Chapter 5—A Spiritual Kingdom
Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world.
John 18:36
.
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....
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.” He would
not accept the earthly throne....
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.... 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....
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”
(
Galatians 2:20
).
[14]
23