The Glories of the Kingdom

A believer somewhere in the United States towards the end of the seventeenth century was asked about his faith and what his hope was. This is what he wrote. (By permission from the Library of Congress.)

The Future promised kingdom of Christ is an event unspeakably happy and glorious. The Scriptures speak of that time as a time, wherein God and His Son Jesus Christ will be most eminently glorified on earth; a time, wherein God, who till then concealed Himself in the thick darkness, should openly shine forth, and all flesh should see His glory, and His saints made unspeak­ably happy in the view of His glory, the light of which should be much more glorious than the light of the sun or moon, so that “the moon shall be confounded and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of Hosts should reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, before His ancients gloriously. “It is represented as a time of vast increase of knowledge and understanding, especially in divine things; a time wherein God would “destroy the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil spread over all nations.” A time wherein holiness should be, as it were, inscribed on everything, on all men’s common business and employments, and all the common utensils of life shall be dedicated to God, and improved for holy purposes. A time when true Christianity shall in every respect be uppermost in the world. A time of the most universal peace, love and sweet harmony, wherein the nations shall beat their swords into ploughshares and God will “cause wars to cease to the ends of the earth.”

It is spoken of everywhere by prophets and apostles as a time when all heresies and false doctrines shall be exploded, and all superstitious ways of worship shall be abolished. The prophecies often speak of all God’s people gathered to one house of God to worship the king, the Lord of Hosts.

It is said to be a time of great and universal joy, with glory to the righteous, and “God’s people shall with joy draw water out of the wells of salvation.”

Yea, the Scriptures represent it as a time of extraordinary rejoicing with Christ himself, the glorious head, in whom all things in heaven and earth shall then be gathered in one. “The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save; he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love; he will joy over thee with singing.” And the very fields, trees and mountains shall then, as it were, rejoice and break forth into singing. “For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.”

Such being the state of things in this future, often-promised glorious day, surely it is worth praying for? “Thy Kingdom come: Thy will be done, on earth, as it is done in heaven.”