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THE KINGDOM

^[p. 158] THE KINGDOM

It is plain enough that there is a connection between the thoughts in these two passages. In the first of Colossians the apostle Paul speaks of the Father having delivered saints from the power or authority of darkness — idolatry was the expression of that — and translated them into the kingdom of the Son of His love. Peter also refers to the kingdom when alluding to the vision which they had seen on the holy mount: what they saw in vision there was the kingdom of the Son of God’s love. In verse 17 we have the record of what had passed on the holy mount, the voice which came to Jesus, saying, “This is my beloved Son”. Therefore in this chapter Peter evidently refers to the same thing to which Paul refers in Colossians 1; in the mind of Peter it was based on the vision which they had seen in the holy mount. The peculiarity of Paul is that he gives the kingdom a present application to us.

I want to bring before you, if I can, the great importance of the kingdom. I am sure it has not been sufficiently apprehended. If you want to go on in divine things, you must begin with the kingdom. What I understand to be the gain of the kingdom is, that God has been pleased to set us in rest and security, in order that He may teach us. What He proposes to teach us is, in principle, the force of the new covenant; and the object of that is, that we may come out in the character of the heavenly city, the bride of Christ, here upon earth.

I am going to speak a little about the kingdom, and the gain of entering into it. I have no doubt whatever that a great many people have received the kingdom who have hardly entered into it. To give you an ^[p. 159] illustration of that, I would turn your attention to Luke 8 and 9. In the former the sower sows the word, and the product of it is the mysteries of the kingdom. In chapter 9 you get the vision on the holy mount, and then it was that Peter, James, and John entered into the kingdom. Not simply had they received the word of God, as in chapter 8; but they were taken up by the Lord on the holy mount, and they saw the vision here recorded. If I look abroad upon Christendom, I should say that men have received the kingdom in the way of testimony, but they have never left the world and gone into the holy mount, like Peter, James, and John, so as to enter into the kingdom. It is one thing to receive it, another to enter into it. There are two steps: the first is, to receive the kingdom of God as little children; the second, to enter into it. In order to get the gain of the kingdom you must enter into it; you need to leave the world in which Christ is rejected, and to go up into the holy mount, as it were, in company with Peter, James, and John, and there to apprehend the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. “Beholding the glory of the Lord with unveiled face” — that is how you apprehend it. You have to leave the world, not in fact nor in body, but in spirit, for the glory of the Lord.

My main object is to show you the great gain of entering into the kingdom. It means a great deal more to people than they have been accustomed to think. But first let me say a word in regard to the ministry of Peter. Peter’s ministry is peculiar in a way; it leads on to the heavenly city. In the holy Jerusalem, in Revelation 21, we find that the names of the twelve apostles are in the foundations. The city is built up, not exactly on the testimony of Paul, but on that of the twelve. Paul’s testimony comes in and gives a peculiar character to the church; but, as to the fact, the foundation of the church was really formed by the testimony of the twelve. Hence,

^[p. 160] when the holy city comes down out of heaven in connection with the kingdom, we find in the foundations the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. Paul’s name is not mentioned, for the reason, I suppose, that when the church was founded he was persecuting.

In the chapter before us there are two great points which come out; one is, the apostle looking that the character of God may be expressed in the saints, and the other that an entrance may be ministered to them abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The general principle of Peter’s testimony is that the saints were to be partakers of the sufferings; and if they were, they would be partakers also of the glory. I have no doubt the testimony leads on to the holy Jerusalem. It is as forming the holy Jerusalem that we shall be partakers of the glory of Christ. But the condition preceding that is, that we suffer with Him; and in the meantime, while the saints are suffering, the object of the apostle Peter was that they might be partakers of the divine nature. If we become partakers of the divine nature — love — then it is that we are apart from the world of lust; the two things cannot possibly go together. If you want to come to separation, the point to reach is the divine nature. You cannot mix the nature of God and the fallen nature of man.

What Peter looks on to is an entrance being ministered to them abundantly. It is, possibly, an allusion to the holy Jerusalem coming down from God: they would come into the kingdom in a glorious way. The great principle by which the church has been formed as the bride, the Lamb’s wife, is by the testimony of Peter, which involved that the saints would suffer with Christ and be partakers of His glory. That will be to us a time of abundant joy. The saints are obscure and hidden now; but they will come out then, from God, out of heaven, as the holy Jerusalem,

^[p. 161] which has the glory of God. That which is displayed is of so infinitely precious a character that the nations of the earth walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honour unto it.

One word more about the kingdom in Peter’s connection with it. Of the three evangelists who record the vision on the holy mount not one was present. The only reference to it on the part of anyone who was present is here in the epistle of Peter. In the latter part of the chapter I have read, Peter gives a present application to the vision; and that brings before us the kingdom, not as future, but as present. I think verse 19 is extremely important. The vision of the kingdom was the confirmation of prophecy. The prophets all looked forward to the kingdom; it was their theme. Therefore we can understand that when the disciples were permitted to see a vision of the kingdom on the mount, Jesus receiving from God the Father honour and glory, the word of prophecy was made very sure to them. The kingdom was there: that is what I want to press. It is not that the kingdom to them was future; its prophetic application was future, but they came under the power of the kingdom in the holy mount. Now the apostle says, you do well to take heed to prophecy up to a certain point: until the day dawn. What do you think the day is? It is the day of the kingdom. The day-star is Christ. It does not say you do well to take heed to it till the Lord comes; that is not the idea; it is till the day dawn, and the day-star arise, not publicly, but in your hearts. We have thus entered into the thought of the kingdom, not as future, but as present. It means that, in a sense, we have left the world. In heart the Christian is separated from the darkness of the world by the fact of the day having dawned, and the day-star having arisen in his heart. You can well understand that the kingdom of the Son of God’s love has no connection with this world,

^[p. 162] but with the world to come; only I fear that, in saying that, some might entertain the idea that I refer the kingdom to the future. I do not, because the world to come is already spoken of in Hebrews 2. If it is spoken of, it is present in a sense. It has yet to come in the way of display; but if you speak of it, it is there. The difficulty of the kingdom is this, that the mysteries of the kingdom really take place in this world, while the kingdom itself belongs to the world to come.

Thus we anticipate the display of the kingdom. We have an apprehension of the glory of God’s beloved Son, and in the light of that we have come into the kingdom. I think many people make a mistake in occupying themselves too much with future things. I quite admit there are things which are future; but the attention of the saints is to be taken up with present things. The moral effect of future things upon people is not great; but the effect of present things is very great indeed. If you apprehend present things, which have come to you as light, they will exercise the greatest possible influence over you. We have not to wait for the kingdom; it is there, and God has translated us into it. There are other features of the kingdom which have to come to pass; in the time to come there will be the dominion of the Son of man, and the throne of David. These are in abeyance for the moment, and in the meantime the character which the kingdom has is the kingdom of the Son of God’s love. That is the vision which was seen on the holy mount. What preceded it was that Christ forbade the disciples to say any longer that He was the Christ, and then He passes on to speak of the sufferings of the Son of man. That makes it clear to me that, for the moment, you cannot look for the dominion of the Son of man, nor the throne of David.

Now I do not mean to say that we can go up the mount of Transfiguration; but the fact is, we go up ^[p. 163] higher. The great declaration of the glory of Christ is His session at the right hand of God. It is that He has been saluted as the Son of God. It is there that He has received the kingdom; He did not exactly receive it on the mount, but He has received it at the right hand of God. We cannot see the throne of David, nor the kingdom of the Son of Man, nor the power of evil cast out of heaven; but we see Jesus at the right hand of God, crowned with glory and honour. The kingdom of God subsists in the Son of His love; God has translated us into it.

What is the gain of that to us? I think the two first principles of the kingdom are spoken of in the second verse of this chapter: grace and peace. If you enter into the kingdom, and apprehend the glory of the Lord, the effect upon your soul is that you come into the enjoyment of grace and peace. Grace and peace are multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ. You come under the light and influence of heaven, of the glory. These are great things to enjoy. It is a great thing to enjoy grace — to apprehend God’s attitude towards you — and peace in the sense of security. They are the first principles of the kingdom. The more we are acquainted with God and with the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ at the right hand of God, the more familiar our souls become with grace and peace; and if there is grace and peace on the part of God, you have security from the power of evil.

I will tell you another thing you get in connection with the kingdom: that is the benefit of the “neighbour”. I refer to the parable of the good Samaritan: you are carried and cared for. That is one great idea in the kingdom. Priesthood connects itself properly with the kingdom; we get carried and cared for at the charges of the neighbour.

What I want to bring you to is this: an entrance into present things. Suppose, for a moment, we could ^[p. 164] draw aside the curtain which hinders our view of unseen things, and could see things as they really are:

I think we should be astonished to find them inexpressibly better than we had ever thought, we should apprehend what God’s attitude is towards us, and what we have in Christ as neighbour.

One more point: you are carried and cared for, you have Christ’s succour and sympathy; but there is another thing: unfailing support in the power of the Holy Spirit. Authority is at the right hand of God; but the Holy Spirit has come in order to make the kingdom effective upon earth, in the hearts of the saints, so that they may have a sense of rest and security in regard to everything down here. I am not alarmed at anything, because “greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world”. Let the forces of evil at work down here be as powerful and subtle as they may: the Holy Spirit is greater, and the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the power of the Holy Spirit. These things are maintained in divine power that you might not be afraid of anything here. Why is government maintained in this country? There is no country in the world so well governed as England; government is not much seen, yet there is government; you go about the streets with a sense of security, and people in the main are at rest and quiet from fear of evil: that is the effect of good government. So it is, spiritually, in regard to the kingdom of God. You have security against the power of evil, so that you can be at rest and in peace. The great object of it is that God may take you in hand and make you the subject of His teaching. You cannot come under the teaching of God unless you are perfectly secure and at rest in regard to all the power of evil.

This is not the kingdom of the future: the holy Jerusalem will be the conspicuous feature of the kingdom of the future; but I am talking about the present. The great thing is to look at the things ^[p. 165] which are not seen. God is building up a great structure in the present, and I want everyone to apprehend it, so as to look at things which are present. The effect is that the inward man is renewed day by day whilst we look at the things which are unseen and eternal. The first element of these unseen things is the kingdom. Many people receive the word of the kingdom who are not really converted; but no unconverted person can ever say, “We see Jesus”. They never enter into the kingdom. But the point is to enter into the kingdom; to come under the light and influence of heaven; to enjoy grace and peace, and to rejoice in the knowledge of the neighbour — in principle the Priest; and at the same time to know the power and support of the Holy Spirit, a power in us which is superior to all the power that can come against us in the world.

May God be pleased to make this subject plain to you, that you may have the great gain of this first principle of unseen things.

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