BRITISH-ISRAEL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume LV, Issue 4571, 12 November 1935, Page 4

BRITISH-ISRAEL.

EXPOSITORY COLUMN.

By D.S.M.

No. 39. THE KINGDOM OF GOD.A clergyman once remarked to the writer that the Gospel of Matthew was the least Christian of the Gospels. The reason for this curious statement is no doubt that his conception of Christ’s teaching was further from Matthew’s point of view than from the other Gospel writers, an'd the difference is due to the divorce in the mind of our clerical friend of Christianity from the practical affairs of life. To Matthew, Jesus ‘was essentially the King, and the theme of his writing is the record of the teaching of Jesus about the Kingdom of God. When Jesus came to this earth, He was born

THE KING OP THE JEWS, and it was as the King of the Jews that Herod feared Him, and it was because of His kingly claim that the Jews hounded Him to the cross.

The first part of the public teaching of Jesus which Matthew records is the Sermon on the Mount. There Jesus ratified the laws of Moses, the law which God gave at Sinai for the guidance of those whom’ He had chosen to be unto Him a kingdom of priests. Of the law, He *said, “Whosoever therefoi’e shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but v whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” If from this passage one should derive sanction for the pagan and papal doctrine of justification by works, then it might be said that Matthew is the least Christian of the Gospels, for it is written that the 1 GIFT OF GOD is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Our hope of eternal life is not’by any righteousness of our own, but entirely by the grace of God through Jesus Christ.. But if we divest our minds of preconceived notions about the Kingdom of God, we will at once see that Jesus is not here speaking about justification, but of the standard of greatness in His Kingdom. It is at once apparent that in the Kingdom of God there are breakers of the Divine law. They will be least in the Kingdom of God. v In this passage Jesus declared the standard which must obtain in His Kingdom. We must not lose sight of the fact that He was declaring the Good News that the Kingdom of God was at hand. He was even tl;en, in the Sermon."on the Mount, ' ISSUING A MANIFESTO concerning the Jaws which must govern the : subjects of His Kingdom. We know that the rulers of the Jews rejected Jesus as King, and rejected His system of law as well. Jesus therefore had no use for them as administrators of His Kingdom, 'and He said to them, “The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you.”

Wiliat was the world’s standard of greatness in the time of Jesus? He who was.rich (no matter how those riches were amassed) and able to maintain a fine outward show: of such were the great ones of the earth. But this was not the standard of Christ’s Kingdom. His Kingdom must be based upon whole hearted obedience to the laws of God as given to Moses. This was not intolerance burden of punctilio that He was laying upon men, for He himself- would through His love placed by His Spirit in the hearts of His followers cause OBEDIENCE TO BE SPONTANEOUS.

Indeed, so confident was He of Has power to write His law in the hearts of the people,, that He took the opportunity to amend the laws of Moses, giving them a more perfect. righteousness. Moses condemned murder and adultery, but Jesus forbade the angry or lustful thought from, which murder and adultery spring.

Elsewhere Jesus tells us that service is the standard of greatness in His Kingdom. This is all very practical and everyday teaching. We see the two standards for measuring greatness in operation in our own day. On the one hand the man is exalted who has amassed money (by whatever means) and is able to make a fine- outward show. This is the world’s ‘measure of greatness. On the other hand, Christ’s standard is obendience to His law, which includes loving service.

When Jesus was in the Judgment Hall of Pilate on the charge of claiming to he the King of the Jews, He said, MY KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD:

if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.” “World” means “world order.” Not on military power, wealth, and worldly pomp could Jesus build His kingdom, but on obedience to Divine law, on righteousness which springs from the heart, and upon willing service.

God said that He would write His law in the hearts of His people Israel. How far that process has been already accomplished is evident from the fact that already, however we may unconsciously toady to the rich and powerful, the man or the woman whom the nation really delights to honour is the law abiding citizen who gives the most generous service. It is because the people of Britain respect law and order, and

peace, and because they have served well the cause of justice and mercy, that Britain is respected by other nations. This, of course, is not a matter for self glory, for it is written of the “servants of the Lord” that “their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.”