingdom in the germ; and wherever the gospel of the kingdom is preached, there for a moment the kingdom has come nigh to the hearers and they must be responsible to God for their reaction to it. And as one here and another there puts his hand to the plough; as, in the phrase of Paul, one and another is “translated” by God from “the power of darkness” into “the kingdom of his dear Son” (Col.1:13), so the number of the saints is gradually made up, and the parables of the seed growing secretly and of the mustard seed have their fulfilment (Mark 4:26-32, Luke 13:19). And the time approaches, as the signs given by the prophets and by Jesus and his apostles indicate, for the coming of the kingdom in the fullness of its power and glory.

 

But in any age the call of Jesus is an urgent one, for the frailty of our frame renders us susceptible at every moment to the sting of death, and the parable of the rich man has its message for us all: “I will say to my soul”, he thought, “Soul thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” But God said to him, “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee” (Luke 12:16-21).

[Resource Manager]

THE END

 

The reader will perhaps have become conscious as we have proceeded of a certain tension between the theme of immortality and that of mere prolongation of life, both of which seem to be associated with the kingdom of God. And indeed most of the passages we have considered envisage an order in which the faithful saints of all ages, being made immortal, are given rulership over those who remain of the earth’s populace after the judgments of God upon the nations (Zech 14:16 above), this populace remains mortal because it is not yet redeemed altogether from the bondage of sin, but its members enjoy prolonged life in a regenerated world (Isaiah 65 above).

 

But while sin remains in the earth, however restricted its operation may be, the glory of God cannot fill it wholly, as He promised that one day it should (Num 14:21; Hab 2:14). A day must come when those who have known the will of God under the reign of Christ shall be judged according to their response to that knowledge; the faithful of that era will receive the gift of immortality like the saints of earlier ages, and sinners shall be destroyed for ever from the earth. Sin and death will be no more at all, and with them will depart absolutely and forever the curse which now rests upon the human scene. Such is the testimony of the later chapters of the Book of Revelation and of a passage in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.

 

Revelation refers to the saints living and reigning with Christ “a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4). When the thousand years are expired the judgment is set and the mortal population of the millennial period is judged “every man according to his works”. Thereafter death and the grave are themselves destroyed, together with whosoever is “not found written in the book of life” (Rev 20:7-15). There follows a description of the age beyond which has been the inspiration and consolation of true disciples for many generations: “I saw”, writes John, “a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.” (Rev 21:1-5)

 

It will be observed that whilst the “new heavens and new earth” foretold in Isaiah 65 still envisages the existence of sin and death in a limited degree, in the later phase seen in vision by John they are no more. Paul speaks of a similar development:

 

“As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: (1) Christ the firstfruits; afterward (2) they that are Christ’s at his coming. Then cometh (3) the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death ... And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.” (1 Corinthians 15:22-28)

 

“God ... all in all”: to such a glorious consummation does the purpose of God move forward. As we are led by meditation to comprehend even a little of what this involves for our sin-stricken souls and our afflicted earth we find our lips moving in reiteration of the cry of the thief from the cross:

 

“Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” (Luke 23:42)

 

NEVILLE SMART

 

TheKingdomOfGod_Smart.pdf