The ideal kingdom is to be realized in the absolute rule of the eternal Son, Jesus Christ, by whom all things are made and con- sist (John i. 3; Col. i. 16-20), whose life of perfect obedience to God and whose sacrificial offering of love upon the cross reveal to men their true relation to God, and whose spirit works to bring them into this relation. The ultimate idea of the kingdom is that of ‘“‘aredeemed humanity, with its divinely revealed destiny
Cx. VL] LUKE. 311
manifesting itself in a religious communion, or the Church ; a social communion, or the state ; and an aesthetic communion, ex- pressing itself in forms of knowledge and art.”
This kingdom is both present (Matt. xi. 125 xii. 28; xvi. 19; Luke xi. 20; xvi. 16; xvii. 21; see, also, the parables of the Sower, the Tares, the Leaven, and the Drag-net ; and compare the expression “theirs, or yours, és the kingdom,” Matt. v. 3; Luke vi. 20) and future (Dan. vii. 27; Matt. xii. 43; xix. 28 ; xxv. 34; xxvi. 29; Mark ix. 47; 2 Pet. i. 11; 1 Cor. vi. 9; Apoe. xx. sq.). Asa present kingdom it is incomplete and in process of development. It is expanding in society like the grain of mustard seed (Matt. xiii. 31, 32); working toward the pervasion of society like the leaven in the lump (Matt. xiii. 33). God is in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, and the Gospel of Christ is the great instrument in that process (2 Cor. v. 19, 20). The kingdom develops from within outward under the power of its essential divine energy and law of growth, which insures its progress and final triumph against all ob- stacles. Similarly, its work in reconciling and subjecting the world to God begins at the fountain-head of man’s life, by im- planting in his heart its own divine potency, and thus giving a divine impulse and direction to the whole man, rather than by moulding him from without by a moral code. The law is written in his heart. In like manner the State and the Church are shaped, not by external pressure, like the Roman empire and the Romish hierarchy, but by the evolution of holy char- acter in men. The kingdom of God in its present develop- ment is not identical with the Church. It is a larger movement which includes the Church. The Church is identified with the kingdom to the degree in which it is under the power of the spirit of Christ. “As the Old Testament kingdom of God was perfected and completed when it ceased to be external, and be- came internal by being enthroned in the heart, so, on the other hand, the perfection of the New Testament kingdom will con- sist in its complete incarnation and externalization ; that is, when it shall attain an outward manifestation, adequately ex- pressing, exactly corresponding to its internal principle ” (Tho- luck). The consummation is described in Apoc. xxi., xxi.
Bile WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, (Cu. VI. 21. Now. Peculiar to Luke. Shall be filled. See on Matt. v. 6.
Weep (xAaiovtes). Strictly, to weep audibly. See ow rev- Joovres, mourn, Matt. v. 4.
Laugh (yeddoere). Matthew, shall be comforted. 22. Compare Matt. v. 11.
Son of Man. The phrase is employed in the Old Testa- ment as a circumlocution for man, with special reference to his frailty as contrasted with God (Num. xxiii. 19; Ps. viii. 4; Job xxv. 6; xxxv. 8; and eighty-nine times in Ezekiel). It had also a Messianic meaning (Dan. vii. 13 sq.), to which our Lord referred in Matt. xxiv. 80; xxvi. 64. It was the title which Christ most frequently applied to himself; and there are but two instances in which it is applied to him by another, viz., by Stephen (Acts vii. 56) and by John (Apoe. i. 18; xiv. 14); and when acquiescing in the title “Son of God,” addressed to him- self, he sometimes immediately after substitutes “Son of Man” (John i. 50, 52; Matt. xxvi. 63, 64).