297. LUKE 17:20-21: THE COMING OF THE KINGDOM

Luke 17:20-21: The Coming of the Kingdom

And being asked by the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God cometh, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo, here! or, There! for lo, the kingdom of God is within you.'97Luk_17:20-21.

1. There are few sayings of our Lord whose meaning has been more disputed. What did our Lord mean? Did He mean, as we at first are sure to understand Him to mean, that the Kingdom of God is to be looked for, not in the outward scene of man's life but in the heart of man himself? That is no doubt, in one sense, most true. The Kingdom of God, as St. Paul says, is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, and it is within ourselves, though not only within ourselves, that these things are found. Or, secondly, did the Lord here speak of His own presence in the world? Did He mean that the Kingdom, or reign, of God was already realized in His own Person, and in the little band which was living under His direction? That also is, no doubt, most true. In Jesus and His little company the Pharisees had already '93in the midst of them'94 those in whom God was indeed ruling. Or, thirdly, was our Lord's meaning, as we should now say, eschatological? Did He mean that it was idle to watch for the dawn of the Kingdom of God, since that Kingdom would come suddenly, and in its noontide glory, without any gradual dawn to herald its coming? A moment before its arrival we shall detect no sign of it. And then, as the hour strikes, '93Lo! the kingdom of God is in the midst'94 of us! Each of these meanings is possible, and each is attractive; how shall we decide between them?

The context provides us with an answer. We read the next verses and this is what we find: '93And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it. And they shall say to you, Lo, there! Lo, here! go not away, nor follow after them; for as the lightning, when it lighteneth out of the one part under the heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall the Son of man be in his day.'94 Now, surely, these later verses explain the earlier. The disciples themselves, the Lord seems to say, will in the days to come raise the same question as the Pharisees have raised, and raise it with a longing desire which even the Pharisees do not know. By the disciples, indeed, the coming of the Kingdom will be bound up with the coming of the Son of Man; the fulfilment of all their loftiest hopes will rest with Him. But they, too, in their longing desire, will be tempted to '93follow wandering fires,'94 and the Lord bids them resist that temptation. When the Son of Man does come to bring the Kingdom, the lightning itself will not be plainer, or more sudden in its coming, than He. Can we doubt, then, that our Lord's words to the Pharisees had a similar meaning? They, too, are eschatological, as the words to the disciples are. They, too, warn us that the Kingdom of God will come very suddenly, and that we must ever be ready for it.

2. Let us first try to understand what the Kingdom is, and then let us interpret its coming as both present and future, that is to say, as already in a certain sense among us, and yet in another sense only to come at the end of all things. The idea of the Kingdom as '93within,'94 or its inward and spiritual nature will be reserved for another sermon.

The translation of the last clause is most uncertain. In the Authorized Version it is '93Behold, the kingdom of God is within you'94; or, as the margin reads, '93among you.'94 The Revised Version has it: '93The kingdom of God is within you,'94 with '93in the midst of you'94 in the margin. Dr. Muirhead, in his Eschatology of Jesus, thinks that our Lord expressly chose an ambiguous expression, not committing Himself to the statement that the Kingdom of God was within the Pharisees, and yet not missing the opportunity of suggesting its essential inwardness.

I

The Kingdom

The true conception of the Kingdom of God will not necessarily be the conception which is most easy to grasp, or the conception which the earliest Gospel might most easily suggest to us; it will be the conception which can take its place in actual history. We know from the Old Testament what the Kingdom of God meant, and was found to be, before the Lord came. We know from the New Testament, and from our own experience, what it meant and has been found to be in the life of the Church. Our Lord's conception of it must surely have been the conception which can link the one with the other without breach of continuity. That conception may have been complex, like His own wonderful personality. Because it is complex, we may wish to simplify it by sacrificing to one element in it all the rest. But that is a temptation which we shall be bound to resist, and to resist precisely because we desire to be true to history. Neither thought nor life is simple, and we must accept them as they are.

1. What, then, did the Kingdom of God mean to Israel before our Lord came?

(1) In the Bible the Kingdom of God is in no way concerned with physical boundaries. The Kingdom of God means the rule of God, and that not just as an abstract idea, but in a concrete form, the rule of God as it takes shape in the sphere where it is actually exercised. To be ruled by God is the greatest blessing which men can enjoy; it brings with it every possible blessing. The misery of the world to-day, and every single unhappiness of our own, result simply from this, that neither we nor our circumstances are ruled by our Heavenly Father as they ought to be. Far too much they are either the sport of our own wilful impulses, or under the foolish rule of people as foolish and wilful as ourselves. And always where there has been true spiritual insight, men have known where the source of the evil lay, and longed for its removal. What was needed, they knew, was not a different kind of human rule, but the rule of God.

(2) But the best minds in Israel went further than that. They were certain that God's purpose did exactly correspond to man's need. Israel itself was in God's intention the sphere of God's rule. As Samuel expressed it, the Lord their God was their King. Just in so far as Israel frankly accepted the Divine rule and obeyed the Divine commands it found in its own experience the unspeakable blessing which they brought.

(3) Was, then, this all that was necessary? Not so, and for two reasons. In the first place, the sin of Israel was continually defeating the Divine purpose for it, and Israel itself, in consequence, continually falling under the cruel despotism of its heathen neighbours. And in the second place, Israel was not the world, while the rule of God was needed everywhere. And so we find that, while prophet and psalmist do the fullest justice to the Divine rule that already exists, while they love to dwell upon it and long for themselves and for their country to appropriate it more and more, they nevertheless look beyond the present to a far fuller establishment of the rule of God. Israel itself must be purged of its sin; it must be brought to a new and willing submission to its true King; the laws of God must be put into its mind and written upon its heart; then the oppressor will be cast down, and all be well with Israel under its Divine Judge and Law-giver and King. And, to pass to the wider hope, the Kingdom of God must come to the other nations also, and come, just as it had come to Israel, by God's personal action, by His own free and loving gift.

(4) Moreover, to those who thus hoped and believed, every manifestation of Divine judgment or mercy was a real coming in power of the Kingdom of God. This manifestation might not accomplish all that was needed; that might be man's fault, and not God's. But it was a real manifestation, so far as it went, and it pointed to a further and fuller manifestation in the time to come. If God smote Egypt or Babylon, if He brought back His people from captivity and established them in their own land, God's servants rejoiced in the present, and looked forward with the greater confidence to the future. That was the mind of the Israel to whom the Lord came. It believed in a present kingdom, and it believed in a future kingdom, and in both as in the closest connexion the one with the other.

2. Now, what is the conception of the Kingdom in the New Testament and the history of the Church of Christ? Has the thought of the Kingdom of God been there substantially different from the thought of Israel? On the contrary, it has been substantially the same. Since the coming of the Spirit, the Church has felt itself to be far more truly the Kingdom of God than ever Israel was of old.

(1) Before our Lord's attack the powers of evil have already fallen. He '93has made us a kingdom,'94 as St. John says. God has '93delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love.'94 In our personal lives, if we will but respond to the grace of God, the Kingdom of God is already '93within us.'94 '93The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made us free from the law of sin and death.'94 We are led by the Spirit of God'97God's sons because we are so led. If that is not to enjoy the Kingdom of God here and now, what is? Yes, and not only in our individual lives do we enjoy it, but in our corporate life as well. In the Catholic Church, into which the little company of our Lord has grown, the world has already the Kingdom of God '93in the midst of'94 it. Imperfect as the Church may be, it is in God's intention the sphere of the Divine rule, as the world outside is not. The Church is the Body of Christ, the Temple of the Holy Ghost, in God's intention a true theocracy like Israel of old.

(2) But of course we can no more rest in such thoughts as these than the best minds of Israel did. We, too, feel how, within ourselves and within the Church, human sin mars the Divine purpose, and we long for that sin to be purged away '93by the Spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning.'94 We, too, feel ourselves only too often under the dominion of alien powers, and long for their dominion to be broken. Yet again, we, too, chafe at the present limitations of the Divine rule. We desire it for the whole world of men and for the whole world of nature. And so we too, like Israel of old, cannot rest in the Kingdom as we at present experience it. We look forward, as Israel did, to the day of the Lord, or rather to that which is our Christian translation of it, the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. He, our Lord, must come'97again and again it may be'97to judge all that need His judgment, and to be gracious to all that need His grace. So, remembering how He said that '93henceforth'94 we should '93see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven,'94 we recognize His coming just as Israel recognized the coming of God, in every overthrow of the powers of the world, in every signal mercy vouchsafed to the Church, while we look forward, beyond all present judgments and present grace, to a final judgment, and a perfected '93salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.'94

(3) How the final judgment and perfected salvation will come we know not at all; that the figures in which we speak of them are figures only, we know full well. But that they will come in God's good time we know full well also. So far from the belief in the present Divine Kingdom excluding the belief in the eschatological kingdom, the one belief leads on to and implies the other. It is our experience of the present kingdom, which we know, that gives all its best content to the hope of the eschatological kingdom, which we do not know, while it is the very imperfection of the present kingdom that leads us to look beyond it. Of a contrast, an opposition, between the two, the Church knows nothing, nor has ever known anything. Like Israel of old, she believes in them both, and maintains them both.1 [Note: H. L. Goudge.]

Jesus' Kingdom commends itself to the imagination because it is to come when God's will is done on earth as it is done in heaven'97it is the Kingdom of the Beatitudes. It commends itself to the reason because it has come wherever any one is attempting God's will'97it is the Kingdom of the Parables. An ideal state, it ever allures and inspires its subjects; a real state, it sustains, commands them. Had Jesus conceived His Kingdom as in the future only, He had made His disciples dreamers; had He centred it in the present only, He had made them theorists. As it is, one labours on its building with a splendid model before his eyes; one possesses it in his heart, and yet is ever entering into its fulness.2 [Note: John Watson, The Mind of the Master.]

The City paved with gold,

Bright with each dazzling gem!

When shall our eyes behold

The new Jerusalem?

Yet lo! e'en now in viewless might

Uprise the walls of living light!

The kingdom of the Lord!

It cometh not with show:

Nor throne, nor crown, nor sword,

Proclaim its might below.

Though dimly scanned through mists of sin,

The Lord's true kingdom is within!

The gates of pearl are there

In penitential tears:

Bright as a jewel rare

Each saintly grace appears:

We track the path saints trod of old,

And lo! the pavement is of gold!

The living waters flow

That fainting souls may drink;

The mystic fruit-trees grow

Along the river's brink:

We taste e'en now the water sweet,

And of the Tree of Life we eat.

Not homeless wanderers here

Our exile songs we sing;

Thou art our home most dear,

Thou city of our King!

Thy future bliss we cannot tell,

Content in Thee on earth we dwell.

Build, Lord, the mystic walls!

Throw wide the unseen gates!

Fill all the golden halls,

While yet Thy triumph waits!

Make glad Thy Church with light and love,

Till glorified it shines above!1 [Note: W. Walsham How.]

II

The Coming of the Kingdom

We have seen that the coming of the Kingdom of God is both present and future; it is come, and it is coming. Before touching each manifestation separately, let us consider the attitude of our Lord. It is a most important matter for us to understand our Lord's position. The eschatological question, as it is called, is the burning question of our day, and much depends upon its proper solution.

With the mind of Israel what it was, and the mind of the Church what it has ever been, is it in the least probable that the mind of our Lord was out of harmony both with the one and with the other, and exhibited a narrowness and one-sidedness from which both the one and the other have been free? Is it in the least probable that, while Israel and the Church have believed in a present Kingdom of God as well as in a future one, our Lord believed only in the latter and ignored the former? Why should we think so? Is it because of the witness of the Synoptic Gospels?

If we take them as they stand, they witness to no such narrowness. They represent our Lord, no doubt, as an enthusiastic believer in the grand hope of the coming reign of God. So were the best minds of Israel, and so are the best minds of the Church to-day. They represent Him as thinking far more of the future kingdom than He thought of the present one. So did the best minds of Israel, and so do the best minds of the Church to-day. But they do not represent Him as confining to the future the thought of the Kingdom of God. Israel was to Him all, and more than all, that it had been to prophet and psalmist before Him. Jerusalem was '93the city of the great King.'94 His own followers, the foundation on which His Church was to be built, were to Him even more. The keys of their society were '93the keys of the kingdom of heaven.'94 He taught that the rule of God was already being realized in His own activity; if He '93by the finger of God cast out devils, then is the Kingdom of God come upon us'94; and He provided for the extension of that activity in the work of the Church. He spoke of the Kingdom of God as growing like the mustard-plant, and working like leaven; and whether we explain His words as applying to the Church or to the individual or to both, it is manifestly of a present kingdom that He spoke.

Of course, it is possible, in the interests of a theory, to excise such passages from the Gospels, or to explain them away, but why should we wish to do so? Why should we insist upon interpreting our Lord's words by Jewish apocalypses, which we have no evidence that He ever read, instead of interpreting them by that Old Testament with which we know His mind was saturated? Why do we forget the destruction of Jerusalem, and the place which we know it to have occupied in His thoughts? Why, when He tells us that we shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, do we insist that He can have but one day? Why, when He says that '93wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together,'94 do we insist that not till His final coming can there be a lifeless corpse to consume, and that the eagles of judgment must go hungry till then? Why, above all, when in His great eschatological discourse He distinguishes in successive verses between the judgment that will fall before His own generation passes away and that final judgment whose day and hour not even the Son can know, do we insist upon confusing the one with the other, and declaring our Lord to have claimed the very knowledge which He denies Himself to possess?

Take that text which seems to be regarded as the stronghold of the purely eschatological view. '93Ye shall not have gone through the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.'94 What difficulty will that verse present to one who is familiar with the Old Testament language? None whatever. At what exact moment our Lord spoke these words we do not know. Here, as elsewhere, the first Evangelist groups together teachings given at various times. But the First Gospel, as we know, is especially the Gospel of the Jewish Christians, and it is surely with the Apostolic mission to the Jews that our Lord is here dealing. The coming of which He here speaks is His coming for judgment to Israel. What He provides for is that, before the Roman eagles swoop down upon the guilty land, Israel shall hear the message of the Gospel, and be called to repentance and salvation. And so, surely, His Apostles understood Him. The forty years' respite was apparently used by them to go through the cities of Israel, and proclaim the gospel; and only when the gospel had been proclaimed did the flood come.

Certainly it is true that the Apostles, whom our Lord had trained, expected the final consummation in their own day. So have the most earnest Christians in every age of the Church's history. But do they base that expectation of theirs upon any clear word of our Lord? Not once. On the contrary, they base it, as the Christians of other ages have done, upon their own reading of the '93signs of the times.'94 If, then, it be said that our Lord taught the near approach of His final coming, we can only reply that He did not so teach. In the foreground He saw the destruction of the Jewish theocracy; behind it, in the mists of the future, He saw the final establishment of the Kingdom of God. He told His Apostles the date of the one, and He denied that He knew the date of the other.

If the Jesus of Harnack was not the Jesus of the Church, nor, we think, the Jesus of history either, He was at any rate a noble figure, and a most helpful one. But the Jesus of Schweitzer has no message for us; he seems to us a self-deluded fanatic, and nothing more.1 [Note: H. L. Goudge.]

It is really well to consider how entirely our religious teaching and preaching, and our creeds, and what passes with us for '93the gospel,'94 turn on quite other matters from the fundamental matter of the primitive gospel, or good news, of our Saviour Himself. This gospel was the ideal of popular hope and longing, an immense renovation and transformation of things: the Kingdom of God. '93Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the good news of God and saying: The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the good news.'94 Jesus went about the cities and villages '93proclaiming the good news of the kingdom.'94 The multitudes followed Him, and He '93took them and talked to them about the kingdom of God.'94 He told His disciples to preach this. '93Go thou, and spread the news of the kingdom of God.'94 '93Into whatever city ye enter, say to them: The kingdom of God has come nigh unto you.'94 He told His disciples to pray for it. '93Thy kingdom come!'94 He told them to seek and study it before all things. '93Seek first God's righteousness and kingdom.'94

It is a contracted and insufficient conception of the gospel which takes into view only the establishment of righteousness, and does not also take into view the establishment of the Kingdom. And the establishment of the Kingdom does imply an immense renovation and transformation of our actual state of things; that is certain. This then, which is the ideal of the popular classes, of the multitude everywhere, is a legitimate ideal. And a Church of England devoted to the service and ideals of any class or classes'97however distinguished, wealthy, or powerful'97which are perfectly satisfied with things as they are, is not only out of sympathy with the ideal of the popular classes; it is also out of sympathy with the gospel, of which the ideal does, in the main, coincide with theirs.2 [Note: Matthew Arnold, Last Essays.]

i. The Kingdom is come

1. The Kingdom of God was among them. Yes, it was in Bethany yonder. It was to be found in quiet homes, scattered among Jud'e6an hills, among peasants and fisherfolk, who broke their daily bread as the bread of sacrament. Christ could leave the world in the sure confidence that the light which He had kindled in so many hearts would burn on in the darkness, and that from these other hearts would catch the flame, and so the night would wear away till the great day dawned.

There is no day of eternity auguster than that which now is. There is nothing in the way of consequence to be awaited that is not now enacting, no sweetness that may not now be tasted, no bitterness, that is not now felt. What comes after will be but the increment of what now is, for even now we are in the eternal world.1 [Note: Theodore T. Munger.]

The hours bring nothing in their hands;

A silent suppliant at thy gate,

Each one for its brief lifetime stands'97

Thou art its master and its fate.

One looketh on the evening skies

And saith, '93To-morrow will be fair'94;

Another's westering gaze descries

God's angels on the golden stair.

The only heaven thou shalt behold

Is builded of thy thoughts and deeds;

Hopes are its pearls and faith its gold,

And love is all the light it needs.

That Voice that broke the world's blind dream

Of gain the stronger hand may win,

For things that are 'gainst things that seem,

Pleaded, The Kingdom is within.

There is no depth, there is no height,

But dwells within thy soul, He saith;

And there dwell time and day and night,

And life is there, and there is death.2 [Note: P. C. Ainsworth, Poems and Sonnets, 58.]

2. Why do we not see it? True, it does not come with observation, but when it is come it must make itself known. Why do we not realize its presence? Turn to the second half of His answer'97viz., that to the disciples. '93The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it.'94 Value what you have already. It is an answer which touches our own hearts very nearly. How often we overlook some present blessedness in gazing far away towards some beatitude which comes not, or is delayed! So we passed through the heaven which lay about our early years, dreaming of some coming good, conjectured to be fair because it was far off! With such earnest pains did we

Provoke

The years to bring the inevitable yoke.

The young idealize the future, the old idealize the past; and life is nearly gone before some of us learn to live in the present, and to bow in reverence at the spot whereon we stand because it, too, is holy ground. The days may come in which we may desire to see one of those heavenly days which now come and go almost unrecognized'97days of worship and days of service, both in the home and in the Church.

Can we doubt that the Kingdom of God is in the midst of us when we think of those noble souls still present with us, and those departed, who have interpreted to us the very charity of God? Can we doubt it when we read those touching biographies of sainted men and women which have appeared in recent years? When we read the story of the almost perfect married life of George and Josephine Butler; when we turn the pages of the inner life of that artist-saint James Smetham; when we read how the Light dawned upon George Romanes, dawned, and grew to perfect day; or when we turn to Dean Church's life, that '93consummate flower of Christian culture'94?

Can we question that the Kingdom of God is in the midst of us when we read of that group of friends gathered in a village chapel, a mile or so from Oxford, to hear Newman's farewell sermon, not knowing that it was to be such? When Newman mounted the pulpit there was a kind of awestruck silence. Everybody knew that something would be said which nobody would forget. And the '93Parting of Friends'94 is perhaps the most pathetic of all the sermons of this great master of religious pathos. It is the last and most heart-broken expression of the intense distress which could not but be felt by a man of extraordinary sensitiveness when placed between what he believed to be a new call of duty on one side, and the affection of high-minded and devoted friends on the other. We turn over the printed pages of that sermon, and feel the passion of it throbbing still, as the preacher ends his lyrical cry: '93And, O, my brethren! O kind and affectionate hearts! O loving friends! Should you know any one whose lot it has been, by writing or by word of mouth, in some degree to help you thus to act; if he has ever told you what you know, has read to you your wants and feelings, and comforted you by the very reading, has made you feel that there is a higher life than this daily one, and a brighter world than that you see; or encouraged you, or sobered you, or opened a way to the inquiring, or soothed the perplexed; if what he has done has ever made you take an interest in him, and feel well inclined towards him, remember such an one in time to come, though you hear him not, and pray for him, that in all things he may know God's will, and at all times he may be ready to fulfil it.'94 Few who were present could restrain their tears. Pusey, who was the celebrant, was quite unable to control himself. '93Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.'94 '93The kingdom of God is in the midst of you.'941 [Note: G. Littlemore.]

If we turn to a little-known fact in the life of Michael Faraday, the vision of the ideal Church'97the true Kingdom of God'97meets us once more. Faraday was an elder in an obscure sect. He was one of a little religious band which met for worship in a London alley. '93In the year 1856,'94 says one, who was once of that company, '93Faraday on his own confession was put away from us. His scientific researches had, he confessed, unsettled his simple faith as a Sandemanian. The gas-fitter, the linen-draper, the butcher'97fellow-members in the little company'97were shocked, but stern. We prayed for Faraday every Sunday; we asked that God would send light to his dark brain, and'97I am giving you the facts'97the prayers of the gas-fitter, the linen-draper, and the butcher were answered in a very marvellous way. After a separation of some months Michael Faraday, the man whom all the world delighted to honour, came back one day to the little meeting-house in Paul's-alley, and standing up before the little congregation made full confession of his error, and, with tears in his eyes, vowed that never again would he allow any conflict in his mind between science and the simple childlike faith of the Sandemanian brotherhood. Everybody wept, and a blessed peace fell upon the little meeting-house in Paul's-alley.'94 '93If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.'942 [Note: Ibid.]

3. And yet it may be said that a man must be a sturdy optimist who, knowing what the actual condition of Christendom is, can still find it quite to his mind and entirely satisfactory. Satisfactory! Actual realizations of a great ideal can never satisfy an idealist. They are satisfactory only in so far as they are signs of something better yet to be. A child's drawing may be grotesquely wrong and yet show signs of coming power'97signs sufficient to awaken hope in the hearts of those who watch his progress. We must learn rightly to estimate men's '93half-reasons, faint aspirings, dim struggles for truth, their poorest fallacies'97all with a touch of nobleness despite their error.'94 We must learn to acquiesce in the slow evolution of the new moral order'97to understand that there are evenings and mornings in the days of the new creation, and that it takes an evening and a morning to make one of God's days.

There are only two ways of escape from the bitterness to which we are prone in view of these facts. One is to endeavour to '93do good for its own sake'94; to find our satisfaction in the simple sense of having done our duty. So far as it goes, this is a true refuge from the misrepresentation and ingratitude of the world, and there are men of such lofty ethical temper that it seems to suffice to keep them diligent, humble, and tireless in the way of service. Nevertheless, there is a better way, to those, at least, who superadd genuine religious faith to real ethical passion. It is to bear in mind the absolute justice and the unfailing benevolence of their heavenly Master and Lord. Nothing short of this can keep all but a select few superlatively endowed ethical souls faithful and unspoiled to the end.

After so many graces, may I not sing with the Psalmist that '93the Lord is good, that his mercy endureth for ever'94? It seems to me that if every one were to receive such favours God would be feared by none, but loved to excess; that no one would ever commit the least wilful fault'97and this through love, not fear. Yet all souls cannot be alike. It is necessary that they should differ from one another in order that each Divine Perfection may receive its special honour. To me, He has given His Infinite Mercy, and it is in this ineffable mirror that I contemplate His other attributes. Therein all appear to me radiant with Love. His Justice, even more perhaps than the rest, seems to me to be clothed with Love. What joy to think that our Lord is just, that is to say, that He takes our weakness into account, that He knows perfectly the frailty of our nature! Of what, then, need I be afraid? Will not the God of Infinite Justice, who deigns so lovingly to pardon the sins of the Prodigal Son, be also just to me '93who am always with him'94?1 [Note: S'e6ur Th'e9r'e8se of Lisieux, 132.]

ii. The Kingdom is Coming

Though it may be without observation now, it will in the end be the observed of all observers, the admired of all admirers, the cynosure of every eye, the one glory when every other glory shall have paled; the one name and fame which shall survive when every other shall have passed away as a noise; the one kingdom which, itself immovable, shall behold the wreck and the ruin of every kingdom besides; and then, in that kingdom of the Spirit, that kingdom of the truth, wherein goodness shall be the only measure of greatness, and each and all shall wear an outward beauty exactly corresponding to the inward beauty of the Christ in them or, alas! shall put on an outward deformity corresponding to the inner unloveliness of their hearts and lives; then, in that kingdom of the truth, all that are of the truth shall shine out as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father, for Christ, who is their life, shall have appeared, and they shall appear with Him in glory.

When the Kingdom comes in its greatness, it will fulfil every religion and destroy none, clearing away the imperfect and opening up reaches of goodness not yet imagined, till it has gathered into its bosom whatsoever things are true and honest and just and pure and lovely. It standeth on the earth as the city of God with its gates open by night and by day, into which entereth nothing that defileth, but into which is brought the glory and power of the nations. It is the natural home of the good; as Zwingli, the Swiss reformer, said in his dying confession, '93Not one good man, one holy spirit, one faithful soul, whom you will not then behold with God.'942 [Note: John Watson, The Mind of the Master.]

1. There were two influential tendencies in the time of Christ'97the same two that one finds everywhere. There was one class of people who believed the Kingdom of God would come only by fighting for it. They wanted a revolution. They had in them the fire of the old Maccabean days. The Zealots were of this way of thinking. Barabbas and the two men who were crucified with Christ were very likely men of this insurrectionist type. Judas Iscariot had the revolutionary spirit, and he was bitterly disappointed that Jesus did not turn out to be a revolutionary leader, organizing the discontent and unrest of the people into a formidable force of opposition. Jesus doubtless had the revolutionists in mind when He said: '93The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo, here! or, There! for lo, the kingdom of God is within you.'94

There was another circle of men, who looked for the Kingdom of God to come, not by revolution, but by revelation. They expected some sign from heaven. They looked for a miracle. There would be some catastrophe in the natural world, and God would come in and take possession of things, and His reign would actually begin. Therefore Jesus doubtless had in mind the men who looked for a miracle, as well as the men who wanted a revolution, when He said: The kingdom of God does not come by observation, by watching for it, by identifying it with this or that strange occurrence. It is hidden in the course of things. It grows up in its own silent and unobtrusive way, because it is a part of life, it is the order of the world. It is amongst you, and within you.

In a word, Jesus did not look for the Kingdom of God to come through militant revolution, with Judas and the Zealots; nor by miraculous revelation, with the scribes and the Rabbis; but by quiet, steady, invisible evolution. The Kingdom of God was the unfolding order of the world. It was the unfolding growth of the human spirit. It was the response of the one to the other. It was seeing light in the light'97seeing more light as the eyes grew stronger and the light grew clearer.

2. What is the relation of the Kingdom of God to the actual world in which we live? Is it one (1) of independence and detachment, or (2) of antagonism and contradiction, or (3) of interpenetration? This is no abstract question, but one that vitally affects our attitude towards life's practical duties and problems.

(1) It may be held that the '93natural'94 and '93spiritual'94 orders of existence occupy different planes of activity, between which there is no possible point of contact. There is much in the exposition of the principles of the Kingdom as given in the Gospels that would suggest this view. Jesus Himself took no part in the political life of His day; He made no attempt to introduce social or economic reforms into the industrial world; He resolutely declined to interfere in personal disputes; and He resisted every effort made by His followers to make Him a Ruler or King. The Apostles followed Him in accepting the political and social life of the Roman Empire as it was; they counselled obedience and submission for conscience' sake to the powers that were; and while they would occasionally demand a recognition of their legal and civil status, they did so only when their opportunity of following out their chosen task of preaching the Gospel was being unlawfully interfered with by hostile authorities bent on a tyrannical suppression of the new faith.

(2) Or it may be affirmed that the '93kingdom of this world'94 and the heavenly order revealed by Jesus Christ are in hopeless antagonism, and that the latter can come to its own only by the total suppression or conquest of the former. In favour of this hypothesis, it may be pointed out that many sayings of our Lord seem consistent with it. The antithesis which is drawn by Him between the '93world'94 and His '93kingdom'94 is sharp and impressive, especially in the Johannine discourses, and there again He is followed with no faltering tongue by the first Apostles, and especially by St. Paul.

(3) A deeper consideration, however, will show that both these theories must be set aside in favour of the third. Our Lord preached the gospel of the Kingdom in the world that the world might thereby be '93saved'94; i.e., that it might be permeated and leavened, and transformed by the spiritual forces let loose into it. His purpose in coming was not revolutionary, but evolutionary; in other words, He came not to cast down, but to build up, not to destroy, but to fulfil. The theory that the Christian life is one that is to be lived apart from the secular life has always proved the parent of serious and painful abuses, leading either, on the one hand, to a separation of the Christian community from the rest of mankind, so making it impotent for good, or, on the other, to a schism in the individual life itself, which is the root of all hypocrisies. The only valid and practical theory of spiritual progress is based on the assumption that, while the actual secular course of the world follows ideals and obeys forces that are inconsistent with the principles of the Kingdom, yet the only hope of the world is that it may be slowly but surely permeated with the ideals of the Kingdom of God, and become finally obedient to its spiritual laws.

3. When the great Lord Shaftesbury grew old, he said that he could not bear to die while there was so much misery in the world still unrelieved; and that is the spirit of the true servant. What are we doing while the chance is ours? Doubtless the insensible advance of righteousness should remind us how large are the spaces in which the Divine purpose is realized. The plan of God's Kingdom is immense. It may embrace countless worlds besides this little earth; it may include in its wonderful drama unsuspected spirits and intelligences both higher and lower than ourselves. If it takes a myriad years to rise from protoplasm to man, how many will be needed for the coronation of this King! Make your contribution, then, and pass on; add your own mite, whatever it may be, to the treasury of human good; and see that no ironical epitaph of a wasted life is written on your grave. If God's Kingdom is slow, at least it is already here; it is always coming; now you are in the midst of it, now God is at His work before you, now you are surrounded by the Divine silences and the Divine voices. The goal is far off, but one day it will be attained. The great Sower may seem to sleep, and rise, and go His way, unconscious or indifferent, while we look impatiently or in despair for the ripening corn on the wide fields of human life; but the seed has been sown; He can afford to wait; and the hour will not fail to come when at last the cry goes forth to the listening ear, '93Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.'94

One day my tired eyes lit upon that wondrous phrase, '93The Lord of the harvest.'94 It caught fire in my heart at once. '93Oh! there is a Lord of the harvest,'94 I said to myself. I had been forgetting that. He is a Lord, a masterful one. He has the whole campaign mapped out, and each one's part in helping mapped out too. And I let the responsibility of the campaign lie over where it belonged. When night time came I went to bed to sleep. My pillow was this, '93There is a Lord of the harvest.'94 My key-note came to be obedience to Him. That meant keen ears to hear, keen judgment to understand, keeping quiet so that the sound of His voice would always be distinctly heard. It meant trusting Him when things did not seem to go with a swing. It meant sweet sleep at night, and new strength at the day's beginning. It did not mean any less work. It did seem to mean less friction, less dust. Aye, it meant better work, for there was a swing to it, and a joyous abandon in it, and a rhythm of music with it. And the under-current of thought came to be like this: There is a Lord to the harvest. He is taking care of things. My part is full, faithful, intelligent obedience to Him. He is a Master, a masterful One. He is organizing a victory. And the fine tingle of victory was ever in the air.1 [Note: S. D. Gordon, Quiet Talks on Service, 198.]

Gather the Harvest in:

The fields are white, and long ago ye heard

Ringing across the world the Master's word'97

Leave not such fruitage to the lord of Sin,

Gather the Harvest in.

Gather the Harvest in:

Souls dying and yet deathless, o'er the lands,

East, West, North, South, lie ready to your hands;

Long since that other did his work begin;

Gather the Harvest in.

Gather the Harvest in:

Rise early and reap late. Is this a time

For ease? Shall he, by every curse and crime,

Out of your grasp the golden treasure win?

Gather the Harvest in.

Gather the Harvest in:

Ye know ye live not to yourselves, nor die,

Then let not this bright hour of work go by:

To all who know, and do not, there is sin:

Gather the Harvest in.

Gather the Harvest in:

Soon shall the mighty Master summon home

For feast His reapers. Think ye they shall come

Whose sickles gleam not, and whose sheaves are thin?

Gather the Harvest in.2 [Note: S. J. Stone, Poems and Hymns, 126.]

The Coming of the Kingdom

Literature

Ainsworth (P. C.), The Silence of Jesus, 75, 85.

Assheton (R. O.), The Kingdom and the Empire, 107.

Balmforth (R.), The New Testament in the Light of the Higher Criticism, 89.

Brooke (S. A.), The Gospel of Joy, 357.

Davies (J.), The Kingdom Without Observation, 1.

Dawson (G.), Sermons on Daily Life and Duty, 120.

Goulburn (E. M.), Sermons on Different Occasions, 98.

Griffith-Jones (E.), The Economics of Jesus, 111.

Inge (W. R.), Faith and Knowledge, 187.

Jeffrey (G.), The Believer's Privilege, 144.

Kingsley (C.), Sermons on National Subjects, 373.

Lee (R.), Sermons, 103.

Liddon (H. P.), Present Church Troubles, 1.

Macleod (D.), Christ and Society, 67.

Manning (H. E.), Sermons, i. 172.

Murray (A.), Within, 13.

Newman (J. H.), Parochial and Plain Sermons, ii. 107.

Newman (J. H.), Sermons on Various Occasions, 47.

Rashdall (H.), Christus in Ecclesia, 3.

Tomory (A.), in Alexander Tomory, Indian Missionary, 43.

Trench (R. C.), Sermons Preached for the Most Part in Ireland, 299.

Watson (A.), Christ's Authority, 158.

Whitehead (H.), Sermons, 269.

Whyte (A.), The Walk, Conversation, and Character of Jesus Christ our Lord, 258.

Wilberforce (S.), Sermons, 61.

Williams (T. M.), Sermons of the Age, 1.

Cambridge Review, xv. (1893) Supplement No. 363 (E. Bickersteth).

Christian World Pulpit, xlix. 42 (G. Littlemore); lxxiii. 43 (P. McPhail).

Church Family Newspaper, Nov. 25, 1910 (S. A. Alexander); Dec. 2, 1910 (H. L. Goudge).

Church of England Pulpit, li. 133 (R. E. Bartlett).

Churchman's Pulpit: Mission Work, xvii. 212 (J. L. Latham).

Good Words, 1894, p. 354 (W. T. Gairdner).

Autor: JAMES HASTINGS