854
KINGDOM OV GOD
KINGDOM OF GOD
driven, by the passages already cited, to see in it more than tlie mere illustration of a general law of sacrifice (Jn 12-"--''), or a proof of fidelity in His vocation. We must take an incidental saying like Mk \0r" ' For even the Son of Man came ... to give his life a ransom for many,' not as if it stood alone, but with tlie depth and seriousness of meaning supplied by a context of similar utttrances. The great passage on the e.xpiatory sult'erings of the Servant of J" (Is 5;!) must probal)lj' be our clue here also. We recall the word of the Baptist, 'The Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world ' (Jn l-*) ; the saying in which His death is connected with salva- tion in the conversation with Nicodemus ('as Moses lifted up the serpent,' etc., Jn 3"; for though the lifting up ' is a term of exaltation, we can hardly fail to associate it with His death); the 'giving his flesh for the life of the world ' in .)n 6'" ; but, alx>ve all, the solemn and explicit words at the institution of the Supper, ' My blood of the cove- nant, which is shed tor many unto the remission of sins' (Mt 2G=» ; cf. Mk H", Lk 222», 1 Co 11^). In keeping with this connexion of His death in the consciousness of Jesus with the remission of sins, we are told how, after the resurrection, the disciples were enjoined to make this a fundamental article of their preaching (Lk 24"). The death of Jesus, followed by His rising af^'ain, was evidently, in the Lord's own view, a decisive turning-point in the history of His kingdom, and in the spiritual history of the world ; and not till that event had taken place, and the spirit had been given as the sequel to it, had the Kingdom been fully consti- tuted (Lk 24«, Ac 1» 2^=).
(/3) It remains that we glance at the eschatological declarations of Jesus respecting His kingdom, for that its earthly phase is to be succeeded by a heavenly, in which the separation of good and bad shall be finally efl'ected, and the ripened re- sults of its long development shall be garnered up under new and glorious conditions, is a constant element in His teaching (Mt 13^"-" 19^- =« 22=«-«i 25"- «, Jn 141- a 17" etc.). This higher and eternal state, described as ' the regeneration ' (-raKiyyev- eala), or ' the resurrection ' (ui supra), is introduced by the coming (irapovala) of the Son of Man in glory, the resurrection of the dead, and a judg- ment which takes account of the conduct alike of the professed members of the kingdom, and of the nations of mankind (Mt 24, Jn S^-'^, Mt 7-'-^ 25, etc.). The principles on which this judgment proceeds are essential character, with its fruits in word and deed ; faithfulness or unfaithfulness in duty ; watchfulness ; boldness in confessing Christ, or sin in denying Him ; the presence or absence of love, etc. The separation which the judgment effects is, bo far as appears, final (Mt 13*"^ 25'" etc.). In thus carrying the consummation of the kingdom into a future life, and connecting it with His personal return, Jesus goes entirely beyond OT limits ; though there also the doctrines of a future life in the blessed enjoyment of God, and of a resurrection of the dead, are in process of formation (Ps 17" 49"-" IZ"^-^, Is 25» 26'9, Hos 6' 13", Dn 12^ etc.). The doctrine of the resurrec- tion was a cardinal one with the Pharisees ; but it had its deep roots in the OT doctrines of man, of God, of sin, of death, and of salvation (Mt 22*'-'»), and, as connected by Jesus Avith the re- demption and new life of His kingdom, is an essential part of His religion. The question, nevertheless, is one of some difficulty, how far the undoubtedly largely symbolical and figurative character of these discourses of Jesus on the last things entitles us to rely on them as real repre- sentations of the future ? They assuredly do not give na a scientific, or perfectly objective, know-
ledge of the nature, the course, and relative order of these events, such as we can turn with precision into a theological system. Yet they are too deli- nite and circumstantial to permit of our supposing that to the consciousness of Jesus they were mcrs ligures, or were not intended to convey to us soma real knowledge on the subjects of which they treat. This question presses especially in regard to tlie Parousia. Did Jesus, e.g., anticipate for His kinjjdom a long period of development in the world before the end came; or was His Parousia regarded by Himself as immediate, or, at least, as not long to be delayed ? Mt 24-'*, with certain other passages (Mt lO'-** IC^), might seem to teach the latter, and we know that the times and the seasons were not within the human knowledge of the Son (Mk 13^-, Ac 1") ; but a careful considera- tion of the whole teaching of Jesus will lead us to modify this first impression. We cannot mis- take that the picture of the kingdom given us in the parables is that of a slowly developing reality, bound to a law of rhythm — ' first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear' (Mk 4'-^) — with the world and humanity as its sphere of manifestation, and good and evil growing side by side in it till both are fully ripe (Mt 13) ; and other passages suggest the like idea of a prolonged world-development, and a diffusion of the gospel among all nations before the end come (Mt 8" '21'" 24''-", Lk igii-i'J-"; (jf. also the post-resurrection commissions, Mt 28'»-»', Mk 16"> etc.). Against these numerous indications the ev9(ui of Mt 'J4-' (which may be variously accounted for) cannot be allowed to tell ; especially as there are not wanting signs in the discourse itself of a nearer and a remoter horizon (' these things,' ' that day and hour,' vv."-'"'). The truth would seem to be that Jesus does not always speak of His Parousia (any more than of His kingdom) in the same sense; that it is to Him rather a process in whioh many elements flow together into a single image, than a single definite event, always looked at in the same light. Thus he says to the high priest, with obvious reference to the prophecy in Dn, ' Hence- forth,' that is, from this time on, ' ye shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven' (Mt 26"). He came in His resurrection ; in the mission of the Comforter ; in the power and spread of His kingdom, especially after the removal of the limita- tions created by the existing Jewish polity (which seems to be the meaning in Mt 16'^) ; He comes in every great day of the Lord in the history of His Church ; He will yet come more conspicuously in the events of the future ; and, last of all. He will personally come to judge the quick and the dead. The kingdom advances to its goal, not peacefully or suddenly, but by a succession of great crises (Mt 24), and each of these is in a sense the coming of the Son of Man (cf. Reuss' Hift. of Christ. Theol. i. pp. 217, 218 ; Bruce's Kingdom of God, ch. 12 ; Christian View of God and the World, p. 384).