"THE KINGDOM OF GOD"

By D. M. PANTON

The "Kingdom of God," or "of the heavens," a phrase drawn directly from Daniel, is a Kingdom which "fills the whole EARTH" (Dan. 2: 35, 44), replaces all worldly empires, and is obviously the Messianic Kingdom: when "the Kingdom of the world is become the Kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ" (Rev. 11: 15).  It is foreshadowed now by the Kingdom in Mystery (Matt. 13.), or the Church, and for both regeneration is essential (Luke 17: 21; John 3: 3); but its manifestation at the Second Advent, to which all Scripture prophecies refer it, proves it to be the Millennial.  It is the "Kingdom" with which our Lord returns (Luke 19: 12, 15).  In one aspect, however, the kingdom is now present: for in parables the kingdom is the Church: in literal passages, it is the literal kingdom; in figurative, it is the mystical.  The reason seems clear.  Our Lord, when personally present, spoke of the kingdom as present also, for it was present in the person of the King: "If I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then is the kingdom of God come upon you" (Matt. 12: 28).  When the King withdrew from the world, so did the kingdom.  But the Lord is mystically present with His Church: there is, therefore, a mystical kingdom: "who translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love" (Col. 1: 13).  Concerning the Everlasting Kingdom, prophecy reveals but little, and that little perhaps solely in the last two chapters of the Apocalypse.  IN THE ONLY PASSAGE IN WHICH THE HOLY GHOST USES THE PHRASE "THE KINGDOM" (1Cor. 15: 24), HE MEANS THE MILLENNIAL.

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