BY:  GEORGE R. HAWTIN

CHAPTER TWO

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THE KINGDOM OF GOD WITHIN

“And when He was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come. He answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say Lo here! or Lo there! For behold the kingdom of God is within you.“ Luke 17:20, 21

The end of all things as we have known them is at hand. The unsound and worthless feet of the image of Babylon, part of iron and part of miry clay, are even now crumbling beneath the awesome weight of the legs of iron, the belly and thighs of brass, the breast of silver and the haughty head of gold. (Dan. 2:31-45) The image of Babylon is complete. This art of human device now stands before the deceived but admiring eyes of men, a thing of infinite beauty, an image to be trusted, having stood the ravages of millenniums of time. But they do not seem to know that its feet are dross, mingled, weak and corrupt, for they are formed of iron and clay which cannot cling together, and, should a stone but fall upon them, collapse they must and with them the haughty image of the systems of this world.

I need not tell you that Daniel, a prophet dearly loved of God, saw the total collapse of the confused systems and governments of this world when in spirit he saw a stone, cut out without hands, smite the image on its useless feet of iron and clay, shattering them in pieces. “Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind (the Spirit) carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth” Dan. 2:35

The stone that smote the image, utterly destroying it with one blow upon its deficient feet, must not be regarded as another of earth’s corrupt governments. This stone is not of flint or granite. This is a stone, chosen of God and precious. This is the stone, which the builders rejected, but God has made it the head stone of the corner. (Psa. 118:22) This precious stone is also a living stone, a person who is none other than the Son of God, Jesus Christ the King. It was of Him that Peter wrote, saying, “To ‘horn coming, as unto a living stone disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ye also, as lively (living) stones, re built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on Him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe He is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also icy were appointed,” (1 Peter 2:4-8) The inspiration of the Almighty leaves us in no doubt as to what and who this precious one is that smote the image of Babylon on its feet and then went on to build a kingdom that filled the whole earth. God has declared that “in the days of these kings (represented by the image) shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall ever be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.” Dan. 2:44

There are many sacred realms in scripture where I often fear I tread, not because I doubt their truth or fear to believe the wonders which their truths portray, but I fear those impious men ho would with rough-shod feet and unbowed head stomp in to gaze with unsanctified eyes at the burning bush of God’s sacred revelation, or who, like Uzzah, stretch forth an unsanctified hand to steady and adjust that which is wholly of the Lord, “There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture’s eye hath not seen: the lion’s whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it.” Job 28:7, 8 It was because of such as these that Jesus always spoke in parables that He might safely hide the deep things of God from the carnal heads of the wise id prudent men and reveal them unto babes who walked in the love and fear of the Lord. I find little difficulty in persuading men and women to believe in sonship. They pounce on the truth like vultures and peddle the message like the hucksters of Petticoat Lane, but I find very, very few men who have the spirit of sonship, the spirit that with bowed head and contrite heart breathes in love and yieldedness, “Abba, Father!” He who has the spirit of sonship has no will of his own; neither has he any plans of his own, nor any ambitions of his own. He has no joy or humility of his own, nor gifts, nor sacrifices, nor righteousness, but his soul is bound in a bundle of life with the Lord his God, and the souls of his enemies, them shall he sling out as out of the middle of a sling. 1 Sam. 25:29. His one love and all-consuming passion is bound up in the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.

I have written these solemn facts with purpose and fear lest the ambitious and unsanctified Christian should seize upon the truth we now discuss as just so much more ammunition for his gun or wind for his bag, for some preach Christ of envy and strife and some of good will, while others preach Christ of contention, not sincerely. (See Phil. 1:15,16)

The stone, which the builders rejected, is Christ. He is the head stone or the cap stone. The builders of the systems of this world, whether of government or of religion, have rejected Him as their head. Through all the ages the defiant shout of the multitude has been, “We will not have this man to reign over us.” He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from Him. My heart’s desire and prayer to God for those who read is that the Holy Spirit would now open our eyes to clearly see the full force of the truth set forth in this inspired statement of Peter: “To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ye also, as lively (living) stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 2:4, 5 May God now open the eyes of our understanding to see that the precious living stone of whom the Spirit speaks is not one stone, but many individual living stones, united by the Spirit of God to become one stone. We, being many, are one body in Christ, and everyone members one of another. With all reverence and godly fear I tell you that that one stone, formed of many living stones, is the fullness of God’s Christ. The spiritual house which God is building of many living stones is nothing less than the body of Christ, livery stone in this building, this house not made with hands, is a living stone. Every living stone is an elect and chosen son of God. Every elect and chosen Son of God is a member of His spiritual body. This is the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, 2 Cor. 5:1. This is the Father’s house of many mansions which Jesus called “My Father’s house”. John 14:1,2 It is in this spiritual house (1 Peter 2:5), this holy temple, this spiritual body, that God is preparing a place for us even as Jesus said: “In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” John 14:2,3

While we entertain the idea that the Father’s house is heaven and the many mansions are beautiful palaces in which we will live when we get to heaven, we miss a whole realm of truth as well as being guilty of very childish understanding. The truth that God would have us know is this: He at infinite cost is building a house for Himself, an eternal mansion in the heavens from which He will govern the whole universe in glory and righteousness. The stones of that mansion are living stones. The living stones are elect and precious saints of God. With reverence and godly fear I proclaim the ineffable truth that these living stones are the enchristed, the people Paul speaks of as being “in Christ”. They are members of His body (1 Cor. 12:12), of His flesh, and of His bones (Eph. 5:30). In one Spirit, even the Holy Spirit, they are all baptized into one body (I Cor. 12:13), and that me body is Christ’s body (verse 12), the spiritual house (1 Peter 1:5), the temple of the Lord (2 Cor. 6:16), an house not made with hands (2 Cor. 5:1), and My Father’s house (John 14:2).

Oh, the goodness and the greatness of the purpose of God! How infinite His understanding! How wise His ways! How almighty His acts! How infinitely patient His longsuffering! Who among men can fathom or describe the purpose of the Lord? Who can ever add to His wisdom or detract from His power? God in wisdom has created the heavens and the earth. From the lass of the earth He took a portion of its dust to form a man, and from the mass of mankind and all the stones thereof He elected and chose the living stones who would form His living temple, His house not made with hands. See with what infinite power the Almighty presses His searching and edifying question upon us, for thus the Lord demands: “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” 1 Cor. 3:16, 17

Read these inspired and holy statements with all diligence and prayer. Halt now in your reading, if you will, and with bowed head and contrite heart ask the Spirit of God to fill your spirit with the reality of the infinite work He is doing. Through suffering, fiery trial and tribulation, with infinite care He is chipping and cutting, fashioning and polishing that living stone which you are that as a finished, mature, and adopted son you may be placed by Him in the temple of the Lord, the house not made with hands, the Father’s own house and eternal dwelling place. Faithfully does He rebuke us, saying, “If any man defile the temple of the Lord, him shall God destroy.” In the end of this age the proclamation will be heralded from sea to sea and to the four winds of heaven, “All who are with Him are called and chosen and faithful.” Rev. 17:14 It is the combination of these three – called, chosen, and faithful – that will decide our place in His temple. None but these can reign. When I consider the universe, the work of God’s hands, the sun, the moon, and the stars with all their infinite and timeless majesty, I fain would fall before God in wonder and adoration; yet all the myriad stars, the suns and planets are but lifeless dust. But when I consider God’s holy temple, formed of the living stones which we are, each precious stone chosen of God, each one a son of God, each one a stone of fire, each one a temple in itself where God sits enthroned, every stone filled with the life that God is, the wisdom which God is, the understanding which God is, the omnipotence which God is, then there is no strength left in me, nor scarcely room for praise nor any word at all, for my spirit is struck dumb by the majesty of such infinite purpose.

It is not my intention here to write concerning the temple of the Lord. Perhaps at a later date we can explore more fully the infinite greatness of God and the wonder of the mansion He is building, but we will close the thought with this one question posed to us by the wisdom of God. “What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living rod; as God hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” 2 Cor.6:16 This magnificent statement of truth is followed by definite and infinitely important instruction which millions of Christians now reject. “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” Verses 17, 18 What, my brother, and what, my sister, does this demand mean to you? Can you not see that those saints who are to be members of His true body, His true temple, His true church, must of necessity separate themselves from the unclean harlots of this resent evil age? However violent may be our reaction to the Spirit’s constant call to come out from among them, I tell you in sincerity and truth that you will never be able to understand, much less partake of, the depths of the things I have written until you deliver yourself from the blinding tradition of the harlot system. In these dreadful days, days such as have never been known since the violent and corrupt days before the flood, can you not see that the shadows of night are falling all about us and tat Babylon, both spiritual and political, is tottering on its feet “clay? Leave now the temple of Belshazzar where the vessels of ie Lord are defiled with the corruption of the flesh. Leave it, I say, for in this dispensational night that is now upon us Babylon shall fall and all who are therein shall partake of her plagues, eave it now and flee as from Sodom. Flee not to some other tie town as Lot did, but flee to the mountain of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, even as the angel at first instructed him.

THE EVER EXPANDING KINGDOM

From time to time in these writings we have pointed out the significance of the truth Peter taught when he said that no prophecy of the scripture was of any private interpretation. 2 Peter 2:20. All scripture must be understood in conjunction with the whole mass of scripture. Furthermore we can safely say that every statement in God’s word has a primary meaning which lies right on the surface, like the words of a parable, plain enough for any man with eyes to see. Let us, however, be sure of this: It is not the surface meaning, which is of greatest importance, but the golden nugget of truth, which lies in the mine beneath the surface. And if you will dig still further, you will always find a third and greater enlargement of the truth you found lying in its simplest form on the surface. When asked by His disciples why He taught in parables, Jesus clearly indicated this divine principle. He answered them, “Because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.” Matt. 13:11  Any man can understand the surface meaning of the parable of the sower and the seed, but only the spiritual mind sees the underlying spiritual truth. The truth which lies buried as a treasure beneath the surface dust is the meaning the Lord would have us see and, until we thus perceive, all our spiritual understanding lies dreadfully confined and straitened, leaving us to grope among the surface stones for priceless gems to enrich the inner man.

A simple example of the above proposition is found in the statement, “Six days shall thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shall not do any work.” Exod. 20:9, 10  Surely any natural mind can understand this simple statement. On the surface of this commandment we have seven twenty-four hour days. In the first six of them we may work all we wish, but on the seventh day we must not do any servile work at all. The majority of men see no further than this primary statement of truth, and many, therefore, spend their lives proclaiming the command, arguing about it, quarrelling about it, proving it, and in general making their lives miserable about it. But if, upon accepting the primary truth, we begin to dig beneath the surface, we will hear the Spirit whisper, “A day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousands years as one day.” 2 Peter 3:8. Then our eyes are opened to see that six thousand years of travail and labor are destined upon the earth to be followed by a seventh one thousand year day which is God’s day of blissful rest. The Sabbath of God’s rest is the kingdom age when all labor will be joy. Our peace will be the Prince of Peace. Our rest will be that Sabbath which He is. He who has entered into His rest also has eased from his own works as God did from His. Heb. 4:10. Just .s surely as Christ is our light and our peace and our Passover, so also is Christ our Sabbath. Is not this the plain and forceful caching of Paul in his letter to the Colossians? “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” Col. 2:16, 17 All the things contained in the law, good and wonderful as they /ere, are only shadows of things to come. A shadow falling upon he ground tells us that there is a body nearby, and, if you will lift your eyes away from the dusky shadow on the surface of the round, you will see the body that made the shadow. You will behold the reality rather than the reflection. Therefore Paul says, The body is of Christ.” New moons and Sabbaths are but shadows, lying darkly upon the surface of the ground, but look a little farther and you will see the reality – Christ our Passover in whom we are saved; Christ our Sabbath in whom we rest. Having LOW seen how the twenty-four hour day extends itself into a thousand years, we need only to dig a little deeper to discover a even thousand year day and a forty-nine thousand year week Lev. 25:8-24) during which time, according to God’s infinite purpose, all things are gathered into Himself (Eph. 1:10; Col.2:19, 20), and the entire universe enters into Christ’s rest. That is he meaning of the jubilee. What better name could God have given it?

When Jesus Christ our Lord commenced His ministry, His first message was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” If you will follow His miracles, His sermons, and the signs and wonders of His three years of ministry, you will find in them an exact pattern of all that the kingdom of God will be. How simple it would be to fill this entire book with the spiritual significance of the marriage at Cana of Galilee where in His first miracle our Lord turned the water into wine. John 2:1-10. The ix huge water pots represent the six past dispensations that precede the kingdom of God – innocence, conscience, human government, promise, law, and grace. All through these ages past the wonderful truth they contained has been as water. People have despised the sanctity of innocence, the blessedness of conscience, the glory of human government, the assurance of promise, the holiness, justice and goodness of the law (Rom. 7:13,14), and the wonders of grace. They have reckoned them all as a thing to be done away, but the hour is at hand when all the water pots will be refilled with the water of truth they were intended to establish in the earth, and all the excellence of the truth of those dispensations will be completely restored. Their truth, hitherto lacking in Spirit and rendered helpless by the unregenerate nature of man, will be transformed from the deadness of water to the vibrant life of old wine, for God’s Spirit will make them alive and vital and, being thus made alive, they will become the knowledge of the Lord that will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea in that blessed Sabbath day of the kingdom of God. His truth shall endure to all generations. The beauty of innocence made perfect through experience and suffering; conscience fully enlightened and indwelt by the Spirit of Christ; human government, not by carnal men but God-men, even God’s sons. “He that overcometh shall sit with Me in My throne.” Promise, not afar off nor seen distantly by faith, not a mystical shadow, but the reality of walking by faith changed to walking by sight; and the law, which is the inherent nature of God, not done away, but enthroned in every transformed heart because He who made the law, yea, is the law, is enthroned in every heart. The law was never done away as people suppose. It was only removed from one place to another – removed from tables of stone to be written in the hearts of the sons of God. The law is God’s nature, and all who have the nature of God find themselves living in obedience to the law of God, even though they may never have seen it in writing. The law is fulfilled in Christ, and Christ fulfills it in the hearts of His people. And what shall we say of grace – that unmerited favor of God? Shall we find it missing in the kingdom of Christ? Will it be absent in the fullness of times or in the ages of the ages, which are to follow, or in the period of the second death? No! No! A thousand times no!

Those dear people who teach and preach that the day of grace will soon be ended know nothing at all of grace, nor do they understand that God Himself is grace. He is the God of all grace. You may as well say that God can die as to say that grace will end. I am sure you have read that God “hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; that in the ages to come He might shew the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” Eph. 2:6, 7

Oh, what a wonderful gospel will fill the world in that blessed age of the kingdom of God! No more as in the past will dispensational truth be as weak as water, but it will be water lade wine, even the strong wine of the kingdom, intoxicating very heart and mind in a glory more vivid and powerful than Pentecost. All men at the beginning of a feast set forth the best wine and, when men have well drunk, then that which is worse; but God set forth water first and has reserved the best wine until now. Truly, Lord, Thou doest great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number!

If you will read a little further, you will see that Jesus, having made the water wine, began to cleanse the temple of rod. John 2:13-25. I need scarcely remind you that you are the temple of God, members in particular of Christ’s own body, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. This was the temple to which He referred when He said, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” John 2:19 On the third twenty-four hour day after His crucifixion His own body was used incorruptible and in like manner in the third one thousand year day after His own resurrection He will raise up His spiritual body to incorruption. Follow the miracles with which He adorned the gospel of the kingdom and you will find Him opening the blind eyes, because in the kingdom all eyes will e opened, both physical and spiritual, and blindness will depart forever. Then He touched the lepers, delivering them from their uncleanness, for leprosy is symbolic of sin. By His matchless skill He delivered men from madness and insanity, for all who inherit lat kingdom must be filled with the perfect mind of Christ. We are living in an age of gross insanity. Wherever we look men are walking in contradiction to the revealed will of God with the consequence that God has abandoned them to the lusts of their hearts. The leaders of mighty nations rush madly to prop up a system, which is crumbling all about them, trying desperately to make things work without God, a task which is completely hopeless from beginning to end. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

Oh, what a day of unspeakable glory when He in His living temple shall reign! Then “the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God. Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; He will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. And an highway shall there be, and a way, and it shall be called, the way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there: And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” Isa. 35

There was a day when the Pharisees came to Jesus, demanding to know when the kingdom of God should come. Luke 17:20. The answer, which He gave indicated none of the wonderful blessedness spoken of above or written by Isaiah and other prophets who proclaimed the kingdom of God. Indeed, at first thought would seem that Jesus was making the kingdom of God to be very small and insignificant by His saying, “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” Luke 17:20, 21

The words of our Lord in this passage demonstrate vividly the truth we have been dealing with heretofore. First there appears that primary meaning. The kingdom of God is within you. Within you is the seed bed of that kingdom which will fill the universe. You will not dig much deeper before you make the wonderful discovery that the same kingdom which had its beginning in you has begun to burst its shell and spring forth as a tender plant — first the blade, then the ear, afterward the full 3rn in the ear – until the power and glory of the King who signs within you begins to spread His influence far beyond into all the earth and all things are gathered into the kingdom of God and nothing is left outside of it. “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In His days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is His name whereby He shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness.” Jer. 23:5,6 As the tiny mustard seed is planted in the warm earth, thence to spring forth and grow exceedingly until it becomes the largest of the herbs, the fowl of the air lodging in its branches, so the seed of the kingdom, which is Christ the King, is planted in the earth which you are. There His reign begins. There the tender plant is nourished, and from that lowly place it grows to fill the whole earth until all people find safety in its branches. As we have pointed out before, we now remind you that the kingdom of God, having filled the earth in the dispensations to come, will from thence extend eternally outward to reconstitute, rehabilitate, reconcile, and replenish the entire universe, enfolding within its mighty branches the vast limitless firmament of nebulae, luminaries, and galaxies until the multiplied myriads of lie ransomed and reconciled shall in chorus fill the vastness of tie universe with these words: “Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens: praise Him in the heights. Praise ye Him, all His angels: praise ye Him, all His hosts. Praise ye Him, sun and moon: praise Him, all ye stars of light. Praise Him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord: for He commanded, and they were created, he hath also established them forever and ever: He hath made a decree, which shall not pass. Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps: Fire, and hail; snow, and vapors; stormy wind fulfilling His word: Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars: Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl: Kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges of the earth: Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children: Let them praise the name of the Lord: for His name alone is excellent; His glory is above the earth and heaven. He also exalteth the horn of His people, the praise of all His saints; even the children of Israel, a people near unto Him. Praise ye the Lord.” Psa. 148

THE KINGDOM WITHIN

It is completely impossible to over-emphasize the importance of this foundational and fundamental truth: The kingdom of God is within you. It is here, Oh child of God, that the magnificence of the all encompassing, all-enduring, everlasting kingdom of God has its beginning. God Almighty, full of wisdom, longsuffering, and faithfulness, is preparing a people in the lowly estates of this present evil world who will reign with Christ in His throne, first from sea to sea and then from universe to universe. Make no mistake about it, my friend and brother! These present hours of preparation in the lowest parts of the earth are fraught with infinite importance and eternal significance. It is here and now that preparations are to be made. The enchristed who are to reign in glory with Him are being prepared. It is a faithful saying and full of truth that all who are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful, Rev. 17:14. Think not in your heart that you may pass your life here, carefree and dilatory concerning the purpose of God, suddenly to find yourself sitting with Christ governing the universe, because such a thing will not be. Well did Paul say, “If we suffer with Him, we will reign with Him; but if we deny Him, He will deny us.” If my understanding of this passage is correct, it simply means that, if we deny Him in our identification with Him in His suffering, rejection and death to self, He will deny us the right to reign with Him. It was not enough that the loving mother of James and John should ask this favor for her boys: “Grant that these my two sons may sit, one on Thy right hand and one on Thy left, in Thy kingdom.” Jesus gave the answer to all such presumption when He answered, “To sit on My right hand, and on My left, is not Mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of My Father.”

The kingdom of God begins within you on that day when Jesus Christ is first invited to enter your heart. In the day you repent of your sin, particularly the sin of unbelief, even that very hour Jesus Christ, the Savior of all men, becomes your personal Savior, bringing into your heart then and there the redemption purchased for all men through the blood of His cross. The work of salvation is wholly of God. Even the faith that brings it into your heart is wholly of God. For this reason the scripture has said, “By grace are ye saved through faith, and that (faith) not of yourselves. It is the gift of God.” Eph. 2:8

Though the work of salvation is wholly and entirely of the Lord, we can never absolve ourselves from personal responsibility and faithfulness to God. While redemption is wholly of the Lord and “we are God’s workmanship”, yet it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. 1 Cor. 4:2. To what extent the reign of Jesus Christ and the glory of His kingdom will increase and prosper within us will depend upon the kind of loving co-operation and submission He finds in our hearts. Our personal relationship with Jesus Christ, our King, means absolutely everything, both now as He reigns within us and in the ages to come when He grants us a place in His throne, The reason John was that disciple whom Jesus loved was because Jesus was the Christ whom John loved more than all else in heaven or earth. The more we love Christ the more abundantly He requites our love. The more we listen for His voice the more readily He will speak to our hearts. The more our searching eyes seek the beauty of His face the more He will reveal His face to us. The more patiently we await His leading the more diligently He will lead us. The more implicitly we trust Him the greater will be His confidence in us. The greater delight we display in carrying out His will the more His soul will rejoice in opening our understanding to the sacred mysteries of God. “I love them that love Me,” saith the Lord, “and they that seek Me early shall find Me.” Love is an attitude of the heart. There is no way of explaining love that will enable men to grasp it with the natural mind. Love is of God. Yea, love is God and God is love. Love has nothing whatever to do with the sentimental, meaningless bosh we hear all about us. It is abundantly true that God loves those who love Him. He loves all men, even those who hate Him, but how much more is His love made manifest toward those who hourly requite His love and breathe out, often silently, the adorations and contemplations of their souls even as Mary did, who filled the house with the odor of her ointment, though it seems she spoke not a word.

“He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.” John 14:21 Do you see the divine secret hidden here? “He that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father.” Does that not tell us that God requites our love? Does it not clearly show that all who love Him, cherishing His commandment, His will, and His eternal purpose, become the special objects of His admiration and His loving kindness? If I ask you why it was that Daniel was a man dearly loved of God, will you not with one consent give me one answer? Will you not tell me that Daniel was dearly beloved of God because he dearly loved God? There is no other answer that can be given. Could it be different with you or with me who dearly love God? Shall our fervent love go unrequited and unreturned? No, indeed no! But it will be returned in that abundance which only God Himself can pour forth.

Furthermore, in this same passage our Lord and Christ has clearly shown that our love for Him is the source of all revelation and spiritual understanding. “He that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.” Verse 21 To love Christ is the secret of all revelation and spiritual understanding. The Lord is not interested in the letters that are indicative of our much learning. He is not sufficed by tradition nor delighted by head knowledge; but to all who love Him He reveals Himself that they may love Him yet the more, and, beholding Him, may be changed into the image of Him who has manifested Himself to them. So beautiful was this truth n the ears of Judas, the brother of James, that he was moved to make the useful inquiry, “How is that Thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?” To this Jesus in answer aid unto him, “If a man love Me, he will keep My words; and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him. He that loveth Me not keepeth not My sayings: and the word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father’s which sent Me.” John 14:22-24  Love is the secret key that opens the storehouse of revelation and spiritual understanding. Love enlightens the eyes and gives understanding to the heart. Love ends the heavy veil that hangs before each holy place revealing the glories of God and His kingdom. Love opens the locked treasure chest where lie the priceless jewels of all eternal things.

Two men looked through prison bars:

One saw mud and the other saw stars

Thus it ever is with us all. The man who has no burning love for God, though he be a professing Christian of many years, sees nothing but the bondage of corruption, while he who loves God sees in every chastening rod and every wearisome affliction the excellent power of the Lord working in him a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

In the work that I am doing I receive many hundreds of letters. Some who write them are very sad and distressed because they seem to be doing nothing for God. People love the excitement of ever doing things, and the more they do the more they imagine they are pleasing God. This line of thinking is a great mistake. It is one of tradition’s most stubborn lies. God has not said that as many as are up and doing, they are the sons of God, but He has said, “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, hey are the sons of God.” I know you have read this verse: Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.” You know, I am sure, that it was the Spirit who led Moses to the backside of the desert to seemingly waste his life, tending sheep for forty years. You know, too, that it was the leading of the Spirit that placed Paul through shipwreck on the Island of Miletus that the heathen might receive the glorious gospel of Christ. Was it not the Spirit of Christ who locked Paul in a prison cell and led John to Patmos through exile and banishment? Of course it was! Happy is that saintly man who sees God’s hand in everything, leading him in the way he should go! When we are led by God’s Spirit and our lives are yielded to Him, we must expect many of these strange and often cruel experiences. But, if we love Him enough to lay our head in worship upon His breast and say, “Thy way is in the storm, and Thy paths through the great waters,” then we are holding the right relationship to Him and we are receiving the molding that will prepare a vessel fit for the Master’s use.

As the protoplasm contains within its minute cells the very essence of that life which is to be, so the kingdom of God within us, infinitesimal in its smallness, contains within itself every essence of that vast universal kingdom to come. We must rightly conclude, therefore, that all things spoken of the kingdom of God within us will later be carried out in greater fullness still when at last that kingdom embraces the universe. Conversely, then, it must also be true that all things spoken of the vast universal kingdom of God equally apply to the kingdom of God, which as a tender plant has taken root within us. In this connection I would like to make special reference to one mighty edict of the Lord, spoken of by Paul concerning the kingdom of God. “As in Adam all die,” he said, “even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterwards they that are Christ’s at His coming. Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death (including the second death, of course). For He hath put all things under His feet. But when He saith all things are put under Him, it is manifest that He is excepted, which did put all things under Him. And when all things are subdued unto Him, then all the Son (which includes the whole sonship company) also Himself be subject unto Him (the Father) that put all things under Him, that God may be all and in all.” 1 Cor. 15:22-28

It is inconceivable to imagine any scripture or any inspired saying that could possibly enlarge on such all-embracing words these. Meditate at length on their fullness and, as your spirit asps the boundless realms of their significance, you will comprehend as never before how great are the things God has prepared for Himself and for those who love Him. Nowhere will there remain any sin nor will there be one sinner, for He must reign till all enemies are under His feet, yea, until every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father, whether they be things in heaven or earth or under the earth, and every creature in heaven and in earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea will be heard lying, “Blessing and honor and glory to Him that sitteth upon tie throne and unto the Lamb forever and ever.” Rev. 5:13

I have solemn and important words for every man who has his hope within him and who today rejoices in the knowledge that Christ, the King who shall reign in triumph on David’s throne in ages to come, has already taken the reins of the kingdom of God within him. How blessed and wonderful is the force of such an almost incredible truth as this! But it is in the knowledge of this ineffable fact that our responsibility as sons of God finds its deepest significance, as I will endeavor now to show.

We who were once dead in Adam have been already made alive in Christ. He who is alive forevermore has become my life and now He who sits upon the throne of my life must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet. I do not ask you to struggle with those arch-enemies of yours – the world, the flesh, and the devil – but I do beseech you to yield the kingdom which you are to Jesus Christ, the King, that He may destroy these enemies from within you and reign on the throne of the kingdom of God within you until He has put all enemies under His feet. Your greatest enemy is not the devil; it is your own flesh. If men did not love their flesh so much, the devil would have no power at all in their lives. You will find men and women who claim to hate the devil and all he stands for, but no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it. Yet it is the flesh that lusts against the Spirit of Christ! The flesh unceasingly wars against the Spirit of the King and His kingdom that is within us. Just as the forces of evil and wickedness in the world in hate and envy proclaim, “We will not have this man to rule over us,” even so the flesh, desperately striving to revive the corrupt nature of Adam within us, would push Christ from His throne and reign in His stead. It is never our striving against the evils of the flesh and the world and the devil that counts for anything at all; the Christ within us would make short shift of them, but we have the wretched habit of failing to yield these evils to the King. Yea, we protect and excuse them until our willfulness calls forth the rod of iron. We cannot overcome our enemies ourselves. Christ alone can put them under His feet. Our responsibility is to yield ourselves to God that He may reign. It is the civil wars that rage in the kingdom within that hinder the work of God, closing fast our eyes to understanding and shutting up the gates of revelation, experience, and growth in Him.

Times almost without number the Spirit has warned that danger and death await those who remain in the organizations of Babylon, but people go heedlessly on as though no voice had spoken, their eyes darkened by church tradition and their spirits taken captive by the outward beauty of the deceiving harlot. People harshly rebuke me for daring to expose her drunkenness and sins and for warning them to flee from the awful destruction that awaits her and all who dwell in her, until I seem as one who mocks, but they have forgotten that in the end of this age angels themselves will pass through the heavens, crying, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” Rev. 14:8  And another voice came from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partaker of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.” Rev. 18:4, 5  I have no hesitation in saying this: If you desire to have Christ the King establish His throne and reign within you, then your first and foremost step will be to divorce yourself from the harlot system. The Spirit has said, “Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.” 1 Cor. 6:15  And yet this is the position of all who remain in the church systems.

To the lowly apostle, Peter, our Lord Jesus Christ gave a special ministry. Once He bade him, “Feed My lambs,” and twice He spoke, saying, “Feed My sheep.” John 21:16,17  Wonderful are the instructions of Paul. Practical beyond measure are the words of James. Infinite in love and communion are the epistles of John; but Peter above all others is a feeder of the sheep, a feeder of the soul, of the spirit, and of the spiritual mind. Who more than he could prepare our hearts for this reigning King that all our enemies within and without should be subdued into Christ? Yes, even that last enemy, which is death, is not beyond the power of Him who said, “Behold, I am alive forever more, and hold the keys of death and hell.” Hear now the instruction of this wise feeder of the sheep as he tells us the way by which we may have an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

“Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue; whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure; for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” 2 Pet. 1:2-11

The subject we are now considering, the kingdom of God within us, is of such dimension and vital importance in these closing hours of time that one scarcely knows how best to present its significance that God’s people may be inspired to leave the weak and beggarly things of tradition and religion and to lay hold on the precious promise that is set before us. You will do yourself a great injustice if you read this message carelessly. It should be read and re-read. Its scripture references should be referred to separately. Time should be taken in meditation and prayer for guidance and understanding. There should be a death to self, that impudent, ego-centric devil that would and does usurp the very throne of Christ’s kingdom within. There should be a forsaking of the traditions of the elders, for they are often a stupefying drug that deadens the senses and blinds the eyes to all spiritual understanding. Traditions and doctrines that are contrary to the gracious nature of God will certainly cut us off from the revelation of God’s eternal purpose. These are days when the flesh is rampant on every hand. Compare Rom. 1:21-32 with 2 Tim. 3:1-8 and decide for yourself if this is not a true comparison with our day. Everything now is for the flesh – wine, women, song, drugs, sex, luxury, ease, and  pleasure. Even the religions and forms of godliness are designed for the lovers of flesh. Everything everywhere for the five physical senses! Bad and corrupt as all this is, it is extremely awful to know that God’s people have permitted themselves to become a ready part of the abominable way of this present evil world. “The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance; broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate …” Isa. 24:5, 6

I know my words will greatly shock many who read them, but in truth I tell you that the vast host of professing Christians have become just like the people who inhabited Samaria after the ten tribes of Israel were carried captive to Assyria. Of them it is written, “They feared the Lord, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.” 2 Kings 17:33 Preachers today are for the most part professionals who run their “churches” as a business, measuring their success by visible gain. Instead of feeders of the sheep they are fleecers. They are the false shepherds and the false prophets of whom Jesus said there would be many. Thus saith the Lord, “Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden My portion underfoot, they have made My pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. They have made it desolate, and being desolate it mourneth unto Me; the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart.” Jer. 12:10, 11

I do not believe you will be able to understand this truth of the kingdom of God within you unless you are willing to take time for fasting and prayer. Fasting lays the flesh low. It gives ascendancy to the Spirit. The spirit of man is the same essence as the Spirit of the Lord, for it was God who made man a spiritual being and gave a spirit to him. Eccles. 12:7. It is necessary, therefore, that we avail ourselves of the methods which the Lord has put at our disposal to better enable us to enter into new and holy places and to ascend to new realms of experience and understanding in Him. Fasting, though hateful to the flesh, is simple enough for those who have a mind to do it. What reason can we offer to God for failure to apprehend spiritual blessing just because the flesh, that enemy of the Spirit, loathes to fast? After a fast has been entered into and accomplished, the faithful begin to find new and refreshing understanding in the spiritual realm. Paul taught that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, and I am not speaking amiss when I tell you that fasting from food brings about a deliverance from the body that permits the spirit to enter into its own realm, which is the realm of God. Though this is difficult to understand, it is none the less real. Set aside a week for fasting and waiting upon God. Quit eating food altogether. Drink all the water you wish, but eat nothing. During the first four or five days you may imagine you are ready to die, but it is your flesh and maybe your friends who tell you that. You could live on for many weeks just as Jesus, Moses, Elijah and many others have done. After a few days of fasting your physical strength will begin to return. Body poisons, accumulated through years, are cleansed away, and you will be surprised at how much work you can do and how well you feel. Fasting is excellent for the body and a sure cure for many physical ailments. Spend as much time as possible reading the word of God and in meditation and waiting on the Lord that He may reveal His mind to you. Forget about praying for the things you have always wanted, such as gifts, healings, blessing and power. Seek rather to find out what God wants. Enter into communion, personal relationship and unity with Christ until through association with Him you become a living representation of His mind and will. Be careful to maintain all that was gained in fasting and not to lose out by rushing back to much eating and drinking and living after the flesh. Our attitude should be as the attitude of Christ: “I have meat to eat that ye know not of.” Man shall not and must not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

We have already pointed out that all the mighty acts accomplished during the life of Jesus Christ were intended to be a typical display of the glory of the kingdom He will establish in the earth when He begins His reign. But be perfectly assured of this remarkable fact: Jesus Christ has been in the process of preparing the kingdom for almost two thousand years. His first message was, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” It was at hand when He spoke. The display of the glory of that age began with His ministry by which He demonstrated the power and glory and peace of His coming universal reign. After preaching the kingdom and displaying part of the excellent majesty of it, He then began to prepare through many fiery trials the elect people who will reign with Him in the inconceivable glory of that blessed age. The kingdom of God began to be established in individual, faithful, believing hearts. Christ enters the throne room of the believing heart. He takes the throne and begins to rule and govern and lead the believer till in him Christ is all, and all is Christ. This is the kingdom of God in you. In some Christians His kingdom is unable to gain a foothold and become established because the ground is not made fit for the seed. It is thorny, or stony, or full of weeds, or unreceptive as the uncultivated roadside, where, finding no root, it brings forth nothing, but is carried off by the birds of the air. See Mark 4:1-20. But in others, certainly not many, the seed of the kingdom brings forth fruit, some thirty, some sixty, some a hundredfold. Thus it has been through the centuries as God has prepared His kingdom in men. Let it be fully understood that all through the past nineteen hundred years or so the kingdom of God has been among us, not yet visible, not yet with observation (Luke 17:20), but within the elect and en-Christed ones. The King is ready. The sons are now prepared. Many are waiting in the dust of the earth because God has promised us that they without us will not be made perfect. (Heb. 11:39, 40) Very soon the en-Christed, whether asleep in graves or waiting here, will rise. They will join Christ in the air, which means the Spirit. They will stand in an entirely new realm, but not a strange realm, for we have already partaken somewhat of its glory. Like Paul who, though here on earth in body, was nevertheless caught up into the realm of the third heaven, so these en-Christed ones will stand where He stands forever with the Lord, that the kingdom reign may begin and spread its blessed government abroad in all the earth. Thus shall “Thy kingdom come and Thy will be done in earth as it is done in heaven.”

These spiritual realms are being entered here and now by some whether we know it or not. But Satan, knowing that his time is short, has great wrath and has come down to destroy this manchild as soon as he is born, for he is to rule all nations with a rod of iron. The tactics Satan uses are not what saints expect. He is destroying them with sleepiness, carelessness, much catering to the flesh, and with human zeal to accomplish things for God. Christians dread prayer and fasting but love crowds, excitement, and forms of godliness with imaginary power. These are the weapons Satan uses while God’s people sit looking for war or death or persecution to destroy them.

According to the gospel of John the second great work in our Lord’s ministry was the cleansing of the temple. (John 2:13-17) We have written pages now to show that you are the temple of God. There will never again be another temple made by hands that God will recognize. Even the mighty temple which Ezekiel described (Ezek. Chapters 41-48) must be understood to be the spiritual temple. Ezekiel’s temple can no more be physical than can the New Jerusalem which John saw descending from heaven as a bride adorned for her husband. (Rev. 21:2) The New Jerusalem, which is the bride of Christ (Rev. 21:9,10), is here portrayed as a magnificent city of surpassing splendor. I stand weak and trembling with awe before its magnificent radiance. I have no ability to unfold the significance of the beauty of its precious stones; but I know of a certainty that they are living stones, chosen of God and precious. I do not understand the blessedness of the twelve gates; but I know the gates are never closed by day, and there is no night at all. (Rev. 21:5) If Christ is the door by which men enter, surely the bride is the gate through which nations shall come. I do not understand the wall great and high that surrounded this city; but I know it was a living thing. What did the king of Israel mean in that highly spiritual writing we call the Song of Solomon when he said, “We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for? If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver (redemption): and if she be a door (gate), we will enclose her with boards of cedar (incorrupt-ion). / am a wall, and my breasts like towers; then was I in His eyes as one that found favor.” (S. of S. 8:8-10) This strange but beautiful meditation is spoken of the bride of Christ, the New Jerusalem, that holy city/w// of living stones, full of gates, with breasts like towers full of the milk of truth to nourish the nations who are yet to be saved and bring their glory and honor into it. (Verse 26)

The bride of Christ is the New Jerusalem. The bridegroom is the temple of the Lord, the sons of God, elect and chosen throughout the ages. Jesus Christ Himself is the head Son of this vast family of brothers. Adam was first formed, then Eve. The bridegroom is first formed, then the bride. The bridegroom company, God’s living temple will be ready, prepared, finished, and complete by the end of this age of grace. The bride company, the New Jerusalem, will be ready, prepared, finished, and complete at the end of the millennial kingdom. It was at the end of the millennial kingdom that John was carried away in the Spirit to behold the New Jerusalem descending from God out of heaven. With the marriage of Christ, the temple of God, to that mysterious, unspeakably wonderful New Jerusalem bride the mystery of God is complete; the seven days of this dispensational week are over; the eighth day, the day of new beginnings, has come; Eden has been restored, and the life of the ages has begun.

During the all important hours before our Lord Jesus Christ departed this world, He filled the moments with fervent reminders of things of greatest importance to us, vividly marking the rugged path which we who take the road to sonship and the kingdom of God must follow. What man, leaving on a long journey, does not call his loved ones to him and refresh their minds with his final and most important instructions? The things of greatest importance are the things he emphasizes the most often with solemn repetition. “The kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods.” Matt. 25:14 Thus the last days of our Lord’s earthly ministry were filled with reminders and instructions to those blessed ones whose hope it is to inherit the kingdom of God. With infinite care He explained what our relationship to the Father must be. He warned us of the severe tribulation and loneliness of the way. He made it very clear that our understanding of the purpose of God would be commensurate with our love for Him. “If a man love Me, My Father will love him, and We will come unto him and make Our abode with him.” It is not the learned and educated, nor the wise and prudent, who comprehend the deep things of God or who taste the glories of the kingdom, but “blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” It is not the “food, fun, and fellowship” crowd that enters in, but “blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.” The mountain peaks of joy that will brighten our morning are reached through the valleys of weeping that endure through our night. There is a blessing sent from God in every burden of sorrow. It is not the proud and violent, the high and mighty, nor the rich and affluent who inherit the earth, but “blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” Woolman said, “Selfish men may possess the earth; it is only the meek who inherit it from the heavenly Father.” It is those who hunger and thirst for righteousness who will be filled with the righteousness which Christ Himself is. Never repay your enemies in their own coin nor entertain the crude notion that one injustice deserves another. Remember rather that it is the merciful who will obtain mercy and the blessing of the Lord. The pure in heart will see God; therefore, if your eye be single (pure), your whole body will be full of light. But, if your eye be evil (mixed with self and selfishness) and your motives impure, then your body is full of darkness. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Christian people, I have observed, are carelessly prone to regard the awesome proclamations of Almighty God as nice little meaningless day dreams. It is comforting to believe in heaven because it’s nice to think the dead are there and we might have to go there someday, too. It is convenient to believe in God. Who knows? We just may happen to need Him. And isn’t it nice to know the kingdom will come someday and we won’t have to work or war anymore? They remind me of the millionaire socialite who, speaking in the stuffy accents of her sophistication, remarked, “In our set it is chic to be born again.” Oh, fools and slow of heart to believe! These mighty edicts, these divine fiats, are not for the stuffy, the sophisticated, the dilatory, the worldly minded, nor the careless but for those who hunger and thirst for the righteousness of God till all else fades into insignificance and for those who desire the words of His mouth more than their necessary food.

The dispensation of the kingdom of God is very, very near, even at the door. The hour to which we have come is all important. Let not your lamp be depleted of its oil lest you hear the Savior say, “Could ye not watch with Me one hour?” The kingdom of God is the purpose and focal point of all previous dispensations. Jesus said that the kingdom was prepared from the foundation of the world. (Matt. 25:34) All previous dispensations with all the beauty and power of their truth are combined in the glory of the kingdom of God. Awaken, then, and sleep not lest its morning come upon you unaware! The signs of the end of this age abound on every hand. Every sign that heralds the end of this age is at the same moment the swift and glorious harbinger of the kingdom of God in the earth.

Jesus spoke of a day when Jerusalem would be encompassed with armies. (Luke 21:20) She is completely surrounded now. He said men’s hearts would fail for fear. (Luke 21-25) Heart failure is one of the most merciless killers of the day. Fearful sights are everywhere as nature itself reacts with violence against man’s morbid abuse. Perilous times have come to an extent inconceivable even ten years ago. The violence and evil of Noah’s day with all its intermingling and mixing of things God made to be pure and separate are upon us, together with all the filth of Sodom. False prophets, false churches, and false christs abound as part and parcel of the Babylon system.

While all this confusion is consuming the world and the vast majority of professing Christians are falling in line with it, and while Babylon has become the habitation of devils and the hold of every unclean and hateful bird, the kingdom of God is coming to the fullness in the hearts of God’s elect, “You are a building which has been reared on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, the corner stone being Christ Jesus Himself, in union with whom the whole fabric, truly bonded together, is rising to form a holy sanctuary in the Lord; in whom you also are built up together to become a fixed abode for God through the Spirit.” Eph. 2:20-22 (Weymouth) The kingdom within you will soon be complete. The kingdom of God without and in the earth is now at hand. Everywhere you look the kingdoms of this world are falling to pieces. The feet of iron and clay are smitten. Soon we shall hear the triumphant cry, “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign unto the ages of the ages.” Amen.