Establishing the Kingdom

More than a century ago James Lewis penned these penetrating words: “The establishment of the Kingdom of God upon earth is slow work.  It requires not that men should be busy with the affairs of other people, but that they should come first to themselves, and mourn over the meanness of their own nature and the vanity of their own life; not that they should crusade against the evils of society, but weep bitter tears over their own sins; not that they should fussily seek to put the world right, but get put right themselves.  Whether the Kingdom of God does nor does not affect these external matters, we shall presently see.  But directly it does not deal with them.  It deals with the individual.  ‘The kingdom of God cometh not with observation’; it is hidden, internal, spiritual.   It is the establishment of righteousness in the human soul.  It is the subjugation of the powers of man to the mind of Christ. 

“Men talk of this kingdom as mystical, unreal.  Let them try it for a month!  Jesus Christ aspires to a sway such as no Caesar, Emperor, or Dictator, has ever been able to command.  A rule of marching armies and clanging swords can do much.  That grand Roman power was mighty.  It could tax men and make them pay.  It could stretch its scepter over distant provinces, and awe men into submission.  It could say to one man, ‘Go,’ and he went, to another ‘Come,’ and he came.  It could command the bodies, the time, the thoughts of men.  It could send men to death, and even in his mortal pangs the poor gladiator must cry, ‘O Caesar, dying, I salute thee!’  One thing it could not do, even though it bound captives to its chariot wheels.  There is a part of man’s nature which coercion cannot reach; a path which the ‘lion’s whelps have not trod.’  To that region man can retire, and say to all invading powers, ‘Thus far shall you come and no further.’  That is the region in which the Kingdom of Christ prevails.  He will possess the heart of man.  He will control the passions, and govern the will, and purify the motives, and mold the life of man.  The whole nature shall be subdued to the quality of its Lord, and all the current of man’s being shall turn to Him.  The drunkard and drug addict shall deny his insatiable craving, the thief shall steal no more, the liar shall speak the truth, the immoral and perverted shall draw away from his lust, the slothful, lazy and opportunist shall devote himself to his work, and men shall be changed, captivated, charmed by HIS WORD.  They shall prefer HIM to their chief joy!

“You will have noticed that His promises of help reach the deep, eternal cravings of the human heart.  He has come, not to satisfy a craze, or gratify a whim, or minister to a passing fancy, but that men might have life.  The power of the kingdom of God is the love of God in Jesus Christ.  Our King comes to dwell with us, to be in us.  His throne is the heart of man.  It is not in word, in formularies, ordinances, creeds, laws, or governmental coercion.  It is in power.  It is the virtue of God in Christ Jesus which enters human weakness at the touch of faith.   It is ‘Christ in you.’  Fling open, then, the gates of your soul.  The Lord, strong and mighty — strong to deliver, mighty to save — waits to enter.  Let the King of Glory in!”   — end quote.