Divine kingship

“ To these gods, with a supreme deity at their head, belonged the rulership of the world. Whenever a change in the city that formed the centre of the terrestrial world empire resulted in a new supreme deity, the conditions of the earthly kingdom were all the more faithfully mirrored in the divine kingdom, for the other gods became, as it were, the vassals of this supreme deity. ”

“ But if you will examine the basis of that Kingship you will find it rests on God’s Creatorship. He is Lord of the world and of 68men because He has created them—because in Him they live and move and have their being. But God wants to be King in Jesus Christ—that is to say, He wants to be King in virtue not of His power, but of His love. He wants men to obey Him not because they are afraid of Him, but because they love Him. Look at the prayer: “Thy kingdom come.” Whose kingdom is it? ”

“ As experience accumulates, and ideas of causation grow more precise, kings lose their supernatural attributes; and, instead of God-king, become God-descended king, God-appointed king, the Lord's anointed, the vicegerent of heaven, ruler reigning by Divine right. ”

“ The spiritual and temporal benefits to be derived from it, to the glory of God and the good and conversion of His creatures, will not be few, if His Divine Majesty will grant a beginning of His light and knowledge in this great kingdom, which is surrounded by so many others, so great, rich, and powerful—where, with but little difficulty, God willing, His Divine Majesty can be so exalted, recognized, and magnified, and your Majesty served. ”

“ Herein lies the deeper significance of the idea that the ruler of the world empire is himself a god, or, at the least, a person of divine lineage and the representative of the supreme guardian deity of the kingdom. ”

“ Moreover, since God is the supreme Monarch of the universe, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords; since [13] his power alone is unlimited and irresistible; and by consequence, the primary and most proper object of men's fear; it is manifest, that no human laws whatsoever, can bind men to act contrary to the divine. ”

“ And yet they wonder that the blessedness of the divine life disappears. We prove the value we attach to things by the time we devote to them. The Kingdom should be first every day, and all the day. Let the Kingdom be first every morning. Begin the day with God, and God Himself will maintain His Kingdom in your heart. ”

“ We find Christ, he says, "describing himself as a king, and at the same time as king of the Kingdom of God"; calling forth and founding a new and divine society, and claiming to be, both now and hereafter, the Judge without appeal of all mankind ”

“ O come, let us worship the sovereign King.
He is the God of God, Light of Light, own him,
Though he from the womb of the Virgtin doth spring;
He is the true God, not made but begotten:
O come, let us worship the sovereign King. ”

“ Let us worship the saints also, as the chosen friends of God, and as possessing access to Him. If men worship kings subject to corruption, who are often bad and impious, and those ruling or deputed in their name, as the holy apostle says, ‘Be subject to princes and powers,’ and again, ‘Give to all their due, to one honour, to another fear,’ and our Lord, ‘Give to Cæsar that which is Cæsar’s, and to God that which is God’s,’ how much more should we worship the King of Kings? ”

“ But, my children, you see not with the eye of faith, and you hear not with the understanding of the spirit. I declare that the kingdom of heaven is the realization and acknowledgment of God’s rule within the hearts of men. True, there is a King in this kingdom, and that King is my Father and your Father. We are indeed his loyal subjects, but far transcending that fact is the transforming truth that we are his sons. In my life this truth is to become manifest to all. ”

“ Let, then, thy Kingdom come to us, to make us co-heirs of which thou enteredst the Virgin’s womb, and emptiedst thyself, taking the form of a servant; in which it was thy Will to suffer insults, injuries, scourging, and finally the death of the Cross, and so to enter into thy glory. Destroy, O King of glory! the kingdom of sin and Satan, and reign in us now by grace, that at length we may reign with thee in glory. ”

“ Father will love him, and we will come and make our abode with him." Brother, would you have the Kingdom of God first in your life, you must have the Kingdom in your hearts. If my heart be set upon a thing I may be bound with chains, but the moment the chains are loosened I fly towards the object of my affection and desire. And just so the Kingdom must be within us, and then it is easy to say: "The Kingdom first." But to have the Kingdom within us in truth, we must have God the Father, and Christ the Son, by the Holy Ghost within us too. No Kingdom without the King. ”

“ O thou who art advancing unto God!
Praise God that He guided thee to the Path of His Kingdom, blessed thee with the word of holiness, and illumined thy heart with a light shining in the lofty Kingdom.
O maid-servant of God! Every star hath a setting, but the star of the knowledge of God in the divine heaven; every light shall darken save the light of the guidance of God; every dignity shall vanish away save the glory under the shadow of the Word of God. ”

“ It makes the righteousness eternal, the peace eternal, and the joy eternal. This is the heaven of heavens! The phrase, kingdom of heaven, מלכות שמים malcuth shamayim, is frequently used by the rabbinical writers, and always means, the purity of the Divine worship, and the blessedness which a righteous man feels when employed in it. ”

“ Q. 20. What is meant by the Kingdom of Heaven?
A. The Kingdom of Heaven is the central feature of practical Christianity. It represents a harmonious condition in which the Divine Will is perfectly obeyed; it signifies the highest state of existence, both individual and social, which we can conceive. Our whole effort should, directly or indirectly, make ready its way,—in our hearts, in our lives, and in the lives of others. It is the ideal state of society towards which Reformers are striving; it is the ideal of conscious existence towards which Saints aim. ”

“ The Pen of Revelation exclaimeth: “On this Day the Kingdom is God’s!” The Tongue of Power is calling: “On this Day all sovereignty is, in very deed, with God!” The Phoenix of the realms above crieth out from the immortal Branch: “The glory of all greatness belongeth to God, the Incomparable, the All-Compelling!” The Mystic Dove proclaimeth from its blissful bower, in the everlasting Paradise: “The source of all bounty is derived, in this Day, from God, the One, the Forgiving!” ”

“ The heavenly things, therefore, even the kingdom of heaven, as in a figure it is written in the Scriptures—which are the kingdom of heaven, or Christ—Himself the king of the ages, are the kingdom of heaven which is likened to a treasure hidden in the field. ”

“ It is God that removes kings. Are the poor raised out of the dust, to be set among princes? It is God that sets up kings; and the making and unmaking of kings is a flower of his crown who is the fountain of all power, King of kings and Lord of lords. ”

“ The birds rest in their branches, because holy souls who lift up themselves from earthly thoughts by the wings, as it were, of virtues are refreshed after the fatigue of this life by their words and their consolations.” You will say, how can Christ be called the kingdom of Heaven, when He is not the kingdom, but its King? ”

“ But what kind of a kingdom would that have been for the Saviour to rule over when he comes? When he comes, he is going to reign over a temporal kingdom, composed of men and women who do his will on the earth. Everything that pertains to us in our life is temporal, and over us and all we possess our Heavenly Father and his Son Jesus Christ will reign, as well as over all the kingdoms of the world when they become the kingdoms of our God and his Christ. ”

“ The Christianized world supposes that the form of government now existing in the heavenly system is that of a monarchy; that God is the supreme ruler of the whole universe, embracing not only the little planet Earth, but the countless starry worlds and invisible systems that roll through space. But more directly in its imagination does it place him as the sole monarch and kingly ruler of the spirit world. It seats him in fancy upon a gorgeous throne, material in every aspect of its magnificence ”

“ Oh, how many Christians strive after this part and that part of the likeness of Christ, and forget the root of the whole! What is the root of all? That Christ gave Himself up utterly to God, and His Kingdom and glory. He gave His life, that God's Kingdom might be established. Do you the same to-day and give your life to God to be every moment a living sacrifice, and the Kingdom will come with power into your heart. Give yourself up to Christ. Let Christ the King reign in your heart, and the heavenly Kingdom will come there and the Presence and the Rule of God be known in power. ”

“ Christians, if your Christ finds His glory here on earth in dying and sacrificing Himself for the Kingdom and then in eternity again in giving the Kingdom to God, shall not you and I come to God to do the same and count anything we have as loss, that the Kingdom of God may be made manifest, and that God may be glorified. ”

“ Again, I will invite your attention to the union of the fathers and the children, and a faint outline of the innumerable kingdoms that are to rise up in the boundless dominions of the Supreme King. No king on earth or in heaven is so omnipotent or omnipresent as not to need subordinate ruling agencies, in order to control innumerable subjects. Hence the Lord God of all the earth has a host of holy angels that communicate his will, and minister his pleasure among the hosts of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth. ”

“ You perceive also, with equal clearness and certainty, that this infinite, eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, all-wise, all-creating mind is perfectly and essentially holy, a pure flame of holiness; and that, as such, he regards sin with unutterable, irreconcilable detestation and abhorrence. With a voice, which reverberates through the wide expanse of his dominions, you hear him saying, as the Sovereign and Legislator of the universe, Be ye holy; for I, the Lord your God, am holy. And you see his throne surrounded, you see [199] heaven filled by those only, who perfectly obey this command. ”

“ We talk a good deal about building up the kingdom of God upon the earth, according to the knowledge and understanding we have in regard to the kingdom of God; it requires several things to constitute a kingdom. ”

“ As is the king, so is the kingdom. The king is present now in the world, only invisibly and by the Holy Spirit; so the kingdom is now present invisibly and spiritually in the hearts of believers. The king is to come again visibly and gloriously; so shall the kingdom appear visibly and gloriously. In other words, the kingdom is already here in mystery: it is to be here to manifestation. Now the spiritual kingdom is administered by the Holy Spirit, and it extends from Pentecost to Parousia. ”

“ His kingdom is a priestly kingdom, of which He is both Priest and King, and which He governs by offering Himself up, and conquering the hearts of men. He who had not where to rest His Head declared: “I have a kingdom, but it is not of this world!” ”

“ Thou, Lord, art high above all the earth (v. 9) ; thou hast manifested thy sovereignty in the kingdom of nature, and thy command of all its powers, and thy dominion over all nations, over all hearts; thou art exalted far above all gods"—all deputed gods, that is, princes—all counterfeit gods, that is, idols. The exaltation of Christ, and the advancement of God's glory among men thereby, are the rejoicing of all the saints. 2. Because care is taken for their safety. Those that pay allegiance to Christ as a King shall be sure of his protection. Princes are the shields of the earth ”

“ You have stated that he is highly honored and exalted on earth and that all bow before him as before God; and the reason for this is that the king represents divine lordship: for he bears God’s own name and sits upon the highest judgment seat upon earth, wherefore it should be regarded as giving honor to God Himself, when one honors the king, because of the name which he has from God. The son of God himself, when he was on earth, taught by his own example that all should 248honor the king and show him due obedience ”

“ “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you,” and he said the Kingdom was within man.
The Kingdom is the realm of right ideas, or the divine pattern. ”

“ The Kingdom of Heaven, including the Church, and comprising all nations, will be set up with power and great glory when the triumphant King comes with His heavenly retinue to personally rule and reign on the earth which He has redeemed at the sacrifice of His own life. ”

“ So the throne of glory represents the kingdom of glory; and this kingdom is referred to in the Saviour's words, “When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: and before Him shall be gathered all nations.”578 This kingdom is yet future. It is not to be set up until the second advent of Christ. ”

“ Where there is no Kingdom of God, there is no salvation. What constitutes the Kingdom of God? Where there is a Prophet, a Priest, or a righteous man unto whom God gives His oracles, there is the Kingdom of God; and where the oracles of God are not, there the Kingdom of God is not. ”

“ For the same purpose has the Lord called us up into these high mountains, that we may become endowed with power from on high in the Church and kingdom of God, and become kings and priests unto God, which we never can be lawfully until we are ordained and sealed to that power, for the kingdom of God is a kingdom of kings and priests, and will rise in mighty power in the last days. ”