The Kingdom Of Christ

I present this article here, as I believe it is harmony with the general doctrine of the nature, and chronological position of the kingdom of God, or the church, and that view which is the same that prevailed among most of the Old Baptist brethren during the 19th and much of the 20th century. In our days among those whom name themselves Old School, or Primitive Baptists, We more and more detect a tendency for every kind of modern doctrine describing the church and the nature of it, to creep in, and are now even becoming rampant in some quarters, just as they abound throughout the religious world in general; so as to have the tendency to attempt to present a degradation or rather a denigration of the glory of Christ's kingdom on earth, which is within His called people. We would ask the question - If those professing to be the called children of God now, and seemingly know so little, or nothing of the glory of that kingdom which "now is", what hope do they really have of Heaven and Immortal Glory? The earnest of the believer's Hope is great - even now while under this present dispensation, and far excells that which was done away with under the Law Dispensation.

The Kingdom Of Heaven

Govenments of this world have come and gone many times throughout the history of the world, and according to the scriptures, shall continue to do so as long as the world shall stand. Job says: "...He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them again.
"...He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way..." Job 12:23-24. Jesus, in the same vein says: ".... And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be..." Matt 24:30-39.

Now I would like to briefly lay a foundation for each verse of these scriptures according to my views of them: Beginning with verse 24: In the previous verses, Jesus has been describing the end of the literal Jewish Kingdom; So many at this point (If they get anything correct up to this point) jump ahead to "the end of time". The context and connection in light of the history of these things are so clear to my mind, that I wonder why anyone of (spiritual) intelligence can't see them; but it is God's Will to not be so. These clouds of glory are not the clouds that we so universally hear spoken of from most pulpits, rather to my mind represent the clouds of glory which attended the full and complete revelation of the Gospel Kingdom at the destruction of Ancient Jersalem. The end of the Old Economy did not come to an end in the Purpose of God until the final destruction of Old Jerusalem. This prophecy was delivered unto Daniel by the angel Gabriel; The end of that Dispensation was set for the year 70 AD according to the angel's message. "... Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate..." Dan 9:24-27.

This full period was consumated within a period of 490 years. (1 week = 7 years (instead of 7- 24 hour days) therefore, 7 years times 70, (the total weeks) = 490 years, a space of time calculated from the time that Cyrus the Persian issued his degree to free the Jews from captivity, and for some of them to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the city - To 70 AD, the year of the final and complete destruction of Jerusalem, by the armies of Titus Vespasian, Roman General, and son of the Emperor.
See Ansley (if you can find Ansley) and Philip Mauro for the details of this chronology. The Old Dispensation was attended with "signs" that must be fullfilled in their decreed order. Thus the full or final "sign" or signification of the "coming" of the son of man would be attended with these horrific events that Christ has presently been describing to His disciples. Thus, Jesus Himself referred to the "sign of Jonas" as representing the burial of His body in the earth, and signifying that He had died for the sins of His people, the destruction of Herod's temple, (Yet standing as a place of fleshly or carnal worship); as the final sign in judgment upon the Jews and representing the death of his body upon the tree, a sacrifice unto God for the sin of His people - This was pre-figured by Jonah being buried in the Great fish's belly for 3 days, as Christ said. We often read of clouds in the scripture, and poets many times use clouds as a subject in their poetry. We hear of bright clouds and dark clouds, and grey clouds. clouds in the scriptures sometimes also represent a great mass surrounding something; thus we read in Heb. 12:1: "...Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses,.." etc. These same witnesses were reserved for gospel times: "... Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
"... Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into... "1 Pet 1:10-12.
Here are the same "angels" that appear in the following verses of Matt 24.

Clouds also represent a hiding of things for a time - and then again a revelation of them; God says to Job: "... Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowledge?..." Job 37:16. See my poem on this, elsewhere on this web site.

"And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet"... These angels to my mind, represent the ministers of the Gospel after the Destruction of Jerusalem was accomplished in the purpose of God, and the Apostles had laid the foundation work for the establishment of the full coming gospel kingdom; ministers are designated as angels or messengers. The ordinary meaning of an angel denotes or connotes "a messenger"- not the great immortal beings that are spoken of throughout the scriptures, that have often brought heavenly messages from God, and which I certainly do believe exist as such, but ordinary human gospel preachers . Some reject this because they fear that this accedes too much power to ordinary gospel ministers; but these do not understand the true reason for, or the utility of the gospel; rather they reject these views mainly because they do not realize the effectual power of the gospel in the hands of the Holy Spirit to effectually call The partaker's of this heavenly kingdom unto this gospel (salvation) glory. Listen to Paul on this when he writes to the Thessalonians: "... But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
"...Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ..." 2 Thess 2:13-14. The gospel calls Christs people "to the obtaining of this glory" To my mind the context of these related scriptures cleary blend together " like apples of gold In pitchers of silver" If Christ is coming in clouds of "great" glory, is this not the same glory that Paul is speaking of here, and many other places in his writings. Not as there is something "magical" in the gospel, as many would teach, but that God has ordained this calling to be effectual. I have always strongly believed in effectual calling of the saints to glory. To me this is a corner stone of consolation and comfort in the power and faithfulness of God in Christ, For "...For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us..." 2 Cor 1:20 That is, by the apostles as ministers of the glorious gospel. These are the promises of the glorious gospel now being fulfilled in them as ministers of it to the called of Jesus Christ. This gospel must be fulfilled, because the promise was made unto Abraham: "...That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; Gen 22:17. ...and Heb 6:13-14: "... For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee..."

and Gal 3:14: "... That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith..." "...But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect..." Heb 12:22-23.

To be continued