LECTURE V. THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST. And in the days of these kings shall the God of hea ven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.-DANIEL ii. 44. It belongs to our Savior Jesus Christ, as the Lord the Redeemer-as the Son of David, and heir of the throne of Israel-to reign over the whole earth; by merit, by heirship, and by ancient promise, it is his right alone; and the day is coming, when he shall take to himself his great power, and shall put all things in subjection under his feet. This appears in the promises made to Abraham, which were often repeated, that all the land he had journeyed over, from the Euphrates to Egypt, and all his eye could ken eastward, and westward, and northward, and southward, should be given to him, and to his seed, forever; which seed should possess the gate of his enemies. The promises to Jacob plainly point out this kingdom; which promises Balaam seemed to have particularly in mind in his remarkable prophecies of the kingdom of Christ, often repeating the very words of Jacob, and the words of the Lord to him-Israel's "God is with him, and the shout of a King is among them. His seed shall be in many waters, and his King shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted. He shall eat up the nations his enemies, and pierce them through with his arrows. He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion who shall stir him up? There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall destroy all the children of Sheth. Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city." We have the same in the promises to Judah"Thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise; thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemiesJudah is a lion's whelp; from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion who shall rouse him up? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." "And the Lord said, Judah shall go up; behold, I have delivered the land into his hand." These promises were repeated to David in the fullest and plainest manner- -four times in one paragraph "I will set up thy seed after thee, and I will establish his kingdom-And I will establish the throne of his kingdom foreverAnd thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee-Thy throne shall be established forever." The Psalms are full of prophecies of this kingdom: we will quote one passage only"The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict him. I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers. Also, I will make him my first born, higher than the kings of the earth. His seed also will I make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven." Of this kingdom all the prophets have written, especially Daniel; who was much engaged to understand the purposes of God concerning the kingdom of Israel. Daniel "saw in the night visions; and, behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom." This One like the Son of Man, who comes near, and receives a kingdom from the Ancient of Days, is doubtless Christ Jesus, called the Son of Man-the Son of David. Unto him is given the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven; and all dominions shall serve and obey him. And the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, Daniel interprets to be this same glorious kingdom, which shall be raised upon the ruins of all the kingdoms of this world, and which shall stand forever. These prophecies in the Old Testament raised an expectation in the minds of God's people, of which we find many passages in the New. They were, indeed, at a loss as to the times and seasons of those events; and were greatly perplexed by not distinguishing the two events, of Christ's coming to suffer, and his coming in his kingdom: for though there be certain characters, whereby what belongs to the first coming of Christ, and what to the second, may be distinguished; yet, they are often so blended in the prophecies, that it should not be thought strange, that the people of God, before the death and res urrection of Christ, had not properly distinguished the time of his coming to suffer from the time of his coming to reign. But though they were at a loss for times and seasons, and were perplexed for want of distinctions; yet, the fact of the reign of Christ upon the earth they fully believed, and ever spake of it with the greatest assurance. This belief is expressed in the request of the wife of Zebedee; who, like a fond mother, begged of our Savior that her two sons might sit, one on his right hand, and the other on his left, when he came into his kingdom. Also, in that question of the disciples, "Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee-What shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me in the regeneration,* when the Son of *This sentence, read thus-Ye which have followed me in the regeneration-is obscure and doubtful: for in the regeneration-the change from sin to holinessChrist has not gone before us. And to interpret this regeneration, as some do, to mean water baptism, is equally absurd. The millenarians read it (which is according to the Greek) with a stop after followed me. Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” When Christ was going up to Jerusalem the last time, his followers were in high expectation, "because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear." The expectation of the kingdom of Christ was universal among all who believed the prophets. This was Herod's fear, when he sought to slay the infant Savior. The Pharisees demanded of Christ, "when the kingdom of God should come." And after Christ was risen from the dead, we find the expectation of the kingdom indulged by his disciples, and very near their hearts; for when they were come together, at the place he had appointed to meet them," they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" This leaves the sense, according to their sentiments, plain and easy-that, in the grand regeneration, the restitution of all things, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, they also, which have followed him, shall sit upon thrones, &c., according to Daniel vii. and Rev. XX. 4. Mr. Henry, upon this place, after observing that some refer this, in the regeneration, to the time when Christ shall sit upon the throne of his glory, adds-" Christ's second coming will be a regeneration, when there shall be new heavens and a new earth, and the restitution of all things." "So death becomes His final remedy; and after life Tried in sharp tribulation, and refined By faith and faithful works, to second life Resigns him up with heaven and earth renewed." MILTON. |