Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1909-12-09

Kingdom as it will be turned over to
/ the Father at the end of the Milen-
MUM and will last forever Our Lord
used the words, Not fit for the King
dom of God" as he did in many 9TH
ers of his discourses-in respect to the
| Church class now called Of the Father
to be the Kingdom in the sense of
being the kings and priests Of that
Kingdom-the royalty Of that King
dom-the reigning family-the Queen.
the Lambs Wife, associated with the
Heavenly Bridegroom, King Of kings
and Lord of lords, In his rule OF a
thousand years.
Not Fit For the Kingdom.
We now have before our minds the
two ways in which the expression,
Kingdom Of God. is used and we can
readily see that our Lord could not
refer to the Millennial Kingdom and
say that any would be too degraded to
be fit for the influences of his MilIen-
NAL Kingdom, because that Kingdom
Is designed for the very purpose Of
dealing with the unfit and gradually,
during the thousand years Of its reign
Of righteousness uplifting men out of
sin and death conditions. il they will,
to the full human perfection which
Adam lost, which Jesus redeemed, and
| which is to be restored to the willing
and obedient, as st. Peter declares
(Acts iii, 1920. 1t follows, then, that
our Lord must have referred to those
called Of the Father and accepted by
/ himself to be chiseled and polished
to be taught in the School Of Christ
and eventually to become his Bride
and joint-heir in the Millennial King
dom. No man will be esteemed tit for
share In that Millennial Kingdom
unless he attains TO the glorious quail
ties Of character, saintship. which the
Scriptures set forth as the Divine
(Romans viii, 29).
Fit for the Kingdom" Let us think
for moment what these words signi-
fly. First Of all we recognize that, as
sinners, we were most thoroughly
unfit for any favor Of God, much less
this greatest of all favors, joint-heir-
ship with his Son and "partakers Of
the Divine nature" QI Peter i, Il. But
that difficulty has all been overcome
with those who have come unto God
through Christ and been made partak-
ers Of his holy Spirit of ado, ton. OF
such we read, 1T is God that justi-
fieth! Who is he that condemneth"
Romans viii, 1884. 1t is Christ that
died for our sins and who now is our
Advocate. Who could in any wise
come between us and our Savior and
our Heavenly Father?
But this justification is not enough
If we were perfect actually instead Of
merely reckonedly we would not be fit
for the Kingdom Of God-we would
not be fit to govern others-to be
kings and priests unto God and to
reign on the earth" Revelation Xxx, g.
We should still be unfit to be the
judges of the world. as the Scriptures
declare that we shall be, saying.
Know We not that the saints shall
judge the world" q Corinthians vi, y.
Our Heavenly Father in bringing
many sons unto glory made the Cap
tain of their salvation Oesus) perfect
through sufferings. Should we think
it strange that we, his younger breth-
rem, justified through his blood should
be required, not merely to make pro-
fession of Goodness, holiness, but also
to approve or attest that sentiment to
be part of our very character Is
not what we as the Church Of Christ
experience very reasonable indeed
who would be prepared to teach the
world meekness. patience, brotherly-
| kindness, long-suffering, love, without
first of all developing these various
qualities of character in himself? And
how could he develop these and be
tested except under just such schooling
and disciplining influences as now are
upon the Church of Christ with q
view to making US fit for the glorious
position of our high calling of God in
Christ Jesus?
When the Scriptures refer to the
Church as being fit for the Kingdom
and as being the "overcomers" for
whom the Kingdom is prepared, and
who shall share its glories and honorS
because they are worthy" Revelation
iii, A., we are to understand this wor-
thiness and fitness, not that they were
Originally so, but that by Gods grace,
through Christ, a transformation work
will eventually bring some to this glori-
Gus position where God himself will es-
TEEN them iC0rthy to be called his chill
dren, and TO be joint-heirs with his
Son, the Great King.
Various Kinds of Fitness.
There is one certain standard of fit
ness for the Kingdom and none other
will do; but there may be quite a va
riety of conditions which make one IN
fit for the Kingdom. One Of these is
murder. mo murderer hath eternal
life abiding il him" q John iii, 15l.
He would be unfit for the Kingdom.
This would not signify, however, that
one who had once been a murderer
might not. by a sound conversion and
by faithfulness in the School of Christ,
become a member of the Kingdom
rlass. But the word murder here used
has a broader meaning than is gener-
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