GOD'S GOVERNMENT

GOD’S GOVERNMENT

The government of God goes on, but what is to be observed in regard to the present position of Christ in heaven is that all the dispositions of God in connection with the nations have reference to the testimony. There is no other concern with God now. There is the gospel and there is the assembly, and these are the chief interests of God today, and all His dispositions on the earth (and He is in supreme control of everything) have the furtherance of the testimony in view. Evil is allowed to go on, and it is coming to a head, but it is allowed on God’s terms, within the divine limitations.

The kingdom of the heavens implies that God is in supreme control of things and that He carries them to an issue. Hence we see in the parables in Matthew 22, not only the destruction of Jerusalem,

^[p. 444] but that the one unsuited to the marriage scene is cast out into outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth; that is, what is unsuitable in christendom is dealt with finally. The parables pursue things to their final issue, so the more we understand the gospel of Matthew, the more stayed and restful we can be, knowing that everything reaches its issue under God’s hand. Then we see the thought of government in regard to the nations, carried right to the end in chapter 25: the goats go away into everlasting punishment and the righteous into life eternal.