<< Back

Chosen no: H1-438 ,   from: 0 Year.

Change lang

"Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it s done in heaven."-Matthew 6:10

The words of our text have been repeated by Christian people of all nationalities for centuries. You recognize them as a portion of what is generally termed the Lord's prayer, given to the Lord's followers as a model in answer to the request of the Apostles, "Lord, teach us to pray." The fact that our Lord instructs us to pray for his Kingdom to come, implies several things. (1) That it was not already here. (2) That it is part of the divine provision that in due time the Dominion of the Highest shall be established among men. (3) That this is one of the chief desideratums for God's people and for humanity.

OUR LORD'S PARABLES

It surely has not escaped the attention of every Bible student that nearly all of our Lord's parables are more or less closely identified with this Kingdom thought. The majority of them open with such expressions as, "The Kingdom of heaven is likened unto," etc. If we keep in memory that it is a Kingdom of priests that is to be established, otherwise called a Royal Priesthood, all will be plain. Our Lord Jesus, after he had paid our ransom price, after he died the just for the unjust, as our sacrificing High Priest ascended up on high to be our King; to be a Priest upon his throne. And similarly he is now calling for an underpriesthood, willing to follow his example of selfsacrifice in the present life. These in due time he will glorify with himself, giving them a share in that Royal Priesthood as Priests upon the throne of the Millennial Kingdom. Thus he promised, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." (Revelation 3:21).

If all Christian people could realize that their "high calling" of God is not a calling away from eternal torment, but a calling, or invitation, to association with Christ in his great Kingdom, which shall ultimately rule the world, "under the whole heavens," they would read the Bible with a fresh interest; it would soon be to them a new book.

Glance at some of the parables. Note how they give snap-shot pictures of the Church's experiences, not only in the future, but especially in the present time of development and preparation and testing-picturing the trying experiences necessary for attaining the Kingdom. In other words, the Church, while on trial, is the embryo Kingdom, the probationary Kingdom class. This is the enlisting time, the testing time, the proving time, and none will be accounted worthy to share in the actual glories and privileges of the coming "Kingdom of God's dear Son" except those who now demonstrate not only loyalty but loving devotion to the Lord, to his Truth, to all who are his-to the extent of laying down their lives for the Truth and for the brethren.

Note the parable of the sower, and that the message sown is the "good seed of the Kingdom." Note that the ripe wheat developed from that sowing is denominated the children of the Kingdom. Note that the gathering of the wheat into the barn-by the resurrection change, to the heavenly state-is still associated with the thought of the Kingdom in the words, "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father." Now they are exhorted to shine forth their light as tallow-candles, that they may "show forth the praises of him who called them out of darkness into his marvelous light." If unfaithful in shining forth the light under the present conditions of prevalent darkness, they will not be esteemed worthy of a place with the glorified faithful in the Kingdom which will shine forth as the sun.

Note in the parable of the net cast into the sea, which gathered fish of various kinds, that the net represented the nominal church of this present time, which in due time is drawn ashore, the fishes caught, separated, and those suitable for the Kingdom are represented as gathered in baskets, while the unsuitable are represented as being cast back into the sea.

Notice the parable of the pearl of great price, which represented the Kingdom blessings and privileges, and could be obtained only by the selling of all that was possessed; that thus the Lord's followers who desire a share in his Kingdom are to reckon that no sacrifice is too great to make to attain that blessing-indeed, they are to know that the Kingdom can be attained at no less cost than the surrender of all their earthly hopes and aims.

Note the parable of the pounds and talents, which represented our Lord's departure to heaven for investiture in authority to be the great King of earth, the sovereign of the Millennial Kingdom to be established at his return. Note the giving of the pounds and the talents to his faithful servants to be used in his interest in his absence. Note that on his return he first reckoned with these, and rewarded the faithful, saying to one, Have thou dominion over two cities; to another, Have thou dominion over five cities; to another, Have thou dominion over ten cities. Note that this giving of the Dominion to his faithful servants signified their sharing with him in his Kingdom at the time of its establishment at his second coming.

THE KINGDOM IN GLORY.

Note the parable of the sheep and the goats which pictures the Millennial Kingdom in full operation. It opens with the announcement, "When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. And before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats" (Matthew 25:31). This is unquestionably a picture of the Millennial reign of Christ, and his dealing with the world. When that time shall come, the elect Church, the Bride of Christ, will be with him in the throne, sharing his glory, and sharing in the work of judging the world; as said St. Paul, "Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?" (I Corinthians 6:2.)

The prophecies of the Old Testament Scriptures abound in testimonies respecting the blessing which will come to the world during the reign of Messiah's Kingdom. The Jews had every reason to expect that God had honored their nation as the seed of Abraham with especial relationship to his Kingdom-that as his holy nation and people Israel should be the channel for the dispensing of the divine blessings to all the families of the earth. Nor will that expectation prove false. The Lord has not changed his plan; he has merely introduced first of all another feature of his plan not previously revealed, styled by the Apostle Paul "the mystery of God." This mystery is, that before Israel can be God's earthly agents for dispensing his blessings to mankind in general, to every nation, people, kindred and tongue, God will first select a special class, a "Little Flock," a "Royal Priesthood"-the Church, the Bride, the members of the Body of Christ as a Spiritual Israel. When this Kingdom class shall have been fully selected, and the last member shall have been glorified with Christ beyond the vail on the spirit plane of existence, then divine favor will return to natural Israel.

We are not to understand that everyone who has Abrahamic blood in his veins will on that account be permitted a special service for the Lord during the Millennium as an earthly representative of the spiritual Empire. Nay, they are not all Israelites who are of the seed of Abraham. But the Lord shows us through the Apostle that prior to the coming of Christ God had already selected Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets and other faithful ones enumerated by St. Paul in Hebrews 11th chapter. These, having demonstrated their faith and willing obedience to do the Lord's will, have this testimony, "that they pleased God." These ancient Worthies of the earthly seed of Abraham are already prepared of the Lord to be the earthly representatives of his Spiritual Kingdom. In due time, after the glorification of the Church in "the first resurrection" these will come forth not on the spirit plane, but as perfect human beings. Through these the Lord's blessings and instructions to mankind will be disseminated. They will constitute the earthly Jerusalem, as the Church will constitute the heavenly Jerusalem, Mount Zion; as we read, "The Law shall go forth from Mt. Zion, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem" (Micah 4:2) for the blessing of all nations, for their instruction in righteousness, for their assistance in the highway of holiness, that they may gain at its farther end the great reward of life eternal.

It is but reasonable to expect that with the establishment of that Kingdom for which Israel has so long waited and hoped, its mercies dispensed through these Ancient Worthies will first appeal to the nation of Israel, and subsequently to all people of all nations, as they shall come to the faith of Abraham and receive the instruction of the Kingdom. Thus it is written, "And many nations shall go 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" (Micah 4:2).

THE GOSPEL AGE PARENTHETIC.

It may help some to think of this Gospel Age as a parenthesis. God's dealings with the Jews in the flesh were interrupted by the development of the spiritual seed of Abraham-Christ and the Church (Galatians 3:29). As soon as this work of developing Spiritual Israel shall be completed, and the 'little flock" be exalted to glory on the spirit plane by their resurrection change, then the parenthesis will be ended, and divine favor will resume its operation with natural Israel, and through Israel to all nations, for their blessing.

Note how distinctly this matter is set forth in Romans11th chapter. There the Apostle notes the rejection of natural Israel, and how it was foretold by the Prophets Isaiah and David-that their table of divine mercies and promises would become a trap and a snare to them, making them proud and arrogant instead of humble, and thus showing the unfitness of the majority of them for a share with Messiah in the spiritual part of the Kingdom. The Apostle pictures these in the olive tree, whose roots represented the Abrahamic Covenant, and whose branches represented theJews. He points out that nearly all the branches were broken offbecause of unbelief-and that the unbelief was because of an improper condition of heart. He says that those Jews who received Jesus were the branches not broken off, and that God during this age has been choosing out from amongst the Gentiles such as would be suitable substitutes for the broken offJewish branches, so that eventually the olive tree would have the full number of branches definitely foreknown and intended-a few of them natural branches (including the Apostles and all the Jews who received Christ in sincerity) and the remainder of that spiritual olive tree, branches grafted in from amongst the Gentiles. The tree as a whole, then, represents spiritual Israel, the "one new man" mentioned by the Apostle,whose head is Christ, and whose members are partly Jewish and partly Gentile, transformed, renewed (Ephesians 2:15).

IGNORANT OF THIS MYSTERY

Continuing his discussion of the subject, in this same chapter, St. Paul says, "I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye be wise in your own conceit; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, "There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer."

Let us not make the mistake of supposing the Apostle meant that all Israel will be saved to heavenly glory, or to eternal life. Israel will be saved from the blindness and rejection of God which came on them as a nation when they rejected Messiah. The great Deliverer who will bless them will be composed of Messiah the Head, and the Church, his Body-, composed of overcomers, some of whom once were Jews, and some of whom once were Gentiles. This great Deliverer who comes out of Zion is the spiritual Son of Zion, the Messiah, the King, the Royal Priest, the Judge, the Mediator of the New Covenant. The first blessings of his Millennial Kingdom will be upon natural Israel, from whom the Kingdom was taken away, and to whom the earthly phase of the kingdom will be restored in the hands of the Ancient Worthies, who will be the earthly representatives of the heavenly Kingdom. The kingdom itself will be invisible to men, but its earthly representatives will be seen and known to all mankind; as it is written, "Ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the Prophets, in the Kingdom of God" (Luke 8:28).

HE MUST REIGN UNTIL

The object of our Lord's reign is distinctly set forth in the Scriptures. Also its length of duration. He is to bind Satan, "the prince of this world," to overthrow entirely his dominion of sin, ignorance, superstition, as they now control the human family, bought with the precious blood. His Kingdom will cause the knowledge of the Lord Jehovah to fill the whole earth, that every creature may receive a blessing through that knowledge.

We are distinctly told that this Millennial Kingdom will not last forever, but for a definite period of time-for a thousand years. The Scriptures clearly intimate that the work of havoc caused by the reign of Sin and Death during six thousand years-from Adam to the second coming of Christ-will be fully offset by the one thousand years' reign of the Kingdom of Righteousness. How stimulating the thought! How it must thrill the hearts of all who love God and their fellowmen, all who grieve to see the Divine will and standards violated, all who love righteousness and hate iniquity, and realizing that the dying, and the crying, and the degradation, and the sin, which prevail throughout the whole world, are enemies, contrary to the Lord's Kingdom.

St. Paul assures us that in due time God will give this Kingdom to the Christdivine power shall be established in the Millennial Kingdom, and at the end of that Millennial reign Christ will deliver up the Kingdom to God, even the Fatherthe entire work and purpose of the reign being then fully accomplished. He tells us that meantime Christ "must reign until he shall have put down all insubordination"-everything contrary to the divine will, everything sinful; until he shall have uplifted mankind out of the miry clay and the horrible pit of sin and death.

This is the thought brought before us by St. Peter saying, "Times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you, whom the heavens must retain 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 3:19-21)

These times of restitution are the Kingdom times, the times of resurrection, the times of human uplifting from sin and death conditions to life, and joy, and peace, for all who will receive the Lord's favors upon his terms.

H1 - 438