The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1918-04-27

lE&$$$&&UM p1i1lloh Dibilli
M& "A puts the kingdom
in the future. How
Inappropriate it would be to pray for
something to come that has already
arrived. Christ certainly would not
teach us after such a n to pray.
If the kingdom has come, we should
thank God for it, and not ask him to
send that which he has already given.
1t may be that we have been using
this petition without realizing its sig
nifcance. If so, hereafter, when we
pray the Lords prayer, let US remem-
Der that in voicing this petition we
are asking God that the kingdom may
come. 1t has been promised by God
and 1t is coming, but like other prom
lses of his, it waits upon the prayers
Of his people.
Exact Time Not Known.
But omeon asks, '1f we earnestly
and b~elleyingly pray, thy kingdom
come when will it appearT Christ's
answer to his disciples, when they
asked him after his resurrection if he
would at this time restore the kingdom
to Israel, is the answer to this ques-
ton: at is not for you to know the
times or the seasons, which the Father
hath put in his own power" (Acts
l :6-7.) This makes 1t very clear that
we cannot know the exact time when
the kingdom will come. But while
this Is so, there is one thing of which
we can be quite sure, for it is so self
evident. It is that there car be no
kingdom without the King. The com
ing Of the kingdom then, must be
linked up closely with the second
coming Of Christ. In the parable of
the ten pounds, spoken when they
thought the kingdom should imme-
diately appear, Christ links up its
coming with his return when he tells
Of the nobleman who went into a far
country to receive for himself a king
dom and to return. Christ, of course,
Is that nobleman. He has gone into
a far country (heaven) to receive
(from the Father) a kingdom and to
return.
This is quite contrary to the popular
teaching which has been in vogue since
Daniel Whitby voiced what he himself
styled his new hypothesis, two hun
dred years ago, that the kingdom is
to come through the church conquer
ing the world. How pessimistic we
should be, If we believed this notion,
for the facts show that the world is
far from being conquered, notwith-
standing the splendid work done by
the church In witnessing for Christ,
and being to the world its light and
salt. Credit the church with all she
has accomplished in evangelizing the
world and it is still true that "the
whole world lieth in the lap of the
wicked n )" Il John 500 that "the
god of this age" is Satan himself, "the
prince of the power of the air" "the
spirit that now worketh in the chill
dren of disobedience." (I Cor Al;
Eph. 2:2.)
Until Jesus Comes.
It takes very little argument to
prove this to people in these awful
days of this great world war. They
are beginning to see, as ley before,
that the Word of God is true in its
statements concerning the downward
trend of this age, and as they study
it afresh, they discover that it holds
out no prospect of kingdom glory I'M
til Jesus comes. To believe this does
not make a Christian a pessimist, as
some would have us believe; on the
contrary, he becomes the brightest of
optimists, for his vision is no longer
horizoned by the things seen, but by
the promises of God, which are yea
and amen In Christ Jesus.
The fact that the manifestation of
the kingdom and the advent of Christ
are simultaneous, US that
there will be no universal reign of
righteousness upon this earth such as
men dream of and poets sing of, and
prophets tell of, until Christ comes.
Even should this war usher in, as
some think it will, a day /
When the war drums throb no longer.
And the battle flags are furled,
In the parliament of man,
The federation of the world.
That day, however, will not last, for
Jesus says 'natiOn shall rise against
nation, and kingdom against kingdom,
and there shall be earthquakes in
divers places, and there shall be IA
mines and troubles: These are the be-
ginnings Of sorrow" Mark 10 :7-S.)
Hope for the world lies not in its
democratization, but in the return Of
the Lord Jesus Christ. When he
comes the golden age will have
dawned, and the kingdom, for the COM
ing of which we pray when we say,
thy kingdom come" will be In visible