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THE establishment of God’s Kingdom throughout the earth is one of the main purposes of our Lord’s Return, as we saw from Study 1. In this Study we will give more details connected with it. Our subject is one of the most prominent in the Scriptures, in fact, the expressions, “Kingdom of God” and “Kingdom of Heaven” occurs nearly 150 times in the New Testament alone. Its prominence proves its importance in God’s Plan – so important that every part of His Plan is associated with it to one degree or another. The word kingdom is usually understood to mean a territory, state or people under the reign of a king or queen. But in the Bible it additionally means a royal ruler or the authority by which he reigns (1 Corinthians 15: 24) (Luke 22: 29) (John 18: 36).
Kingdom – Ruler or Rulers
Following are some passages showing that the word kingdom also means a ruler or rulers in the Bible:
(1.) In Exodus 19: 5, 6, God promised that He would make natural Israel a kingdom of priests (priestly kings) if they would prove faithful to Him by keeping His covenant; however, they as a nation proved unfaithful to Him, so the privilege of becoming these priestly kings was given instead to Spiritual Israel.
(2.) Another example is 1 Peter 2: 9, where the kingdom class is spoken of as royal rulers.
(3.) The meaning is quite clear in Revelation 1: 6 (“hath made us kings”) and Revelation 5: 10 (“hast made us unto our God kings”).
(4.) Romans 14: 17 assures us that the main privileges of the prospective kings for the Millennium would not consist in their liberty as to food and drink, but instead as to righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit; that they would readily forego the former set of privileges in the interests of the latter.
(5.) In 1 Corinthians 15: 50, the Apostle assures us that not as human, but as Divine beings the Church inherits the privilege of becoming kings in the next Age.
A careful study of the expressions, “Kingdom of Heaven” and “Kingdom of God” will convince us that they mean the rulers whom God will have as His Vicegerents, exercising His authority among men in the next Age. In other words, Jesus and His faithful Little Flock are meant by these two expressions (Matthew 5: 3, 10) (Mark 10: 14).
These two expressions refer to Jesus and the Church in the Bible from a twofold standpoint: (1) during their earthly lifetime undergoing suffering and opposition from the devil, the world and the flesh. The term, The Church Militant, describes them from this standpoint; and (2) in their Heavenly existence, during their glorious reign over the earth. The term, The Church Triumphant, describes them from this standpoint. The members of the Church in their condition during their earthly lifetime is often called the embryonic, or suffering Kingdom; and in its Heavenly condition during the Millennium it is called the born, or glorified Kingdom.
The Embryo Kingdom
When Jesus commissioned the Apostles to preach, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 10: 7), He evidently did not mean that they were to announce that He and the Church were about to reign over the earth; for nearly 20 centuries have passed since that charge was given, and the Kingdom is not yet fully established in the earth in the sense of their reigning over the earth. Instead, His thought was that the disciples should preach that the embryo Kingdom, the Church, was about to undergo preparation to become rulers in the next Age.
He instructed them that a change of dispensation had come, that instead of preaching Moses and the prophets any longer, they were to preach that the Kingdom of God, the embryonic Church, was at hand. It was begun by Jesus in His ministry; it was continued by the Apostles at Pentecost; it went out to the Gentiles at the home of Cornelius; it advanced throughout the Jewish Harvest; and it continued throughout the Gospel Age, inviting those who desired to enter this embryo kingdom an opportunity to do so.
Suffering Before Exaltation
When Jesus said that from the time of John the Baptist the Kingdom of God suffers violence, and that the violent forcibly seize it (Matthew 11: 12), He would not have us understand Him as referring to the Kingdom class while reigning in the earth, for then none would be able to resist them, much less cause them to suffer. He is referring, instead, to the embryo Kingdom, the Faithful in their earthly lifetime, as suffering for their loyalty to God amid trials and tribulations, in order to prepare them to reign with Jesus as the glorified Kingdom in the next Age. The entire history of the Gospel Age testifies to the truthfulness of His statement (Acts 14: 22) (2 Timothy 3: 12).
St. Paul is very explicit on this point in 2 Timothy 2: 10-12: “I endure all things for the elect’s sakes. . . . It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: If we suffer, we shall also reign with him.”
The promise of the Divine nature and joint-heirship with Christ is expressly stated in Revelation 2: 10 as being conditional on one’s faithfulness unto death as a member of the Body of Christ. It reads: “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer . . . be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”
How important it is for all of God’s consecrated people to recognize this principle, that the suffering of untoward experiences is necessary in order to be properly trained for future exaltation! Early in this Age many forgot this, which led to the loss of the primitive truths and practices of the Church and which developed the great Antichrist which claimed that the earthly life is the time for the Church to reign over the earth. This fundamental error then opened the floodgates for a thousand false doctrines and wrong practices to enter the Church. The true hope of the Kingdom to come into power at our Lord’s Return always kept the Church pure in faith and practice, whereas the loss of that hope and the adoption of the false hope of converting the world and reigning over the race before our Lord’s Return occasioned the loss of that purity of faith and practice, and the introduction of almost every evil word and work that became current during the Dark Ages.
The Reigning Kingdom
Although the Church in the flesh would not reign during her earthly career, the Scriptures explicitly teach that she will someday reign in the earth. If the Kingdom had been set up in royal power at Pentecost, it would no longer be appropriate to pray, “Thy Kingdom come” (Matthew 6: 10).
This passage, “Thy Kingdom come,” refers instead to Christ and the Church entering into their reign at His Second Advent. Luke uses the expression, “the Kingdom of God,” in the same sense (Luke 21: 31), for Jesus there tells us that when we see the signs of the times connected with His Second Advent taking place, we should recognize that the Kingdom of God is nigh at hand – that He and His Church will soon enter into their office as Kings in the earth.
When the Lord assured the Apostles (Luke 22: 29, 30) that they would share with Him in His Heavenly privileges – eating and drinking at His table in the Kingdom – and would occupy thrones, ruling over Israel, He was referring to the Millennial Kingdom (Matthew 19: 28); for instead of ruling over Israel in this life, they were greatly persecuted by Jews and Gentiles, even unto death. (See also 2 Timothy 4: 1.)
Numerous other Scriptures in both the Old and New Testaments could be cited. The expression, “Kingdom of God,” is sometimes used to refer to Fleshly Israel, because she was typical of the Church, the real Kingdom of God (Matthew 8: 12). This expression is also used of nominal Spiritual Israel as God’s nominal Kingdom (Matthew 13: 31-33).
The Kingdom’s Creation
The Scriptures mention the seven creative acts whereby God brings to completion the creation of a new order of beings, and that on the Divine plane. This New Creation consists of Jesus and His Body members. Those seven steps are:
(1.) The begettal of the spirit in its individual members (John 1: 12, 13). This begettal made them embryo New Creatures (2 Corinthians 5: 17).
(2.) The quickening of these embryos (Ephesians 2: 1).
(3.) Growth in grace and knowledge in their embryo condition (2 Peter 3: 18).
(4.) Strengthening of these embryos in every good word and work (Ephesians 3: 16).
(5.) Balancing the various parts of a Christlike character with one another (2 Thessalonians 2: 17).
(6.) Perfecting their characters, which truly conforms them unto Christ’s image (Romans 8: 29).
(7.) Spirit birth, experienced by participating in the First Resurrection, by which they obtain the Divine nature, through obtaining immortality (John 3: 5-8).
The means that God used to produce this New Creation are: (1) His spirit (1 Peter 1: 22); (2) His Word (John 17: 17); and (3) His providences (Romans 8: 28). But each member of the Kingdom class would have his part in the creative process as well, by: (1) consecrating himself to God by becoming dead to self and the world and alive to God (Romans 12: 1), that he might receive the begettal; and (2) continuing to remain dead to self and the world and alive to God (Romans 12: 2).
The Scriptures picture this process by using the figure of the generation of a human being. God is set forth as the Father who would beget the New Creation as His children (James 1: 18). The Sarah Covenant is set forth as their mother (Romans 9: 7-9); and finally, they are set forth as born from this Mother in the First Resurrection (Colossians 1: 18).
The Kingdom’s Invisibility
Because the Kingdom class become spirit beings prove that they will be invisible while reigning over the earth. Angels are spirits (Hebrews 1: 7), and as such are invisible. No human being has ever seen God’s body (John 1: 18). Nor can any man see Christ’s present body, which is a Divine body (1 Timothy 6: 16).
When Jesus spoke with Nicodemus, he compared spirit beings to the wind, saying that those who would be born of the Spirit would be invisible just like the wind. The wind comes and goes and we know of its presence, not by our sight, but by other senses, and by its visible effects. So, He said, are all those born of the Spirit (John 3: 8).
But someone may ask, How can there be such things as invisible rulers? We answer: There is now an invisible kingdom ruling over this world – Satan and his angels (Matthew 12: 24-28). We know, not only from the Bible, but also from the works of the World-Empire that Satan and his angels are now the kingdom over this present evil world (Colossians 1: 13). Its invisibility illustrates what the Kingdom of God will be like when it rules over the earth.
Jesus and the Little Flock will have the Great Multitude as their assistants in the spiritual, invisible phase of the Kingdom (Revelation 7: 9-17) (Revelation 19: 1-9). This class consists of those who were called to be members of Christ’s Bride, but who came short of the prize of the high calling. They are included in Abraham’s seed among “the stars of heaven” for multitude (Genesis 15: 5) (Genesis 22: 17).
The Kingdom’s Earthly Representatives
The Kingdom class – Jesus and His Church – will be invisible to mankind during their reign, but they will be visibly represented throughout the earth by certain human beings – the Ancient Worthies and the Youthful Worthies; even as Satan and his angels have during their reign been visibly represented by certain human beings, such as oppressive rulers, false religious teachers and predatory aristocrats.
The Ancient and Youthful Worthies will already have demonstrated their loyalty to truth and righteousness, through their faithfulness while on trial for faith and obedience in this life. Hence they will be suitable and dependable representatives of the invisible Rulers. The Ancient Worthies will be princes, not kings, throughout the earth (Psalm 45: 16), and will have the Youthful Worthies as their associates (Joel 2: 28). They will experience a better resurrection than the world (Hebrews 11: 35) – better because they will be awakened perfect at the beginning of Christ’s Reign. The world will be subject to these Worthies, and will become perfect gradually during the Millennium.
The Kingdom’s Two Phases
We may speak of the Kingdom of God as having two phases: (1) an invisible, heavenly phase – Jesus and His Church, supported by the Great Company; and (2) a visible, earthly phase – the Ancient Worthies, supported by the Youthful Worthies. These two phases of the Kingdom are frequently referred to in the Scriptures as separate and distinct, as the following passages will show:
Isaiah 2: 3: “And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.” The “many people” of the nations of the earth in the Millennial Kingdom will recognize that Christ and the Church are ruling over the earth, and they will encourage one another to learn from, and to obey them. Zion is Christ and the Church, the executive department of the invisible, reigning power of the Kingdom; and Jerusalem will be the Ancient and the Youthful Worthies, as the Kingdom’s visible phase.
Psalm 107: 32: “Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.” By “the congregation of the people,” the Little Flock is primarily meant, and secondly, their co-operating Great Company brethren – the heavenly phase; and by “the assembly of the elders,” the Ancient and the Youthful Worthies are meant – the earthly phase. These two phases of the Kingdom will carry out God’s plan, and will bring about that praise, honor, glory, majesty, love and obedience shall be rendered unto God to all eternity. They will accomplish this in the faithful.
Isaiah 32: 1: “Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment.” The “king” here is Jesus and the Church. These, as the heavenly phase of the Kingdom, will “reign in righteousness.” The “princes” who shall “rule in judgment” are the Ancient and Youthful Worthies. They will exercise rulership as the visible representatives of the invisible Christ and the Church, and their associates, the Great Company.
The Kingdom’s Earthly Phase Visible
Let us now consider some Scriptures proving that the Ancient and Youthful Worthies, the secondary phase of the Kingdom, will not be heavenly and invisible, but earthly and therefore visible:
Genesis 13: 14, 15: “And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.” The Lord here pointed out to Abraham the land of Palestine, and He promised that He would give it to him as an inheritance. Abraham died without receiving that promise, but he will get it in the Millennial Age. He, as one of the Ancient Worthies, and the rest of the Ancient and Youthful Worthies shall have a share in the possession of the land, because they will be the visible phase of the Kingdom.
Psalm 45: 16: “Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth.” God is here addressing Jesus, who says that instead of certain ones who were His ancestors remaining such, they would become His children. These are the Ancient Worthies, such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, etc., who, instead of remaining the fathers of Jesus, will become His children, for He will raise them from the dead. They will also become the children of the Church, for, under Christ, the Church will assist in giving life to the Ancient Worthies. They will make them princes in all the earth, as the earthly phase of the Kingdom. Associated with them as such princes will be the Youthful Worthies.
Luke 13: 28-30: “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last.” Jesus was here speaking to the Pharisees, who were constantly persecuting Him. He tells them that they will be greatly disappointed when they see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all the prophets – and other Ancient Worthies in the Kingdom of God and themselves thrust out. Notice that Jesus states that the Ancient Worthies will be seen – (“ye shall see”) will be visible, but avoids saying that the Little Flock, those coming out of the East, West, North and South (Psalm 107: 3), will be seen, will be visible, in the Kingdom. The reason for this is because the Kingdom class proper, together with the Great Company, will be spirits, and therefore invisible; while the Ancient and Youthful Worthies will be human beings, and therefore visible. The Little Flock, though called last, will be first in Kingdom power, office, honor and work, while the Ancient Worthies, who were the first to be called, will be last, having a lesser power, office, work, honor and nature than the heavenly, invisible phase of the Kingdom.
The Purposes of the Kingdom
The purposes of the Kingdom will be: (1) to destroy from among men every evil thing and influence, and (2) to introduce among them every good thing and influence, in order to restore the race to perfection.
The destruction of the works of the devil (1 John 3: 8) will be carried out in the next Age – during Christ’s Millennial reign. Revelation 20: 1-3 shows this: “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.” Our Lord is here pictured as the “angel” who came in His Second Advent with the power to banish the devil and the impenitent fallen angels so far away from the earth that they will be unable to see what is going on here. They will also be unable to deceive the nations until the Millennial Age will be passed.
In the Little Season following the Millennial Age Satan will be allowed to test all of those who, during the thousand years, will have had the opportunity of gaining everlasting life. Some of these he will deceive. The destruction of the devil himself (Hebrews 2: 14), the impenitent fallen angels, and those human beings whom Satan will deceive will be destroyed at the end of the Little Season (Revelation 20: 7-10).
The Millennial Age will also witness the second purpose of the Kingdom mentioned above – to introduce the opposite features of the curse, such as righteousness, truth, piety, joy, pleasure, ease, smiles, laughter, abundance, health, Edenic climate, prosperity, national and international peace, order, liberty, riches, education, awakening from the dead, convalescence and restoration to perfect life. God’s Kingdom and its arrangements will guarantee success.
The Kingdom’s Subjects
The entire non-elect portion of the human family, whether living or dead at the time of the establishment of the Kingdom, will become its subjects (Revelation 15: 3, 4). The non-elect dead will be brought back from the tomb for an opportunity to attain the human perfection from which Adam fell – assisted by the judgment process of Christ’s Kingdom (Isaiah 26: 9). The Kingdom’s earthly phase will first be established in Palestine, among regathered and converted Israel, who will rejoice in the resurrection of her patriarchs and prophets, and who will be greatly blessed by the latter’s rule (Isaiah 1: 25-27) (Isaiah 25: 9). A little later the Gentile nations, broken by the Time of Trouble (Matthew 24: 21, 22), will desire Israel’s blessings for themselves (Isaiah 2: 3, 4) (Zechariah 8: 20-22). The Kingdom will then be established from one nation to another, until it will become a universal Empire (Daniel 2: 44) (Daniel 7: 27).
Restitution will begin with those who will live through the Time of Trouble, but eventually the non-elect dead will be raised from the tomb, probably in companies and at various intervals. They will not be awakened with perfect bodies, but will be given an opportunity to walk up the Highway of Holiness to perfection, physical, mental, moral and religious (Isaiah 35: 8-10).
Results of the Kingdom’s Reign
One of the results of the Kingdom’s reign will be the utter extirpation of all the effects of the curse as the unholy fruits of Satan’s rule, authority and power. This is shown in 1 Corinthians 15: 25, 26: “For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” Here we see that not only persons are these enemies, but also things. The Adamic death in the sense of the dying process is this last great enemy that Jesus will destroy.
But not all will attain eternal life. Those who will not even externally reform, but will continue to be rebellious to the Kingdom during the thousand years, will after 100 years of opportunity be cut off in the Second Death (Isaiah 65: 20); while those who will reform externally, but without a heart reformation, will live throughout the thousand years and attain human perfection; but their unholy heart’s condition will become manifest amid the final trial during the Little Season, and they will perish in the Second Death (Malachi 4: 3).
But those who during the Millennium practice truth and righteousness, from the love of these principles, will be lifted up to human perfection not only in their faculties, but also in their characters (Isaiah 66: 10-14). These will be enabled to remain faithful amid the Little Season’s final trial, and shall inherit the earth forever, as Paradise restored (Matthew 25: 35-40) (Isaiah 65: 16-25).
The sad tragedy of sin will forever have ceased to be enacted. The ages to come will witness the angels’ song of Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men (Luke 2: 14). From every part of the Universe the glorious Hallelujah chorus of God’s numberless choirs, without one discordant note, shall forever celebrate God and Christ, for their glorious Persons, holy Characters, wonderful Plan and great Works (Revelation 5: 13)! Therefore let every lover of God and man, of truth and righteousness, pray, “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven!” Amen and amen!