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SCRIPTURE STUDIES
STUDY I
"THY KINGDOM COME"
Importance of The Kingdom--Classes of Men Interested in It--Classes
Opposed to It, and Why Opposed--Proximity of the Kingdom--Its
Glory Heavenly--Its Present Establishment.
THE most momentous event of earth's history is the establishment
of God's Kingdom among men, in the hands of
our Lord Jesus and his selected joint-heirs, the overcomers
of the Gospel Church. This great event, toward which, as
shown in previous volumes of SCRIPTURE STUDIES, all of
God's promises and types point, we now see to be not only
at hand, but just upon us. None of those awake to these
facts, and who properly or even partially realize them, and
whose hearts are in full sympathy with God's great plan of
the ages, and who see that God's panacea for the sin and
misery and dying of the groaning creation is to be applied
by this Kingdom, can possibly feel other than an absorbing
interest in the fact, the time and the manner of its
establishment.
All who trust implicitly for the fulfilment of the prayer
our Lord himself taught us to offer--"Thy Kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven"--must
feel the liveliest interest in the fulfilment of their request, if
they prayed from the heart--in spirit and in truth.
We can see that even the world, if it could but realize the
true character of this Kingdom, would hail it at once, as
they finally will, as the long sought blessing, bringing with
it the precious favors of the golden Millennial age, so long
desired.
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But one general class could possibly be opposed to this
rule of righteousness. This class embraces all who love not
the golden rule of love, and who, instead of loving others as
themselves, are willing to see others crushed, oppressed and
denied their rights and the reasonable rewards and comforts
of toil in order that they may luxuriate extravagantly,
"wantonly" (James 5:1-9), in more than heart could wish
or
reason ask. These hold to the present arrangement of society
with a death clutch, and seem instinctively to dread
the promised kingdom of Messiah. And, with these, the
wish is father to the thought, that it will never come. As David
said, "Their inward thought is, that their houses [families]
are to be forever, their dwelling-places from generation
to generation; they call them by their own names in [various]
countries....This their way is their folly: yet their posterity
approve their sayings." Psa. 49:11,13
Disbelieving or ignoring the multiplied testimony of the
prophets touching this Kingdom--for it was always the
theme of them all: "Spoken by the mouth of all his holy
prophets since the world began" (Acts 3:21)--many seem to
dread the Kingdom, and to instinctively feel the truth, that
if God should establish his Kingdom it would rule in justice;
and that if justice were meted out, many of earth's
rulers would change places with their subjects, or, perhaps,
be put into prison; and many of the great and lordly and
purse-proud and flattered would be stripped of glory and
honor and wealth ill-gotten, and be seen in their true light,
as ignoble. These dread, though they do not believe the testimony,
that "There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed,
and hid, that shall not be known." (Matt. 10:26)
And with these ignoble ones--unjust stewards of wealth and
power, in the final use of which they are not "wise" as the
one commended for prudence in the parable (Luke 16:1-9)
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--stands a yet larger class, without whom they would fall.
This large class, which has not, perhaps, at present more
than its reasonable share of honor, office, wealth and comfort,
has hope, however slim, of some day being able to roll
in luxury, the envied patrons of the "common herd." Ignoble
these: the slaves of selfish vanity and toys of fickle fortune.
And of these--alas! 'tis true--are some who wear the
name of Christ, the poor man's friend, and who with their
lips ask only daily bread, and pray with solemn mockery,
"Thy Kingdom come," while in their every look and act
and dealing with their fellowmen they show how much
they love the present unjust rule, and how, rejoicing in unrighteousness,
they would not gladly have Christ's Kingdom
come.
Strange it is--in marked contrast to the attitude of many
of God's professed children--that not infrequently we find
some "Socialists" and others--who reject "Churchianity,"
and with it too frequently the Bible, and all faith in a revealed
religion, yet who really grasp some of the fundamental
principles of righteousness--recognizing man's common
brotherhood, etc., as some of their writings most beautifully
show. They seem to be expecting and striving for the social
equality and generally favorable conditions repeatedly
promised in Scripture as the result of the establishment of
Christ's Kingdom among men, when God's will shall be
done on earth. And yet, poor Socialists, it would appear
that often their advocacy of liberal dealings and equality is
largely the offspring of their poverty and appreciated lack
of the average comforts and advantages, rather than the
outgrowth of principle; for, let one of them inherit or acquire
great wealth, and he is almost sure to abandon his
socialistic theories.
Very circumspectly ought those saints to walk who pray,
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"Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth," lest their
prayers be mere mockeries of lip-service, to which their
hearts and lives do not consent. "Out of thine own mouth
will I judge thee," represents one of the most searching and
severe reproofs which the Judge will pronounce against
some who have professed to be his servants and to long for
his Kingdom of love and justice. Let all who thus pray for
and believe in the coming reign of righteousness even now
square their actions and words by its just precepts, as far as
in them lies.
Those who have caught the force of the lessons of the preceding
volumes will see that God's Kingdom will not be one
of outward, visible, earthly splendor, but of power and divine
glory. This Kingdom has already come into executive
authority, although it has not yet conquered and displaced
the kingdoms of this world, whose lease of power has not yet
expired. Hence it has not yet come into full control of earthly
dominion. Its establishment is in progress, however, as indicated
by the signs of the times, as well as by the prophecies
considered in the previous volume and others examined
in this volume.
Succeeding chapters will present prophecies marking
various stages of the preparation of the nominal church
and the world for the Kingdom, and call attention to some
of those most momentous changes foretold to take place
during the time of its establishment--than which nothing
could be more important or more deeply interesting to
those living saints who are longing for the promised joint-heirship
in this Kingdom, and seeking to be engaged in cooperation
with the Master, the Chief-Reaper and King, in
the work now due and in progress.
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