The Word of God - as might be expected - abounds with references to this important point, so that we find the subject most prominently set forth, directly and indirectly, throughout the whole of the Scriptures.
The rule of God is part of God’s counsels and purposes with regard to this world, and holy men of God were inspired at various times to proclaim its design and purpose, and to propound its righteous and holy principles, which we have abundantly recorded in the sacred Word.
But as it is quite beyond the scope of this little work to enter fully into so large a subject in its entirety, we shall simply confine our quotations and remarks to those passages that directly refer to the constitution of the kingdom.
1. Its Constitutional Principles
“For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost” (Rom. 14:17).
“For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power” (1 Cor. 4:20).
“Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world ... .Now is my kingdom not from hence” (John 18:36).
“The kingdom of God cometh not with observation [or, with outward show]” (Luke 17:20).
“His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever” (Isa. 9:7).
“A sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom” (Heb. 1:8).
“His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion is from generation to generation” (Dan. 4:3).
“In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD” (Zech. 14:20).
The sermon on the mount presents the fullest and most perfect exposition of the moral and spiritual principles and requirements of the Kingdom of God which has been given to us.
It begins with a direct reference to the kingdom in Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” and eight times more the kingdom is thus directly mentioned in the sermon.
In this sublime discourse of our blessed Lord we have the grand foundation stones of truth, righteousness and holiness presented to us, upon which the everlasting Kingdom of God is reared.
The law given by God to the children of Israel through Moses was, to a certain extent, an embodiment of the same principles, but our Lord in His discourse not only fulfills or endorses the law, but expands and raises it to a yet higher level (higher than the Jews could bear in the days of Moses, because of the hardness of their hearts; Matt. 19:8), and He therefore says, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (Matt. 5:17, 18), and in verse 19, He adds, “But whosoever shall do and teach them [the commandments], the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
So also in the sermon on the mount we have the everlasting and unchangeable standards of divine truth and holiness, by which everything in the Kingdom of God is ever to be measured and tested throughout every dispensation. But there have been some differences of opinion as to their application.
If it be allowed that the teaching of this sublime sermon is not directly applicable to Christians as their rule of life and conduct, yet it must be obvious that the holy and divine principles it unfolds permeate all Christian teaching more or less; so that these principles ever remain as God’s holy standards of truth and righteousness to all believers for all time.
But the Christian is on wholly new and different ground from that on which the Jew stood. The Jews were placed under law and accepted the responsibility of keeping it as a duty to God, while Christians are introduced into the liberty of “the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:2), whereby the heaven-born principle of love, begotten in their hearts by the Holy Spirit, becomes the motive-spring of all their actions, leading them to delight in keeping the words, the sayings and the commandments of their Lord Jesus Christ, whom they love. “We love Him, because He first loved us.” And this principle of love (vastly stronger than a mere sense of duty) answers to all the demands of practical godliness and keeping of commandments. “Therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom. 13:10). Our Lord bases the whole keeping of His commandments on this principle of love. “If ye love Me, keep My commandments,” and, “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me” (John 14:15, 21).
2. Those Who Enter the Kingdom and Those Who Do Not
“The saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever” (Dan. 7:18).
“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:3; Luke 6:20).
“Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:10).
“Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:19).
“The good seed are the children of the kingdom” (Matt. 13:38).
“Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3, 4).
“Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:14).
“And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25:33, 34).
“Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting” (Luke 18:29, 30).
“Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them that love Him?” (James 2:5).
“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? ... Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:9, 10).
“They which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:21).
“Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 15:50).
“No whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolator, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God” (Eph. 5:5).
“How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! ... How hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!” (Mark 10:23, 24; Luke 18:24).
“For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God” (Luke 18:25; Matt. 19:23, 24).
“Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you” (Matt. 21:31).
“Thou art not far from the kingdom of God” (Mark 12:34).
“No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62).
“But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in” (Matt. 23:13).
3. the Way of Entrance Into the Kingdom
There is but one way of entrance, and that is through faith in Christ, for He is the door by which all must enter.
“Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. ... I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture” (John 10:7, 9).
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6).
“For there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
“Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh” (Heb. 10:19, 20).
This has ever been, and ever will be, the only way of coming under the rule of God or into His kingdom, for Jews and Gentiles alike, for Christians now as for saints in the millennium, though not so clearly apprehended in former ages as it is in these days. And though the manner of entering in, and the circumstances connected with it, are variously set forth at different times, the door of entrance ever remains the same for all throughout every dispensation.
“Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. ... Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:3, 5).
“Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 3:2; 4:17).
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matt. 6:33; Luke 12:31).
“It is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire” (Mark 9:47).
“Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting” (Luke 18:29,30).
“And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matt. 11:12).
“Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).
4. the Blessings and Privileges to Be Enjoyed in the Kingdom
All the blessings and privileges now enjoyed under the present or Christian phase of the spiritual rule of God in the hearts of believers, such as forgiveness of sins, peace with God, eternal life, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, might be enumerated under this heading as the present though invisible blessings to be enjoyed. But to quote all the references to these spiritual blessings would involve a very large citation from all the Gospels and Epistles, such as would be beyond my present purpose. I have therefore in the following quotations only given the passages (with the exception of the first text, which probably relates to the present phase of the kingdom) that directly refer to the blessings to be enjoyed by the saints under the reign of Christ in the millennium, which I have designated the third or future phase of the kingdom.
“Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he” (Matt. 11:11; Luke 7:28).
“Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matt. 13:43).
“But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom” (Matt. 26:29).
“Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God” (Luke 14:15).
“Ye are they which have continued with Me in My temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as My Father hath appointed unto Me; that ye may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:28-30).
When the Lord returns after “having received the kingdom,” He will give rewards to His faithful servants, and authority to rule over certain cities (Luke 19:15-19).
The saints shall judge the world and angels (1 Cor. 6:2, 3).
“Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord” (Matt. 25:21).
“Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25:34).
“Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing” (2 Tim. 4:8).
“If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him” (2 Tim. 2:12).
“He that overcometh, and keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations” (Rev. 2:26).
“To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne” (Rev. 3:21).
“And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth” (Rev. 5:10).
“And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years” (Rev. 20:4).
“And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever” (Rev. 22:5).
In concluding these brief notes on this branch of the subject, I would again remark that the foregoing references to the Constitution of the kingdom, and the principles on which it is founded, evidently bear a distinct application to one or another, and in some cases to all, of the three Phases of the kingdom, while this application in each case may be determined by a consideration of the specific meaning of the passages themselves.