Signs of the Times

The Kingdom of God

with contributions from J. McCleery, Lloyd C. Nichols, Gustaf Ankar, The Bishop of Southwell

The Rev. J. McCleery, in a broadcast sermon reported in The Lisburn Standard County Antrim, Northern Ireland

In the American magazine Power for December, 1942, was the following: "According to the theory of aerodynamics, and as may be readily demonstrated through windtunnel experiments, the bumblebee is unable to fly. This is because the size, weight and shape of his body in relation to his wingspread, make flying impossible, but the bumblebee, being ignorant of these scientific truths, goes ahead and flies anyway and makes a little honey every day"! There was a good sermon in that.

"Whoever practices the religion of the Beatitudes, the Gospel parables and the Lord's Prayer, whoever is baptized with the spirit of Jesus Christ in his heart, whoever loves justice and mercy, whoever loves God and his neighbor, regardless of creed or sect—these are they who worship God and serve men. ... If only some of the six hundred million Christians in the world were to say, 'It is enough; we have had enough selfishness, enough envy, jealousy, racial superiority, false nationalism; we have had enough fighting for money, enough jeopardizing of the very soul of our race.' ... If you would say it even, it would help. The only way Christianity can function properly is through you and through me." We had to be the Christians of Christ [Jesus]. We had to walk by his spirit, show the fruits of his spirit in our lives.

Some would say you cannot build a world of peace. All right, go ahead and build it. Attempt the impossible. Bring the kingdom of God on this earth. They had been saying for a thousand years. It can't be done. His last word was, It can. "With God all things are possible."

The Rev. Lloyd C. Nichols in an article in the Chieftain, Pueblo, Colorado

The long-range movement of history is a one-way movement, a movement toward the purpose and kingdom of the eternal God.

Let us not think this purpose is being thwarted today. The moral government of God is not under test. This is man's day, and humanity is being tested.

The Rev. Gustaf Ankar in an article translated from Svenska Dagbladet Stockholm, Sweden

Anyone can see what an incomparable blessing it would be if we all had the mind "which was also in Christ Jesus." ... [Jesus] declared that with him God's kingdom came on earth. This meant that he was so governed and guided by God that his words were given of God and his work was God's work. He knew that he was sent by God to proclaim the glad tidings of the kingdom of heaven and to usher it in by giving himself in loving service. ... Jesus' consciousness of his oneness and unity with God was the mainspring of his character and life, and one cannot imagine him without it.

The Bishop of Southwell in a column in the Sunday Times London, England

Our citizenship is in heaven. Christians are primarily citizens of a kingdom which is not of this world. Yet its loyalties are to be expressed through faithful discharge of that earthly citizenship which defines our vocation in this world. If Christian citizens hold aloof from polities because they fear that they may get their hands dirty, they abandon politics to godless influences.

But their ultimate allegiance is elsewhere, and there must be no confusion of priorities. Freedom and justice can survive on earth only if there are men and women enough who are prepared in the last resort to say, "We must obey God rather than men."

From an article in the Eugene Register-Guard, Oregon, reprinted from The Malaysia Message, Singapore

Most sensitive men believe that ... without us, without our co-operation, our sincere efforts, [God's] kingdom cannot come among men. ... Electricity was in the world from the beginning, but not until men discovered it and its uses and its laws, could it be used. The laws that govern radio and radar were here, but men had to find them.

Back of even significant event in the world's history we find a person. Given a great movement for the uplift of men, for example, the movement against slavery, there you will find a person in whose heart God has put a dream and vision of what might be. An Abraham is the founder of the Hebrew rate, a Moses their liberator and lawgiver, a Jeremiah their prophet in whose heart the religion of God as we know it was preserved—one man to keep alive such a tremendously great thing.

It then we believe that God works through men in this world, we must ask ourselves the question, "What, does God want me to do?" Jesus certainly made it clear that God expects something from each of us, that He has a place in mind for us, and that He has work for us to do.

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