For myself, I have learnt much in searching the Word, with regard to the kingdom of heaven..... I find that the true idea presented by this expression is the reign of the heavens in the person of the Son of man. John Baptist proposes it in testimony, as drawing nigh; the Lord does the same; but still as a prophet. All this being rejected, the violent alone took it by force, so that it was not established, and the Lord could say while yet there: “Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.” Consequent upon the manifestation of this rejection, and of the judgment pronounced by the Lord on Israel at the end of the twelfth chapter of Matthew, this kingdom is preached as a mystery. Then it is established in mystery, but administered by Peter, who had the keys of it, when the King ascended to heaven; and, finally, it will be accomplished according to the power of the King, when Satan is cast out of heaven, and Christ receives the kingdom, and establishes blessing on earth by this means.
Such is that which I present to my brethren as the résumé of that which I have found, evidently without any view to controversy. The Church, such as it is presented by Paul, does not at all enter here into account; it is viewed in his writings as the body, as the bride, of Christ, identified with Him in His life such as He is in heaven, in its nature, its position, and its glory. It is a quite different thought from the administration of the kingdom. He may speak of the gathering of the saints here below as a body, as a bride, &c, because such was the extent of their privilege: we will say a word about it elsewhere; but the thought which he links with the Church is its identification with Christ. At the death of Stephen, the administration, by the Holy Spirit, of this kingdom of which Peter had the keys, was rejected at Jerusalem, as the announcement of this kingdom had been already rejected in the testimony of John Baptist, and in that of the Son of man. From that time He ceased to be presented to the Jews as a people. Up to that time, the Holy Spirit acted upon the intercession of Jesus on the cross in their favor (compare Luke 23:3434Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots. (Luke 23:34), and Acts 3:1717And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. (Acts 3:17)), and as if the ten thousand talents due by the death of Jesus had been remitted. The love of God still delayed in withdrawing, and it is only in Acts 28. that He renounces His efforts toward this people, over the least remnant of which He ceased not to bend down. Nevertheless, always opposing the truth preached by Paul, and forbidding to preach to the Gentiles, according to the grace of God, the Jews filled up their sins, and the wrath is come upon them to the end; they have been sold, with all that they had, until the payment be made. From thence history regards the Gentiles. The Gentiles figure on the stage, either as rejecting, from love to their idols, or as receiving the testimony of grace which was proposed to them. Jerusalem, trampled under their feet, disappears entirely from the scene, and the iniquity and the conduct of the Gentiles, whatever they may be, become the object of the judgment and ways of God, the Jews being as it were buried (see Isa. 26. and Ezek. 36.), though guarded, as the Gentiles before had been, so to speak, non-existent. It is evident that the Gentiles, professing Christians, and the Gentiles of the four monarchies subject to the beast, are the special objects of the ways of God in His government (not, however, the only ones); but it is at the time of the destruction and judgment of those in particular, that the Son of man will establish His kingdom in power, although He may subject and judge all the others afterwards. It is this of which the prophecies of the Old and the New Testament speak to us clearly.