THE GOSPEL OF THE
KINGDOM
With an Examination of
DISPENSATIONALISM and the
"Scofield Bible"
By Philip
Mauro
Chapter 16: Translated Into The Kingdom Of The Son
IT has long been my conviction that the present day weakness of God's
people, their internal disorders and divisions, and the utter failure
of their collective testimony to the world, are mainly due to the fact
that they are not instructed and established in the great truth
declared in the opening verses of Colossians, namely, that when God
received those who believed "the word of the truth of the gospel" (v.
5), He delivered them "from the power of darkness" (a kingdom) and
translated them "into the Kingdom of His dear Son "(v. 13). This is
fundamental gospel-truth; and it behooves all "Fundamentalists" to take
due note thereof.
It is truth that gives glory to the exalted Son of God, "the King,
eternal, immortal, invisible" (1 Tim. 1:14). It is truth that assures
the people themselves as to their perfect security. It is truth that
was intended to carry conviction to all men that Jesus Christ is truly
the One sent of God (John 17: 21). Therefore nothing is more urgently
needed at the present hour than that this basic truth, now so generally
neglected, should have given to it, in the ministry of Christ's
servants, something like the prominence given to it in the New
Testament Scriptures.
THE KINGDOM NOT THE CHURCH THE BASIS OF UNITY
What is commonly emphasized by orthodox teachers at the present time is
that those who are saved through faith in Jesus Christ are forthwith
incorporated into the Church; which is the body of Christ, and is also
the spiritual temple now being built "for an habitation of God through
the Spirit" (Eph. 1:22, 23; and 2: 22). This is truth indeed, and truth
of superlative value. But it belongs not in such close association with
the gospel as the subject we are considering. For the Scriptures
connect the Gospel directly with the Kingdom rather than with the
Church. The message that conspicuously marked the beginning of this era
which is specially characterized by the forgiveness of sins (the era of
the New Covenant) was "the Word of the Kingdom" (Mat. I3: I9), John the
Baptist had prepared the way by his "baptism of repentance for the
remission of sins" (Luke. 3:3). And Jesus was anointed King and was
sent to Israel "to preach the gospel to the poor;" and Himself said,
when the people besought Him not to depart from them: "I must preach
the Kingdom of God to other cities also; for therefore am I sent" (Luke
4:I8,43).
Furthermore the preaching of the Kingdom of God was the chief business
of the apostles and evangelists, as may be seen by consulting the
record given us of the ministry of Paul (Ac. 13:22, 23, 32-34; 17:7;
I9:8; 20:25; 28:23,41; Rom. 14-17; I Cor. 4:20; I5:50; Col. 1:I2, 13; 2
Tim. 2:8 &c. &c.). Indeed that apostle expressly says that the
gospel is preached for "the obedience of faith" (Rom. 1:5, marg. and
I6:26); and further, that the particular object of his own ministry was
"to make the Gentiles obedient" (15: 18). Those who believed the gospel
were said to have become "obedient to the faith" (Ac. 6:7), to have
"obeyed from the heart" (Rom. 6:17). And on the other hand they who are
doomed to "everlasting destruction away from the presence of the Lord,"
are they who "obey not the gospel" (2 Th. I: 7-9). The word obedience
expresses a kingdom-relation. It is the state of heart of those who
confess Jesus Christ as Lord, which none can do "but by the Holy Ghost"
(I Cor. I2:3).
Now it is most needful for us to observe that, whereas the Kingdom--
that is, the relation of the redeemed of the Lord to God's Anointed
King--was the prominent theme of the preaching and teaching of the Lord
Himself and of His apostles, the subject of the Church (that is, in the
comprehensive and eternal sense of that word, not in the local sense)
was not developed until the latter part of Paul's life; until in fact
his active ministry was ended. For it was during his imprisonment in
Rome that he wrote the Epistle to the Ephesians, in which that great
truth is unfolded. Prior to that we have on the subject of the Church
(in this all-inclusive sense) only the brief and unexplained statement
of Christ, "On this rock I will build My Church; and the gates shall
not prevail against it" (Mat. I6:18).
The main conclusion properly to be drawn from the facts briefly set
forth above is that the subject of the Kingdom of God is of the very
essence of the gospel of Christ, and is of immediate and vital
importance to all mankind, both to them that are within and to them
that are without; whereas the subject of the Church (as God's spiritual
house now being builded) is of interest only to those who have been
already translated into the Kingdom; and for them it has not the same
direct and practical bearing upon their life down here as has the truth
pertaining to the Kingdom. For the Church (in this broad sense, for we
are not speaking at all of the local churches) belongs rather to
eternity than to time (Eph. 5:27; Rev. 21:23); for it is as yet
unfinished, being now in process of formation. Whereas the Kingdom
belongs to the present; for Christ is reigning now. Hence, if this
immensely practical truth were given its rightful place in the
preaching and teaching of Christ's ministers, it would tend to unify
the divided people of God.
SALVATION A CHANGE OF ALLEGIANCE
By Colossians 1:12,13 we are given to know that a complete change takes
place in a man's allegiance, that is, in his governmental or political
relations with the invisible "principalities and powers" (v. 16), when
he believes on Jesus Christ through "the word of the truth of the
gospel, which" (says the apostle) "is come unto you, as it is in all
the world" (vv. 5, 6). It is "the Father" Himself Who makes that change
of relationship; and the change includes two acts of sovereign and
almighty power: first, He delivers, or sets free from the "power"--that
is to say, from the rule or dominion- "of darkness" (to which all men
are by nature in subjection); and second, He translates those He has
thus set free from their natural allegiance into the Kingdom of His
dear Son--that is to say, He transports them as it were bodily across
the otherwise impassable frontiers of the domain of sin and death, and
places them safely and securely in "the Kingdom of His dear Son."
Is it possible to exaggerate when speaking of the stupendous change
that God has brought about in the kingdom relationship, or allegiance
of one who has received Jesus Christ as His Saviour and Lord?
Impossible. And on the other hand, can truth so vital, so practical, so
fundamental, be slighted without bringing weakness, division, suffering
and loss to the people of God, and ruin to their collective testimony?
Assuredly not. And it were well we should call to mind in this
connection, that loyal devotion to the person of a sovereign, and love
of the country of one's birth, are sentiments which, when opportunity
for expressing them is given, make even timid souls as bold as lions,
and impel them to deeds and sacrifices of the loftiest heroism. But
where, it will be asked, are the heroes of faith in our day? My answer
is, that the material is here even as it was in the days of the
Apostles, and that what is lacking is that gospel which was preached by
them "with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven" --the Gospel of the
Kingdom.
"PRESENT TRUTH" ( 2 Pet. 1:12).
This, I say, is truth of immediate and practical importance; and for
the reason that, not only is it closely connected with our personal
salvation, but it has to do with the honor of our Saviour, Lord and
King, Jesus Christ, Who is "the Author of eternal salvation unto all
them that obey Him" (Heb. 5:9).
The Scripture makes it plain that the grand object of Christ's
redemption is the recovery of man from out of that state of
disobedience, and his restoration to a state of obedience. That state
of disobedience and alienation from God is spoken of in the Scriptures
as a kingdom, or "dominion" -- "the dominion of sin and death," "the
power of darkness," "the power of satan"--; and the state of obedience
or subjection to God, into which those who believe the gospel are
brought by the door of the new birth (John 3:5; 1 Pet. 1: 23), is also
a kingdom--the Kingdom of God.
The basis of man's "reconciliation" to God was laid in "the death of
His Son" (Rom. 5:10); and by "the gospel of God concerning His Son,"
the blessed truth of reconciliation is proclaimed to the whole world (2
Cor. 5:18-21); and all men are bidden to return to obedience, or in
other words to enter the Kingdom of God. It is thus we are saved; for
salvation means to be under the protection of God's King.
THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH
Reference has been made above to Scriptures which declare that the
gospel is preached for "the obedience of faith"; and now it remains
only to point out that the obedience of faith is a very different thing
from legal obedience. The main difference is that the particular kind
of obedience which the gospel demands (and which it also elicits) is
free and voluntary, the spontaneous obedience of the heart. THIS HEART
OBEDIENCE IS THE VERY ESSENCE OF SAVING FAITH.
In fact, saving faith and heart obedience are one and the same thing.
for to "obey'.' and to "believe" are but various renderings in English
of the very same Greek word. So likewise, "unbelief" and "disobedience"
are different renderings of the same word in the original text.
Obedience "from the heart" (Rom. 6:17) is what distinguishes faith from
mere orthodoxy that is, from the mere holding of correct opinions and
the giving of a mere intellectual assent to the statements of God's
Word. For true faith is not a creed, or a matter of opinion, however
correct and orthodox, but a thing of heart and life and deeds;
manifesting itself in "works of faith," that is, acts of spontaneous
obedience to the Word of God. Thus it is written that "by faith Noah
being warned of God prepared an ark to the saving of his house"; that
"by faith Abraham obeyed"; "by faith Moses kept the passover and the
sprinkling of the blood"; "by faith" the children of Israel "passed
through the Red Sea as by dry land" (Heb. 1:7, 8, 28, 29). By these
instances, and by many others, God has plainly shown that true faith is
a live, active, energetic thing; its most distinctive characteristic
being that it acts spontaneously without coercion or the constraint of
pains and penalties for disobedience-- in strict accordance with the
Word of God; rendering prompt and unquestioning obedience to His
commands, even when they run counter to human wisdom and to the desires
of the natural heart. "Of such is the Kingdom of heaven."
Brethren, it is "this gospel, of THE KINGDOM" that is to be "preached
in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end
come" (Mat. 24:14). Can the preaching of any other gospel accomplish
the purposes of God? Impossible. Nay, we can, and we must, put it even
more forcibly; for we read of some who had been "moved from him that
had called them into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is
not another." (Gal. 1:6,7). For any other gospel than that which calls
men "into the grace of Christ" is not a "gospel" at all. And the gospel
that calls men into the grace of Christ is that which calls them into
the Kingdom of God's dear Son. For testifying "the gospel of the grace
of God," and "preaching the Kingdom of God" are the same identical
thing (Acts 20: 24,25).
THE END
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