“KINGDOM OF HEAVEN”—“THE HEAVENS”—“THE HEAVENLIES.”

“Kingdom of heaven” is a phrase of very frequent occurrence in the New Testament. It is one of those particular names or phrases which distinguish the things pertaining to the economy of which Jehovah is the builder and maker. “With the true import of these names and phrases,” says Dr. George Campbell, “it is of great consequence that we be acquainted, in order to form a distinct apprehension of the nature and end of the whole. A very small deviation here may lead some into gross mistakes, and conceal from others in a considerable degree, the spirit which this institution breathes, and the discoveries which it brings.” We agree with the doctor entirely in this sentiment; but regret very much that so candid a man should have fallen a victim to the “very small deviation” he labored to preserve others from. He has rendered basileia by reign instead of kingdom in the phrase kingdom of heaven; so that he translates me’anoeite; eggike gar he basileia ton ouranon, the proclamation of John and Jesus,

“Reform; for the reign of heaven approaches.”

The rule by which he translates basileia is, that “when it refers to the time it ought to be rendered reign, and when to place, kingdom;” though he admits that “in some of the parables, it evidently means administration, or method of governing; and in one of them, the word denotes royalty, or royal authority”—Luke 19: 12, 15. He considers that in the proclamation of John and Jesus basileia had respect to time, and ought therefore to be rendered reign. That the reign of God, or of heaven, was about to commence. This, however, is contrary to fact. God’s reign over Israel commenced when he made a covenant with them at Sinai, saying,

“If ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. And all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do”—

Exodus 19: 5-8.

From this time God reigned over them, and after some hundreds of years elapsed, “gave unto them Saul the son of Kish; and when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king;” of whose seed he raised unto Israel, Jesus: “when John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel”—Acts 13: 21-24. And although in John’s day they were without a king of the house of David, God reigned over them through the institutions of the covenant he bestowed upon them and which they accepted at Sinai. He reigned over Israel then in the land both spiritually and politically—spiritually, because “all the people were baptised”—Luke 3: 21, “that heard John,” except “the Pharisees and Lawyers, who rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptised of John”—Luke 7: 29-30. This being the state of affairs, repentance could not be proclaimed on the ground of “the reign of God approaching,” seeing that it already existed.

But in the above passage from Acts, Paul teaches that the advent of the King of Israel was preceded by John’s proclamation; or in other words, that the manifestation of Jesus and his acknowledgment by the Father as Son of God was his coming, and not his birth of Mary: for he says, “John first preached before his coming,” or, “pro prosopou tes eisodou autou, before the manifestation of his approach.” John was six months older than Jesus, yet he said, “he that cometh after me is mightier than I,” though he was then standing in their midst unknown to John and the people as King of Israel, or Messiah.

It was well understood by the Jews that the promised king and saviour of the nation was to be the Son of God. For in the prophets which were read in their synagogues every Sabbath day, they were taught that “a child should be born, and a son given to them”—Isaiah 9: 6-7; that he should be at once Son of David and Son of God; that he should sit on David’s throne as the throne of his kingdom; and that Jehovah would establish him upon it for ever—2 Samuel 7: 12-16; Psalm 89: 3-4, 29, 36; Acts 2: 30. So that Son of God and King of Israel were inseparable ideas, which appears from the case of Nathaniel, who exclaimed with admiration,

                        “Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel”—John 1: 49.

John the Baptiser, Jesus, and the apostles, then, in their proclamation before the crucifixion, announced neither the reign nor the kingdom in regard to time or place, when they preached that “the basileia of God or of heaven was at hand.” Their proclamation had regard to the person or king of heaven. His actual presence among them, and approaching manifestation, were made the ground of repentance. While John preached, the manifestation was approaching; but when Jesus began his announcement, the manifestation had become a fact, and he declared himself to be the King and Heir of David’s throne.

“Repent; for the King of heaven has arrived.” The word in the Greek is in the plural, and ought to be so rendered in the English. The king of Israel is styled the basileia ton ouranon, or the King of the Heavens—the royal authority of the kingdoms. Dr. George Campbell in remarking upon the word says, “There are two senses wherein the word heaven in this expression may be understood. Either it signifies the place called heaven, or it is a metonymy for God, who is in scripture, sometimes by periphrasis, denominated he that dwelleth in heaven. When the place is the sense of the term ouranois, the phrase is properly rendered the kingdom of heaven; when God is the meaning of the word, the reign of heaven.” According to his rule that time and not place is indicated in the phrase before us, he renders it “reign of heaven” as the synonym of “the reign of God.” But this cannot be admitted for reasons already before the reader.

Without denying that “heavens” is a word that sometimes signifies God in scripture, we remark that this is not its import in the phrase basileia ton ouranon, or, royal authority of the heavens. We concede that basileia tou theou is used by Mark in his testimony as the record of what Jesus preached. They are not, however, of exactly the same import in the case. The basileia tou theou is the royalty of God, which is the basileia ton ouranon or royal authority of the heavens. Jesus proclaimed that God’s royalty had come, and afterwards argued with the rulers that he was himself the personage to whom it was attached. Being God’s royal son he claimed “the heavens,” or “kingdoms of the world,” as “Heir of all things”—Hebrews 1: 2—“that are in heavens—en tois ouranois—and that are upon the earth—Daniel 7: 14, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers”—he claimed them all as being created (dia) on account of him, and (eis) for him; he being (pro) above them all, and all of them consisting (en) because of him. —Colossians 1: 16-17.

“The Heavens,” hoi ouranoi, are the same as “the heavenlies,” hoi epouranioi—Ephesians 6: 12. “The Heavens” imports the aggregation of “the heavenlies.” A “throne” is a heavenly; so is a “dominion:” a “principality” is a heavenly; and so also is a “power.” A dominion is called a heavenly, because it is ouranos epi tes ges a heaven over the earth, that is, a government over the people. The heavenlies were, and still are, occupied by the pneumatika tes ponerias, or spirits of wickedness, termed “wicked spirits,” in the margin of the place. These were the “kosmokrators,” or world’s rulers, whom Paul styles, “the world rulers of the darkness of this age,” with whom he contended—kosmokratores tou skotous tou aionas toutou; called also “principalities and powers,” because these were possessed by them. He wrestled not with flesh and blood as a gladiator or athlete, to propagate the faith; but with Councils, Kings, Governors, Emperors, and inferior magistrates; who were all “the children of disobedience,” who walked according to the aion tou kosmou toutou the constitution of this order, termed “the course of this world” in the text; that is, according to the pagan order of things which prevailed in the Roman empire. This order was pervaded in all its constituents or elements, by “ the spirit” of idolatry, which in the apostle’s day, “worked in the children of disobedience.” It energised the Archon of the government, styled by Paul, the archon tes exousias tou aeros, or ruler of the dominion of the air; the Chief and Imperial Pontiff of the empire called the Pontifex Maximus, together with all the heathen under his jurisdiction—Ephesians 2: 2. This archon, or prince, was Caesar, to whom Paul appealed. “The dominion of the air” was the heavenly, or high place, he occupied; a heavenly, which still exists, though changed in its constitution, being now papal instead of pagan. In the days of Jesus and his apostles “the dominion of the air” was a civil and ecclesiastical pagan despotism under one head; but now it is a papal despotism under several heads, such as the Emperor of Austria, the Pope, and the Kings of the Roman territory bounded by the Rhine, Danube, &c. The heavenlies occupied by these worldrulers in the aggregate are styled “the air” in the Revelation—Revelation 16: 17; into which the Seventh Angel empties his Vial. This commenced in 1830, and will continue to affect the governments, or heavenlies, until the “great voice in the heaven” shall be accomplished, saying,

“The Kingdoms of the world are become our Lord’s, and his Anointed’s, and he shall reign until the ages of the ages”—eis tous aionas ton aionon—

Revelation 11: 15.

This is tantamount to saying, “The heavenlies are become the Heavens of our Lord, and of his King’s, and he shall reign until the kingdom is surrendered to the Father that God may be all and in all.”

It was the high honor of the faithful in early days to announce the “eternal purpose” of Jehovah in regard to “the powers that be,” to “them that dwell in the heaven.” The Gentiles and their rulers were to be made acquainted with God’s “purpose” concerning them, styled “the manifold wisdom of God.” This wisdom was a hidden secret, which the Gentiles could not search out for themselves; and therefore the treasures it reveals are termed “the unsearchable riches.” The wisdom so invaluable, and undiscoverable by human effort, was concealed from the ages in God’s own mind, by whom all things were created on account of Jesus Christ. Now, glory, and honor, incorruptibility and life, the world, things present, and things to come, are among the riches exhibited in the manifold wisdom of God. This wisdom, then, being hidden from the Gentiles, it must be obvious, that all their philosophical speculations and reveries upon any or all of these subjects must have been in vain. They were ignorant of God’s eternal purpose in relation to individuals, nations, governments, and all other things. Their ignorance alienated them from God’s life—Ephesians 4: 18, which is eternal. Their darkened understandings could not discover the constitution of man; nor could they search out his destiny, or that of the world which he inhabits. It is therefore clear as a sunbeam, that all their wisdom, or rather “foolishness,” which Paul styles “the wisdom of the world,” did not contain the true doctrine of immortality, nor the purpose for which all things consist.

Paul was pre-eminent in this work of turning the Gentiles from darkness to light, or of making them acquainted with “the eternal purpose of God which he ratified in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

“To me,” says he, “who am the least of all the saints, is this grace given, that I should publish the good news (euaggelisasthai) among the nations (even) the inscrutable riches of Christ; and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the ages has been hid in God, by whom all things were created on account of Jesus Christ; to the intent that now to the principalities and powers in the heavenlies might be made known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the purpose, which from the ages, he ratified in Christ Jesus our Lord”—Ephesians 3: 8-11.

If the reader accompany Paul in his several tours to Corinth, Ephesus, Athens, &c., recorded in Acts, he will readily see into the manifold wisdom of God, even the good news which he published to the principalities and the powers there. In Ephesus, he preached repentance, the kingdom of God, and Jesus the Anointed king—Acts 19: 8; 20: 21, 24-25; and in Athens before the Areopagus, repentance on the ground of God having appointed a day in the which he will rule the world in righteousness by a man whom he has ordained, the ratification of which he had given in raising him from the dead—Acts 17: 31. Here was the purpose which God had purposed in his own mind before the institution of the Mosaic Ages, revealed to the Athenian Senate. John and Jesus proclaimed repentance, because the king of the heavens had come; and Paul, because his kingdom would be set up at a certain appointed time, when all things in the heavens would be possessed by him.

But in relation to the publication of the good news by the faithful, how changed are things compared with what they were in apostolic times! Then the faithful, who in the aggregate composed “the church,” made known the inscrutable riches of God’s purpose to thrones, and dominions, principalities and powers; but now these “ things in the heavens”—Ephesians 1: 10, or heavenlies, are accessible only to those who know not the truth. The spirits of wickedness in the heavenlies have no ear for any thing but papal and protestant traditions. But, we suppose, it is all as it should be. The gospel of the kingdom was not sent to the heavenlies with the expectation of converting their occupants into joint-heirs with Christ of the future dispensation. The faithful were to “be brought before rulers and kings for Christ’s sake, for a testimony against them”—Mark 13: 9. To leave them without excuse. The gospel was good news to the people; but also a declaration of war against their governments and rulers. The authorities regarded it as such; and decreed that no one should proclaim any other king than Caesar—Acts 17: 7. But the pagan heavenlies of the Roman habitable have long since fallen before the power of the Invisible, whose adherents “overcame them by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them”—Revelation 12: 11. Yea, and they did rejoice; for the christian party and their chief possessed themselves of the honor, glory, and dominion of the Roman world.

But with the possession of the heavenlies the victors released their hold upon the anchor within the veil. They had founded a “christian” kingdom with Constantine and his successors, instead of Jesus, for their Head. So enamoured were they of this that they celebrated its praise as the kingdom of God itself, saying with acclamation,

“Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Anointed: for the accuser of our brethren (the pagan power) is cast down”—Revelation 12: 10.

Under this impression they look no more for the coming of the Son of Man in power and great glory to build again the tabernacle of David, and the ruins thereof, and to set it up as in the days of old—Acts 15: 6; Amos 9: 11. The kingdom according to them was established; and the saints possessed it. Judgment was now in their hands, and they would execute it according to their will and pleasure. Their hope was no longer the gospel hope. Having embraced the pagan tradition of immortal-soulism they lost sight of the resurrection, and the restoration of the kingdom again to Israel—Acts 1: 6; 3: 21, and surrendered themselves to the delusion, that their souls would fly away at death to regions of eternal day where they would revel in the delights of Paradise for ever with the Lord.

The extinction of the hope paved the way for an entire corruption, and apostacy from the faith. Their “christian” kingdom soon degenerated into a dark and cruel despotism; and became as ripe for destruction as the pagan “principalities and powers in the heavenlies” that preceded them. But that utter barbarism might not extinguish their dominion at once, their kingdom was divided into east and west. The civilisation of the age still found an asylum in the east, while the judgments of God fell with terrible severity upon the west, whose heavens were darkened again by the night of pagan superstition—Revelation 8: 12. The barbaric hordes of Germany and the north then established themselves in the countries that now acknowledge the spiritual sovereignty of the Bishop of Rome. The conquered imperialists, however, while they lost their dominion, succeeded in proselyting their victors to their own excessive, but less flagrant, superstition and impiety. The Roman and German delusions were blended, and became stronger than either of them alone; and grew into the Papalism of “the Dark Ages.” This mingling of the seed of men—Daniel 2: 43, that is, the melting down, as it were, of the victors and the vanquished into one common mass, and their adoption of a common superstition, laid the foundation of a civil and ecclesiastical system of things in Europe, which is now illustrated by the Papal Kingdoms which existed upon the continental territory of old Rome. Though they have arisen from a mingled mass, yet do they not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay; for though “God hath put it in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the Beast until his words shall be fulfilled”—Revelation 17: 17, yet are they individually, at least seven of them, independent, and antagonist kingdoms, seeking their own aggrandisement at the expense of one another. These kingdoms, together with those dominions, principalities, and powers which occupy the Continent between the Rhine, the Baltic, the Ural Mountains, the Black Sea, and the Danube, with Persia, Turkey, and Egypt, have none of them been evangelised as “the heavenlies” were which existed contemporarily with the apostles. God has not yet dealt with the modern heavenlies as with the ancient ones. He has had his witnesses among the nations who have “kept his commandments, and had the testimony of Jesus Christ,” to whom mankind are indebted for the little light and liberty that exists among them; but they have been unable to make known to the principalities and powers in the heavenlies the manifold wisdom of God. They could not gain access to them; and had they even stood in their presence, and reasoned with them from the prophets as the apostles did, not being attested by divine power, or miracle, the rulers would have resolved it all into mere heretical opinion. Their testimony would not have come home to them with power. Luther and his colaborers, indeed, prophesied in the presence of “them that dwell in the heaven”—before princes, kings, and emperors—but then they themselves knew not the unsearchable riches of Christ, and could not therefore make them known. They were protesters against popery and advocates of liberty to some extent, but had no claim to be regarded as preachers of the kingdom of God. Since their day more bibles have been circulated than for fifteen centuries before; comparatively few of them, however, have been scattered among the papal nations. Their rulers have proscribed it as a dangerous book; neither reading it themselves nor permitting their subjects to possess it. Their loyalty to the Beast has superinduced this fatal policy—fatal to the well-being of some of their people; but conducive to the perpetuity of their governments which are enthroned in popular ignorance and superstition. But had all the nations of Europe been like England, the papal kingdoms would not have given their power to the Beast. Now it is evident from the testimony adduced, that God desired that they should do so for the carrying out of his ulterior purpose, or he would not have put it in their hearts. We cannot but conclude, therefore, that he has influenced them to exclude the light of his truth from their dominions that they mat precipitate themselves upon that destiny which he is preparing for them, and which is necessary for the development of the crisis through which the revelation of Jesus Christ will be brought to pass. They are under “times of ignorance,” in which “he suffers them all to walk in their own ways”—Acts 14: 16; 17: 30. Those who are able to enlighten them cannot get at them; and if they could, it would be useless; for their eyes are blinded that they may not see. The good news of God’s eternal purpose has never reached their ears. It is as inaudible among the heavenlies as it is among the dead who are in their graves. But will this always be the case? Will remediless destruction come upon them unwarned? Did God forewarn the antediluvians by Noah, the Egyptians by Moses, the Ninevites by Jonah, and Judah and the pagan principalities and powers in the heavenlies by the apostles, and will he not also give the existing governments of the world warning; and afford them scope for the acceptance of peace or war with Him who claims the heavens as his inheritance? We shall answer this hereafter.

EDITOR.

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