THE KINGDOM OF GOD

W. Finger

Romans 14: 17, 18; 1 Corinthians 4: 20; Matthew 6: 9–11

If the Lord grants help, it is intended, beloved brethren, to say a few words about the kingdom of God. It is a great subject and I am not the one who can tell you much about it, only a few impressions. We, as belonging to the assembly, speak much of the assembly and rightly so. Many years ago someone said, We make too much of the assembly; and the answer was, If we make much of the assembly, we make much of Christ. But we have to remember that God has not only the assembly, He has also a house and a city and a kingdom.

Everything God has is of great importance, so I thought it might be good to say a few words about the kingdom. I think this was before God right from the beginning for He had in mind to establish rule both in the heavens and upon the earth. In spite of the incoming of sin God still followed up His thoughts and is doing so until this day. He put men under responsibility that they should rule over the earth and make it subject to them to form a platform on which God could work, finally to introduce the gospel and to spread it over the whole world.

After the flood, men tried to build a tower which would keep them together; but God came down and saw what men did and He confused their language and scattered them over the face of the whole earth so that they became different nations and spoke in different languages.

This was all, I think, in view of the gospel being spread one day throughout the whole world, but this took some time until after Christ came in. First of all, God was looking for a kingdom in connection with Israel. To have a kingdom where rule can be established you have to have a king and you have to have a nation. Israel became a nation in Egypt and they were delivered from it, from the place of bondage. God brought them

into the promised land of Canaan and they inherited what God had given to them. Many difficulties arose and it took a long time until God could establish His kingdom under the reign of David and Solomon. Firstly there was Saul who was what the people desired. God was displeased with that choice because He wanted to be their king, but they wanted to have a king like all the nations around them. So God gave them Saul and they had to go through a period of suffering until he was removed and David’s kingdom was established. It is interesting to see that each kingdom lasted for forty years, Saul’s kingdom, David’s kingdom and Solomon’s kingdom (Acts 13: 21; 1 Kings 2: 11; 11: 42). The climax was reached in Solomon’s time when he built the temple; Israel was strong, there was peace and the service of God was going on. But Solomon failed and the kingdom was divided after a period of only one hundred and twenty years.

Whilst different kings arose in Judah and in Israel, there were prophets by whom God intervened. The state in both kingdoms deteriorated so that after a period of approximately four hundred years they were carried away into Babylon in captivity and the kingdoms ceased to be. Then the times of the nations began with Nebuchadnezzar, the first emperor of the first empire of the nations. The times of the nations have not yet finished, they are still continuing.

God granted to the Jews recovery and some of them, under Ezra and Zerubbabel and Nehemiah returned to their country and rebuilt the wall and the temple and there was a remarkable revival. But it was not for long and the biblical report about the history of Israel finishes and the prophetic voice is silent. The history continued for another period of four hundred years until Christ came. I think God used their being in the land so that the platform was provided for the incoming of Christ. The kingdom had already long departed from them and they were under the yoke of the Romans, but still they were in the land, and the temple was there when the Lord Jesus came in.

The writer of the gospel according to Matthew presents to us the King, he gives us more about the kingdom than any other gospel writer. Right at the beginning the question arises,

“Where is the king of the Jews that has been born?” Matthew 2: 2. Israel did not expect Him and in the end they rejected Him, but firstly John the baptist came and preached the kingdom of God to them, and the Lord Jesus did the same when He began His public ministry. He preached the gospel of the kingdom. He sent out His disciples to do the same and there was power in what they preached. They experienced the power of the kingdom of God. As Paul says to the Corinthians, “For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power”, 1 Corinthians 4: 20. I think we should pay much attention to the kingdom because it is God’s sphere where He is in control and where He wants us to be subject to Him. The Lord says, “seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you”, Matthew 6: 33. I think if we paid more attention to this we would have more blessing. Very often we find in our lives that many different things are so important, but how much do we care for the kingdom of God?

The Lord Jesus was the first Representative of that kingdom. He could say when He was here that the kingdom of God had come nigh to them. He was not only the King but He was the Preacher of it and He was the Representative of it; every feature of the kingdom of God could be seen in Him. But what did they do in the end? They did not believe and they rejected Him, and the worst thing they could ever do was that they killed their King. Above His cross there was an inscription written, “Jesus the Nazaraean, the King of the Jews”, John 19: 19. Before that they said, “We will not that this man should reign over us” (Luke 19: 14), “Crucify, crucify him”, Luke 23: 21. Any way for the kingdom being restored to Israel was forfeited when they rejected the king. The Lord had warned them saying that the kingdom of God would be taken away from them and given to another nation producing the fruits of it (Matthew 21: 43). This finally happened, their city was destroyed and they were scattered as it is more or less until this day. But God did not give up the thought of the kingdom. He established it on another basis.

Now we enter into the kingdom by way of new birth. First we need to see the kingdom and then we must enter into it. This was the great question which came up when Nicodemus came to the Lord, and He said to him, “It is needful that ye should be born anew”. This was not only necessary for those from among the nations but it was necessary for those of Israel too.

He says, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except any one be born of water and of Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”, John 3: 5. So it is a spiritual thing, it is for persons who are born anew who enter into the kingdom. First of all you see it, maybe, in the preaching of the gospel and then you begin to believe in Jesus. God works in His mysterious way making you to see the kingdom and to enter into it. This is really a great thing and a great privilege. So it is very important, first of all to be in the kingdom. The kingdom and the assembly are not the same, but I think everyone who is in the assembly has come by way of the kingdom. We have to subject ourselves to God and we have to obey Him. We have to believe and then we understand what the kingdom is and we are brought into the assembly.

Matthew speaks very much of the kingdom of the heavens and why is this? Is the kingdom in heaven or is it down here on earth? It is actually down here on earth but the King of it is in heaven, because He was cast out and rejected. They cast Him out of their vineyard and killed Him. They did not want to have to do with Him, so it is now the kingdom of the heavens. I cannot enter into all the details connected with it, I would only direct our attention to Matthew 13 where we have certain parables about the kingdom of the heavens. There is the parable of the wheat and the darnel, and the question is. What can we do? The bondmen said, “Wilt thou then that we should go and gather it up?” (Matthew 13: 28), that means the darnel. But He said, “No; lest in gathering the darnel ye should root up the wheat with it”. The servants are right but there are various persons professedly in the kingdom of the heavens, some are real, some are not. It is not that God intended it to be like this but it is what the enemy did, and it is what exists publicly. When men slept the enemy came and sowed darnel amongst the wheat and went away. That means when Christianity began people were in some ways careless. It was already so in the time of the apostles, and in spite of the presence of the bondmen this happened. The bondmen thought they could put an end to it, but the Lord said, No, let it grow until the time of the harvest, and this is the situation which we have to face today. If we look around in Christendom we see many things that are upsetting and we think. What can we do about it?

But the Lord says, “Suffer both to grow together unto the harvest”. Let us not apply it to the assembly; there we would have to exercise discipline if we are called to do so, but not in the kingdom of the heavens. As I said, this is not what God intended that it should be, but it has become like this. The kingdom of the heavens in its present state is what men have made out of it. I do not think it is what we call the kingdom of God. In the kingdom of God there are only persons who are born anew, who are governed by principles, and have the power of the Holy Spirit, so that God can be served and His rights can be observed. But in the kingdom of the heavens you find all sorts of persons who are there professedly. In the end God will not forget the kingdom of the heavens. He will come in the day of judgment and will clear things.

We have to wait for this, we cannot deal with it before the time, but we can be in the kingdom of God as persons who are born anew, and who enjoy what God has for those who are called to life eternal.

It is remarkable that there is something said about the kingdom of God in this epistle to the Romans. There were believers at Rome where the seat of the Roman emperor was. This is the last of the four universal empires of the nations and it still exists. It will have its climax in the hands of the antichrist and it will be something very awful, but the Lord Jesus will keep us out of the hour of trial which is coming upon the whole habitable world. We may not see the worst of it but we live in days when things begin to take shape in this way. There were these brethren in Rome and Paul had beautiful instructions for them. In Romans 13 he admonishes them to obey the authorities, “Let every soul be subject to the authorities that are above him.

For there is no authority except from God” (Romans 13: 1). This might sometimes be difficult to understand that there is no authority except from God, because we know that some authorities do not respect human rights, they oppress their nations and commit violence and cruelty, but this is not what God intended. God intended that this commission should be respected by men in a responsible way, but we see that there is confusion even in these Western countries. It will soon, I think, take another character, but still as long as the assembly is here and the Spirit is here, we must say that generally authorities are from God.

He has put them into this position, and besides this there is something more beautiful, and that is the kingdom of God to which we belong.

If there is anyone here who has not yet entered into the kingdom of God, I would commend to you to enter into the kingdom of God and then you are safe. You will not fall into the hands of the antichrist who will soon arise. Now what is the kingdom of God? The saints in Rome had some difficulties. They had doubts how to keep days, and what to eat and what not to eat, and there were some who were weak in faith, others were strong. So Paul has to say something as to these questions and the cardinal point is that “the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, and

peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit”. I hope we all enjoy this, righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. It is by the work of the Spirit that we are born anew and these things subsist in the Holy Spirit in the kingdom of God. How sad it would be if there would be unrighteousness or if there would be no peace or if there would be no joy in the Holy Spirit.

That would show that we have deficiencies in view of the practical application of what the kingdom of God is. And so, beloved brethren, I would like to encourage all of us to be more in this for I think this is pleasurable to God.

Then at Corinth there were other difficulties, more serious. They had all kinds of persons with different thoughts; some even doubted the authority of the apostles, and some moved as if they were kings, as if they were ruling before the time. Paul is rebuking them and is presenting to them what the truth is saying, “For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power”. So the question is, What are words good for if we have no power? We see that it is so in Christendom, there may be words, even spoken by unbelievers, for example, in church offices or institutions, but where is the power? This is the challenge to us whether we have power. “Righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” and power connected with the kingdom of God are means to resist the evil and to promote what is good. I think the kingdom of God in Romans was not to disregard the weak in faith but rather to strengthen them. In any kingdom of men you will find that the strong go on regardless of the weak, and the weak are pushed to the wall; but that is not so in the kingdom of God. God has mercy upon the weak, whatever it is, if it is not sin or self-will. If it is just weakness such people are safe in the kingdom of God, which is strong to hold its hands over those who have been born anew and believe in Jesus. That is the present application of the true kingdom of God. I have said only a few words about it, but I am sure there is much more in it. I think it will help us on to the assembly, for kingdom men are surely

good assembly men.

The assembly has another destination as the kingdom has also. The assembly will be translated, it is a heavenly vessel, the nearest family to Christ. The kingdom of God will continue and will be fully displayed in the millennium and in the eternal day. I use the word millennium and people think of the third thousand years, but they have no idea of the millennium of God. But we should be in expectation of it for that should be our conversation.

Does not the writer to the Hebrews say, “the habitable world which is to come, of which we speak”, Hebrews 2: 5? It was the conversation of the apostles, they spoke about the world to come and they enjoyed the elements of it. We have the elements of the world to come in the assembly, but we shall not have the millennium on earth, because we belong to a heavenly vessel. However we wait for it and we desire it for mankind and for the earth that it may come. Poor people who speak of the millennium and do not know what is ahead of them, they are not connecting with it the thought of the kingdom of God. Not only this, the kingdom of God will even have its eternal form, for even when the millennium has passed, there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and the sea will exist no more. It says, “then the Son also himself shall be placed in subjection to him who put all things in subjection to him, that God may be all in all”, 1 Corinthians 15: 28. What a time that will be, “God ... all in all”. It is not Israel or the nations, it is God and men. He will dwell with them and “all in all” I think means God is everything and in everybody. He will dwell with men, “And he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall not exist any more, nor grief, nor cry, nor distress shall exist any more”, Revelation 21: 4. That day is already in our hearts, beloved, and the God who will perform all these things is our God. May He bless the word, in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Address at Grangemouth
15 May 1999