j trespasses and sins. How can there be degrees of nearness
i when every one is at an infinite distance ? " There is a side of
truth in this. The difference between Christian and non-
I Christian is one not of degree but of kind. " Once ye were
! darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord." And yet there
are different degrees of approximation to the light. Our world
is closer to the edge of dawn in one part of its course than
another. The blind men who, whether through God's providence
or their own choice, took their seat by the wayside at Jericho,
were nearer receiving their sight than they had ever been in
their lives before, and nearer still when their ear was caught
by the tread of the multitude and they began to call on Jesus of
i Nazareth as He passed by. And there are circumstances and
j associations in life that still bring some men closer to the Gospel
than others. There are dispositions of mind and attitudes in
certain persons towards it which make us very anxious that they
should take but one decided step ; which cause us to wonder
why, when they are so near, they go no farther. They speak so
discreetly about religious things, and have so amiable and
reverent a spirit, that we feel as if Christ would still single them
out, as He did this scribe, and say tenderly, regretfully, may we
not add hopefully ?— -" Thou art not far from the kingdom of
God."i ^^' "^
* John Ker. 335
336 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
We may divide the subject into four parts — I. The Kingdom. II. The Scribe.
III. Not far from the Kingdom.
IV. Not in the Kingdom.
The Kingdom.
1. What is the meaning of this expression, "tlie kingdom of God," which was so frequently on the lips of our Lord ? It occurs fourteen times in the Gospel of Mark, thirty-two times in that of Luke, while the equivalent phrase, " the kingdom of heaven " (or more properly, the Kingdom of the Heavens) occurs s^hirty-two times in the Gospel of Matthew. The Kingdom is
yithe rule of God, whether in the human heart or in society. It lexists now, but it has its full realisation in eternity. Some have to seek and gain it. Those who have gained it have to labour to retain it, and this retaining may be regarded as winning it.
^ It is to be noted that Christ Himself never gave any defini- tion of the Kingdom, and perhaps it is not wise for us to attempt to do 80. Any definition which we could frame would be almost certain to exclude important elements of truth. He seems to have used more than one phrase to express it, and He places each phrase in a variety of contexts which do not always seem to be quite ; harmonious. The idea of the Kingdom is planted in the minds of j His hearers as a sort of nucleus round which different truths may
Y gather. The Kingdom is sometimes the Way, sometimes the Truth, sometimes the Life. Perhaps most of all it is the Life. It is something living, organic, and inspiring, in which the will of God, through the free and loyal action of those who receive it, pre- vails. It works inwardly both in individuals and in communities, but it manifests itself outwardly. It wins adherents, and inspires and controls them. And it possesses powers, not merely of growth and improvement, but of recovery and reformation. While it prevails against the opposition and persecution of enemies, it triumphs also in the long-run over the errors and slackness and corruption ; of its own supporters. We possess it, and yet we have to seek it ; and win it. It is loithin us, and yet we have to strive to enter it. ij The truth about it is so vast that we need to have it stated in all ' kinds of ways in order to appropriate some of it.
ST. MARK 337
2. The expression shows clearly that there is a " kingdom of God " in this world, and that it has distinct boundary lines. Those boundary lines do not shade off so that either it should be impossible to say whether you are in it or not in it, or that you can be partly in it and partly not in it. The words evidently convey the contrary : you may be " near " it, or you may be " far " from it, but either you are in it, or you are out of it. ^^ ^■'i. f^m? ^ ^'■^■jC-'^ #v..t, .. ..
3. Observe the negative sidef The " kingdom of God " is not the Church. The Church is visible, the Kingdom is not. V The Kingdom is the end, complete, perfect, and final ; the ^z Church is the means to the end, working towards perfection and striving to realise its ideal. So far as it expresses the will and character of the Messiah, the Church may be called the Kingdom of Christ, but it is not what is set before us in the Gospels as
" the kingdom of God " or " the kingdom of the heavens." ^
II.
The Sceibe.