THE LAW OF THE KINGDOM
[p. 267] THE LAW OF THE KINGDOM
John 8: 1 -11; Matthew 11: 28 - 30.
THE thought I have is to engage you with the law of the kingdom of God. I think that the idea of the law of the kingdom is very simple. It is what you would expect in the kingdom. You could scarcely conceive of a kingdom without a law. I do not suppose that there ever has been one. I should judge that in the formation of a kingdom, or an empire, one of the necessary things would be the formulation of a law by which things were to be regulated as, for instance, the “Code Napoleon” in the establishment of the French empire. Napoleon felt great enough not only to establish an empire, but to give a law to the empire. Evidently he had a very great thought. Few men are capable of such. I do not know that any of the other empire-founders attempted it, although I suppose they would all realise the necessity for a law. I do not wish to speak to you about those kingdoms and empires that occupy the historians of the world, but I think I can venture to speak a little about the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God forms no part of the history of this world. I do not think that any historian of the kingdoms of the world could attempt to give any idea of it. I never heard of one who did, but the simplest believer may give an account of the kingdom of God. When I say he can give an account of it, I mean that he can give an account of what he has found it to be. Even if he is not well acquainted with all that pertains to the kingdom, he can at any rate give you an account of what he has found it to be for himself. I think every believer could do that.
It is one thing to be in the kingdom, and it is another thing to be regulated by the laws of the kingdom and I think it must commend itself to you that to be consistent, you must be regulated by the laws of the [p. 268] kingdom, otherwise you become lawless. You might not be an outlaw, but you become that. If you do not pay attention to the laws of the kingdom, you are bound to come under the punishment of the laws. If you violate the law of the kingdom you must answer for it sooner or later. God has not only a kingdom, but He has, so to speak, a court of appeal. I will tell you what constitutes a man an outlaw in the kingdom. You may say that murder would constitute a man such, or treason. It would in an ordinary kingdom. But Scripture gives an account of what constitutes a man an outlaw in the kingdom of God. What constitutes a man an outlaw, as far as I can judge, is disregard of the assembly. You will recall what is in Matthew 18. It is a sort of an epitome, as I understand it, of the laws of the kingdom. It gives you the principle by which the kingdom is to be regulated, and what you get there is the case of a man trespassing against his brother. There is clearly a violation of the laws of the kingdom, but he is not punished for that. In an ordinary kingdom he would be punished for it, if the laws were strictly carried out. Even in the case of a beast trespassing in the field of a neighbour the owner thereof is liable to punishment. He is liable to a fine in the court. But Matthew 18 does not suppose punishment for trespass. The man is not punished at all for such. The injured person is to endeavour to recover his brother. That is the law of the kingdom. The law does not punish the man for trespass at all. The one wronged, contrary to the rules of every other kingdom, endeavours to recover the offender. He does not ask for amends, or a recompense, at all. That gives you an idea of the law of God’s kingdom, but nevertheless, the chapter supposes the possibility of the man who trespassed becoming an outlaw. Why did he become an outlaw? The one he had wronged went to him and [p. 269] spoke to him about his trespass. He would not hear him. That did not constitute him an outlaw. He then takes another with him, and the offender turns away from both. He not only trespassed, he turned away from his brother against whom he had trespassed, and he turned away from two of them — that even does not constitute him an outlaw. What is the next point? “Tell it to the assembly”. Matthew 18: 17. And if he will not hear the assembly, what then? “Let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican”. Matthew 18: 17. He is, so to speak, an outlaw. What constituted him such? He did not hear the assembly.
Now, you may say that this is giving the assembly a very great place, but it is Scripture. It is the supreme court in that sense, and to disregard the assembly renders a man unclean. He is to be regarded as a heathen and as a publican, and these are outside the pale of the kingdom. Such a person may appear very respectable, passing even to be a Christian publicly, but he has refused to listen to divine authority in the assembly; he has refused to pay attention to what God has established down here as an appeal, for he will not hear the assembly, hence the injunction is, “Let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican”.
Now, what I desire to dwell upon is the law of the kingdom, and manifestly, in order to have to say to the law of the kingdom, you have to come into the kingdom. The law of the kingdom evidently does not extend beyond the boundaries of the kingdom. The Lord said, “The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached and every man presseth into it”, Luke 16: 16. It was there in virtue of the presence of a divine Person down here, and men pressed their way into it. My idea of the kingdom is such that I feel every believer ought to have a true thought of it in his soul. You want to get into it. Directly you wish to get into [p. 270] the kingdom of God, you will find pressure against you. That is as sure as possible. The Lord says that every man forces his way into it. Did you ever feel the necessity of forcing your way into the kingdom? I think that if you have got light in your soul as to the advantage of the kingdom, your next thought would be: How am I going to get into it? Now Matthew 18 would help you. It says: “Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven”. Matthew 18: 3. Entrance into the kingdom necessitates the abandonment of all that tends to make us important in this world only; in the spirit of a “little child” can we find our place in this wonderful and blessed sphere.
Now, my intention was not to speak to you as to the mode of entrance into the kingdom; what is on my mind is rather, as I said, the law of the kingdom. We all assume to be in the kingdom, so that it is not a question of telling people how they are to get into it on an occasion like this. I am speaking to those who take the ground of being in it, and what I would press upon you is the necessity of adhering to the law. As I said before, if you do not adhere to the law, in the long run you will become lawless and an outlaw. I could give you examples of outlaws in the Scriptures, and it is a terrible thing to be an outlaw in regard to divine things. But I do not want to speak of that; I desire to speak of the law itself. I feel, in a sense, it is easier to speak of a criminal than of the law, because we are all more or less acquainted with crime. In the elements of our make-up you will find the elements of crime. It is not a foreign thing to any of us, but I am persuaded, that law is not so familiar to us. Man, as he is naturally, is not very well accustomed to law. Law is not such a familiar element to us as crime, so I want to speak to you about law. I do not wish to [p. 271] make you legal; I am endeavouring to set you free, by the Lord’s help. The law of the kingdom of God tends to liberty, and not to bondage, as I hope to make clear.
I will turn now to John 8. The Lord deliberately refuses to be an executioner of Moses’ law. Not that an executioner is not necessary. He is. The law was made for lawless people, and without an executioner it must be absolutely ineffective. There was an executioner when Moses gave the law, the man who gathered sticks on the sabbath day suffered death for his crime.
These Pharisees brought this woman to the Lord, there was no question about her guilt. The crime was there, the criminal was there, and the law was there; but the only One who had a right to be the executioner declined to act. He would not execute the law of Moses. What would He do? He would write a law of His own; that is what He meant, I think, when He wrote upon the ground. “Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground”. John 8: 6. That was not putting people to death. That was legislating — writing a law. This act of these leaders would make the Lord a mere executioner of the law of Moses. He was not that. He was the law-maker. The Lord Jesus Christ must be supreme. He never can come in to fill up anybody’s line of things; He must formulate His own law. He establishes His own kingdom, and formulates His own law. “Woman”, He says, “where are those thine accusers?” John 8: 10. There was none among them without sin, and so no one to put her to death. There was no executioner. The only One who could execute the law righteously was there, but He declined to act. Is it not precious to hear His reply? She says “No man, Lord”. He says: “Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin no more”. John 8: 11.
John the Baptist could not have done anything [p. 272] else but condemn that woman if he had been there. He was on the line of the law and the prophets. But the Lord began an entirely new system “From that time” (from John’s time) He says, “the kingdom of God is preached”. Luke 16: 16. These men were too late. What was the use of bringing a woman as a criminal to Christ as under the Mosaic system, when it had passed away? All gave way to the new system — the kingdom of God. Virtually they brought this woman into the kingdom of God to be condemned. That was no place to bring a criminal for condemnation. The kingdom of God was not set up to condemn people. People were not pressing into it to be condemned. The kingdom of God was here to save people, to deliver them. I like to give Christ prominence. He comes on His own line, absolutely on His own, and He refuses any other. I am not saying that He disregarded Moses and the prophets, for they pointed to Him, and testified of the kingdom. But it is in keeping with John’s gospel that Christ should not be made to fit in with what existed previously. The prominent feature here is the Person, and He must take precedence in everything. I quite admit that John’s gospel does not develop the kingdom. That is not the point of it. But nevertheless, the kingdom was there in the Person of the King; and the question of the law having been raised brought this out. When the Lord wrote on the ground, He intimated that He was the great lawgiver, and this has reference to the kingdom. Although He did not condemn the woman on the ground of the law of Moses, yet He says to her, “Go, and sin no more”. John 8: 11. There would be no sin, for sin is lawlessness in the world in which His law prevailed.
We may turn now to Matthew 11. What I wish to point out is, that Christ Himself is really the law of the kingdom. It is of primary importance that it should be clearly seen that it is Christ. It is not [p. 273] a code. Now, although Napoleon framed a code of laws, he was not the expression of the laws he formulated. I think I could prove that he was the opposite. Whatever he may have expected his subjects to do to avoid lawlessness, I think that he was the most lawless man of his times. And even as to Moses, he was not the expression of the law. It was written on stones, and stones could be no expression of the law of God. I do not suppose you could get in any kingdom its laws expressed. Take the kingdom of Great Britain, you could not find the laws expressed in the king. I do not suppose he is any more free from lawlessness than the generality of his subjects.
He is not the embodiment of the law. What a wonderful thing it would be for Great Britain if the king were the expression of the laws, if he were in every way the expression of righteousness and equity! This is exactly what Christ is in His kingdom. He not only rules His people (He is the One to whom we are “legitimately subject” 1 Corinthians 9: 21), but as down here, He was the expression of the laws by which we are to be regulated. He says, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me”. Matthew 11: 29. The laws of the kingdom have been expressed in Christ (He was the righteous One who hated lawlessness), and we should all be concerned to abide by them. Coming into the kingdom, you find a law there. That is the first thing. If you become a citizen of the United States, you have to obey the laws. Even if you are a British or a French subject, or the subject of any other country, directly you put your foot on American soil, you are amenable to the laws of the United States. You must respect the laws, and the principle holds good in the kingdom of God.
There is an immense difference between having a Man for a law and having a code. A code is a heartless thing. It has not a bit of heart in it, not a bit of [p. 274] sympathy. And you could not get any sympathy from the stones on which God wrote. There is no heart in a stone. What does the Lord Jesus Christ do? He becomes Himself the law, as I said. He says, “Learn from me”, “Take my yoke upon you”. Matthew 11: 29. Whose yoke? Why, the One who has established the kingdom for your good, the One has died for you, and has risen again, and gone into heaven, and is at the right hand of God. That is the One who has become law. Is there any difficulty in having such a Person for law? He is law to you. The simplest believer, the youngest child, can have an idea of Christ being law, and they do too.
It is all a question in Christianity of Christ. The Lord says, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest to your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light”. Matthew 11: 29,30. Is that something known to you? Is that something that you have touched in your experience? Have you come into touch with Christ as law? You say, How does it work? It works this way: you see His mind and refuse all that is inconsistent with what has been expressed in Him. Think of all the unrighteousness and unfairness that you may see marking Christians at the present time, and more or less at all times; what is the cause of it? They are not subject to the law. It might begin with trespassing against a brother in a very simple and unimportant way, but how does it end? In becoming an outlaw. I know people who have become outlaws, and it begins small. Why? Because of not paying attention to the law? Would the Lord Jesus Christ injure or trespass against a brother? Would He do an unrighteous act? Never.
Now, that simply conveys the idea of the law of the kingdom: how am I going to conduct myself toward my brethren? How did Christ conduct [p. 275] Himself? What would He do in your circumstances? That settles everything. It is a most important thing for every one of us to pay attention to the law, because if you do not you become an outlaw in time. It is very serious, and I take it home to myself. You may begin in a very small way, but if you proceed, you will become an outlaw. God is not mocked. People think that because it is a day of grace, all kinds of things pass muster. But they do not. God is more particular than you think. The servant in the parable, at the end of Matthew 18, who had mercy shown him, and did not in turn show mercy to his fellow servant, did not escape punishment. He was delivered to the tormentors till he should pay what was due. On the other hand, as having become acquainted with the Lord, His will becomes your pleasure — you delight in fulfilling the law of Christ. Entering the kingdom in the spirit of a little child, you grow up in your new environment: you become acquainted with Him who is supreme there, and you delight to be controlled by His law. If entering as a little child, you do not carry with you any of the elements of the world (the Lord says, “Woe to the world because of offences!” Matthew 18: 7) which would become the occasion of stumbling. You leave all behind, and thus you are shut up to the blessed influences and instruction found in this new and wonderful sphere. Further, you find others there, and that those are precious to Christ. They are the “little ones” for whom He cares with tenderest love. Woe be to him who is the occasion of stumbling to them, or who despises them. You would learn to care for them as the Lord does. You would not think evil of a brother, or suspect him. Suspicion is not according to the laws of the kingdom. Love “thinketh no evil”. 1 Corinthians 13: 5. The Lord Jesus did not live in suspicion of people.
Patience, too, is an element in the law of the [p. 276] kingdom. I need not speak of how much this came out in the Lord’s pathway here. Take the case of Judas, for instance. The Lord bore with him. Not that He did not know Judas. He knew that he had a devil: He knew that he was a thief. Nevertheless, Judas companied with Christ, and was numbered with the eleven, up to the last moment.
There is a model of patience. The Lord Jesus Christ is a wonderful Model. He is the law of the kingdom; and if you desire to be in the kingdom according to God, and for your own happiness and blessing, you abide by the laws. There is no other way of getting the good of the kingdom. Taking His yoke upon you and learning from Him you find rest; you escape all the commotion that transpires around you. His yoke came out in entire submission to the Father’s will; if you accept this and learn from Him you find rest to your soul.
At the outset I referred to the assembly in connection with the kingdom. I think our apprehension of the kingdom must be very defective unless we see the place of the assembly in relation to it. You could not have the laws respected without a court of appeal. Of course Christ is the supreme authority in the kingdom, but in Matthew 18 authority is vested in the assembly. It acts in the Lord’s name on earth. “Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven”. Matthew 18: 18. It may be said that there is no assembly to which to appeal now. Nevertheless people are becoming outlaws; and this comes to pass through the moral judgment of the saints. Satan hates the idea of the assembly, and would banish it from our minds. But I do not admit that there is no assembly. I admit the ruin, and that because of this, it is so shackled that it is well-nigh incapacitated to act for Christ: that at times the children, as it were, come to the birth and there is no strength to bring forth; nevertheless after long exercise and patience sufficient
[p. 277] strength comes and there is deliverance; and I believe it will be found that deliverance always comes in connection with the recognition of the assembly. The Lord will never give up the church, and while it is down here He will act through it. He says, “If two of you shall agree”, etc. Matthew 18: 19. It is two of the assembly really. Then, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them”. Matthew 18: 20. Two or three represent a minimum, but the Lord is with the few gathered to His name, and if there, His authority will be asserted. Hence if the principles which He has laid down, and by which He intended His people to be governed and regulated, are disregarded, He will not fail to express His displeasure, and those guilty will suffer accordingly. The Lord’s judgment of things comes out through the saints, and there is no escape if the laws of the kingdom are disregarded. I would take home to myself, as I press upon you, the immense importance of what I have been saying. I would advise all to recognise what I feel I am justified in calling, the laws of the kingdom. If you pay attention to the laws of the kingdom, the laws of the kingdom will pay attention to you. The kingdom of God is against evil, but it protects good. If you respect its laws, happiness is yours, and blessing.
May the Lord give each one to subject himself to Christ, and not only that, but to find pleasure in so doing, because if you love Him, His yoke is easy and His burden is light.
Pages 278 to 379, “Readings on Hebrews, New York, 1906” (Volume 2).