Some of the Pharisees had come to Jesus demanding "when the kingdom of God should come." More than three years had passed since John the Baptist gave the message that like a trumpet call had sounded through the land, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matt. 3:2. And as yet these Pharisees saw no indication of the establishment of the kingdom. Many of those who rejected John, and at every step had opposed Jesus, were insinuating that His mission had failed.
Jesus answered, "The kingdom of God cometh not with outward show; [margin]: neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." The kingdom of God begins in the heart. Look not here or there for manifestations of earthly power to mark its coming.
"The days will come," He said, turning to His disciples, "when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it." Because it is not attended by worldly pomp, you are in danger of failing to discern the glory of My mission. You do not realize how great is your present privilege in having among you, though veiled in humanity, Him who is the life and the light of men. The days will come when you will look back with longing upon the opportunities you now enjoy to walk and talk with the Son of God.
Because of their selfishness
and earthliness, even the disciples of Jesus could not comprehend
the spiritual glory which He sought to reveal unto them. It was
not until after Christ's ascension to His Father, and the outpouring
of the Holy Spirit upon the believers, that the disciples fully
appreciated the Saviour's character and mission. After they had
received the baptism of the Spirit, they began to realize that
they had been in the very presence of the Lord of glory. As the
sayings of Christ were brought to their remembrance, their minds
were opened to comprehend the prophecies, and to understand the
miracles which He had wrought. The wonders of His life passed
before them, and they were as men awakened from a dream. They
realized that "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,
(and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of
the Father,) full of grace and truth." John 1:14. Christ
had actually come from God to a sinful world to save the fallen
sons and daughters of Adam. The disciples now seemed, to themselves,
of much less importance than before they realized this. They never
wearied of rehearsing His words and works. His lessons, which
they had but dimly understood, now came to them as a fresh revelation.
The Scriptures became to them a new book.
As the disciples searched
the prophecies that testified of Christ, they were brought into
fellowship with the Deity, and learned of Him who had ascended
to heaven to complete the work He had begun on earth. They recognized
the fact that in Him dwelt knowledge which no human being, unaided
by divine agency, could comprehend. They needed the help of Him
whom kings, prophets, and righteous men had foretold. With amazement
they read and reread the prophetic delineations of His character
and work. How dimly had they comprehended the prophetic scriptures!
how slow they had been in taking in the great truths which testified
of Christ! Looking upon Him in His humiliation, as He walked a
man among men, they had not understood the mystery of His incarnation,
the dual character of His nature. Their eyes were holden, so that
they did not fully recognize divinity in humanity. But after they
were illuminated by the Holy Spirit, how they longed to see Him
again, and to place themselves at His feet! How they wished that
they might come to Him, and have Him explain the scriptures which
they could not comprehend! How attentively would they listen to
His words! What had Christ meant when He said, "I have yet
many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now"?
John 16:12. How eager they were to know it all! They grieved that
their faith had been so feeble, that their ideas had been so wide
of the mark, that they had so failed of comprehending the reality.
A herald had been sent from God to proclaim the coming of Christ, and to call the attention of the Jewish nation and of the world to His mission, that men might prepare for His reception. The wonderful personage whom John had announced had been among them for more than thirty years, and they had not really known Him as the One sent from God. Remorse took hold of the disciples because they had allowed the prevailing unbelief to leaven their opinions and becloud their understanding. The Light of this dark world had been shining amid its gloom, and they had failed to comprehend whence were its beams. They asked themselves why they had pursued a course that made it necessary for Christ to reprove them. They often repeated His conversations, and said, Why did we allow earthly considerations and the opposition of priests and rabbis to confuse our senses, so that we did not comprehend that a greater than Moses was among us, that One wiser than Solomon was instructing us? How dull were our ears! how feeble was our understanding!
Thomas would not believe until he had thrust his finger into the wound made by the Roman soldiers. Peter had denied Him in His humiliation and rejection. These painful remembrances came before them in distinct lines. They had been with Him, but they had not known or appreciated Him. But how these things now stirred their hearts as they recognized their unbelief!
As priests and rulers combined against them, and they were brought before councils and thrust into prison, the followers of Christ rejoiced "that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name." Acts 5:41. They rejoiced to prove, before men and angels, that they recognized the glory of Christ, and chose to follow Him at the loss of all things.
It is as true now as in apostolic days, that without the illumination of the divine Spirit, humanity cannot discern the glory of Christ. The truth and the work of God are unappreciated by a world-loving and compromising Christianity. Not in the ways of ease, of earthly honor or worldly conformity, are the followers of the Master found. They are far in advance, in the paths of toil, and humiliation, and reproach, in the front of the battle "against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." Eph. 6:12, R. V. And now, as in Christ's day, they are misunderstood and reproached and oppressed by the priests and Pharisees of their time.
The kingdom of God comes not with outward show. The gospel of the grace of God, with its spirit of self-abnegation, can never be in harmony with the spirit of the world. The two principles are antagonistic. "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." 1 Cor. 2:14.
But today in the religious world there are multitudes who, as they believe, are working for the establishment of the kingdom of Christ as an earthly and temporal dominion. They desire to make our Lord the ruler of the kingdoms of this world, the ruler in its courts and camps, its legislative halls, its palaces and market places. They expect Him to rule through legal enactments, enforced by human authority. Since Christ is not now here in person, they themselves will undertake to act in His stead, to execute the laws of His kingdom. The establishment of such a kingdom is what the Jews desired in the days of Christ. They would have received Jesus, had He been willing to establish a temporal dominion, to enforce what they regarded as the laws of God, and to make them the expositors of His will and the agents of His authority. But He said, "My kingdom is not of this world." John 18:36. He would not accept the earthly throne.
The government under which Jesus lived was corrupt and oppressive; on every hand were crying abuses,--extortion, intolerance, and grinding cruelty. Yet the Saviour attempted no civil reforms. He attacked no national abuses, nor condemned the national enemies. He did not interfere with the authority or administration of those in power. He who was our example kept aloof from earthly governments. Not because He was indifferent to the woes of men, but because the remedy did not lie in merely human and external measures. To be efficient, the cure must reach men individually, and must regenerate the heart.
Not by the decisions of
courts or councils or legislative assemblies, not by the patronage
of worldly great men, is the kingdom of Christ established, but
by the implanting of Christ's nature in humanity through the work
of the Holy Spirit. "As many as received Him, to them gave
He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on His name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of
the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." John 1:12,
13. Here is the only power that can work the uplifting of mankind.
And the human agency for the accomplishment of this work is the
teaching and practicing of the word of God.
When the apostle Paul began his ministry in Corinth, that populous, wealthy, and wicked city, polluted by the nameless vices of heathenism, he said, "I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." 1 Cor. 2:2. Writing afterward to some of those who had been corrupted by the foulest sins, he could say, "But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." "I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. 6:11; 1:4.
Now, as in Christ's day, the work of God's kingdom lies not with those who are clamoring for recognition and support by earthly rulers and human laws, but with those who are declaring to the people in His name those spiritual truths that will work in the receivers the experience of Paul: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." Gal. 2:20. Then they will labor as did Paul for the benefit of men. He said, "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." 2 Cor. 5:20.
