Grace & Truth Chapel
131 Fardale Avenue ~ Mahwah, New Jersey
Phone 201-327-6226 ~ E-mail gtchapel@juno.com

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"The Kingdom of God's Son" (posted November 2, 2014)

   [Jesus] answered and said to them, "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven."
   [God] has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.
   - Matthew 13:11; Colossians 1:13

The Kingdom is deferred until the Lord returns, when the remnant of Israel will gladly receive Him and His earthly kingdom will be established in power and glory upon the earth. But in this interval, while the King is away, the Kingdom is in this mystery form (Matthew 13:11).

The apostle preached "another King, even Jesus" (Acts 17:7); and we are in the kingdom of God's dear Son (Colossians 1:13). What can He be to those in the Kingdom except our Sovereign Ruler?-- that is, the King; and we are in the Kingdom, His subjects. We fill this place, and we ought to recognize it as well as the truth of the Church.

Of course, we do not call Him King of the Church. He is Head of the Church (Colossians 1:18); but when we touch the Kingdom, we give Him His true place there as King. When we turn to John's epistle, we do not see the Church and its Head, nor yet the King and the Kingdom, but rather the Father and the children. These lines are all distinct, and we must give to each its own distinctive place. Yet we belong to the three distinct spheres-- the Church, the Family, and the Kingdom.

As we are developing the subject of the Kingdom in its present stage, we will be greatly helped if we see that there are two sides to the Kingdom now. Failing to see this, many are left in a fog, and there appear to be contradictions. When we look at it in its earthly aspect, where the advancement of it is in human hands, then of course failure can be seen, for there are tares (weeds) in it as well as wheat. Our Lord declares this (Matthew 13:37-43). But there is another side of the Kingdom also: the heavenly, or divine, side; and none but those who are real, those who are born of God, belong to that. This is the side spoken of in Colossians 1:13. There is no contradiction between Matthew 13 and Colossians 1:13, for one gives the earthly side of the Kingdom as it now is, and the other gives the divine side.

By our profession here (our claim to be Christians), we are recognized as subjects and followers of our Lord on earth, and so we are in His Kingdom among men. But this might be only profession (and not reality). If born again, converted, we belong to God and His Son, and by that fact we belong to the Kingdom in its divine and heavenly aspect.

A. E. Booth



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