"This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in
the whole world for a testimony unto all the nations; and
then shall the end come" (Matthew 24:14).
Overshadowing and
encompassing all else in the Bible, and especially in the
new Testament, is the phrase: "the kingdom of
God". "John the Baptist [cometh], preaching...
saying... the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew
3:1,2). Jesus preached it and taught it and said that it
had come nigh (Matt. 4:17). Before His transfiguration He
had said that there were some there who would not see
death until they saw the Kingdom coming in power (Mark
9:1). After His resurrection He spoke with His disciples
about the Kingdom (Acts 1:3).
This was the theme,
too, of the apostles. Paul himself spoke of it to those
in Rome as late as his imprisonment: right up to the end,
it would seem, it was concerning 'the Kingdom of God, and
the things of Jesus Christ', that he spoke (Acts 28:31).
The letter to the Hebrews is summed up in one phrase:
"Wherefore, receiving a kingdom that cannot be
shaken..." (Heb. 12:28) literally, 'being in the
course of receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken'.
That explains all that is in that letter. And the book of
the Revelation itself can be gathered into one sentence:
"Now is come... the kingdom of our God..."
(Rev. 12:10).
All this amounts to a
very full, strong and comprehensive statement, and it is
therefore surely necessary for us to acquaint ourselves
with the meaning of the Kingdom of God. At the outset,
therefore, let us spend a little time in defining the
Kingdom of God, for we must be clear on this matter of
definition.
A
DEFINITION
What is the Kingdom of
God? It is generally agreed that the word 'kingdom' is
not a very good translation of the Greek word which lies
behind it. The root meaning of the original word
translated 'kingdom' in our English Bibles is 'sovereign
rule', or 'reign', so that it should be more correctly
translated 'the sovereign rule of God', and we must keep
that in mind all the way along. We shall go on using the
word 'kingdom', for we shall find it difficult to get
away from it, but let us be very clear that, when we are
using the word 'kingdom' in this connection, we are
thinking and talking about the sovereign rule or reign of
God.
Now, in the light of
the teaching of the New Testament, this has three
aspects.
Firstly, it does mean
the kingly rule of God. Then it leads on to an order or
nature of things characteristic of the One who rules.
Note how it is to be: the one LEADS ON to the
other. The latter condition is not always present. God
rules: that is a fact in itself; but that is sovereign
rule where over a very large area there is nothing
characteristic of God, nothing which sets forth the
nature of God. But the fact and truth of God ruling LEADS
ON to the next thing, and that is an order which
takes its character from Him who rules. That is
what it is intended to lead to, and in the New Testament
you will find that that has a large place, as we shall
see later.
And then, going one
stage further, the sovereign reign or rule of God leads
to an actual realm in which that order and nature
operates and is expressed. This is something into which
you can enter, but you cannot enter it apart from the
other two things: the fact of His absolute Lordship, and
the fact that you, by some mighty work of God, have
become a 'partaker of the Divine nature' (2 Peter 1:4) -
the very nature of God has been introduced and a new
order of things has been set up.
That is the definition
of the Kingdom of God. It is very important, because I
hope you are going to be led to a new reading of all that
is in the Word about the Kingdom, and you will be in
confusion unless you have clearly grasped that definition
in its threefold aspect.
It hardly needs to be
said that the 'Kingdom of God' and the 'Kingdom of
Heaven' are not in any sense two different things.
Matthew prefers the 'Kingdom of Heaven'. There is a very
good reason why Matthew preferred the title 'the Kingdom
of Heaven', the sovereign rule of Heaven - or rather of
the heavens, for the word is not in the singular, it is
in the plural. Mark, Luke and John always call it the
'Kingdom of God' - again, for very good reasons, into
which I leave you to dig. But the two titles denote the
same thing.
THE
KINGDOM OF GOD PRESENT
Now, we are expressly
told by John the Baptist and by the Lord Himself that the
Kingdom of God or of Heaven was "at hand", was
"nigh", had "drawn nigh". On one
occasion the Lord put it "...is come nigh unto
you" (Luke 10:9) on another, "...is in the
midst of you", or "within you" (Luke
17:21). And, as we have already quoted, before His
transfiguration the Lord said, 'There are some here who
in their lifetime will see it come in power'. So we are
told that it is present. But we may not perhaps realise
what a tremendous amount hangs upon that statement. A
whole system of teaching has arisen which says that the
Kingdom has been suspended and will come in with the
Jewish age later on. But John said, 'It is at hand'.
Jesus said, 'It has come nigh'. Jesus said, 'You shall
see it come in power in your lifetime', and, 'The Kingdom
is in the midst of you' - 'IS in the midst of
you'. It is present.
But here a question
arises. If the sovereign rule of God and of the heavens
is universal and eternal, as the Bible declares it to be
- in the book of Daniel the phrase which governs
everything is "the heavens DO rule" -
in what way is it more particularly so in this
dispensation? God is the Ruler of the universe, and
always has been and always will be. How is He more so in
this dispensation than at any other time? In other words,
in what way is the kingdom at hand, or has it come nigh,
in THIS dispensation? And the answer is a very
full, a very comprehensive and a very wonderful one.
The Kingdom of God was
always, by Divine appointment, the heritage of God's Son.
God purposed that Kingdom for His Son as His inheritance.
Through Him, by Him, He made all things, and unto Him
were all things created (Rom. 13:36; Col. 1:16). But,
further, it was intended to be man's in union with God's
Son. There is much about that. "What is man, that
thou art mindful of him? and the Son of man, that thou
puttest him in charge? ...Thou madest him to have
dominion..." (Ps. 8:4,6). "Fear not, little
flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you
the kingdom" (Luke 12:32). This is not something
extra. It was eternally in the thought of God for man, to
be realised through union with His Son. Man was in the
picture from the beginning - man was created for that
very purpose.
And that very truth
opens the door for the tragedy. By man's act and by man's
consent, by man's rebellion against the expressed will of
God, the Kingdom passed into the hands of a usurper. Yes:
the dominion over this world passed into the hands of one
who is, even by the Lord Jesus Himself, designated 'the
prince of this world' (John 14:30), and by Paul 'the god
of this age' (2 Cor. 4:4). It went into alienation from
its rightful Heir - and from man in union with Christ as
a joint-heir - it went into alienation, which demanded
restoration. It went into enmity against God, which
demanded reconciliation. It went into captivity,
demanding release. It went into moral ruin, demanding
reconstitution. There is the answer to the question as to
why in this dispensation the Kingdom has a particular
meaning.
THE
KINGDOM AT HAND WITH THE COMING OF THE HEIR
Thus, you see, the
Kingdom, or the rule, in all its meaning as we have
defined it, came to hand with the appearance of its
rightful Heir. This dispensation is covered and dominated
by the fact of the Son of God having become incarnate. As
the Heir of all things, He has come to seek and to save
that which was lost - and it was an immense 'that'. So
the Kingdom or the sovereign rule has come into this
dispensation, in this particular and peculiar way, with
the Person of Jesus Christ, God's Son, the rightful Heir.
It has also come in with Him as the alone Redeemer of the
inheritance, the only One who could redeem, the redeeming
Kinsman who alone had the position and the right and the
resource to redeem - the "Son of man". And so
the Kingdom has come near in the person and the work of
the Lord Jesus, and this phrase, "the Kingdom
of God", defines, explains and sums up the whole
meaning and purpose of the incarnation and the mission of
the Lord Jesus.
Do you say, Why was
God's Son made man? Why did He come in the flesh? Why did
He come into this world, and then why did He suffer and
die and rise again? The answer is: In order that the
sovereign rule of God might be recovered, restored,
reconstituted, the enmity dealt with and reconciliation
made, the captivity broken, release brought in. You will
no doubt be recalling much Scripture in support of this.
"To proclaim release unto the captives..." (Is.
61:1): that was His mission - to reconstitute things
from their moral ruin. We may consider this more fully
later. What is called 'the Sermon on the Mount' is, as
Dr. Campbell Morgan calls it, 'the whole manifesto' of
the Kingdom of God: it shows what the Kingdom of God is
like - the constitution of it in moral principle.
So, He came, and He
finished His work to recover and secure His own God-given
inheritance of the Kingdom; and, rising from the dead, He
says: "All authority hath been given unto me in
heaven and on earth" (Matt. 28:18) - literally it
is, 'has just been given to me' - and from that moment
all authority is vested in the Name of Jesus. The
remainder of the New Testament is the demonstration of
that fact. The book of the Acts, from the beginning
onward, sets forth in a very, very concrete and forceful
way the authority of the Name. "By what power, or in
what name...?" was the interrogation. 'If you ask
concerning the Name, be it known unto you that by the
Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth...' (Acts 4:7-10). The
authority is not only claimed by the Lord Jesus, but
demonstrated by Him in the power of the Holy Spirit.
CHRIST'S
WAS A 'COSMIC' MISSION
This inheritance was
something very comprehensive. The mission of the Lord
Jesus was, if I may use the word, cosmic: that is to say,
it did not just relate to the earth as the beginning and
the end. It had to do with the whole spiritual sphere in
which this earth moves. Paul defines that as: 'principalities, powers, world-rulers of this
darkness, spiritual hosts of wickedness in the
heavenlies' (Eph. 6:12). There is much more of that kind,
and that is what we mean by 'cosmic'. It is
supra-earthly, if you like - the whole spiritual setting
of everything here. In that whole realm of the heavens
which were polluted and defiled, the mission of the Lord
Jesus was efficacious and effectual; it was not only for
man on the earth and for the earthly creation. The very
heavens had to be purged, we are told (Job 15:15; Heb.
9:23). Yes, the inheritance is a large inheritance. His
rule, His sovereign rule, is a very, very great thing. It
moves out into the vast expanses where these hosts of
evil spirits have their sphere of operations. His rule is
there, it is extended there.
But, of course, it
operates also amongst men. That hardly needs to be said,
and certainly not emphasized. I refer again to the book
of the Acts. But was the book of the Acts ever finished?
It is the one book in the Bible which has no finish. It
just breaks off. How we would like to know the rest! But
no, it just breaks off; it leaves Paul there on his chain
in Rome, tells us no more. Ah, but, you see, the book of
the Acts was never intended to be finished until the end
of this dispensation. It has gone on and on, and it is
still having chapters added to it, and it is still on the
same lines with the same meaning - the sovereign rule of
the Lord Jesus and His securing of His inheritance by His
own authority. But for His authority nothing would come
to Him. You and I know quite well that we cannot just
bring people into the Kingdom willy-nilly. It requires
the exercise of the very throne of the Lord Jesus to
bring a soul through by new birth. And those who are
receiving the Kingdom, that is, those who are still 'in
course of receiving' the Kingdom, know quite well that
every inch of this territory is contested, and that we
never come into one extra fragment of our inheritance in
Christ without some exercise of His sovereign power.
A
REDEMPTIVE MISSION
Christ's mission was
also a redemptive mission. How great does that word
'redemption' become, when we view it in the light of this
whole purpose of God as to the place of His Son
universally. Not only men and women, but the whole earth
and the whole cosmos, redeemed by the Blood of Jesus. The
day will come when the glory of that redemption will be
manifested universally.
A
RECONSTRUCTIVE MISSION
Then the mission of
Jesus was reconstructive. That, of course, is spread
right over the New Testament. What is He doing with you,
with me, with His own who have come under His sovereign
rule? What is happening to those of us who have come
under the Lordship of God in Christ? We are just being
reconstructed, that is all, and we are learning as we go
along how much we need reconstructing. Things have all
broken down, all gone wrong. We cannot put them right.
Something has to be done to reconstruct this whole
fabric. Hence, all the dealings with us by the Spirit of
God, in trials and testings, in afflictions and
adversities and sufferings, are reconstructive works unto
the Kingdom of God. They often seem to be destructive
works - and it is true that you have got to get rid of
the rubbish, of the debris, before you can build; the two
things are two parts of the one thing - but, you see, the
receiving of the Kingdom comes through afflictions.
Is it not stated quite
clearly and definitely: "Through many tribulations
we must enter into the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22)?
Now go beyond the primary idea of a sphere as
interpreting the Kingdom, and see that the tribulations
are bringing you into that sovereign rule of the Lord,
which is going to prove itself so beneficent, so
glorious, so wonderful. You agree with me that it would
be a grand and glorious thing if everything were just as
God would have it. That is what He is working toward with
you and me. 'Through much tribulation we enter the
Kingdom': we are coming into the inheritance, we are
coming into the sovereign rule.
THE
GOOD NEWS OF THE KINGDOM
So much for the
explanation of the term 'the Kingdom of God'. What is the
inclusive issue? "This gospel of the kingdom" -
'This GOOD NEWS of the sovereign rule of
God'. The sovereign rule of God is good news! That
comprehended the whole message of the apostles and of the
Church for this dispensation. It is the good news of the
Kingdom - the good news that the Throne exists and is
occupied and is dominant. The good news, to begin with,
in the most elementary aspect of the proclaiming, is that
there is a Throne, and on that Throne is Jesus Christ;
that the authority is vested in Him, and that that
authority is a very real thing: and that the Holy Spirit
is working all things in us and in this world in relation
to the authority or Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Take an illustration
from the Old Testament - Israel in Babylon, that great,
immense world power; a people broken, shattered, crushed,
ground to powder, in despair. "How shall we sing the
Lord's song in a strange land?" (Ps. 137:4). They
hung their harps upon the willows in the hopelessness of
the situation. But listen! A prophet is speaking.
"For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and I will
bring down all their nobles" (Is. 43:14, R.V. Mg.).
"For your sake" - "for your sake"
- a broken, crushed, hopeless people. This overthrow
and destruction of one of the mightiest empires that this
world has seen has an explanation in a poor, despised,
broken, captive people.
Now bring that up to
date, and realise that this Throne is operating now in
history. Mighty world powers are going to be shattered
and broken and disintegrated because of the Church.
Antichrist will be given his tether. He will be allowed
to 'exalt himself above all that is called God, sitting
in the temple of God, giving out that he is God' (2
Thess. 2:4). How much further can anyone go than that?
Antichrist will be given liberty to go even as far as
that. But then he will be smitten and destroyed by the
very countenance of Christ Himself. For the authority of
Christ to be displayed in all its intrinsic power, it is
necessary that all this other be allowed. The Devil is
allowed to go a long way, but behind there is always the
Throne. The Throne is saying, 'Go as far as you can, and
then I will destroy you out of hand.' That is the good
news of the sovereignty.
What we have said so
far is but an introduction, but I trust that it may help
towards a new understanding of this wonderful phrase -
"the kingdom of
God" - and I believe that we shall be thrilled as we
look more deeply into it. But let us be quite clear about
this. That Kingdom has come, that Kingdom is present;
that Kingdom, in spite of all that seems to be working to
the contrary, is functioning. That One at the right hand
of the Majesty in the heavens is Lord, and this is
something to be apprehended by faith, and stood upon in
the day of ordeal.
For surely it was that
assurance and confidence, that certainty, that accounted
for the wonderful stability of the Apostles and the
Church at the beginning, when it seemed so otherwise. Is
it not this that has astonished us, and perhaps perplexed
us? Here is all this persecution, all this martyrdom, all
this seeming triumph of evil and of evil men and of the
Devil, and yet these people do not bow inwardly to it,
they do not accept it. Whether they be individuals, or
whether it be the Church, they just do not accept that
this is the last word and that this is the supreme power.
They repudiate it, even to death. Why? There is no other
answer than this, that they had come to a fixed and final
position about the exaltation of the Lord Jesus to the
Throne in the heavens. It was a settled thing, and it was
so real in their hearts that nothing that this other
could do could ultimately destroy them. They go to their
deaths singing in triumph.
It is easy
to speak glibly of these things: and yet - and yet - is
it not true that the Lord has special reserves of grace
for special ordeals? If ever you feel that you could not
go through a certain trial, that if you had to face that,
you just could not go through with it, you are taking on
something that you have no right to take on. If the Lord
calls you to go through fire or water, He has a special
reserve of grace for you in that. And that grace will be
from the THRONE of grace. "Let us... draw
near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may
receive mercy, and may FIND grace to help us in
time of need" (Heb. 4:16). It is a throne above,
mediating grace for need and suffering as it is required.