If Christ were king

Contents

Chapter Pagh

I. What Sort of a Kingdom ? 9

II. Who Shall Be the King? 19

II Who Shall Be The King?

THE question is all-important, because the king is to exercise supreme authority over the subjects. Can any person except God Jhe Father have a right to such authority ? In the New Testament the kingdom of heaven on earth is commonly spoken of as the " kingdom of God," and Jesus taught us to pray to the Father " thy kingdom come." Is he, then, the king?

Jesus claims the throne. He spoke frequently of 11 my kingdom." He said, " I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me " (Luke 22:29). In the parables of the kingdom he represents himself as the King, dispensing benefits or executing judgment. He allowed others to call him king and did not rebuke them. He claimed that all authority had been given him in heaven and on earth, and commissioned his disciples to push his claims. Is he, then, an Absalom seeking to occupy the throne which belongs to his Father?

The question is not theoretical, but has immense practical importance. We cannot admit his claim to kingship unless we are prepared to acknowledge his deity. No man, though he be the best and wisest and strongest that ever lived or ever will live on the earth, can justly and properly exercise supreme authority over men. If Christ is not God, he is not king of the kingdom of heaven on earth. And the practical side of the matter appears when we consider that men will not accept the teaching of Jesus as final and authoritative on all personal, social, industrial, and political questions while they deny his deity. That is the very point at issue before the world's tribunal to-day. Has any person spoken with an authoritative voice on all these great questions of life ? It becomes necessary, therefore, to consider briefly Christ's claim to kingship.

He based his claims upon divine appointment: " I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me." He found that appointment in Scriptures referring to the Messiah, especially in the prophecies (Gen. 49: 10; Isa. 9:6, 7; Jer. 23:5; Dan. 7:13, 14; Zech. 9:9, 10; Micah 5: 2) and Psalms (Ps. 2:6, 8; 72:8; no: 1). He inferred it from what the Angel of Annunciation had told his mother (Luke 1:31-33). Above all, he knew it by direct communication of the Spirit from the Father.

No mind open to conviction by any amount of proof can believe that he was deluded in this matter. The unvarying uniformity of his assertions, the cloudless serenity of his spirit, his air of authority, the wonderful richness of his promises, and the

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founding of all his plans for the future preclude the acceptance of such a theory. The purity, benevolence, and self-sacrifice of his life make it impossible to suspect him of being an impostor. He appealed to his works as proof that he and the Father were one : " Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me : or else believe me for the very works' sake " (John 14: 11).

When Jesus announced himself as King, where was his kingdom ? He ruled no country, no people acknowledged his authority, he had no army of fighting men, no palace, no retinue of servants to minister to his desires, none of the insignia and surroundings of a king. At his death only one man had faith in the future of his kingdom, and he was a poor robber dying on a cross. If the world was rightfully his kingdom, it was certainly in revolt and denied and rejected his authority. He had his kingdom to win; how should he gain it? He said he could not fight for it : " My kingdom is not of this world : if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight " (John 18:36). The method by which he proposed to gain his crown demands our attention for two reasons: first, because it illustrates the nature of his kingdom; and, secondly, because it helps to establish in thoughtful and discerning minds his claim to kingship.

He who would rule over humanity must be both God and man; hence his incarnation was a necessary step in his march to the throne. He announced his purpose to build on the truth : " To this end am I come into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth" (John 18:37); f° r on the truth alone could there be a permanent building, one that would stand all possible tests. For victory he depended chiefly on his death : " And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto myself " (John 12: 32). This he said, signifying what death he should die. But his claim to divine authority rested almost as much on his resurrection. He was, Paul says, " declared to be the Son of God with power ... by the resurrection of the dead " (Rom. 1:4). Humanity needs a living, undying king. In our warfare for the establishment of the kingdom we are not asked to rally around a memory, or a name, or a principle, but around a living Person. These were preparatory steps. For the actual power to win his throne, Jesus depended on the Holy Spirit. It was by the energy of the Spirit in his personal life that he fulfilled his ministry and " offered himself without blemish unto God " (Heb. 9:14). When his disciples were about to begin their campaign for the conquest of the world, he said to them, " Ye shall receive power when the Holy Ghost is come upon you" (Acts 1:8). The means which Jesus appointed for the gaining of his kingdom was simply the proclamation of the truth about the love of God and the right way of life. They were to preach the gospel to the world and

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teach their converts the doctrines he had taught. These are the forces and the means by which Jesus expected to gain his throne.

Is he worthy to be the king of the new world? To his devoted followers the question seems unnecessary and irreverent, and yet it ought to be asked and answered. His claims must be submitted to our reason, and he must be able to meet every test before we can yield him sovereignty. In that position his influence over human life would be so immeasurable, and his control of human destiny so absolute, that his worthiness must be proved before the race will " crown him Lord of all." And many of those who would protest most indignantly against any inquiry concerning his worthiness are the slowest to yield him real control of their lives. It is well, therefore, that we should raise the question of whether or not he is worthy of complete sovereignty.

That he will reign in love is proved by his life of service and his sacrificial death. His kingdom, as we have already shown, is a kingdom of grace. He rules to bestow benefits upon his people, not to plunder them. In gentleness, patience, kindness, mercy he stands supreme. His greatness in these attributes will not be questioned.

But has he kingly qualities? He was absolutely truthful He spoke the truth, practised no evasions, subterfuges, sophistries, was incapable of flattery, never raised false hopes.

His simplicity was wonderful. There was no complexity, crookedness, duplicity, or craftiness about him. He was always frank, open, candid, straightforward. It was known exactly where he stood at all times.

His courage was sublime. Beyond question he was the bravest man that ever lived. For the sake of his mission he deliberately adopted a course that he knew would bring against him the remonstrances of friends, the hatred of his own nation, contempt, reproach, and mockery from those who should have honored him, and pursued that course to the end. He never wavered. The more bitter the hostility, the more outspoken he became. This is the very flower and crown of courage, and in no other man has the world seen it in perfection.

Jesus had remarkable insight. He saw far and he saw straight. No prejudice, no bias from tradition or bad training, no self-seeking warped and distorted his vision, so that he saw the truth untrue. He was not misled by appearances. He was not deceived by illusions or fancies. Straight into the heart of things he looked, and he saw the eternal realities. He had this power because his heart was pure, his mind undivided, and he was always obedient to the Father.

He was entirely independent. Seeing clearly truth and duty, he acted always on what he knew. He was importuned by his kindred or his disciples to change his course, and the leading men

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of his nation opposed him and gave him plainly to understand that if he wanted their support he must consult their wishes, but none of these forces could swerve him a hair's breadth from his chosen line. In spite of all he went straight on in the way that led to his goal.

He had great moral enthusiasm. He could give himself without reserve to live and die for a cause. His passion for the right was consuming. When he drove the traders out of the temple " his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up " (John 2: 17). But greater than his zeal for the right was his passion for humanity. This consumed all his energy, all his power, all his love, his very life.

Surely, in his moral qualities he was a kingly man. A man who is perfect in love, in truthfulness, in simplicity, in courage, in insight, in independence, and in moral enthusiasm is fitted in moral character to reign over his fellows.

His intellectual greatness must be admitted. The world grows slowly to the conviction that he was the greatest thinker — the greatest genius — as well as the greatest lover among the sons of men, and that in him the wisdom of God has been offered to the race.

This intellectual supremacy is apparent in his plan for a universal kingdom. That a man should dream of a brotherhood including all races of men — races contemptuous and hostile in their feelings toward one another, separated widely by prejudices, habits of thought, and ways of life which have grown and hardened through centuries of alienation, marks him at once as a great genius. No other man has been able to form such a conception. It is almost impossible for other great men to think his thought after him.

Not less clearly indicative of intellectual greatness is his clear perception of the change which must take place in every man in order that this kingdom may become possible. His announcement that the law of love should be the all-inclusive law of his kingdom is an equally striking proof of his mental supremacy.

Christ's discovery of man was a great intellectual feat. It immeasurably outranks the discovery of a new continent on the earth or a new star in the heavens. Others had their minds on the incidents, or trappings, or positions, or possessions, or possible uses of man; it remained for Jesus alone to discover the essential man and to estimate at its true value that in him which is real and permanent. Who but Jesus has been great enough to see that meekness is might and that victory comes through self-surrender?

Even this hurried glance at the mind of Jesus makes it evident that in intellectual power he stands first among the sons of men. We need not hesitate to crown him King because of any mental defect or weakness, for he has none. He knows all truth,

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he thinks the deepest thoughts, he understands perfectly the nature and need of man. He has the wisdom that sees the noblest ends and chooses the best means of attaining them, and he makes no mistakes in the work assigned his servants or in the rewards given the faithful.

Ill

CITIZENS NATIVE-BORN

THE subjects of the kingdom of heaven on earth are men and women. There is, we believe, a kingdom of heaven beyond the skies whose subjects are creatures of a different order; but at present we are not concerned about that kingdom. All men, of all colors and conditions, are possible subjects of the kingdom on earth. Its universality is one of its remarkable characteristics. It is not for any privileged class or favored nation, but for all men. " Go 'ye," said Jesus, " and make disciples of all the nations." Some have not wished other races than their own to have the privileges and blessings of the gospel. More have doubted their capacity to receive it, and to develop the character necessary to membership in the kingdom. But over against such human hatred or contempt stands the plan of Jesus that all races and conditions shall be included. And in this is apparent the transcendent greatness of Jesus. Though by human descent and training a Jew, he loved all men. He perceived that essentially they are all alike and all of equal value. In the sight of heaven a beggar is worth as much as a million- 28

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aire, a slave as much as an emperor, a Negro as much as a Roman, an Arab as much as a Jew, and a Scythian as much as a Greek. From the point of view of his kingdom a common tramp on the road is just as valuable as the President of the United States, a Chinese coolie worth as much as the ruler of the British Empire. Of course, thoughts like these would make him bitterly hated by members of the higher castes, and it was partly on account of them that he was rejected and crucified. But they are the sign and seal of his greatness, and the ground of assurance that his kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom.

The subjects of Christ's kingdom are all native-born. In the kingdoms of this world there are other means of gaining citizenship. In the Roman Empire it could be purchased. Sometimes it was conferred as a reward for conspicuous service to the State. Thousands of men have come to the United States from the different countries of Europe and been " naturalized/' as we say, thus acquiring the privileges of citizenship in our country. The process is mechanical and legal, and simply effects a change of relations.

But nothing of that kind ever occurs in the kingdom of Jesus. Every citizen of it is native-born. On the authority of the King himself we say that there is no other way to enter it. To one who thought himself well qualified for citizenship in it he said, " Ye must be born again." " Except a man be born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:7, 3). He makes it very plain that it is not a matter of natural heredity. In the social or political world the sons of citizens in any country are entitled to citizenship, but it is not so in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said, " That which is born of the flesh is flesh ; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit " (John 3:6).

It is clear that citizenship in the kingdom is a privilege which cannot be conferred upon one by man. All citizens of the kingdom are native-born, but they are " born of God." It is the kingdom of God and only sons of God can be its subjects. They are men and women who have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit. There is a sense in which all men are sons of God, since they are the creatures of his hand; but real sonship has been forfeited and destroyed by sin and selfishness and surrender to the dominance of the carnal mind. The Scriptures assert, with many varied forms of expression and with great wealth of illustration, that an experience called the new birth is essential to sonship and a place in the kingdom of God.

It is objected that this condition restricts terribly the boundaries of the kingdom of heaven on earth and shuts out the great majority of mankind, since so few ever enjoy this experience. The objection is groundless. We still insist that citizenship in the kingdom is offered in good faith to every human being who hears of Jesus. The

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mystery of the new birth need not discourage any one. We do not have to solve that mystery before we can enjoy the privilege and enter the kingdom. Our regeneration is God's part, not ours. The condition we must observe is to receive Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. " As many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name " (John 1:12). Any person — even a child — can tell whether or not he has observed this condition. If one has, he will soon learn that God is faithful to perform his part. Nevertheless, it remains true that all subjects of the kingdom of heaven on earth are native-born, and that the only way to enter it is to be born into it.

This doctrine is squarely against the theory that men become citizens of the kingdom of heaven by the process of evolution. It is held by many in our day that the kingdom of heaven on earth consists simply of those who are sufficiently developed to be worthy of it. And this process of evolution can be greatly accelerated by education and culture, especially moral and religious culture. But this is not the doctrine of the King, Jesus. To one of the noblest products of Jewish culture he said, " Except a man be born from above he cannot see the kingdom of God." This removes another grave objection which might be brought against the kingdom on the ground of its narrowness. According to the plan of Jesus, the countless millions of human beings who have missed every opportunity for culture may enter at once by the way of the new birth.

The conscious acts by which one becomes a citizen of the kingdom are repentance and faith. In repentance one turns from sin unto holiness, from worldliness to spirituality, from self to Christ. By faith one accepts Christ as Saviour, and through him as sin-bearer, obtains forgiveness of sins and peace with God. But faith goes much farther than this. In the citizen of the kingdom it becomes the bond of connection between his soul and the King and the medium through which the new life is supported. It is not acceptance of a creed; it is trust in a person. We trust Christ as one trusts a physician for healing, a teacher for instruction, a guide for direction. It implies complete submission to his authority. If we believe in him we receive him as the Lord of our life to the last detail. It implies acceptance of him as our pattern, and strenuous effort to " walk even as he walked."

Thus the citizens become like their king. They are like him as sin-bearers. They take their cross and follow him in effort to redeem the world from sin. They are like him in being witnesses to the truth and revealers of God. They are like him in self-renunciation and the spirit of service. They are like him in steadfastness of purpose and perseverance in righteousness. One important issue of trust in the king is love for the king. If we know

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him and receive his benefits we shall have growing devotion to him and his cause. Thus we shall break all ties and renounce all treasure which will in any way interfere with giving him perfect service. If we love him we shall share his love for humanity and his passion for the redemption and upbuilding of lost men.

Subjects of the king are like him in that they " walk by faith." We must not forget or overlook the fact that Jesus was a man of faith — the only man whose faith was absolutely perfect. Faith was the means by which he gained the power to live his life, to fulfil his mission, to endure his sufferings, to win his victories. We too are to live by faith. The way that he opened for himself to a grand and admirable life remains open to us for a similar life.

IV

IF the kingdom of heaven on earth means the reign of God in the hearts of men, it certainlyhad a very small beginning. At the time of our Lord's ascension, of all the thronging millions who peopled the globe how few there were who knew anything at all of the true God ! The most of them were idolaters, with degrading rites and ceremonies, worshiping gods made with hands. Their ideas and habits were separated by infinite spaces from the thoughts and purposes and laws of Christ. And even the few who knew the Messiah and honored his name were only partially subject to his authority. Both in quantity and quality the kingdom was an insignificant fact at that early stage of its history. The mustard-seed, smallest of all seeds, was fitting symbol of its littleness.

But there was an expectation that it would become world-wide in its extent and glorious in its perfection. Such had been the hope of Israel, kindled and kept glowing by her great prophets. In the Second Psalm, which voices the Messianic hope with great clearness, we find these significant words : " Thou art my son ; this day have I begotten thee. 34

Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." The early part of the psalm speaks of the world's tumultuous and hateful rebellion " against the Lord, and against his anointed " ; here is the clear hope of conquest and dominion by the Son. The same hope shines brightly through all the splendid prophecies of Isaiah. In a passage which is generally interpreted as applying to the Son-Servant, the Christ, he says : " He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth ; and the isles shall wait for his law " (Isa. 42: 4). Here is the suggestion of long, bitter, wearying conflict, with victory at the end. Daniel saw in a vision " a son of man " brought before the " Ancient of days/' " and there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the people, nations, and languages should serve him " (Dan. 7:13, 14).

This hope is taken up and repeated by Christ and the apostles. It shines with increased brilliancy and splendor in the Revelation of John. It has been the hope of Christians in all ages. It has given an optimistic tone to the best Christian literature. It is especially noticeable in what may be called the prophetic hymns of the church.

Jesus shall reign where'er the sun Does his successive journeys run; His kingdom stretch from shore to shore, Till moons shall wax and wane no more.

People and realms, of every tongue, Dwell on his love with sweetest song; And infant voices shall proclaim Their early blessings on his name.

Many have sung this without much thought of its meaning, but no one ever questioned our right to sing it. This hope has not only furnished the Christian world with a great and noble ideal ; it has also been an unfailing source of strength and courage and patience for the conflict.

But how is the hope to be realized ? How is the kingdom on earth to grow from its insignificant beginning in a few souls, only partially subjected to the King, to that great, world-wide, heart-deep domain which the prophets foretold ? The question is intensely practical, for our answer to it will affect our faith, our methods of work, and our steadfastness in the service.

Among methods of progress which have received more or less consideration two stand out conspicuously in the teaching of Christian leaders: Some believe that it is impossible to change the " world " — that its life, its aims and methods, its laws and its institutions will remain evil to the end, and that the only function of Christianity is to rescue as many as possible from this incorrigible and doomed " world " and transfer them into the kingdom of heaven. They contend that Christ never expected to save a majority of the human race, and that his dictum, " Many are called, but few chosen " (Matt.

22:14), remains true throughout the ages. They also contend that the kingdom as it now exists on the earth has no salutary or helpful influence on the " world " — that it may, indeed, make it worse, being " a savor of death unto death " to them that reject the gospel of Christ. According to this view there will be little visible progress of the kingdom till Christ comes to reign in person on the earth. At his coming he will destroy the wicked who are then living, raise the righteous who have died, and set up his throne of power, thus making by one stupendous revolution " a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness."

The other important view is that the kingdom increases slowly, gradually, somewhat after the manner in which a plant or an animal grows. According to this view the kingdom increases in the number of disciples whom Christ gains, in the degree in which the ideas and precepts of Jesus are accepted and incorporated into the personal and social lives of these disciples, in the degree in which his ideas and precepts appear as public sentiment, civil law, and social institutions, and in its influence upon that " world " whose citizens do not personally receive Christ as Saviour and Lord. By the spread of the gospel, by teaching the doctrines of Jesus, by the testimony and lives of disciples, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, this gradual increase is to be secured. If the former view is correct Christ may come any day to set up his kingdom on earth; according to the latter view, even an approximate perfection of the kingdom must lie many centuries in the future. It should be noticed that it is not a question of whether Christ will ever reign supreme; it is a question of the method by which he will gain his kingly crown. It is not a question of ultimate fact, but of immediate process.

We shall certainly get light on this subject by turning directly to the words of Jesus. Some of his teaching was intended to correct a false conception formed and entertained by his first disciples. They had the Jewish idea of a material kingdom which might be set up by force and which might, therefore, come suddenly, on some appointed day. Their question, " Lord, dost thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:6), indicates that state of mind. One of his own enigmatical sayings may have done something to foster such an idea. During the interview which followed the return of the Seventy, " he said unto them, I beheld Satan fallen as lightning from heaven" (Luke 10:18). Such a vision would seem to imply a very speedy establishment of his reign; but we must interpret it in the light of his general teaching on the subject; and in that light it can only mean that he saw in a single, supernatural glance what would be the slow result of many centuries of effort. For the general trend of his teaching seems to be that his kingdom is to grow — that its increase in the world is to be slow and gradual.

His clearest and most impressive utterances on the subject are to be found in some of the parables. In the parable of the Mustard-seed (Matt. I 3-3 I ? 3 2 ) he says that the kingdom of heaven is like this seed, which, though very small, may grow into a large tree. Here the central thought — the essential point — is the contrast between the very small beginning which the kingdom had and the immense proportions which it would eventually attain. It began in an obscure Galilean peasant; it grew to a small company of poor, humble, unlearned, uninfluential disciples; that was all that could be seen of it when the parable was spoken. But Jesus assures the disciples that by virtue of power in itself it will grow till this beginning is to the great, world-wide kingdom as the mustard-seed is to the tree. If at any time their task should seem hopeless, they must cheer their lagging hearts by this truth. They might not see the growth, but it would be growing. Incidentally, however, the parable teaches that the method of increase will be this imperceptible but steady growth. They must not look for its sudden establishment.

Another aspect of the same thought is presented in the words, " The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened " (Matt. 13: 33). Probably the first application to be made of this is that the leaven represents the divine life working in the individual soul and transforming it into the likeness of Christ. It also illustrates the power of the gospel to reform and reconstruct man's social life. Of these two uses of the parable we shall speak more fully in a moment. We pause here to say that they do not exhaust its meaning. The leaven working in humanity may have evangelizing power. It should be noted that it works from within outwardly, and it works secretly and unobserved. It grows, or expands, by contact; leavened particles touch the unleavened and thus impart to them the principle by which they are changed. Thus one human soul is made alive by the new birth, and, coming in contact with one dead in trespasses and sins and showing the life in character and conduct, in speech and action, imparts it, and so the divine life spreads and becomes more pervasive. " Till it was all leavened " may not mean that at any time in the future history of the world every human being will be a faithful Christian; the predictions Christ made concerning the final judgment warn us not to cherish such an expectation; but they must mean that the whole mass of humanity will be influenced by the power of the kingdom. It is hardly fair to empty them of meaning, as one must who holds that only a small portion of the race will ever be saved.