WHAT IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD?

It is that spiritual state in which the life of God and of heaven is made accessible to

men, and they enter into its enjoyment here on earth. If we ask what its marks are we

find the answer in the wondrous change we see in the life of the disciples.

The mark of a kingdom is the presence of the king. With the Holy Spirit Christ

came down to be with His disciples as really, and more nearly, than when He was

with them in the flesh. The abiding nearness and fellowship of Christ, and in Him of

God the Father, is the very central blessing of the Kingdom. This experience was

what the Holy Spirit at Pentecost made real. The disciples had their Lord with them as

consciously as the angels in heaven. His presence made heaven all around and in

them. A believer to whom a full entrance into the Kingdom is given, has the Presence

The mark of the kingdom is the rule of the king. We read, “His Kingdom ruleth

over all.” Before Pentecost the disciples could not love or be humble, could not trust

or be bold. But when the kingdom came the dominion of God prevailed, God’s

Presence through the Holy Spirit gained the victory, sin was overcome, and the will of

God done in them to pray, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as in

heaven,” He promised this. As the Kingdom came down with the Holy Ghost the

promise was fulfilled. And our entering into the kingdom means our being brought

into a life in which God rules over all, His will is truly and joyfully done, and all the

blessedness that reigns in heaven finds its counterpart here below. As it is written,

“The Kingdom of God is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”

The mark of a kingdom is power. “The Kingdom of God is not in word but in

power.” Just think of the work these simple fishermen dared to undertake, and were

able to accomplish. Think of the weapon with which they had to do their work – the

despised Gospel of the crucified Nazarene. Think of all that God wrought through

them, and see how the coming of the Kingdom brought a new power from heaven by

which feeble men were made mighty through God, and the slaves of Satan were made

God’s holy children.

Believers! it is this Kingdom of God come from heaven we preach. We come to

tell you that a life in the presence and the will and the power of God, has been opened

up, that men have been brought to enter into it and live in it, and that you too can

enter in. There are some of you who are confessing the feebleness of your Christian

life, and the failure of all your efforts to make it better. You have believed in Jesus as

your Saviour, but of an entrance into the Kingdom as it came in power you know

nothing. I beseech you begin at once to-night and believe that there is such a life in

the kingdom here on earth. Believe that Christ’s death wrought such a wonderful and

complete redemption, and that the coming down of the Holy Spirit, nothing else but

the glorified Christ coming in the Spirit, brought down the heavenly life in such

reality, that, even as the first disciples, we can be endued with power on high. If you

will believe that, if you hold fast, there is a kingdom of heaven on earth, your desire

will be stirred to become partakers of its blessedness, and as we point out the way

how, your hope will begin to see that this life is even for you too. And you will

WHAT IS IT TO ENTER THE KINGDOM