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Chapter 55
Not With Outward Show
SOME of the Pharisees had come to Jesus demanding "when the kingdom of God should
come." More than three years had passed since John the Baptist gave the message that
like a trumpet call had sounded through the land, "The kingdom of heaven is at
hand." Matt. 3:2. And as yet these Pharisees saw no indication of the establishment
of the kingdom. Many of those who rejected John, and at every step had opposed Jesus, were
insinuating that His mission had failed.
Jesus answered, "The kingdom of God cometh not with outward show; [margin]: neither
shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within
you." The kingdom of God begins in the heart. Look not here or there for
manifestations of earthly power to mark its coming.
"The days will come," He said, turning to His disciples, "when ye shall
desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it." Because it
is not attended by worldly pomp, you are in danger of failing to discern the glory of My
mission. You do not realize how great is your present privilege in having among you,
though veiled in humanity, Him who is the life and the light of men. The days will come
when you will look back with longing upon the opportunities you now enjoy to walk and talk
with the Son of God.
Because of their selfishness and earthliness, even the disciples of Jesus
could not comprehend the spiritual glory which He sought to reveal unto them. It was not
until after Christ's ascension to His Father, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon
the believers, that the disciples fully appreciated the Saviour's character and mission.
After they had received the baptism of the Spirit, they began to realize that they had
been in the very presence of the Lord of glory. As the sayings of Christ were brought to
their remembrance, their minds were opened to comprehend the prophecies, and to understand
the miracles which He had wrought. The wonders of His life passed before them, and they
were as men awakened from a dream. They realized that "the Word was made flesh, and
dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the
Father,) full of grace and truth." John 1:14. Christ had actually come from God to a
sinful world to save the fallen sons and daughters of Adam. The disciples now seemed, to
themselves, of much less importance than before they realized this. They never wearied of
rehearsing His words and works. His lessons, which they had but dimly understood, now came
to them as a fresh revelation. The Scriptures became to them a new book.
As the disciples searched the prophecies that testified of Christ, they were brought into
fellowship with the Deity, and learned of Him who had ascended to heaven to complete the
work He had begun on earth. They recognized the fact that in Him dwelt knowledge which no
human being, unaided by divine agency, could comprehend. They needed the help of Him whom
kings, prophets, and righteous men had foretold. With amazement they read and reread the
prophetic delineations of His character and work. How dimly had they comprehended the
prophetic scriptures! how slow they had been in taking in the great truths which testified
of Christ! Looking upon Him in His humiliation, as He walked a man among men, they had not
understood the mystery of His incarnation, the dual character of His nature. Their eyes
were holden, so that they did not fully recognize divinity in humanity. But after they
were illuminated by the Holy Spirit, how they longed to see Him again, and to place
themselves at His feet! How they wished that they might come to Him, and have Him explain
the scriptures which they could not comprehend! How attentively would they listen to His
words! What had Christ meant when He said, "I have yet many things to say unto you,
but ye cannot bear them now"? John 16:12. How eager they were to know it all! They
grieved that their faith had been so feeble, that their ideas had been so wide of the mark, that they had so failed of
comprehending the reality.
A herald had been sent from God to proclaim the coming of Christ, and to call the
attention of the Jewish nation and of the world to His mission, that men might prepare for
His reception. The wonderful personage whom John had announced had been among them for
more than thirty years, and they had not really known Him as the One sent from God.
Remorse took hold of the disciples because they had allowed the prevailing unbelief to
leaven their opinions and becloud their understanding. The Light of this dark world had
been shining amid its gloom, and they had failed to comprehend whence were its beams. They
asked themselves why they had pursued a course that made it necessary for Christ to
reprove them. They often repeated His conversations, and said, Why did we allow earthly
considerations and the opposition of priests and rabbis to confuse our senses, so that we
did not comprehend that a greater than Moses was among us, that One wiser than Solomon was
instructing us? How dull were our ears! how feeble was our understanding!
Thomas would not believe until he had thrust his finger into the wound made by the Roman
soldiers. Peter had denied Him in His humiliation and rejection. These painful
remembrances came before them in distinct lines. They had been with Him, but they had not
known or appreciated Him. But how these things now stirred their hearts as they recognized
their unbelief!
As priests and rulers combined against them, and they were brought before councils and
thrust into prison, the followers of Christ rejoiced "that they were counted worthy
to suffer shame for His name." Acts 5:41. They rejoiced to prove, before men and
angels, that they recognized the glory of Christ, and chose to follow Him at the loss of
all things.
It is as true now as in apostolic days, that without the illumination of the divine
Spirit, humanity cannot discern the glory of Christ. The truth and the work of God are
unappreciated by a world-loving and compromising Christianity. Not in the ways of ease, of
earthly honor or worldly conformity, are the followers of the Master found. They are far
in advance, in the paths of toil, and humiliation, and reproach, in the front of the
battle "against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of
this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."
Eph. 6:12, R. V. And now, as in
Christ's day, they are misunderstood and reproached and oppressed by the priests and
Pharisees of their time.
The kingdom of God comes not with outward show. The gospel of the grace of God, with its
spirit of self-abnegation, can never be in harmony with the spirit of the world. The two
principles are antagonistic. "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are
spiritually discerned." 1 Cor. 2:14.
But today in the religious world there are multitudes who, as they believe, are working
for the establishment of the kingdom of Christ as an earthly and temporal dominion. They
desire to make our Lord the ruler of the kingdoms of this world, the ruler in its courts
and camps, its legislative halls, its palaces and market places. They expect Him to rule
through legal enactments, enforced by human authority. Since Christ is not now here in
person, they themselves will undertake to act in His stead, to execute the laws of His
kingdom. The establishment of such a kingdom is what the Jews desired in the days of
Christ. They would have received Jesus, had He been willing to establish a temporal
dominion, to enforce what they regarded as the laws of God, and to make them the
expositors of His will and the agents of His authority. But He said, "My kingdom is
not of this world." John 18:36. He would not accept the earthly throne.
The government under which Jesus lived was corrupt and oppressive; on every hand were
crying abuses,--extortion, intolerance, and grinding cruelty. Yet the Saviour attempted no
civil reforms. He attacked no national abuses, nor condemned the national enemies. He did
not interfere with the authority or administration of those in power. He who was our
example kept aloof from earthly governments. Not because He was indifferent to the woes of
men, but because the remedy did not lie in merely human and external measures. To be
efficient, the cure must reach men individually, and must regenerate the heart.
Not by the decisions of courts or councils or legislative assemblies, not by the patronage
of worldly great men, is the kingdom of Christ established, but by the implanting of
Christ's nature in humanity through the work of the Holy Spirit. "As many as received
Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His
name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,
but of God." John 1:12, 13. Here is the only power that
can work the uplifting of mankind. And the human agency for the accomplishment of this
work is the teaching and practicing of the word of God.
When the apostle Paul began his ministry in Corinth, that populous, wealthy, and wicked
city, polluted by the nameless vices of heathenism, he said, "I determined not to
know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." 1 Cor. 2:2. Writing
afterward to some of those who had been corrupted by the foulest sins, he could say,
"But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the
Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." "I thank my God always on your
behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. 6:11; 1:4.
Now, as in Christ's day, the work of God's kingdom lies not with those who are clamoring
for recognition and support by earthly rulers and human laws, but with those who are
declaring to the people in His name those spiritual truths that will work in the receivers
the experience of Paul: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I,
but Christ liveth in me." Gal. 2:20. Then they will labor as did Paul for the benefit
of men. He said, "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech
you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." 2 Cor. 5:20.
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