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THE
GLORY AND POWER OF THE KINGDOM
By
George R. Hawtin
"For
Thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory for ever. Amen." - Matt.
6:13.
The prayer which for centuries has been known as the Lord's prayer is a pattern
prayer. Jesus introduced it to His people with these significant words:
"But thou when thou prayest enter into thy closet, and when thou Last shut
thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in
secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions as
the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
Be ye not therefore like unto them; for your Father knoweth what things ye have
need of before ye ask Him. After this manner therefore pray ye:"
For
centuries men have practiced their vain repetitions before the Lord, thinking
they would be heard for their much speaking, hoping that by often repeating
their requests God would at last take heed to their supplication and grant them
the answer they desired, all the time forgetting that our heavenly Father knows
what things we have need of before we ask. It is not our intention here to give
an exposition on the subject of prayer, but let it be forever known that faith
can never operate until first you are sure of the will of God. Therefore our
quest should never be an effort to coax God to do a thousand things we think
should be done, but rather to wait before Him until He fills our being with the
prayer that is born of His own will. Once the heart has become one with the will
of God, there need be no striving to exercise faith, for the will of God about
any matter is the supreme element of faith. Study the lives of the great heroes
of faith as Abraham, Moses, Elijah, and a host of others and you will find that
the secret of their mighty works lay in one thing and in one thing alone. They
did what God told them to do. Therefore all the faith they needed was to obey
His will.
You may be shocked at first by the following statement, but consider it well and
you will find it true: Any man on earth could do the works of Moses or Elijah
providing God Almighty commanded him to do them, or any man could do the works
of Noah, Abraham, or Samson providing God ordained they should be done. The
secret of faith is the will of God, not some exploding gift of power within you
that can demand from God anything imaginable and see it accomplished. Certainly
faith can remove a mountain, but Father must first say that He wants the
mountain moved. Outside of the will of God there is no such thing as a
commanding faith.
The
first request made in this prayer was "Thy kingdom come." The second
was "Thy will be done. " The coming of the kingdom of God to the earth
was without doubt the uppermost thought in the mind of Jesus Christ. That was
the thought of thoughts and the prayer of prayers. The entire life of Jesus
Christ on the earth was a parable of the coming kingdom. Every man fie healed,
every leper He cleansed, every sin He forgave, every blind eye He opened, every
deaf ear He unstopped, every word of wisdom He spoke, every act of kindness He
performed was a display of the glory that should be revealed when He, the King
of kings and Lord of lords, reigns in the glory of His Father on the throne of
David in Jerusalem.
His
entire life on earth from birth to resurrection was a testimony to the glory and
wonder of the kingdom age to come when He will reign as King and prosper, and of
the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end. Where could
place be found for sin, sickness, war, hate, poverty, greed, anarchy, violence,
disobedience, lust, and a thousand other curses when He reigns who during His
life on earth abolished these things from the lives of all who trusted Him?
The
prayer, Thy kingdom come, has gripped the heart of all creation. There is a
secret longing in the innermost being, of all mankind that the kingdom of God
shall come and God's, will shall be done in earth even as it is done in heaven.
For almost two thousand years this prayer has been both upon the lips and in the
hearts of countless millions of people. Some have prayed it with the revelation
and understanding given them by Almighty God, who has already taken His throne
within them, for it is in the heart of the believer that the kingdom of God
first appears.
That
is why Jesus told us, "The kingdom of God is within you." As a seed
sprouts in the ground, so the kingdom of God begins within His faithful sons and
daughters. Thence it will spring forth, first the blade, then the ear, after
that the full corn in the ear, until its fertile fruit fills the whole earth.
Not
all have prayed with understanding, yet because of the universal hope of the
kingdom in God's creation, all have prayed. The wonderful words, "Thy
kingdom come," have been mumbled in the litanies of the unthinking, they
have been recited at the death beds of men who knew not God, and they have been
intoned by condemned men as they stood on the scaffold waiting to be dropped to
their death. Men hiding in fox-holes, knowing no other prayer, have prayed,
"Thy kingdom come," and in the heat of battle amid the blood and fire
and vapor of smoke both the living and the dying have sighed out their longing
to God, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth even as it is done in
heaven." The mind of man, struck dumb and insensible through the fall,
still responds to the longing born of God within him that eventually the glory
of the kingdom age will dawn upon the earth when God's will shall be done from
sea to sea, and the dread rule of the carnal mind will be no more. When the
British armies under General Allenby marched into the city of Jerusalem in 1917,
their massed bands played as they marched:
'Jesus shall reign
where'er the sun
Doth his successive
journeys run,
His kingdom reach from
shore to shore
Till moons shall wax
and wane no more.'
Without
doubt the hope of the kingdom is in every heart and somehow by divine power God
has placed these three words, Thy kingdom come, in the hearts of all creation.
And is it any wonder that man should long for that glad hour to come, for the
beasts likewise, together with the trees, the winds, and the waters, without
understanding groan in travail for the day of sonship and the kingdom? It
was Paul the apostle who said, "The earnest expectation of the creature
waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God, for the creature was made
subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the
same in hope. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the
bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God."
Rom. 8: 18-21.
Man
does not understand the longing that is within him and we may be sure that all
the inanimate creation is also blind and in the dark. We have become like babies
who sometimes cry for reasons they know not, refusing to be comforted. Our souls
often deplore the awesome conditions that are in the world - the rebellion,
anarchy, delinquency, self-assertion, and war - yet if we could look deeper than
the surface, we would understand that all these things actually spring from
man's hatred and rebellion against the bondage he is in. In his darkness and
bondage he imagines that could he but throw off his restraints he would be
happy, that could he have all he wants, he would be content, but he does not
know that his discontent lies far deeper than his outward life. While he thus
seeks liberty from without, he does not know that the inner man is seeking for
freedom from the bondage of corruption and all the wretchedness into which the
carnal mind has brought him. Man is longing for freedom from the slavish
thralldom he is in, but, not knowing God, he seeks freedom by rebellion only to
find that his new found freedom is even a greater and more hateful bondage than
the one from which he escaped. But those to whom Christ the King has revealed
Himself know that true freedom is found only when Christ is crowned King. When
He comes into the life, the snares of the fowler are broken, the tears of sorrow
turn to pearls of praise, and sins of years are washed away by His blood.
THE CERTAINTY OF THE KINGDOM
We need no greater evidence of the certainty of the coming kingdom of God on
earth than the fact that Jesus taught us to pray for its coming. The prayer
prayed by Christ, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth even as it
is done in heaven," should in itself be indisputable proof that God intends
to set up a literal kingdom in which His will shall be done in the entire earth
even as it is done in the entire heaven. The evidence, as we shall abundantly
see, does not stop with this prayer, but rather the prayer "Thy kingdom
come" was the earnest request of Christ that the eternal purpose of God for
such a kingdom would soon be accomplished.
The
hope of a kingdom in which God's sons would reign existed long before Eden and
was first manifested to us in the words, "Let Us make man in Our image and
after Our likeness and let Us give him dominion." The kingdom of God was
the theme of the prophets as we shall presently see. When the birth of Jesus was
announced to Mary, these words were spoken by the mighty Gabriel, who came from
the very presence of God: "Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and
bring fourth a Son and shalt call Him name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be
called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne
of His father David, and He shall reign over the house of Jacob; and of His
kingdom there shall be no end." Luke 1:31-33. What greater proof do we need
at the birth of a king than the word of God as to what His future shall be? No
better identification can be given than this: "The Lord shall give unto Him
the throne of His father David." Therefore let God be true though every man
should be a liar. The earth is yet to see the literal and glorious reign of
Christ in a kingdom that shall have no end.
When Jesus prayed, "Thy kingdom come," He was certainly looking beyond
this age when good and bad are everywhere together and light is mixed with
darkness. He was looking to the age of the kingdom of His Father when the will
of God should be done in the earth, and the earth should be filled with the
knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. When the angels of God gather
out of the kingdom of heaven all things that offend (Matt. 13:41), that at last
will be the true beginning of the kingdom of God or the kingdom of the Father on
earth.
David
was anointed to be king of Israel while Saul was still on the throne. David is
typical of Christ while Saul is typical of the carnal systems that have ruled
the world in Christ's stead for thousands of years. David, though anointed king
of Israel, never once put forth his hand to wrest the kingdom from Saul, but
waited patiently until God's hour came in which he would be set upon the throne.
Even so it is now and has been for centuries past. Christ (the anointed)
has made no effort by force or by power of arms to take the kingdom for which He
is anointed, but like David is waiting until the Father shall give Him the
kingdom and the government of the whole earth. Though David would not lift
a finger to take the kingdom from Saul, yet all through his rejection he reigned
as king in the hearts of all who loved him and followed him even though Saul was
still on the throne of Israel. David had his mighty men. There were
those with him who were ready to lay down their lives for him. He ever
delivered those who were oppressed and gathered unto himself all who were
discontent with the reign of Saul. His followers were a motley crowd
indeed, for it is said, "And every one that was in distress and every one
that was in debt, and every one that was discontented gathered themselves unto
him, and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four
hundred men." I Sam. 22:2. They were indeed an unlikely group, but
they were mighty and they were faithful to him. They were the ones
who followed him in his distress and in his humiliation and they were the ones
who entered with him into the glory of his kingdom and of his reign. So
also it is today. The flesh and the carnal mind are usurping the throne of
Jesus Christ while the anointed Christ, like David, is rejected by His enemies.
Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath
nowhere to lay His head. But in His rejection and His humiliation He has
His faithful followers to whom He says, "Ye that have followed Me, in the
regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of His glory, ye also
shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Matt.
19:28.
The days of David's rejection came to an end, and the days of the rejection of
Jesus Christ, the Son of David, are also near their end. Soon Saul will be
dead and David (Christ) will be king. The kingdom of heaven is an age of
mixtures, an age when it is difficult to know who is who, a day when sheep and
goats flock together, when wheat and tares grow in the same fields, when the
leaven is working in the meal, when good fish and bad are in the kingdom of
heaven net. But at the end of the age God will send forth His angels to
gather the wicked from among the just. He will set the sheep on the right
hand and the goats on the left. He will gather up the good fish and cast
the bad away. He will gather out of His kingdom all things that
offend and whatsoever loveth and maketh a lie, and then His kingdom will have
come and His will shall be done in earth even as it is done in heaven.
The kingdom for which Christ prayed was the Father's kingdom.
"Thy kingdom come," He said. "Thy will be done in
earth as it is in heaven. " He was not praying for the kingdom
of heaven to come, but for the kingdom of God to come when He
should reign in the kingdom of His Father. That is why it is said,
"The Son of man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of
His kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity, and shall cast
them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of
their Father. " Matt. 13:43. The kingdom of God is the
kingdom of the Father. "But I say unto you I will not henceforth
drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in
the kingdom of my Father. " Matt. 26:29. Jesus
Christ with all the sons of God will reign in the kingdom of the Father even as
Joseph reigned under Pharaoh, having complete authority in all things.
"And He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet. The
last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For He hath put
all things under His feet. But when He saith all things are put under Him,
He is excepted which did put all things under Him. And when all things
shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him
that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all." Cor.
15:25-28.
When we realize that there is so much similarity between the kingdom of heaven
and the kingdom of God, it is not difficult to understand why the terms are
sometimes used interchangeably.
THE GLORY OF THE KINGDOM
Whenever it pleases God to reveal a truth, it will immediately be found that the
whole Bible springs into life regarding that revelation until every page of holy
scripture breathes forth the fragrance of its message. You discover that
wherever you look within its inspired pages golden threads appear, weaving
themselves into a pattern of truth until the finished product shines forth with
a magnificent beauty and fulness that only God Himself can devise.
Both New Testament and Old Testament writers are forever forging links in the
golden chain of kingdom truth until we are left to marvel at so great a
restitution and so wonderful a regeneration. These significant words of Peter
fill the soul with wonder: "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that
your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the
presence of the Lord; And He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached
unto you; Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all
things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets from the
beginning of the world." Is it then any wonder that the Bible literally
breathes the message of the kingdom of God and the restoration of all things
that fell under the curse even from the beginning of the world?
The Bible itself does not contain all the things that could be written on this
subject. How much less are we able in such limited space to unfold more than a
mere outline of the majesty of that kingdom which is even now at hand. We must
therefore confine ourselves to small portions from one or two books that we
might better understand the whole.
Isaiah is certainly a prophet of the kingdom of God. His prophetic ear seemed
always tuned in to the glory of the coming age. His prophetic eye overlooked the
scenes of his own day. Spanning the centuries, he saw a Saviour who was wounded
for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, and chastised for our peace.
Then, leaping far beyond the sorrow of the cross, he saw every valley exalted,
every mountain made low, every crooked place made straight, and every rough
place smooth. Isa. 40:4. He saw a king who would not fail nor be discouraged
till He had set judgment in the earth, and the isles would wait for His law. Isa.
42:4.
THE KING AND THE KINGDOM
It is the king that determines the kingdom. If the king is righteous, so also is
the kingdom. If the king is iniquitous, the kingdom will be filled with evil.
"Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any
people." The nations of the earth have been plagued for thousands of years
by strife, inequity, and every imaginable evil because there has been an
unceasing reign of the carnal mind in every kingdom from the beginning of time.
Throughout all the history of Israel the testimony was "like people, like
priest." If the king was righteous, the people were righteous. If the king
was evil, so also were the people.
The kingdom of God will be all glorious because the King is all glorious. All
that He is will fall in blessing upon His kingdom as the dew of Hermon falls in
blessing upon the mountains in Zion, for there the Lord commandeth the blessing,
even life forevermore.
The life which Jesus lived on earth was the greatest parable ever known. It was
a parable of the kingdom of God. He fully demonstrated by His divine life and
power all the blessings that Were to follow in His kingdom. The evil things
which we have learned to live with and accept as part of our very existence He
conquered, putting them beneath His feet. He delivered those who believe from
every sickness known to man! The word of His mouth makes the lame man to leap as
an hart. Hear Him as He commands deaf ears to be unstopped and blind eves to
see. Listen ah His wisdom puts all His enemies to silence, causing them to ray,
"Never man spake like this man!" Stand in awe beside the tomb of the
dead while He who is the resurrection and the life calls, "Lazarus, come
forth!" Weep with the forgiven woman to whom He said, "Neither do I
condemn thee. Go and sin no more." Feast as He feeds the hungry multitude
with enough and to spare. Rejoice as He preaches, "Blessed are the poor in
spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for
they shall be comforted." Stand in awe as He stills the raging storm even
as He stilled the fevered brow. Weep with His friends as He died. Rejoice that
He liveth again soon to return on the clouds of glory to reign, no more in
humility and rejection in tiny Palestine, but in power and wonderful glory over
all the earth. Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons and all deeps. Fire
and hail, snow and vapors; stormy winds fulfilling His word: Mountains and all
hills; fruitful trees and all Cedars; beasts and all cattle; creeping things and
flying fowl: Kings of the earth and all people; princes, and all judges of The
earth. Both young men and maidens; old men and Children: Let them praise the
name of the Lord, for His Name alone is excellent. His glory is above the
earth and the heaven.
It
is almost possible to hear the thrill of Isaiah's voice as it comes ringing o'er
the centuries; "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and
the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called
Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of
Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon
the throne of David and upon His kingdom, to order it and to establish it with
judgment and justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts
will perform this," Isa. 9:6,7. I stand in awe before these mighty words.
They are too much for my feeble words to describe. Think of it! A King reigning
whose very name is Wonderful, whose very title is Counsellor, who has a name
written The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace! We who are
accustomed to seeing the increase of strife, anarchy, war, and evil are asked to
behold the increase of His government and peace which shall flow like a river
over all the earth until every sword is a plow share and every spear a pruning
hook. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn
war any more. Thus upon the throne of David and from Jerusalem (the city of
peace) shall the throne of the Lord be established with judgment and justice
from henceforth for the kingdom age. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform
this. Isa. 9:7.
THE SON AND THE SONS
The apostle Paul taught that "the earnest expectation of the creature
waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. " Rom. 8:19. Sonship is
the hope of the entire creation. In sonship we are to include that first
glorious Son, Jesus Christ, who is the firstborn of God's creation of sons, but
with Him we are to include also that vast family of sons who are to follow after
Him to finally come into His glorious image. Jesus Christ is the firstborn of
many brethren, many sons who through His grace were to come into that same
image. When John saw the fulness of Christ in his blessed vision on Patmos, he
fell as one dead before Him, for he saw Him in completeness, His voice as the
sound of many waters, for all the sons of God were complete in Him.
Though
the apostles taught the truths of sonship, we must not think that the doctrine
began with them, for it did not. Isaiah, David, and many others wrote of sonship.
Isaiah in his prophecy opened a revelation which Jesus later completed when He
said, "I am the vine, ye are the branches. " Jno. 15:5. In Isaiah 11:
1 we have these wonderful words: "And there shall come forth a rod out of
the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of His roots. " Jesse was
the father of David (Matt. 1:6) from whom according to the flesh Christ came.
Rom. 1:3, Matt. 1:1. Jesus Christ was the rod out of the stem of Jesse and the
sons of God are the branch that grew out of His root. For this reason Jesus
declared, "I am the vine, ye are the branches." His inspired words
without doubt explain the true meaning of the prophecy. Speaking again of the
kingdom day in chapter 4:2, Isaiah says, "In that day shall the branch of
the Lord be beautiful and glorious. . ." Jesus Christ was the corn of wheat
which fell into the ground and died. The sons of God are the full corn in the
ear. He was the seed; they are the fruit in His image. Let us not miss this
great truth, for it shows us as nothing else can what the place of the sons of
God will be in the kingdom of the Father. Indeed, it manifests the true meaning
and purpose of sonship. The manifestation of the sons of God will be during the
kingdom age. Then the works that Christ did they will do also and far greater
works than these. Their ministry will be to restore the whole creation to the
glory of Eden during the entire thousand years of the millennial kingdom.
Let us not be deceived by crafty men who now profess to be manifested sons of
God. If they were such, they would have no need to proclaim it, for their
undeniable glory and power would stand open before all the world, none being
able to dispute nor gainsay it. For the most part these men are as unlike Jesus
as it is possible to be. When the sons of God are manifested, all the world will
feel the power and authority of their ministry, for the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
When John saw the 144,000 stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion (Rev. 14), he was
actually beholding the complete body of sons gathered out of the church age and
prepared for the government of the kingdom, for the law will go forth from Zion
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
To understand the character and glory of the millennial reign, which is
identical with the kingdom of God, we will need far more than ordinary
understanding. God grant that His revelation may be given us to see beyond the
misty shadows of doubt and fear that belong to this age of carnal men that we
may behold the day which the Lord has made, even His sabbath of rest.
Men who are accustomed to fighting every curse in this age would not know what
to do if they were to suddenly find themselves in Eden where no curse is. All
our lives we have struggled against the curse of thorns and weeds. In the sweat
of our faces we have fought with drought and heat; we have wrestled with floods
and endless pests. Frost and hail have snatched away the hope of our labors;
fire has devoured the dreams of a lifetime. During the days we have been
scorched with heat; in the night we have been bitten with frost. Sickness,
disease, war, fear, and death have dogged our pilgrim pathway from the cradle to
the grave. Our days have been full of trouble and sorrow as the sparks fly
upward. To understand, therefore, the character and glory of the kingdom reign
we must know that the nations who then will inhabit the earth will be free from
all these blighting curses, for the ministry of the sons of God, the branch of
the Lord, will have removed them all. Then shall be brought to pass the saying
of Jesus, "The works that I do shall ye do also, and greater works than
these ye do because I go to the Father."
Let
us now notice that upon this branch of the Lord, which is the sons of God, will
rest the sevenfold Spirit of God. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon
Him; the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of understanding, the spirit of counsel,
the spirit of might, the spirit of knowledge, and the spirit of reverence or the
fear of the Lord. Isa. 11:2. This is the Spirit and anointing which will
rest upon the sons of God who will reign with Christ to govern the earth in the
kingdom of the Father. The sevenfold Spirit that is named in detail here is the
same as that which John in the Revelation calls the .seven spirits which are
before His throne. Rev. 1:4, 3:1, 4:5, 5:6. (Please read these references. Their
teaching is most enlightening.) Need we remind ourselves that the throne is the
seat of government? Therefore these seven glorious spirits appear before the
throne.
The very thought of an age governed by sons of God who are full of the sevenfold
Spirit of God leaves us almost breathless. Words become totally inadequate and
human expression collapses completely. Our innermost beings must begin to
respond to the revelation and the inspiration of the almighty God; otherwise we
will be as dumb beasts in our understanding. Compare the governments of our day
with all their graft and greed, their political maneuvering, their heartless
intrigue, their oppression and inequality, with the government of the sons of
God upon whom shall rest the Spirit of the Lord, the spirit of wisdom and
understanding, the .spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and
reverence for the Lord. If our hearts Can comprehend the vast gulf that lies
between these two systems, then we will see that all who enter into that blessed
realm of the kingdom of God will have awakened to a new age where old things
have truly passed away and, behold, all things are become new. Is it any wonder
that Paul, thrilling to the inspiration of the Spirit, cried, "I reckon
that the sufferings of this age are not worthy to be compared to the glory that
shall be revealed in us, for the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth [Or
the manifestation of the sons of God." Rom. 8:18,19.
Now notice the kind of judgment the earth will share in that age. "And He
shall make Him (the branch, or the body of sons) of quick (living) understanding
in the fear of the Lord, and He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes,
neither reprove after the hearing of the ears. But with righteousness shall He
judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth, and He shall
smite the earth with the rod (authority) of His mouth and with the breath of His
lips shall He slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of His
loins and faithfulness the girdle of His reins." Isa. 11:4,5. The judges of
the earth for centuries past have judged by the sight of the eyes and the
hearing of the ears. But we have yet to learn that what the natural eye sees and
the natural ear hears are outward and undependable. Man can see only the outward
appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. I know of only one judge who cast
outward evidence aside and judged righteously by the Spirit. That judge was, of
course, Jesus Christ, the first glorious Son who was the pattern for all God's
sons. When the woman taken in the very act of adultery was brought before Him,
He judged neither by what He heard nor by what He saw. Casting aside the outward
and visible, He judged by what His spirit knew within. therefore He was able to
release her without condemnation and send her away to sin no more. John 8:1-I 1.
His gracious act on this important occasion proved and confirmed His own inimitable
teaching, for He had taught that we should 'judge not according to the outward
appearance, but judge righteous judgment. "John 7:24. The Holy Spirit
centuries earlier, speaking by the lips of Isaiah, had said, "With
righteousness shall He judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of
the earth." This without doubt is to be the character of the reign of
Christ in the kingdom of the Father. Upon Him with all the sons of God will rest
the sevenfold Spirit of God that "righteousness might be the girdle of His
loins and faithfulness the girdle of His reins." Isa. 11.5.
THE RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS
The dispensation of the kingdom of God is to be a dispensation of restoration.
The things lost through the fall are to be restored from the least to the
greatest. Certainly there is a further vast unspeakable gathering of all things
into Christ in the disposition of the fullness of times (Eph. 1:9, l0), which
dispensation follows the dispensation of the kingdom of God. But, during the
kingdom of God, when Christ reigns on the earth with His sons from Zion and
Jerusalem, there will be a restoration beyond man's ability to comprehend. We
must believe the word of God as we read it and seek the Holy Spirit to give us
understanding of the unspeakable glory of that coming age.
When Peter spoke of the restitution of all things (Act 3:21), he was without
doubt speaking of the kingdom day. He said that the heavens must receive Jesus
until the times of restitution of all things. The blighting traditions of the
church have stolen the truth of this scripture from the hearts of believing men,
teaching them that God would not restore all things, but I am sure that lie who
gathered up the fragments of bread and fish that nothing be lost cannot consent
to the loss of the greatest purposes of His creation. Nor will He who left the
ninety and nine sheep in the fold to seek the one that was lost be content to
have one sheep in the fold while ninety and nine are lost. Such thoughts are
inconsistent with the very nature of God and contrary to all He is and does. Let
us then follow the prophet Isaiah and move with him in inspiration as he paints
the picture of restoration on the canvas of our faith.
RESTORATION
OF LIGHT AND UNDERSTANDING
Since the day that Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, man has lacked
spiritual understanding. His heart has been blinded because he has walked almost
entirely by the dictates of the carnal mind. The chief interest of a carnal mind
is the preservation of his flesh, which is naught but the physical body of
flesh. A heavy darkening veil has clouded his spiritual mind. He has groped
about in darkness neither knowing nor understanding spiritual things. Like
Nebuchadnezzar he has become as a beast because he was given the mind of a
beast. But all this dimness will be removed when the sons of God reign in the
kingdom of the Father, which is even now at our doors.
In the ninth chapter of Isaiah the prophet overwhelms our minds with these
truths. After describing the darkness of the earth (Isa. 8:21,22) which has
prevailed in all ages, he throws open the gates of light to illumine the kingdom
day. "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that
dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them the light hath shined.
" 9:2. For centuries humanity has been as prisoners gathered in a dark pit,
but after many days we will be visited. So great will be the light that the moon
will be confounded and the sun ashamed when the Lord of hosts shall reign in
Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before His ancients gloriously. Isa. 24:22,23.
The dark covering that has been cast over the hearts and minds of the people for
ages and dispensations will be completely destroyed when the sons of God reign
in the kingdom of the Father from Jerusalem and from Mount Zion. For thus saith
the Lord by the mouth of Isaiah, "And He will destroy the covering cast
over all the people, and the veil that is spread over all nations, and it shall
be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him and He will
save us: This is our God; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation."
Isa. 25:79.
Few
people have believed in ages past because there has been a veil over their
understanding. Even to this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their
hearts; nevertheless when it (the heart) shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall
be taken away. 2 Cor. 3:15. God has a definite purpose in allowing a veil to
cloud all human understanding. Contrary to the tradition of the church it is not
God's intention to bring all the world into the fold in this age. His intention
is to choose out a people for his name, who in a coming glorious age would be
used to bring light to all men. This is the plan laid down by the inspired word
of the apostle James when he said, "God at first did visit the Gentiles to
take out of them a people for His name. And to this agree the words of the
prophets; as it is written, After this (after He has taken out the people) I
will return and build again the tabernacle of David which is fallen down, and
will build again the ruins thereof, and will set it up: That the residue of men
might seek after the Lord and all the Gentiles upon whom My name is called,
saith the Lord who doeth all these things. Known unto God are all His works from
the beginning of the world." Acts 15:14-18.
It
is after Christ's return to set up the kingdom that the residue of men are to be
saved. To look for a world-wide ingathering during the church age is
unscriptural and ridiculous. The world-wide revival will be during the kingdom
age under the government of the sons of God. For then shall the earth be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Some
years ago it was revealed to me that the evangelization of the nations during
the kingdom age would be accomplished in exactly the opposite way to the method
used in this age. In the church age the commission has been, "Go ye into
all the world and preach the gospel." In the kingdom age entire nations
will come to Jerusalem and to Zion to seek and find the Lord. What could be more
certain than the words spoken by Micah the prophet when he said, "But in
the last days it shall come to pass that the mountain (Zion) of the house of the
Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains and it shall be exalted
above the hills; and people shall flow into it and many nations shall come and
say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord (Zion), and to the house
of the God of Jacob (Jerusalem) and He will teach us of His ways and we will
walk in His paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion and the word of the Lord
from Jerusalem." Micah 4:1,2.
During
this age of grace the Lord has sought the people, but in the age of the kingdom
He will pour upon them the spirit of grace and supplication and the millions of
earth will come as nations, seeking the Lord in Jerusalem and in Zion. What an
indescribable wonder! But once the Lord removes the covering cast over the minds
of all people, then all men will see in a clear light and will come by the
millions to seek His face. To this also agree the words of the other prophets.
Isaiah has said with great clearness, "Behold, thou shalt call a nation
that thou knowest not, and nations which knew not thee shall run unto thee
because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for He hath
glorified thee." Isa. 55:5,6. Here we have the wonderful promise of whole
nations running to seek the Lord, because God has glorified His sons.
"Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen
upon thee. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the
people: but the Lord shall rise upon thee and His glory shall be seen upon thee.
And the Gentiles shall come to thy light and kings to the brightness of thy
rising. Lift up thine eyes round about and see: all they gather themselves
together, they come to thee; thy sons shall come from far and thy daughters
shall be nursed at thy side. Then shalt thou see and flow together and thine
heart shall fear and be enlarged: because the abundance of the sea (the people)
shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.
" Isa. 60:1-5. "Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon
withdraw itself. for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light and the days of
thy mourning shall be ended. Thy people shall be all righteous, they shall
inherit the land forever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands that 1
have glorified. " Isa. 60:20,21. Please read Isaiah, chapter 60.
It
is completely hopeless here to even try to quote all the scriptures that refer
to the universal conversion of the seeking nations during the dispensation of
the kingdom of God; therefore, with these scriptures we will pass on: "Look
unto Me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: For I am God, and there is
none else. I have sworn by Myself, the word is gone out of My mouth in
righteousness and shall not return, that onto Me every knee shall bow, and every
tongue shall swear." Isa. 45:22,23. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, It
shall yet come to pass that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many
cities: And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go
speedily to pray before the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts: I will go also.
Yea, many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in
Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; In those
days it shall come to pass that ten men shall take hold of the skirt of him that
is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: For we have heard that God is with
you." Zech. 8:20-23. Thus shall the covering cast upon the minds of the
people since Eden be destroyed by the sons of God, and all nations will see the
light and seek the Lord.
THE END OF
OPPRESSION
What
a dreadful sermon could be preached on the theme of oppression! But the subject
is too well known by most people to speak of it here. From time immemorial the
history of the world has been one of the oppressor and the oppressed. The poor
have been robbed because they were poor. The hireling has been cheated of his
pittance while rich men have grown fat by his loss. The widow's house has been
devoured while the rich man's riches have cankered and rusted. The wages of the
hireling that reaped the field have been kept back by fraud that the rich might
heap treasure for the last day. The innocent have been condemned and killed
while the guilty have gone free. The strong have made slaves of the weak and
have taken by force the little he had. But the end of all oppression will
immediately come when the law of the Lord goes forth from the 144,000 sons who
stand upon Mount Zion, for the righteousness and justice of Christ will fill the
entire earth. "For the extortioner is at an end, and the spoiler ceaseth;
the oppressors are consumed out of the land. And in mercy shall the throne be
established: and He shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David,
judging and seeking judgment and hasting righteousness." Isa. 16:4-5.
"With righteousness shall He judge the poor, and reprove with equity for
the meek of the earth: and He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth,
and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked. And righteousness
shall be the girdle of His loins and faithfulness the girdle of His
reigns." Isa. 11:4,5. Thus shall all oppression end.
PHYSICAL
RESTORATION
The kingdom age will see the final end of all sickness and physical disability.
A pitiful cry is rising today from all mankind, saying, "I am sick!"
Every part of the human body is subject to disease. No member of the physical
body has escaped. In spite of all the remarkable accomplishments of medical
science we may safely say that the human race becomes weaker as the years go by.
Practically every doctor and dentist has a long waiting list. Hospitals are
filled to overflowing all the time. One out of every twelve persons requires
mental treatment during his life, and cancer and heart disease have reached
epidemic proportions. The whole creation groans in pain and the cry of the
sufferer never ceases. Is it any wonder that the suffering creation sighs in a
sort of universal travail, longing for the manifestation of the sons of God when
at last they will be delivered from the awful bondage of corruption into the
glorious freedom of the sons of God.
Jesus
Christ, who will reign in the kingdom of His Father, demonstrated while upon
earth that His power over every human ailment was complete. Even the maimed
(people who had lost limbs) were healed by His matchless power and went away
rejoicing. Demons who had filled men's minds with wild insanity were cast out.
Lepers were cleansed with a word and dead men raised to life again. "In Him
was life, and the life was the light of men." "I am the resurrection
and the life," He said, "Whosoever believeth in Me, though he were
dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never
die." The healings and miracles of Jesus were performed, not to try to rid
the earth of sickness nor even to prove His power as the son of God, but rather
to demonstrate the power, the authority, and the character of that King whom God
has fore-ordained to reign over all the earth in the coming age. If He did these
mighty things in His rejection and humiliation, what will He do in His glory? Or
if these things be done in the green tree, what will be done in the dry?
The
prophecies which concern the kingdom of God leave no stone unturned to fully
assure us that there will be a full and complete deliverance from all the
diseases and sicknesses which have brought such a night of suffering and death
upon the whole earth. The deliverance of the entire creation from this bondage
will be one of the greater works of which Jesus .spoke. When Zion is the city of
our solemnities and Jerusalem a quiet habitation, the inhabitant shall not say,
"I am sick. " Isa. 33:20,24. What a change that will be! "Then
shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf be unstopped.
Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing;
and the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs of
everlasting joy upon their heads: They shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow
and sighing shall flee away." Isa. 35:5,6,10. In that glorious day man
shall be satisfied with long life (Psa. ') I : l6), and they will see the
salvation of the Lord, for He gives His followers aionian life and they shall
never perish.
RESTORATION OF THE EARTH
Like
all other things the good earth has suffered the result of the curse ever since
the fall. The very ground itself has been cursed for man's sake. The
productiveness and life-giving power it once possessed has vanished from it with
the coming of the curse, for God said to Adam, "Because thou hast hearkened
unto the voice of thy wife and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded of
thee saying, Thou shalt not eat of it, cursed is the ground for thy sake; in
sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns and thistles shall
it bring forth unto thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat
of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return to the ground." Gen.
3:17-19.
Never has man
been able to remove the curse from the earth. He does not know how much the
earth is capable of bringing forth, nor does he understand the creative ministry
that Adam enjoyed when he was given the joy of dressing the garden. Of the earth
man knows only toil and sweat that he might eat the herb of the field to keep
life within him until he returns to the dust. But to His glorious sons God has
given the ministry of removing the curse from the earth. This, too, will be
restored, for it is written, "Every valley shall be exalted, every mountain
and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight and the rough
places plain: And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall
see it together: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it." Isa. 40:4,5. The
wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall
rejoice, and blossom like the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice
even with joy and singing: ... The parched ground shall become a pool, and the
thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay,
shall be grass with reeds and rushes." Isa. 35:1,2,7. "Ye shall go out
with joy and be led forth with peace:
the mountains and hills will break
forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their
hands. Instead of
the thorn shall
come up the fir tree, and instead
of the
brier shall come
up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting
sign that shall not be cut off." Isa. 55:12,13. "Behold, the days
come, saith the Lord, that the plowman
shall overtake the reaper, and
the treader of
grapes him
that soweth seed,
and the mountains
shall drop sweet wine, and
all the hills
shall melt. And
I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build
the waste cities and
inhabit them; and they shall plant
vineyards and
drink the wine thereof, they shall also make
gardens and eat
the fruit of them,
and I will plant
them upon their
land, and
they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith
the Lord thy God." Amos 9:13-15. Thus shall the kingdom restore the earth
to an Eden of glory.
RESTORATION
OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM
Not
least of all that fell beneath the weight of the curse was the animal kingdom.
Their once bright minds were forced downward by the fall of man lest they should
be wiser than their fallen lord. Throughout the dispensations they have groaned
under a fearful travail which even man has not known. They have unwillingly been
made man's enemy. They have been sacrificed on the altar for his sin. They have
been butchered for his meat. They have been hunted for his pleasure, and made
slaves for his industry. But the days of their bondage and thralldom are almost
over, for the sons of God will restore them to their original glory. Then shall
"the wolf dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child
shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie
down together: and the lion shall eat straw like an ox. And the suckling child
shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand in
the cockatrice's den. They
shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain: for
the earth shall be full of the knowledge
of the Lord as
the waters cover the sea." Isa. 11:6-9.
Most
men have a love for animals, and I cannot resist saying that I think I shall
weep with joy when I see a mighty lion lying in peace with the calf and the
failing. How I shall rejoice to pat his tawny head and see him restored to the
peace of Eden! Then shall our glad hearts repeat, "Greater works than these
shall ye do, because I go to My Father."
Then the bear shall be gentle,
And
the wolf shall be tame;
And
the lion shall lie down with the lamb.
Then
the beast from the wild
Shall
be led by the child,
And
I shall be changed from the creature that I am.
RESTORATION OF
UNIVERSAL PEACE
The reign of King
Solomon with its universal peace is symbolic of the millennial reign of Christ.
From the beginning of time war and strife have been so universal that mankind
has accepted them as necessary evils and an important part of international
relations. All nations have their ministers
of war and all
have their armies, either small or large. War is the method of the carnal mind. Carnage
and the carnal
mind go
hand in hand. Though nothing is ever truly settled by war, yet the carnal mind
never learns that lesson. Should this age go on forever, there would still be
armies and bloody battles in the earth. War exists not only on the level of
nations, but it exists in the hearts of the people. It is waged between members
of families, between husbands and wives, between rival gangs, and even in
sports. The world of religion gives no relief from this spirit of rivalry, for
the bitterest of all struggles have been the religious ones, for they never end,
neither are they ever forgiven.
All wars in
history come from the carnal mind. The carnal mind is the mind that is
interested only in the carni, which is the flesh. The carnal mind is the physical
mind and not the
spiritual mind. The
carnal mind is concerned only with the things of the body
- what it tastes, feels, hears, sees, and smells. For the sake of
these five senses the whole physical world exists, and for their gratification
all war and strife is waged. But the kingdom of God will not be governed
by the carnal mind but by the mind of Christ, which is the
Father's mind. That glorious mind of wisdom, knowledge, and understanding
will be possessed in fullest measure by every reigning son of God that peace
might reign supreme among all nations and all families of the earth. It
will change the nature of carnivorous beasts. Then the wolf an the lamb
shall lie down together and nothing shall hurt nor destroy in all God's
holy mountain, for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as
the waters cover the sea.
The
wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy
to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without
hypocrisy. Jas. 3:17. This is the wisdom that comes from above and
this is the wisdom of the mind of Christ. The wisdom from beneath
is earthly, sensual, devilish (Jas. 3:14-16), and the result of it has been war
and continual confusion throughout all ages. But the wisdom from above,
which is pure and peaceable, gentle and easily entreated, will bring a reign
of peace, purity, and gentleness.
With
wisdom there is always authority. There is no true authority apart
from wisdom. It could not possibly be. Therefore the wisdom God has
given to His sons possesses the authority to remove all greed and the
resulting strife from the face of the earth, for "He shall judge among the
nations and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their
swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not
lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. - Isa.
2:4. "But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig
tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath
spoken it. For all people will walk every one in the name of his God, and
we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever." Micah
4:4,5.
During that glorious reign there will be no lawlessness, greed, graft, or
rebellion permitted, for the "spoiler ceaseth, and the oppressors are
consumed from the land. And in mercy shall the throne be established: and
He shall sit upon it in truth in the
Tabernacle
of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness,"
Isa. 16:4,5. "In that day shall there be upon the bells of the
horses, holiness unto the Lord. . . . Every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah
shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts. And in that day there shall be
no more Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts." Zech. 14:20,21.
THE INCREASE
OF THE KINGDOM
The kingdom of God will not spread over the entire earth in 11 moment of time.
Never in any dispensation has God undertaken to fulfill His purposes in an
instant. There will be increase and a steady growth of the kingdom that
will gradually fill all the earth until no man will say, "Know the
Lord, for all will know Him from the least to the greatest." Isaiah
certainly gives a wonderful understanding of the increase of the kingdom when he
says, "Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no
end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom to order and establish it
with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever (the age).
The zeal of the Lord of' hosts will perform this." Isa. 9:7.
When Daniel saw the vision of the destruction of the Babylon of the world
systems, he saw a stone (Christ) cut from (lie mountain (Zion) which smote the
image of the world systems in the feet. The whole image collapsed, and the
stone became a great mountain that filled the whole earth.
Dan. 2:34,35.
I
am convinced that we are at the end of this age. The dispensation of the
kingdom of heaven which we have known as the church age or the dispensation of
grace is at an end. It has been an age of good and evil, right and wrong,
wheat and tares, sheep and goats, light and darkness, mingled together so that
scarcely anyone knew which was which. Jesus Christ, like David, though
anointed to reign, has seen Saul seated on His throne while He in His rejection
has reigned only in the hearts of His true followers. But those who have
truly followed Him in this age of uncertainties, division, and carnality
will be the ones who sit with Him in His throne in the kingdom of God.
Matt. 19:28.
Two thousand years ago John the Baptist came proclaiming, "Repent, for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand. " His message was true and that age came
with great power. From its fields of wheat and tares the Lord has gathered
the seed of the kingdom of God. The message today is not "Repent,
for the kingdom of heaven s at hand," but, "Repent, for the kingdom
of God is at hand!" It is scarcely necessary to repeat the signs which
Jesus declared would precede the end of this age, but certainly they have been
fulfilled and are being fulfilled on an ever increasing scale. We read in
the seventeenth chapter of Luke that the disciples asked Jesus when the kingdom
of God should come. Verse 20. In the following verses of the chapter
He outlined many signs. "The Son of man must be rejected of this
generation," He said, and so it has been. As it was in the days of
Noah, so should it be in the days of the Son of man. Certainly the days of
Noah are with us. The kingdom of God is at hand.
Great preparations are being made in the spiritual world for the coming age.
The image of great Babylon is rising to its fullest height. The sons of
God are being secretly prepared and anointed to reign. Very soon the
little stone cut from the mountain without hands will strike the image on the
feet, and the kingdoms of this world will have become the kingdom of our Lord
and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.
George
R. Hawtin
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