04.03. Thy Kingdom come

Chapter III. “Thy kingdom come.” WHEN we find an earthly and a heavenly thing called by the same name, we are very apt to think of the earthly as that which better fills and satisfies the name common to both. When God calls a spiritual thing or a heavenly arrangement by the name of something earthly and well known, we look upon this as merely a mode of illustration, possibly a happy, well-selected illustration, but nothing more. We still look on the earthly as the substantial reality to which the name belongs, and deem that there is far more in it than will be found in the other. We think that the heavenly is only somewhat like the other, but will fail in some point. Thus, when God speaks to us of His kingdom, we are too ready to view this as but a figure of speech, which may intimate that the government of God over us does in some points resemble the sway of a monarch over his subjects; whereas the truth is, that this kingdom is the only one which comes up to the idea of a kingdom, which falls short in nothing of what a kingdom should be. “ The Lord is King, not borrowing this title from the kings of the earth, but having lent His own title to them; and not the name only, but having so ordered, that all true rule and government upon earth, with its righteous laws, its stable ordinances, its punishment and its grace, its majesty and its terror, should tell of Him and of His kingdom which ruleth over all so that * kingdom of God is not in fact a figurative expression, but most literal: it is rather the earthly kingdoms and the earthly kings that are figures and shadows of the true.” * What king but one fulfils David’s idea of a king, the idea which he seems to have lived to learn, and which, dying, he left as a * Dean Trench, Notes on the Parables, p. 14, where the connection of the earthly with the heavenly is fully discussed. The following lines of Coleridge are worth remembering in this connection, “ For all that meets the bodily sense I deem Symbolical, one mighty alphabet For infant minds; and we in the low world Placed with our backs to bright reality, That we may learn with young unwounded ken The substance from its shadow “. legacy to his people, and surrounded with an emphatic accumulation of authority that strik ingly declares its importance? “ These be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet Psalmist of Israel, said, The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God; and he shall be as the light of the morning when the sun - riseth, even a morning without clouds, as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain.” Who is there that does not expect (more or less consciously) that some time there will be a better order of things than now we know of? Who is satisfied with this temporary state, in which evil seems so native, good so foreign? Or, if satisfied, is it not just because we are aware that it is only temporary, that it is to be got over, travelled through to some better beyond? Who can believe that God will never manifest to men, how He can govern, and show in actual history the perfection of His kingdom and the benign influence of His laws? Who believes that He will never let us know how right and how salutary a thing it is to obey Him only?

Nay more, who does not at least sometimes feel that this kingdom ought to be now, that now we ought to be living under one Supreme, together owning Him, seeing that He is not king elect, heir to the crown, but eternal King? Those at least who acknowledge the name of God, and who believe that He is, and that He is what He has revealed Himself to be, heartily utter this petition: “ Our Father which art in heaven, Thy kingdom come “. That it may be intelligently and earnestly uttered, we need to see distinctly what it is. In common with all kingdoms, it is a community, an organised fellowship of men, the bond of whose fellowship is that they all obey the same living Head. It differs from all other kingdoms in this, that its King is the most high God. The subjects of it are all men who are willing to become its subjects, all who desire to obey the will of God, rather than any other. No men, therefore (it need scarcely be said), are subjects of this kingdom by birth. “ Except a man be born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Natural or fleshly birth introduces us to the privileges of nature and of flesh. Birth in time and for time, which has in it the seed of eternal death, introduces us to the advantages of time, and among others to the external and temporary advantages of the kingdom of God. Spiritual birth gives us the internal and spiritual advantages. Born of the Spirit of God, we are introduced to the eternal and peculiar privileges of this kingdom. For “the kingdom of God is not meat and drink”; does not secure the mere protection and help which the kingdoms of this world make all their aim and effort; but it is within us. It begins not at the outside, but within; alters not our circumstances, but our selves. And therefore we are introduced to it, not by some accident of our position in this world, but by our own voluntary surrender to a Person, by yielding the allegiance of the whole soul and nature to a King, whom we choose as our King for evermore. This may well be called a birth, then, if for no other reason than this, that it alters the whole character. It is called a birth because it is the beginning of a new life; a life which meets with no death, nor needs any third birth to carry the man to a yet higher condition. It is called a second birth, because it breaks off the life which the first birth began, and swallows up the death to which it exposed us. It is a birth in which our own wills struggle to life, but only because such is the will of God.

It could not be called a birth, if we were our selves the sole or the first agents in the matter; but can only be called (without absurdity) a birth, because we thereby become through the generation of another something which we were not before. If we are to know it as a birth, then it should be quite unnecessary to reiterate that it is not of our own originating. We are born again, because “ the seed of God “ is quickening us. One might have supposed that it would have been readily believed that we cannot give birth to ourselves; and how a man can at once believe that the life to which the second birth introduces is a real, new, and eternal life, and that the person born into that life is his own begotten, is hard indeed to comprehend.* It is of God’s children, then, that His kingdom is composed. It is our Father’s kingdom

* It may here be observed, that “ the will of man “ (John 1:13) refers to the will of man begetting, and not to the will of man begotten. The opposition, “ but of God,” becomes thus more clear and telling. we desire the advent of. It is the renewed will which gives us entrance to it. But while this kingdom is established within, it makes itself felt and visible without. Finding its subjects in us, it makes its laws be obeyed in all our doings. It takes possession of every department of activity, of every region of actual life. These external things, are they our doings? This society, is it made of us? Then, if the kingdom of God be within us, it will find expression there. As it is impossible for any great earthly dominion to be solitary, uninfluential, but is appealed to and must interfere, is imitated and must mould others; so it is impossible for this kingdom of God to be side by side with other influences, and not reverse, increase, or some way operate on them. As little is this possible as it is possible to carry a light through a dark room and scatter no darkness, but confine the light to the flame. This is the mode of the kingdom’s increase, and the promise is that it will so increase. It will grow till there is no room for any opposing dominion on earth. It will express itself, and in this expression will be found so to excel the kingdoms of this world, that it will make for itself new heavens and a new earth. “ For the kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.” And these two features of the kingdom cannot be separated, its spiritual, internal character, and its outward manifestation and progress. But the name by which it is spoken of in the words just quoted may suggest to some the idea that “heaven” must be waited for, that this prayer may be answered. And no doubt the kingdom to be revealed, when the King appears in the glory of His own person, will surpass any thing that can be otherwise attained. But the name seems to be used not because the kingdom has heaven for its ultimate destination and sphere, but because it is of heavenly origin and character.

It is for this earth we seek a blessing, when we pray, “Thy kingdom come “. We know that this kingdom ought to be now. We do not look to the future to accomplish that which is eternally right. We do not expect that death will transfer us or others into a condition which Christ and His Spirit can alone transfer us into. And being distinctly conscious that we ought always to have been subjects of God, and grasping at the provision for our entrance into it, which is now put within our reach, we do not wait, but pray and labour that all may be brought into this kingdom, that its laws may affect all earthly arrangements and earthly governments. This prayer in all its parts is emphatically from earth and for earth. And what we express in this petition is the desire that a heavenly state of things be established on earth, that the King and laws of heaven be acknowledged on earth. Is it not a right thing and a possible thing, that all men should in their hearts yield allegiance to God? And were this allegiance yielded, would it not naturally result that all our relations to one another would be hallowed and leavened by our common spirit of obedience? Would it not necessarily result that the whole constitution of the world, in all its domestic, social, and political arrangements, would be guided by the Spirit of God, and would show, if not uniformly and in every particular, yet generally, and, on the whole, that God was ruling? It is not required for this that all forms of government be changed, but that the spirit of those who administer be changed. It probably is not needful that many employments or relations of life be altered, but it is needful that we ourselves be altered, The desirableness of this kingdom is obvious. The appearance of the King Himself among us, and His manner of founding the kingdom, the blessings it yields to its subjects, and the final glory to which it is destined, all teach us to pray for its coming. When we look to its actual founding, it is not without significance that this was achieved at the most brilliant age of the most powerful earthly monarchy; a monarchy which may be viewed as the ultimate specimen of what earth can accomplish in the matter of government. For extent it was unrivalled. The world was the Roman world. For polity it was unrivalled, the system of its laws being yet received as the basis of law in the most civilised and well-ordered communities. It was when this empire was in all the flush and pride of youth that the King of God’s anointing came and established His empire.

He came with no noise and with little proclamation, no thunder of the captains and shouting.

He came as if it were quite a simple matter to establish His kingdom, though the firmest earthly empire was in possession already, and though a firmer than all earthly monarchies possessed the hearts of those whom He came to rule. And how was this done? Most kingdoms have acquired power by violence and wrong, this by righteousness and grace and mercy. To no other conqueror can these words be addressed, “ Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O Most Mighty, with Thy glory and Thy majesty; and in Thy majesty ride prosperously, because of truth and meekness and righteousness”. Sometimes the good done by conquerors has well-nigh atoned for the evils of war; and their greatest glory has been to raise the subdued, to overcome their barbarism, to conquer and to reduce them to civilisation. But the glory of our King is, that He conquers us for no other purpose than to raise us; that He seeks us not because the fame of our wealth and skill and power had excited His envy or ambition, but because the cry of the oppressed reached to heaven, and the sighing of the prisoner came before Him whose ear is delicate to catch the feeblest and most distant, and to understand the most confused desire of them that are in trouble; who saw that there was none to govern us, but rulers who led us through tyranny to destruction; He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was none to come between us and those who had us at their will, and therefore His arm brought salvation. He saw that by His government alone could we be rescued and raised, and He determined, through His own humiliation, to exalt us. He became one of us, that He might be our King; He clothed Himself in our dust, that we might wear His royal robe; He lay in our grave, that we might sit on His throne; He founded our joy in the deep bitterness of His own soul, our kingdom in His own obedience and subjection. Has He not claim to reign over us? A government, once firmly established, goes on for the most part easily enough, sometimes quite independently of the throne; but it takes a man of kingly qualities to found a kingdom under the most adverse circumstances, and out of the most unlikely material. What was the case with this kingdom? This was no case of quiet, undisputed succession, nor was it one of easy and rapid conquest. Of men wildly rebelling against all righteous and conscience-binding authority, Christ took in hand to make a people so submissive that they may be called “ living sacrifices “. Of men who scorned His rule with a special scorn, He has to make subjects, who gladly lay down their lives for their King; of men hating one another, envying, maligning, and despising one another, He has to form a community so attached that all possessions, and even life itself, are held as common property, and willingly yielded for the good of the whole; of men who, as soon as He leaves them, are invaded by His enemies, tempted, threatened, bribed, allured to disaffection, He undertakes to create faithful and staunch sup porters; of those who are emphatically “ not a people,” He has to form a peculiar people, a people of God. And this He actually does. Men begin life wicked, selfish, profligate, with a strong revulsion of soul from all good, and a headlong proclivity to whatever is sinful, their spirits all in disorder, and seeking no higher condition; they acknowledge Christ as King, and His laws bring harmony and orderly purpose into their lives; in the strength of loyal love to Him, they make successful war upon their own fatal desires, and have often so well understood what is due to Him, that they have spent their substance and their lives in toilsome and bloody service. And does it say nothing for the reality, the force, and the wisdom of His government, that He can leave His newly reduced enemies to administer it, and Himself return to the seat of His dominion, sure that this distant province which He leaves will be a nursery of faithful servants, and ever send up to Him trained and efficient rulers? Does it not, at least, very sufficiently show that He is a King, though unseen; and that His kingdom is real, though not of this world?

Besides its origin, the difficulty and success of its establishment, there are many other features of it which evince its fitness to take precedence, and its worthiness to be desired. One of the most patent is its universality. It affords a meeting-place for all men, is capable of embracing all within it, and fusing them in one fellow ship. Founders of kingdoms have not lacked ideas of universality. Their ambition has been very catholic. They have taken steps also to wards the realising of their ideas; they have been careful to discover geographical centres, commercial centres, from which they might reach to all, and to which all, by natural leanings and interests, might incline; but so far as experiment has hitherto shown, it takes something more than worldly interest to bind the world together. By this, nations may work together for a while, but feeling that they are widely different, and that at any moment their interests may conflict. The bond is still without them, and not within. But in the kingdom which Christ has founded, there is a fellowship which does not recognise any distinction among nations. In it “ there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, because Christ is all, and in all “. All own one King, all receive common rights, and all are actuated by the same spirit. In this kingdom we can claim nothing as being of this nation or of that, but only as be longing to the one family in heaven and on earth.

We stand upon a common ground with all, and enter a kingdom which excludes none. In it we learn the deepest affinity, and are drawn together by the only bond that is wide enough to encircle the world, and strong enough to draw together the unlikest. Whoever enter this kingdom resemble one another in the thoughts, feelings, and hopes that lie deepest within them, and which they count the most promising and permanent features of their character. Loyalty to their King possesses all alike, and this lies at the centre of the heart of each, working outwards and transforming all; and no difference, however great, can outweigh this resemblance, nor so in crease as to obliterate and outlive it; for in this kingdom we are brought into communion with the “ one Spirit, the one Lord, the one God, and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all “. And here, too, is bridged over that wide distinction between dead and living, and are knit in closest bands with those who are advanced to the higher offices of trust, for “ God is not a God of the dead, but of the living; for all live unto Him “. Shall we not, then, pray that this kingdom come, obliterating all hostile distinctions, using all diversity of gifts for one common Lord, and putting one language and oath of allegiance in the mouths of all, “ We are Christ s, and Christ is God’s “? The advantages which the kingdoms of earth offer are commonly summed up in these three, Liberty, Security, and Plenty. A man outside of every community can assure himself of none of these. The simplest form of government is that in which a number of men choose one in whom they can trust, and who is expected to look after the common interests, while they attend to their special callings. There may be among them one so wise in counsel, so far-sighted, so large hearted, so weighty, and so bold, that each member of the community feels “ I am better in his keeping than in my own “. And unless the subjects of a kingdom can thus trust the governing power for the leading advantages just named, it is not a kingdom to be desired. But we must beware how we compare the kingdom of God with earthly kingdoms, lest we thereby not merely see what blessings are to be expected in a kingdom, but learn to expect blessings of similar nature. A man may feel that he is safe as to many things, but what can he know of absolute trust till he has trusted in Christ? What can he know of any of the blessings of the subject till he becomes subject to Christ? Is not the liberty, the security, the plenty we know, very shadowy and precarious, until we possess the eternal reality and substance of these in Christ? Until we possess that security which has heard the gates of the city of God shut behind, and has found the feet standing on a rock; which can view every contingency without dread, knowing whose will it is that is done in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; which can say, “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation “; that security which is secure in God, which rests in Him and knows that “ greater is He that is for us than all that can be against us”; that liberty, wherewith the Son of God makes free when He delivers us from our sins and from all that drags us down from high apprehensions of our calling in God; when He gives us entrance into the wide and lasting love of God, bringing us to the very brightness of His countenance, to that love which casteth out fear, and to that peace of God which passeth understanding; when He renews the mind to the persuasion that God is on our side against sin and all that comes of sin, and enables us to accept of all that God has been doing and does to free us from the curse; that plenty which is supplied by the fulness of the Godhead, and can only be enjoyed in a kingdom where there are no unknown and sunken masses; but where the King knows all and rules by personal influence over each; that plenty which provides not for a few wants of some, but for every want of all; which provides enlightenment of mind, renewal of heart, comfort, strength, and every grace that is needed to bring us to the measure of the stature of the perfect man. So that to become a citizen of this kingdom is just to reach the highest position a man can occupy, and to enter into everlasting blessedness. As among earthly kingdoms there are some so superior to others that it becomes a point of ambition to be enrolled as their citizens, because in them our rights are protected and our safety secured, because our labour receives its fullest recompense, and our liberty its freest exercise; so there is this kingdom of God, founded from everlasting, and destined to endure when time shall be no longer, the which if we enter into, we shall at once be installed in a secure liberty, which is protected by the Almighty, cared for by that King, the meanest of whose subjects knows no grievance, certified of our eternal well-being, associated with all that is joyous and with all that is holy in the universe, and confirmed in every good resolve and rewarded for every good service by the favour of a loving King. This is the one kingdom which all others will be seen only to have pointed towards and taught us to hope for; a kingdom so free that the law of it is love, so great that none are excluded and none unthought of, so righteous that murmur is never heard through all its borders, so stable that when heaven and earth are shaken this will “ not be moved “: a kingdom so wisely administered that in it each one of us shall find his right place, when we shall learn the blessedness we have in common with all the nations of the saved, and that peculiar property of bliss, with which a stranger cannot intermeddle, and which is prepared for us by Him who has written our names among His subjects, and gives to us that new name which no man knoweth save Him that receiveth it; a kingdom which we shall then only begin to learn the glory of, when we shall see it triumphant, and when the kings and nations of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And this is the one perfect kingdom, because He who reigns is the perfect King, alone able to found a kingdom in the deepest love and broadest righteousness. He is King of kings and Lord of lords, He is the blessed and only Potentate; but His special right of dominion over us is grounded in this, that He has taken our nature upon Him.

It is as one of us, as our Head, as the Son given to us, that He takes the government upon His shoulder, and brings us to the kingdom of the Father. And do we need to pray that His kingdom may come, or do we not? Are we sufficient for our own need, for our own future, or are we not? Do we need some one to rule us, to help us against our enemies, to help us against our selves, or do we not? Have not our eyes opened to the fact that thick between us and God there stand those that bar the way, sins and hindrances of all kinds, that must be swept away or over come? Have we not tried to do this for our selves, and found again and again that when the shout of victory was on our very lip, we were prostrated in the dust of shameful defeat? Have we not felt at such times that all might yet be well with us, if some one, strong and mighty in righteousness, would only take possession of us, take us out of our own hands, and rule and command us by an authority more suasive than our own, and, imbuing us with a power that we have not of ourselves, make well-doing possible to us; if some one would take up this cause which our feebleness is making nothing of, and would see to it, as for his own glory and as his own interest, that we be delivered, and conquer, and reach the peace of God? What we daily find our need of is a ruler, and a ruler loving enough to give us all confidence in Him; firm enough to support us when we weary, and compel us to the right path when we waver, powerful enough to do what man cannot do, to change our hearts and deliver us from evil.

Such a ruler God offers to us, and such a ruler we choose when we pray, “ Thy kingdom come “. The reason why this petition should be used with a special view to the extension of the Church, and the encouragements there are so to use it, are so fully before the thoughts of all praying persons at the present time that less need be said on these points. Of course, the first ground of hope that this petition is now to be answered, more fully and visibly than hitherto, is just this, that it is being prayed more earnestly and believingly now than hitherto. Prayer is not the only means of bringing in the kingdom of God; but if it be, as we believe it now is, earnestly prayed for, the other means will also be used. And without prayer, earnest and sustained, what can we look for? Even the first descent of the Spirit as the Spirit of the kingdom of Christ, though certainly sufficiently provided for by the ascension of our Lord, was vouchsafed only to anxious and reiterated prayer. And in these latter days there is no desire more common to all Christians than that the Church may extend her influence; nor are there any more conspicuous features of modern Christianity than missionary zeal. No doubt there is much in these desires and efforts that is merely selfish and earthly, but unquestionably there is also much that is of heaven, and much too that is hopeful, because it is not the unrooted product of a year or two, or the mushroom growth of a passing excitement, but the fruit of a steady growth which many a year has nourished. This desire does not require to be fostered by any special theory of prophetical interpretation, nor can it in any time cease to be among the most ardent desires of the Christian. But no one can fail to draw some encouragement from what he sees, nor can any one fail to see that much of the progress around him is in directions which prepare a way for the kingdom of God. Increased intelligence and a more general and careful education, attention to the outcast, the distressed, and the criminal, more liberal ideas of civil liberty, the cordial, frequent, and increasing reference to union among different sections of the Church, and many other features of the age that are continually mentioned, all make our prayer more hopeful. But while hope is our duty, prophecy is beyond our province. Neither shall we be much inclined to prophesy, when we consider these three things; * how very different God’s thoughts must be concerning His kingdom and the whole plan of its advance, from ours who see but the merest glimpses of His purpose; when we think how often in past times there has been every prospect that now at last the Church would just steadily grow; and when we turn from speculation about the future to present fact, and think of “ the millions afar off that know not the Revelation of God, or of the thousands at hand that hold it in contempt “. Yet these things only the more plainly show us that it is of God to grant that His kingdom may come. Of the consummate glory of this kingdom it is very difficult to speak. We know that for earth the best condition would be the kingdom of God, but what earth will be when this prayer is fully answered, who would undertake to say? It is ours to pray without ceasing, and to maintain fidelity to our King. We must cleave loyally to Him. He is coming in glory and will reign whose right it is. Let us, if need be, endure hardness for a little that we may evermore reign with Him. No one can take from us His words, * See Isaac Taylor’s Saturday Evening throughout.

“ He that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne “. And for those who desire some detail of future glory to attract their hope, no words can be more suitable than the following, written by one who spent his life in the service of his heavenly King, and has now enjoyed many lifetimes of reward. “ O kingdom everlasting, kingdom enduring throughout all generations, where is never-failing light, and the peace of God, which passeth under standing; in which the souls of the saints securely rest, crowned with eternal gladness; whither the ransomed of the Lord shall come, and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

O how glorious is the kingdom in which with Thee, O Lord, all the saints shall reign, clothed in white raiment, and with crowns upon their heads.

O kingdom of eternal blessedness, where Thou, Lord, the hope of the saints and the diadem of their glory, art seen face to face, gladdening them every one, and embracing them on every side with the comforts of Thy peace. There is joy unbounded, gladness unbroken, health untouched by woe, progress without pain, light without darkness, life without death, every good sifted from its ill, and enjoyed without alloy or interruption. Where youth never grows old and life never dies, where beauty never pales and love never cools, where health never languishes, where joy never wanes and where grief is never felt, where no moan nor sigh is heard nor any tear is seen, where gladness is ever enjoyed, and where there is no evil feared, because the highest good is possessed, which is to be always beholding the face of the Lord of righteousness and strength.”