A correspondent, calling
attention to recent statements to the effect that the kingdom of God is wholly
future, and that there is no such thing as a kingdom of God on earth today,
that in fact it does not exist, asks how we are to understand the following
texts:

  “Philip preaching the things
concerning the kingdom of God” (Acts 8:12).

  “Paul … preaching the
kingdom of God, and teaching,” etc. (Acts 28:30,31).

  “Delivered us from the
power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son”
(Col. 1:13).

  “I, John … in the kingdom
and patience of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 1:9).

  “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost”
(Rom. 14:17).

  In the view of the kingdom
above mentioned this last verse is considered to have a future, not present,
application, and so indeed with all references to the kingdom. That also would
mean, I suppose, that even John 3 in which seeing and entering the kingdom are
spoken of must be of future application if there is no kingdom of God on earth today.

  This view evidently swings
to the opposite extreme from that which denies dispensational distinctions and
refuses to admit Israel’s future place and glory as God’s nation on earth in
the coming time of the kingdom during the Millennial age. This latter teaching
cannot be too firmly resisted, but we must guard against the other extreme
also, for this too will involve us in confusion and contradiction.

  If we think of the kingdom
of God in the future, as far as this world is concerned we think of the
manifestation of the power and glory of Christ as King, reigning over the
earth, Israel being restored, saved, and made first of the nations, as prophecy
abundantly declares. Then, too, there will be no other kingdom as there is now,
for Satan will be imprisoned, he and his hosts being cast out of the
heavenlies, so that there is an end to the rule and influence of those
“principalities,” “rulers of the darkness of this world,” and “spiritual
wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12). Against these we now struggle. Only at
the end of the Millennium Satan will be loosed for a brief final act of
rebellion.

  It is certain that the kingdom of God does not now exist on earth after this manner. Scripture leads us to
believe that two kingdoms exist today. The one that will not exist in that
future age is present in power today, and so also is the kingdom of God in a present form suited to the time. Both are of moral and spiritual character—that of
Satan is darkness, that of God, now and ever, light, for God is
light. Now men are passing from the former into the latter by the work of the
Holy Spirit through the Word. Thus are blind eyes opened to “see,” and those
who see “enter” the kingdom of God. They are turned “from darkness to light,
and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of
sins, and inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith that is in Me”
(Acts 26:18). Thus delivered from “the power [or authority] of darkness,” they
are “translated into the kingdom of His dear Son in whom we have redemption
through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins,” for in this way the Father
makes “us meet [or fit] to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in
light” (Col. 1:12-14). Such were once darkness, but thus they become light in
the Lord (Eph. 5:8). Those made fit by the Father to be partakers of the
inheritance of saints in light are already saints as sanctified in Christ
Jesus, and begin now to participate in their inheritance as a result of present
divine operation. They thus have a present as well as future “inheritance in
the kingdom of Christ and of God” (Eph. 5:5).

  Peter assures a richly
furnished entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ, if there is diligence in doing the things spoken of (2 Pet. 1:4-11).
This has its bearing for the present and the future. For all such there is that
in the future as to the kingdom which they do not now possess except in hope,
but there is that which they have of that kingdom in the present which proves
its present existence. This is found in the things, in the first fruits, of the
Spirit, and it is summarized for us in Rom. 14:17.

  Paul’s words to the elders
of Ephesus are significant. He testified of repentance toward God and faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ, and speaks of the ministry received of the Lord
Jesus to testify the glad tidings of the grace of God. He could affirm that he
had not failed to announce all the counsel of God. But in all this he had gone
about preaching the kingdom of God (Acts 20:21-27). These things then pertained
to it, and gave to those accepting such a ministry of grace present participation
in what that kingdom really meant, while as to outward conditions on the earth
they might be accounted sheep for the slaughter and endure present suffering
for the sake of the kingdom, since in the present we are found brethren and
fellow-partakers in the tribulation and kingdom and patience in Jesus (Rev. 1:9
JND).

  When Paul disputed and
persuaded as to the things concerning the kingdom of God (Acts 19:8), it could
hardly be exclusively what was future, and then as now non-existent, for it is
immediately mentioned that some did not believe and spoke evil of “that
way”—surely that way of present faith in Christ and the attendant blessings.

  In another place the
apostle speaks of those who were his fellow-workers for the kingdom of God (Col. 4:11).

  Again, Paul enumerates the
works of those who “shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:19-21). They
have no fitness to be partakers of the inheritance of saints in light. And then
he immediately says:“But the fruit of the Spirit,” etc. There are those in
whom that fruit is now produced. Thus they in the present inherit that kingdom,
for such live by the Spirit and walk in the Spirit. This cannot be apart from
righteousness, peace, and joy in the Spirit—the kingdom of God. This will still be true when the kingdom is manifested in glory on the earth; but
believers who have not the glory as yet produce the Spirit’s fruit, enjoy His
first fruits, and are partakers in those moral and spiritual features which
belong to God’s kingdom both now and forever, in present tribulation as in
future glory. Both aspects of truth have their place, neither can be set aside
without spiritual loss.