1889 Watch Tower - A2Z.org

operation with the Lord Jesus, then the King of kings.--1 Cor.6:2.LOOKING FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD.No student of the Bible can have overlooked the fact that theconstant themeR1093 : page 3of our Lord and his apostles was the coming Kingdom of God.The Jewish people, as a nation, had for centuries expectedMessiah's coming, to be the ruler of the world; and theynaturally expected that as he was to come out of their nation,they would be his soldiers, co-workers, and joint-heirs in thatkingdom. They knew themselves to be the natural seed ofAbraham, and inferred that they were indispensable to God'splan. They saw not, that spiritual children of God, of the faithand loyalty of Abraham, were meant by the promise.But the real greatness of the promised kingdom and its work ofblessing were not appreciated by Israel: they expected akingdom similar to the kingdoms of this world; that Messiah, asa fleshly being of the seed of Abraham, would establish hiskingdom at Jerusalem, and that his glory would be the earthlyglory of purpleR1093 : page 4and fine linen and gold and silver and the usual accompanimentsof earthly royalty. And their pride and ambition longed for thetime when this promised king should exalt himself above theCaesars, and them above all the nations of the earth. Hence theirrejection of him who came humbly, born in a manger, with noassumptions of titles, or earthly honors, or influence, or evenfriends; and yet he came proclaiming the kingdom of heaven athand and himself the promised king.So thoroughly impressed upon the Jewish mind, was thethought, that Messiah's coming meant the establishment of akingdom of righteousness, that several times the "commonpeople" would have taken Christ by force to make him king; buthe withdrew, that their ardor might cool, knowing that they whoshouted "Hosanna to the Son [and heir] of David" were not theclass whom the Father designed should be the joint-heirs withhim of that kingdom. He knew too, that the Father's time for hisexaltation to power had not yet come, and that first he must dieto purchase those whom he was to afterward reign over,--towhom he might therefore restore the original blessings andfavors lost for all through Adam's failure. --Rom. 5:12-19.Like others, the twelve apostles held this hope of the kingdom,and believed Christ to be the promised Messiah, or King ofkings. And our Lord Jesus, so far from ever contradicting theirideas, always encouraged them, and told them that they should