MINISTRY
by
William Fergusson
Edited and Published by Andrew Burr 81 Roxburgh Road London SE27 0LE UK
burr.andrewlinda@btinternet.com Revised 2025
available from www.lulu.com
THE KINGDOM OF GOD
as presented in Scripture
AND
ITS RELATION TO
THE CHURCH
THE NEW COVENANT
DIVINE LOVE
MANIFESTED AND EXPERIENCED
ZION
ITS PLACE AND SIGNIFICANCE IN
SCRIPTURE
by
William Fergusson
BY
WILLIAM FERGUSSON
This book brings together four booklets of ministry by William Fergusson, first published by Stow Hill Depot in the 1930s.
They are all long out of print.
I have produced a number of books of ministry given by people I remember myself, or about whom much can be learned by enquiry—and I have attached importance to having this sort of background, 2 Tim 3: 10, 14.
I came upon Mr Fergusson’s ministry unexpectedly, and find it remarkable that someone who was helped to teach so clearly should not now be remembered—that I can find. He was born in Bradford in September 1863, and died in Southport in June 1945.
His details are strikingly similar to Charles A Coates, who was born in Bradford nine months earlier, and also died in 1945. Both were unmarried, and both had fathers from Scotland who worked as drapers. William became an Inspector of Taxes, for which he boarded in Southport.
Other published ministry shows that he was i
active in local meetings in the 1930s. His ministry was well-spoken of in his time; and the booklets I have put together speak for themselves as valuable instruction on their subjects. I trust that re-issuing them will glorify the Lord, and that those who read them will profit thereby, especially if the trouble is taken to look up the scripture references given.
I have included introductions printed with two of the original books. I have also added a poem, believed to be his, from Goodly Words magazine.
The author says his scripture quotations are mainly from the Darby Bible. His frequent use also of the King James Version (marked as ‘KJV’), however, shows his familiarity with that translation (eg, free use is made of the word ‘church’, where the Darby Bible has
‘assembly’ (see note on page 54)). I have left the KJV references, with all the original wording, but have checked and added more scripture references, and made some adjustments to punctuation and the use of capital letters.
ANDREW BURR
2025
ii
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The Kingdom as Seen in Christ When
The Question of Political Government
The Kingdom During the Present Period
Twofold Character of the Present Form
Present Entry into the Kingdom on the
The Meaning of the Cross of Christ
Christ as Seen in the Four Gospels
The Church in its Divine Constitution
And in its Responsible History
The Church in Relation to God and to
iii
Christ and the Sphere of Spiritual Blessing 66
Christ’s Headship in Relation to the Church 72
The Church as a Spiritual Formation
The Church in its Responsible History
in Relation to the House of God
The Symbols or Emblems of Christ’s Death 89
Present-Day Religious Movements Away
The Church, its Failure and the Provision
The Work of Men in Connection With
The Ministry of the Apostle John
Individual Responsibility in View of
The End of Apostate Christendom
and the Introduction of the Kingdom
Influences Tending Towards the Final
The Heavenly and Earthly Sides of
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The Institution of the First Covenant as
The New Covenant in its Present
Application as Seen in The New
The New Covenant as Presented in
The New Covenant in Relation to
The Ministry of the New Covenant in the
Second Epistle to the Corinthians
The Spirit of the New Covenant
The Samaritan In Luke 10 as the True
The Lord Jesus Himself the Covenant
The Necessity for the Death of Christ
The Love of God in its Universal Bearing
Divine Love as Taught in the Gospel
v
The Lord’s Supper in its Relation
Life and Love as Known in the Family
The Complacency of Divine Love
Divine Love According to the Height
Zion: Its Place And Significance In
King David and Zion and the Ark of God
God's Choice of Mount Zion in Psalm 78
Zion as Presented in the Psalms
That Which God Has Established Upon
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THE KINGDOM OF
GOD
as presented in Scripture
AND
ITS RELATION TO
THE CHURCH
By W. F.
NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION
PREFACE
This enlarged edition is brought out in response to the desires expressed for a fuller outline especially in regard to the church.
Whilst the object in view is in the main a concise statement of the truth as presented in Scripture, it is thought that the book will appeal to a somewhat wider circle of readers than the brief notes of the first edition. The additions have made some rearrangement advisable to simplify the order of the contents.
Remarks have been added on some systematic departures from Scripture in the professing church (chapter V), and also in regard to other influences at the present time moving definitely towards open apostacy (chapter VII). Dealing with these departures and present-day movements in the light of Scripture, may be found helpful in making clear and emphasising the truth by way of contrast.
It is hoped that the book will be read in the spirit of the Bereans who verified the truth of what was presented to them by searching the Scriptures (Acts 17, 11), and that there may be combined with this, the spirit of prayer for divine
enlightenment
and
ability
to
understand spiritual things, that the readers may thus be not only enabled to discern the truth, but that they may be led to serious 1
consideration as to how they stand in regard to it.
Quotations of Scripture are generally taken from
the
‘New
Translation’,
by
J N Darby.
W FERGUSSON
August 1933
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THE KINGDOM OF GOD
AS PRESENTED IN
SCRIPTURE
AND
ITS RELATION TO
THE CHURCH
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
The kingdom of God has a great place in the Scriptures both of the Old and the New Testaments.
It involves a sphere of rule under the dominion or sway of God, characterised by righteousness where the will of God is done, in contrast with the world of sin which men have built up by self-will and lawlessness in regard to God.
Man was created a moral being and set in a special place in relation to God, and to have dominion over all the earth, Gen 1: 26. That he himself should have fallen into a state of lawlessness raised a serious moral problem, the solution of which was necessary that God’s rights might be established and men be brought into right relations with Him.
Indeed the accomplishment of the divine thoughts and purposes of blessing 3
connected with man, depended upon the putting away of sin and the bringing in of righteousness.
The establishment of the kingdom was in that way a moral necessity in the ways of God, in order that He might demonstrate His power to overcome evil with good, and thus secure His glory in the scene where sin and death had entered, and also that He might bring to pass His purpose in regard to all the various circles of blessing He had in view—“every family in the heavens and on earth”, Eph 3: 15.
The principle of rule as holding things in relation to God with a view to blessing runs through the Old Testament and is clearly seen in such types of the coming King as Melchizedek (Gen 14: 18; Heb 7: 2), Moses (Deut 33: 1-5), David (Acts 13: 22), Solomon (1 Chron 17: 11-14), Zerubbabel, Hag 2: 21-23; Zech 4: 9; 6: 12-13.
The kingdom of Jehovah is frequently spoken of in the Psalms and in the prophets looking on to the coming of the Messiah, God’s anointed King (Ps 2: 2-6), who is to bring in “everlasting righteousness” (Ps 119: 142) and reign as “Prince of Peace”, Isa 9: 6. See for example David’s prayer in Psalm 72, for the king who shall have universal dominion and whom all nations shall call blessed; and his psalm of praise (Ps 145) for the greatness of Jehovah and 4
the glory and blessedness of His kingdom, leading on to the universal hallelujah (Ps 146 to 150), when heaven and earth and everything that hath breath is called on to praise the Lord; and also in Zeph 3: 14-20, the delight and joy of Jehovah in the midst of Israel as their king and their God when He will rest in His love.
In our consideration of the kingdom, the Lord Jesus will come before us in His manhood and in His official glories; as Son of Abraham, the true Isaac the Seed in whom the divine promises are vested (Gal 3: 16); as Son of David, the true Solomon who sits upon the throne of Jehovah (1 Chron 29: 23); and as Son of man, who establishes the divine thoughts and purposes with regard to man in universal dominion and headship, Dan: 7: 13-14; Heb 2: 6-9. It is important however that we should always remember who the Lord is in His Person. It was made clear even in the Old Testament that it was no mere son of Adam’s race who would be able to break the power of sin and death and bring in righteousness and blessing. If God announced at the outset that the woman’s seed would crush the enemy’s head (Gen 3: 15), He also at a later time gave the sign of the virgin’s Son whose name would be called Immanuel or God with us, Isa 7: 14. The Son to be given to Israel is called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Father of Eternity, Prince of 5
Peace, and the government will be upon His shoulder, to establish the kingdom and uphold it with righteousness for ever, Isa 9: 6-7. Jehovah’s anointed King is declared to be His Son, Ps 2: 7. His enemies combine against Him, but He sits at Jehovah’s right hand until they are made His footstool, Ps 110. The Psalmist, addressing the King who is fairer than the sons of men, says,
“Thy throne O God is for ever and ever”, Ps 45: 6. The Ruler in Israel was to come forth out of Bethlehem, but His goings forth were from of old from the days of eternity, Mic 5: 2. Jehovah speaks of His Shepherd as the Man that is my Fellow, Zech 13: 7.
Remarkable scriptures such as these should have kept awake in Israel a spirit of expectancy, which would have prepared them for the reception of the testimony of John the baptist as the forerunner of Christ (Mal 3: 1; Matt 3; John 1: 29-34), whose advent shed a flood of light on the meaning and fulfilment of the prophetic word.
In the New Testament, the Lord’s Deity is definitely stated in such scriptures as; John 1, Colossians 1, and Hebrews 1. In John 8: 58, the answer of Jesus to the challenge of the unbelieving Jews is, “Verily, verily, I say unto you before Abraham was I AM”, which is the name of God as the self-existing One, Exod 3: 14. The Son has declared God and He reveals the Father, that which no other one can do. We believe on the Son, and we 6
confess the Son (John 3: 36; 1 John 2: 23); but it is beyond the creature’s power to explain or comprehend the mystery of His Person, or to know Him in His essential being, Matt 11: 271. We do well to remember this, whether we consider the Lord:
- as He was here on earth in 1 In speaking of such profound matters as the relations between the ‘Persons’ of the Godhead, we need to be on our guard against the tendency of our minds to go beyond the divinely inspired statements of scripture.
Theologians have sometimes taken these out of their context and then by reasoning upon them have developed erroneous ideas, some of which have found a place even in the ancient church creeds; as for instance the unwarranted statements that the Father was the original source of Deity, and that the other Persons of the Godhead derived their Deity from Him, the Son by being ‘ begotten’ , and the Spirit by ‘ proceeding’ from the Father and the Son. The words in italics do not refer, as used in Scripture, to the original relations between divine Persons in the past eternity (which are not the subject of revelation and are beyond our capacity to understand) but to the Son coming into manhood, and to the Spirit as coming to believers after Jesus was glorified.
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humiliation;
- now in His present position, both as the glorified Man, and also as having resumed the glory He had with the Father before the world was;
- in the display of His glory in the coming kingdom;
or—
- in the eternal state, when having given up the kingdom the Son will accept a place of subjection as Man, that God may be all in all, 1 Cor 15: 28.
In the same Person we have the full declaration of God in His nature and attributes, all the fullness of the Godhead dwelling in Him bodily, and we also see in Him the moral features of a new order of Man fully answering to the divine will and pleasure. As man raised from among the dead and exalted by God, He has been made Lord and Christ (Acts 2: 36), that those who are subject to Him might thus be secured for the will and pleasure of God. The way in which this is brought about at the present time on the ground of redemption is dealt with in chapter III of this book.
The scope of the book covering as it does a very wide range gives only a short statement of scripture teaching as to the kingdom, and that mainly as developed in the New Testament. Readers who are sufficiently 8
interested will be able to follow up the details for themselves, not only from the numerous passages referred to for verification of the statements made, but also in the Scriptures generally, to which it is hoped that the outline will afford an introduction, in regard both to the kingdom and the church.
Scripture presents the kingdom in various aspects, and failure to recognise this often leads
to
confusion
and
apparent
contradictions. Apart from the different terms used to characterise the kingdom referred to below, there are three leading distinctions which it is important to keep clear, namely:
- the kingdom as presented in the Person of Christ;
- the form which it now takes in the absence of Christ;
and—
- the future display of it when Christ comes again in glory:
It will assist the reader to consider it separately under each of these three heads.
Reference may be made here to the various terms used in scripture in speaking of the kingdom. The one most frequently found is the kingdom of God, which indicates the supremacy of the One for whose will and pleasure all things were created (Rev 4: 9-9
11), whose rights have now been secured on the basis of redemption, Rev 5: 9 and 13. It applies to each of the three aspects of the kingdom. It was seen in Christ when on earth. In His absence it is now maintained here by the Holy Spirit. It will be displayed in glory in the world or age to come.
The kingdom of the heavens is only found in the gospel according to Matthew, and often implies a contrast to Christ’s presence on earth. It refers to the rule of that which is established in heaven, of which the sun is a figure as set by God in the heavens to rule the day (Gen 1: 16-17), Christ Himself being the Sun of righteousness, Mal 4: 2. It appears to emphasise the difference between Christ’s kingdom and the merely natural Jewish ideas of an earthly kingship, John 6: 15; 18: 36. Heaven is also very prominent
in
Matthew’s
gospel
in
connection with the Father and the relationship with Him of Christ and His disciples: “My Father who is in the heavens”
and “your Father who is in the heavens”, whose will is yet to be done on earth as it is in heaven. The public outward side of the present form of the kingdom with its mixed character (chapter III) is more fully developed by Matthew than the other evangelists.
Other terms used are the kingdom of the Father, the kingdom of the Son of His love, the kingdom of the Lord (Jehovah), the 10
kingdom of God’s Christ, the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the kingdom of the Son of David, and the kingdom of the Son of man. These are not different kingdoms, but they express different relations in which the kingdom stands, whether in regard to divine Persons or to the various titles of the One to whom as Man the administration is committed.
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