The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, vol. 73

September 8, 1896

“Who Shall Reign?” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 73, 36, pp. 570, 571.

“THE kingdom of God is within you.” To see that this is a universal truth it is necessary only to read the connection, and know to whom these words were originally spoken. Here is the passage: “And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” Luke 17:21, 22. ARSH September 8, 1896, page 570.1

Those Pharisees were not believers in Christ. On the contrary, they were constantly spying upon him, laying traps for him, persecuting him, and laying plans to kill him. And yet to these and such as these the Lord says, “The kingdom of God is within you.” And when this is true of such as those, it is evident that it is true of everybody in the world: and that it is a universal truth that the kingdom of God is in man. And if God is not recognized and allowed to reign in his kingdom that is within, it matters not to such persons when the outward kingdom and reign may come; they can have no part in it anyhow; it would mean only destruction and perdition to them. ARSH September 8, 1896, page 570.2

Man was made to glorify God. “I have created him for my glory.” Christ came into the world to make manifest the purpose of God in the creation and existence of man; and when he had finished his course upon the earth, he said to the Father, “I have glorified thee on the earth.” In order to glorify God on the earth, “he emptied himself.” And when he emptied himself, and took the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, God dwelt in him, and worked in him, and was manifest in him so entirely that none but God was seen in all his life. And thus be glorified, he made manifest, God on the earth. ARSH September 8, 1896, page 570.3

This is God’s purpose in the creation and existence of man: and this is that which will be manifest in all intelligences in the universe when the grand work of redemption shall have been completed. For when the end comes; when Christ shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when God shall have put all things under Christ’s feet, and so shall have subdued all things unto the Son, “then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.” Then all that will be in any one, or that will be manifest in any one, will be God. And thus God being all in each one, he will be all in all of them. This was God’s purpose concerning man when he created him. The purpose was that God, and God alone, should be manifest in the man. The purpose was that God should dwell in him and walk in him, that God alone should reign in him and rule over him. This was the condition of the man when God put him upon the earth and in the garden. Thus God established his temple, his throne, and his kingdom, in man. And thus it is that to all mankind it is true that “the kingdom of God is within you.” ARSH September 8, 1896, page 570.4

Yet the Lord made man free. God cannot have any compulsory or necessitous service. And to be happy, even with God, man must be free. His service, even to God, to be happy service must be from choice, willingly and freely made. “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.” Whosoever will, let him come. And in the nature of things, freedom of choice to serve the Lord, carries with it freedom of choice not to do so. When God established his kingdom in man to reign there, he would reign there, he could reign there, only upon the man’s choice. And the Lord put the man in the garden, and arranged everything there for the exercise of his freedom of choice. He put the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the midst of the garden, and with no boundary about it. Access to this tree was left as open as to any others, except in the word of the Lord, “Thou shalt not eat of it.” And whether he would eat of it or not was for the man to choose. ARSH September 8, 1896, page 570.5

And the man did choose the wrong way. And he did this by choosing to follow the will and the way of another than God. And in so choosing, he did choose that another than God should have a place in him. And thus be allowed a usurper to enter this kingdom of God, and occupy the throne there, and demand worship in this temple that was in him. Yet the kingdom is of right the Lord’s, even though the usurper has occupied it. The throne is the Lord’s, even though the usurper sits upon it. Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord; and it was still the throne of the Lord, though Solomon afterward sat upon it in iniquity. The temple is of right the Lord’s, even though a false god is there, and a false worship be conducted there. It is “in the temple of God” that the great usurper sits “as God,” “showing himself that he is God.” Thus it is that the kingdom is God’s, even though the usurper be ruling in it; and the throne is the Lord’s, even though the usurper be occupying it. And thus it is true that to every man that cometh into the world the word is spoken, “The kingdom of God is within you.” ARSH September 8, 1896, page 570.6

Then the further question comes to every man that cometh into the world, Who shall reign in this kingdom? Will you have the usurper to reign there? or will you allow the rightful King to reign there? Will you have the usurper to reign there only to your ruin? or will you have the rightful King reign there only to salvation? Shall the usurper occupy the throne only in iniquity? or shall the rightful Lord occupy it only in righteousness? Shall the usurper rule only to shame? or will you have the One “whose right it is” to rule there only to glory, both present and eternal? This is the consideration that presents itself to the constant thought and the ever present choice of all mankind. And therefore the living and ever-present word is, “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve.” “To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” To-day, “while it is called To-day,” “if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” “Now is the accepted time; ... now is the day of salvation.” ARSH September 8, 1896, page 570.7

“The kingdom of God is within you.” Who shall reign in this kingdom in you? Who shall reign there “now,” “to-day,” “While it is called To-day”? Choose ye, choose ye, “choose ye this day” who. All that the rightful King asks of you, that he may take his own place in his own kingdom, and reign there, is that by an active, intelligent choice, you shall now choose him to reign. For, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him.” “My Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” “I will dwell in them and walk in them, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.” “I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts.” “I will be thy King.” Then in its full, true, and rightful sense, will the kingdom of God be in you; for there is the kingdom, and there will then be the King, the throne, and the laws of the kingdom. ARSH September 8, 1896, page 571.1

“The kingdom of God is within you.” Choose ye this day who shall sit and rule in that kingdom. Choose that the rightful King shall have his own place in his own kingdom. He cannot reign there without your choice. Upon your choice he will reign; he will reign the King that he is, with the power that is his—with power “by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; ... that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” Then God will be manifest in you, and you will glorify God on the earth. ARSH September 8, 1896, page 571.2

This was the purpose of God when he created man at the first; and this is his purpose in creating him again in Christ Jesus. Choose ye this day that this purpose shall be met in you. And not to choose is to choose. Not to choose that God shall reign, is to choose that he shall not reign. And to choose that God shall not reign, is to choose that Satan—the usurper—shall reign. Not to choose that God shall be glorified in you, is to choose that he shall not be glorified in you. And to choose that God shall not be glorified in you, is to choose that Satan shall be glorified in you. And for God to be glorified in you, self must be emptied, that God may be all. Self must be emptied in all, that God may be all in all. ARSH September 8, 1896, page 571.3

A. T. J.