15. The Kingdom
THE KINGDOM
InMatthew 28:19-20, it says: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations . . . Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you,” etc. Now the question is this: if Matthew said that the things and teachings told in his book were to be taught to all nations, how does it come that you say some of the truths taught are not for the Christians of this dispensation, but rather for the Jews? If He commanded that all His teachings be observed and taught to all nations, why does notMatthew 24:29-31apply to Gentile Christians? He was then speaking to believers who afterward became pillars of the Church.
I have long been convinced, and have taught that the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19-20 is primarily applicable to the Kingdom rather than to the Church. If this were Kept in mind we should not fall into confusion regarding our marching orders, which are found in Acts 1:8, with details in the Epistles to the Churches. The Matthew commission will come into force for the Jewish Remnant after the Church is caught away.
Please explainMatthew 5:40, “And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.” The primary application of these precepts in the Sermon on the Mount is to the Millennial Kingdom; for the Sermon on the Mount consists of a code of laws for the administration of that Kingdom. In that day the King will reign in righteousness, and the poor, the meek, will receive righteous judgment (Isaiah 11:3-5). Stolen coats and cloaks will be quickly restored to their rightful owners in that day. But the Kingdom and the Church, though by no means identical, have many things in common; and the words of Matthew 5:40 might well be placed also in 1 Corinthians 6:6-8, so far, at least, as they apply to lawsuits between believers. As for other lawsuits, one would generally be getting off cheap if the cost amounted to no more than the price of a coat and a cloak. It is a good thing therefore if the matter can be “setded out of court.”
1. John the Baptist preached that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand, and so did our Lord. Was this Kingdom that they preached the same thing that we call the thousand years’ Millennial reign of Christ on earth?
2. If so, will any unsaved or unbelievers enter this reign with Christ?
3. InJohn 3:3, Christ tells Nicodemus that except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God. Is this Kingdom of God the Millennium?
4. And is the Kingdom of God spoken of inLuke 19:11identical with the other two aforesaid Kingdoms?
5. Am I right in contending that there will be no unsaved people entering this Kingdom? Our Lord said it was prepared for those on His right hand from the foundation of the world (Matthew 25:34).
1. Yes, the Kingdom offered by John the Baptist and our Lord was the same as that which will be established at the Second Advent and endure for a thousand years before merging into the eternal state.
2. No. When the Kingdom is finally established under His reign there will be no unsaved ones in the Kingdom. But during the period of the Millennium many will be born and among these not all will be born again. This explains Satan’s success at the end of the thousand years in gathering a vast host of rebels against the Lord (Revelation 20:7-9).
3. No. The Kingdom of God in its mystery or unseen form is already here, and every born-again believer is in it.
4. The Kingdom of God referred to in Luke 19:11 is the Kingdom in manifestation. Strictly speaking, the Kingdom of Heaven in manifestation will come first when the Son of God will establish the reign of Heaven upon earth. This is the Millennium. The Kingdom of God will immediately follow the Millennium (1 Corinthians 15:24).
5. As shown by answer No. 2, I agree with you as to the Kingdom when first established in manifestation. Did Christ give the Jewish nation another chance in the first few chapters of The Acts to have the Kingdom set up?
Yes. In Acts 3:17-21 the offer is found. “The appeal here,” says Dr. Scofield, “is national to the Jewish people as such, not individual as in Peter’s first sermon (Acts 2:38-39). There those who were pricked in heart were exhorted to save themselves from (among) the untoward nation; here the whole people is addressed, and the promise to ‘national’ repentance is ‘national’ deliverance: ‘and he shall send Jesus Christ’ to bring in the times which the prophets had foretold. The official answer was the imprisonment of the apostles, and the inhibition to preach, so fulfilling Luke 19:14” (Scofield Reference Bible).
Please explainMatthew 16:19, “And I will give into thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Notice that in this verse, as in the 18th, the pronouns are singular. ‘Thee” and “thou” cannot apply to the whole company of apostles. If the others were included the pronouns would be “ye” and “you.” The passage here must not be confused with Matthew 18:18, which deals with Church discipline. Here in 16:19 Peter alone is in view. Observe also that the keys are not to Heaven, but rather to the Kingdom of Heaven. The act of Christ in delivering the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven into Peter’s hands, with authority to bind or loose, will become clear if we are careful to search for its meaning only in the Scriptures themselves. The Lord Jesus was about to leave the earth, to be absent for a long time. It was necessary that the King, before His departure, should make it known who could enter the Kingdom and upon what conditions. The New Testament had not yet been written. He here selects Peter, His first convert, to speak for Him in this regard.
If we carefully trace Peter’s movements after his Lord’s departure, we shall find that it is he and he alone who opened the doors of the Kingdom of Heaven. There were three of these keys received by Peter from the Lord Jesus’ hands. The first was used on that great day of Pentecost, when Peter was the spokesman and when he opened the doors of the Kingdom to the people of Israel. ‘The promise is unto you,” said he, “and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call” (Acts 2:39; compare Daniel 9:7). To be sure, the other disciples also preached on that day, but Peter had to be present and approving. He was the chief spokesman.
Again, after the persecution that arose in connection with the death of Stephen, Philip went to Samaria and preached to the Samaritans. But, though many believed the Word, the Holy Spirit fell on none of them. “Now when the apostles that were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for as yet it was fallen upon none of them: only they had been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit” (Acts 8:14-17, R.V.). This was Peter’s second key. He had now opened the doors of the Kingdom to the Jews and the Samaritans. The third and last key was used in Acts 10, to open these doors to the Gentile world. Cornelius, the Roman centurion, was commanded by an angel of God to send to Joppa for Peter; and Peter, by the vision of the great sheet, was shown that even the unclean Gentiles were no longer unclean, for God had cleansed them. Peter went to the house of Cornelius and preached the Gospel to those assembled there.
Peter was not the apostle to the Gentiles; that was Paul’s office, and Paul was converted in the preceding chapter. But Peter, the apostle to the circumcision, must be the first to take the Gospel to the uncircumcision, for Peter had the keys. In each of these three instances, God showed, by the visible descent of the Holy Spirit upon the hearers, that what Peter was doing upon the earth was ratified in Heaven.
Never again was there any use for keys to the Kingdom, for the doors were wide open, so that all who would might come. In the case of the Ephesians, who had received only John’s baptism (Acts 19), Peter’s presence was not needed, for he had already opened the Kingdom to ‘all’ Gentiles.