THE KINGDOM OF GOD 6
THE KINGDOM OF GOD 6
John the Baptist came proclaiming the Kingdom was at hand.
Jesus took up that same message
when He began His public ministry.
There is sufficient evidence in my mind
that the Kingdom actually became an established fact
during the personal ministry of Jesus.
That the Kingdom existed in the world today
in the spiritual phase or aspect
and the physical phase of it will come in the future age
which we commonly call the millennium.
The Kingdom appeal was made first to the Jewish people,
the best I can tell from three different angles.
The Kingdom appeal seems to have been first and foremost
to the official religious groups who were congregated in Jerusalem.
These were the Chief Priests, the Scribes, the Elders,
the Sanhedrin Court.
In addition to this appeal to that religious group,
later there was made an appeal to the various cities and villages
round about the country.
Besides these two appeals, from the very beginning
there was a personal appeal made to all Jews.
Every one of you repent as an individual,
every one of you believe the gospel.
Those who did repent and believe the gospel
were baptized and prepared for church membership.
In the course of the ministry of Jesus
there was a gradual turning of affairs.
From the beginning there was an unfriendly attitude
on the part of religious authorities in Jerusalem,
and Jesus gradually turned form that group
and made His appeal more to the masses of Jewish people.
As the time of the crucifixion
and the completion of His personal ministry drew near,
other things began to become more evident.
One was that the Kingdom was not coming in its fullness at that time.
Another was that the church began to come more and more into prominence.
More and more began to be revealed about the church
as she began to run her course through this Church Age.
The Scripture evidence is to the effect
that the Passover that was observed in Jerusalem
a year before the crucifixion of Jesus.
He did not attend.
The religious opposition in Jerusalem was so strong and so bitter
that it seems He avoided going to Jerusalem to the Passover at that time.
Instead He went up to the north country,
the very border land of Palestine and ministered unto some Gentiles,
foretelling how that the gospel and the church
should later go to the Gentiles,
or the various nations of the world.
Then, in the fall of that last year of His public ministry,
He did go to Jerusalem to the Feast of the Tabernacles.
After the Feast of the Tabernacles was over,
He did not return to Galilee as He had been accustomed to doing.
He remained in Judea in and around Jerusalem for a period of six months.
At the end of that time, He was crucified.
The Kingdom Scriptures with which we are dealing
were spoken during the last six-month period
when Jesus was in and around Jerusalem.
He was in almost constant conflict with the Jewish religious authorities.
Most of the Scriptures we have to deal with are parables
We begin tonight with one of these parables recorded in
- 11 And as they heard these things,
- he added and spake a parable,
- because he was nigh to Jerusalem,
- and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.
- 12 He said therefore,
- A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom,
- and to return.
- 13 And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds,
- and said unto them, Occupy till I come.
- 14 But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying,
- We will not have this man to reign over us.
- 15 And it came to pass, that when he was returned,
- having received the kingdom,
- then he commanded these servants to be called unto him,
- to whom he had given the money,
- that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.
- 16 Then came the first, saying,
- Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds.
- 17 And he said unto him,
- Well, thou good servant:
- because thou hast been faithful in a very little,
- have thou authority over ten cities.
- 18 And the second came, saying,
- Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds.
- 19 And he said likewise to him,
- Be thou also over five cities.
- 20 And another came, saying,
- Lord, behold, here is thy pound,
- which I have kept laid up in a napkin:
- 21 For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man:
- thou takest up that thou layedst not down,
- and reapest that thou didst not sow.
- 22 And he saith unto him,
- Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant.
- Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down,
- and reaping that I did not sow:
- 23 Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank,
- that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury?
- 24 And he said unto them that stood by,
- Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds.
- 25 (And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.)
- 26 For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given;
- and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him.
That is the time He went to Jerusalem and was crucified about a week later.
There are two main points, I think,
to be brought out in this parable about the nobleman,
or the Lord who went on a journey to a far country.
It seems evident to me that the Lord of that nobleman
who went on the journey is Christ leaving this world,
going to heaven to remain there during this, the Church age.
In His absence, He called Him His three servants.
He delivered his money over to them,
told them to trade with it,
make more money.
To me that is the Great Commission that is given to the church
to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, etc.
In the course of affairs, one of these servants prospered.
He worked hard at the business that his Lord had committed to him,
gained double the resources he had to start with.
When the Lord had reckoning with him,
he was given authority over ten cities.
That had to do, in my mind with the rewards
that the faithful servants of the Lord are to receive
at the end of this age when we come before Jesus for judgment
concerning our religious works in the world.
There is another who was also judged and found faithful.
He was also rewarded.
The third had hid his Lord’s money,
and had not gained anything by trading therewith,
and the judgment on was that the money was taken away from him
and given to the one who had prospered the most.
To me, if we as churches, or individuals
are not faithful and diligent in the trust of the gospel
that is committed to us,
that the Lord just abandons us to our own devices.
He calls others to carry out the Great Commission and so,
we are just forsaken of the Lord
so far as those whom He especially calls and commissions
to preach His gospel to the ends of the earth.
There is another element in this parable
that seems to be separate and distinct
from the dealings of this Lord and His servants.
That is, when he was gone, his fellow townsmen sent the word and said,
We will not have this man to rule over us.
It seems to me like that is the Jewish people who rejected Christ
as the head of their religious system
and it tells how that when the Lord came back,
they were likewise judged, and severely.
It says here that they were commanded to be slaughtered.
Now, we are not to understand that the Jewish nation
is to be destroyed in the end of the world,
and so far as that is concerned.
That is my notion about those fellow townsmen
who refused the rule of the Lord, who is Christ,
that are the Jewish people.
With that parable and our scanning of the Kingdom Scriptures,
we come to the last week of the public ministry in the world.
The beginning of that week
is marked by one of the most peculiar situations in the New Testament
That is the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.
- 7 And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes,
- and they set him thereon.
- 8 And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way;
- others cut down branches from the trees,
- and strawed them in the way.
- 9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying,
- Hosanna to the Son of David:
- Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord;
- Hosanna in the highest.
- 10 And when he was come into Jerusalem,
- all the city was moved, saying,
- Who is this?
- 11 And the multitude said,
- This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.
He rode this donkey colt.
that had never been ridden by man before.
Such animals we usually have to break to ride.
Evidently, He rode that donkey colt without any incident at all.
I think the import is to teach us now there was not that enmity
between Him and the animal creation
that exists between mankind in general and the animal creation.
That is sin in mankind that is the cause of that enmity, too.
Matthew 21:4, 5
closely related to the verse we just read.
This came about in order
that there might be fulfilled the things spoken about
through the prophets, saying,
Say to the daughter of Zion, behold thy king comes to thee meek,
mounted upon a donkey and upon a colt,
the son of the yoke animal.
That is another statement concerning the manner of His journeying,
the triumphant entry.
Matthew 11:8-10,
Many spread their garments in the road,
and other cutting off their branches out of the field.
The ones going before and the ones following cried,
Hosanna, blessed is the one coming in the name of the Lord,
blessed is the coming Kingdom of our father, David.
Hosanna in the highest.
On that same subject,
John 12:15,
Hear thou not the daughter of Zion, behold,
thy King cometh, sitting on the colt of a donkey.
John 12:13,
They cried out, Hosanna, blessed is the one
coming in the name of the Lord and the King of Israel.
I think that is all the Scriptures then,
dealing with the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.
It is important to understand the fact
that he had already had many experiences with these people before,
and generally speaking, their reception had not been favorable.
Now, as His face is set to go to Jerusalem,
and it was set to go there in order
to accomplish His crucifixion a week later.
It was seemingly without due cause for it,
being in their own minds,
this great multitude gathered and proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah,
the King of Israel, the Son of the great King David.
They also sang Hosanna unto God because
of the apparent coming of the Kingdom in its fullness at that time.
I do not pretend to have any sure explanation
as to why things happened as they did.
Here is one thing that I offer, tentatively on this subject.
It has been pointed out that from the beginning the Kingdom appeal
and the gospel appeal, in general,
was made first to the official religious group in Jerusalem.
They never did favorably receive Jesus.
Their attitude was always one of animosity and opposition.
I am pretty well of the opinion
that the Kingdom of God cannot come to Israel in its fullness
until there is a wholesale and whole hearted turning
of that nation unto Christ.
So, my idea of what the situation actually was at this time is
that the masses of the people,
at least a great portion of them had turned to Jesus
and accepted the message He had to offer them.
It was they, the common people,
the masses of the people who here proclaimed Him the Son of David,
the King who would bring the fullness of the Kingdom to Israel.
Those were their sentiments.
That was their desire,
but without the consent and reception
of that religious group in Jerusalem,
that order of things could not come in.
It makes sense as to why the masses of the people
gave this great demonstration in favor of Jesus,
and yet, only a week later, He was crucified.
He, Himself said that it was necessary for Him to go to Jerusalem
and suffer many things
at the hands of the Chief Priest, and the scribes and elders.
These were the ones whom He branded with His own mirth,
to be killed and on the third day rise again.
The thing I have just tried to outline to you makes sense to me
as to why things happened the way they did.
Otherwise, the situation is absolutely contradictory.
So, on this occasion, there was a mighty demonstration
as the people rejoiced and reclaimed Him as the King of Israel.
Matthew 21:28-32,
How does it seem to you?
A man had two children.
Coming to the first, he said,
Go thou this day and work in the vineyard.
He answering said, I will not. Later, changing his mind, he went.
Coming to the second, he said likewise, he answering said,
I will, but he did not go.
Which of the two did the will of the father?
They say, The first. Jesus says to them, truly, I say unto you,
the publicans and the harlots go before you into the Kingdom of God,
for John came to you in the way of righteousness,
ye did not believe Him.
But, the publicans and the harlots believed him,
but ye beholding did not change your minds
that later ye might believe him.
If you are following me in the common version
that last verse I read might sound a good deal different in your version from the way I read it.
We will try to get back to that in just a few minutes.
The lesson in particular parable seems to be evident enough.
When the gospel appeal was made to the people,
the religious leaders and those, whose religion was accepted in the land,
rejected Christ and His message.
The publicans, who were nothing religiously, the harlots,
who nothing religiously or morally, received this message
which was rejected by those
who would have presumably accepted it more readily.
So, there is what He is driving at in the parable of the sons
in the shaping up of things.
He said to those publicans and harlots,
and the Gentile nations in general,
Come and work in my vineyard. They said,
We will not do it.
He said to the Jews, You come to work in my vineyard.
They had said, We will, but they had not done it.
When this gospel appeal comes, these publicans and harlots
meet the terms of the gospel right along with the Gentile nations.
The Jews refuse and they are the ones who said they would work in the vineyards,
but did not do so.
The latter verse I read, I think,
is one of the very fundamental New Testament Scriptures
teaching us the steps or the process whereby a lost soul,
or a sinner comes to Christ for salvation.
Let us read it again with that idea in mind.
For John came to you in the way of righteousness,
and ye did not believe him.
John came in a way after the manner of life of the Old Testament Nazarites
and that could not be offensive to the Pharisees,
or any other self-righteous group.
He says, Now, despite the testimony of the life of John the Baptist,
you did not believe him,
but the publicans and harlots believed him.
This other now is the thing I wanted to point out especially,
But ye believing,
did not change your minds.
I believe the common version says there,
But ye,
believing did not repent that afterward ye might believe him.
I think I have given the exact import of it,
that the Pharisees beheld the works and heard the words
of both John the Baptist and Jesus.
Instead of changing their minds,
presenting a favorable attitude toward the common gospel appeal,
they hardened their hearts against them.
They shut up their minds against the truths
that were preached to them,
did not give favorable consideration to it.
I think right there is where the responsibility of lost souls comes in.
A man can not repent of himself.
A man cannot exercise faith of himself.
Some people have recognized that fact and have taken a hardshell,
or fatalistic position on the whole thing.
They were utterly wrong because there is a point where the individual
has the initiative and responsibility.
When we hear the gospel in any senses as lost souls,
then it becomes our responsibility,
one way or the other.
We must either give favorable consideration to it,
or cast it out of our minds.
My Bible teaches me that if lost souls give a far and favorable
consideration to the gospel appeal,
then what happens next?
He says that later you might believe him.
From there on it becomes the responsibility of the Holy Spirit
to convict that sinner of sin to at least help him to genuine repentance
and exercising faith in Jesus Christ.
But, absolutely now, before the Holy Spirit takes over
and leads that sinner to full repentance and the exercising of faith,
that sinner has got to make a decision and disposition
in his own mind and heart,
and give his consent before the Spirit does bring him
to repentance and salvation.
I think this is very forcefully fully brought out
when we understand what
Matthew 21:32 actually says.
Matthew 21:33-46,
Hear ye another parable.
There was a man of household who planted a vineyard
and he set a hedge about it and dug in a wine vat.
He built a tower and let it out to a husbandman and went on a journey.
The season of the fruit drew near and he sent his bondservants
to receive his fruit.
The husbandman, taking his servants, one indeed they beat.
One they killed, and one they stoned.
Again, he sent other bondservants,
more than the first ones and they did likewise.
Later, he sent to them his own son, saying, they will honor my son.
The husbandmen, beholding the son said within themselves,
this one is the heir, come yet, let us kill him,
we shall have his inheritance.
Taking him, they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.
When therefore the Lord of the vineyard shall come,
what will he do to those husbandmen?
They said to him, Either he will destroy these evil men,
the vineyard ye will let out to other husbandmen
who will give him the fruits in their seasons.
Jesus answered them, do you never read in the writings of stone
which the ones building disapproved.
This one became the head of the corner.
This came about in the Lord and is marvelous in our eyes.
On account of this, I say to you,
the Kingdom of God shall be taken away from you
and given to a nation bearing fruits of it.
The chief priests and the Pharisees,
hearing His parable knew that He spoke concerning them.
Seeking to seize Him they feared the crowds
since they held Him to be a prophet.
That is the parable and it seems to me
that the interpretation is evident on the surface of things.
Because the coming of Jesus into the world.
God sent many prophets unto them
to try to draw them away from their evil ways
to walk in paths of righteousness before God.
They killed and stoned these prophets and rejected them.
Then, God sent His own Son, Jesus Christ to them
and they killed him likewise.
They said, We are the inheritance ourselves.
They simply wanted salvation by works,
and He goes on then and says the Kingdom of God
will be taken away from you and given to a nation
bringing forth fruits of it.
That, to my mind, is not a thing in the world
but the taking of the gospel and the church economy
from the Jewish nation as such,
and giving it to the other nations of the world.
It is a prophecy, in other words, of the Gentile church.
Then, there is in closing o that passage the idea these Pharisees
wanted to seize Jesus,
but the crowds were favorable to Him and they feared the crowd.
- 1 And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,
- 2 The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king,
- which made a marriage for his son,
- 3 And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding:
- and they would not come.
- 4 Again, he sent forth other servants, saying,
- Tell them which are bidden,
- Behold, I have prepared my dinner:
- my oxen and my fatlings are killed,
- and all things are ready:
- come unto the marriage.
- 5 But they made light of it, and went their ways,
- one to his farm, another to his merchandise:
- 6 And the remnant took his servants,
- and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.
- 7 But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth:
- and he sent forth his armies,
- and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
- 8 Then saith he to his servants,
- The wedding is ready,
- but they which were bidden were not worthy.
- 9 Go ye therefore into the highways,
- and as many as ye shall find,
- bid to the marriage.
- 10 So those servants went out into the highways,
- and gathered together all as many as they found,
- both bad and good:
- and the wedding was furnished with guests.
- 11 And when the king came in to see the guests,
- he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
- 12 And he saith unto him,
- Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?
- And he was speechless.
- 13 Then said the king to the servants,
- Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness;
- there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
- 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.
This looks like the Jews and their rejection of Christ.
They had been previously invited to this marriage feast
the Jews refused to come.
The Jews rejected Him,
and so there was the turning to the other nations.
The Gentile churches were gathered in to partake of the marriage supper.
Now, this man who was found at this wedding feast
is a hard character for me to identify definitely.
and that He is rejecting him from this supper.
- 13 Then said the king to the servants,
- Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness;
- there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
He was cast into hell.
This man had not met the condition of salvation in the first place.
- 28 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together,
- and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him,
- Which is the first commandment of all?
- 29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel;
- The Lord our God is one Lord:
- 30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
- and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength:
- this is the first commandment.
- 31 And the second is like, namely this,
- Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
- There is none other commandment greater than these.
- 32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth:
- for there is one God;
- and there is none other but he:
- 33 And to love him with all the heart,
- and with all the understanding, and with all the soul,
- and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself,
- is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
- 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him,
- Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.
- And no man after that durst ask him any question.
I would like mighty well to know myself
what Jesus implied by telling the scribe
that he is not far off from the Kingdom of God.
I see this possibility –
This scribe was a saved man,
a Pharisee religiously
exactly the way we have people who are saved people.
Religiously they are Catholics
and they are all kinds of Protestants.
Therefore, there are some saved, even though they are utterly wrong
as to their general beliefs and practices.
Jesus was telling him,
Now you are getting very near the fundamentals of the truth.
It does not make any particular difference with me
whether that is the way it is
or whether He is telling this man
that as much understanding as you have of religious things,
it would be mighty easy
for you to go on from where you are and get saved.
Regardless as to how that may be,
Jesus does set forth here the principle of love
as the great fundamental working of the Church Dispensation.
There is a lesson right there
that our people ought to learn and never forget.
Take the subject of church discipline, for instance.
If the church acts in a true Christian love
in calling her members to ask,
then the thing can be done successfully and to the glory of God.
Anytime a church enters into the matter of church discipline
with any spirit of malice, or on the legalistic basis,
I think you would just about as well to let the thing go entirely.
If the church can not repent and grieve over the sin
that the individual has committed,
I believe you would be better off just to let the thing rest
until you get to where the church can repent and grieve over that thing.
That is because love is the principle
that makes the church of Jesus Christ work.
- 11 And many false prophets shall rise,
- and shall deceive many.
- 12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
- 13 But he that shall endure unto the end,
- the same shall be saved.
- 14 And this gospel of the kingdom
- shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations;
- and then shall the end come.
Some of the Kingdom references are indefinite to my mind.
I do not know whether He is talking about the Kingdom
as he speaks of the Kingdom Gospel here.
To my mind, we have in this passage
one of the most difficult Scriptures with which to deal
that we have in the New Testament,
- 13 But he that shall endure unto the end,
- the same shall be saved.
To get this thing straight,
what is He talking about?
He is talking about the end of the age.
He is talking about the Great Tribulation.
He is talking about the exceeding trying times to come
when Antichrist makes his appearance on the world scene.
He is not saying that the one that remains patient to the end
is going to be saved in the sense that he will escape hell,
and be reckoned as one of the children of God.
He is saying, rather,
that he is going to be saved from the deception of Antichrist.
That is in keeping with the context,
and the background on the passage of Scripture.
You say, “Well, what application might it have to me
if Antichrist does not come in my time?”
Here is what application it would have to you
if Antichrist does not come for two generations yet.
If you remain patient,
content with the New Testament
as your all-sufficient rule of faith and practice,
then you are going to be saved
from going off into religious error and deception yourself.
You will be saved in that way,
but you will probably be saved in another way.
That is this – that though you are a child of God yourself,
if you depart from the New Testament faith,
you will probably contribute to your grandchildren not being saved
and becoming victims of the Antichrist.
How would you like that?
Though you, yourself are saved, and in heaven with the glorified saints?
How would you like to look down on earth and say
that because of my unfaithfulness,
because of my lack of integrity to the truth
when I was in the world,
there is my grandchild down there now in the Great Tribulation,
unsaved and the victim of Antichrist?
That is exactly the kind of salvation I think it is talking about here.
So we pass that particular passage with those words.
- 29 And he spake to them a parable;
- Behold the fig tree, and all the trees;
- 30 When they now shoot forth,
- ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.
- 31 So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass,
- know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.
- 32 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away,
- till all be fulfilled.
- 33 Heaven and earth shall pass away:
- but my words shall not pass away.
Here He is speaking of the last days,
and the signs that are to keep the generation in the last days.
The time for the Second Coming of Christ is at hand.
I think the saints have looked for Christ in every generation
since He left the world.
I think, on the other hand,
that the generation living when He comes
is going to have more sure signs
than those who have gone on before have had.
One of these sure signs
is the regathering of the Jewish nation in the land of Palestine
and the formation, the movement toward the formation
of a world government and the world religious system.
There are some more sure signs,
that we are to have to go on in the latter days.
The amazing thing is that whenever you see these sure signs
like the fig tree does not bud sprouts in the spring, it comes out late,
and you know when the fig tree begins to put out leaves,
cold weather is behind and hot weather is coming.
He said likewise, when you see these certain signs coming,
well, you know this thing is right at hand.
He goes on to say that this generation shall not pass away
until all these things are fulfilled.
That would be to the effect that unless we are terribly deceived,
the young people who are here may rather confidently
expect to see the days when Antichrist appears on the scene.
Even middle-aged people may rather confidently expect
to still be living when Christ comes for His saints.
