CHAPTER IX.

THE PROMISE OR PREDICTION THAT SOME THEN PRESENT SHOULD LIVE TO SEE CHRIST'S

KINGDOM ESTABLISHED.

Ver. 1.

And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.

No part of Christ's prophetic language has more perplexed Christians than the expressions concerning his speedy coming. Even in the inspired age, as we find from St. Paul's second Epistle to the Thessalonians ", the apostles themselves, by adopting the same language, raised expectations in some, which it was requisite afterwards to correct and qualify. In later times, the obvious defect of a fulfilment of these promises, in the sense which might otherwise be attached to them, has led to a twofold interpre

tation of these expressions; and has obliged us to solve the difficulty, by supposing that, in the less obvious meaning of these words, Christ has come, and his kingdom has been established; whilst, in a more literal and a more perfect sense, he is yet to come and to reign.

Accordingly, in the present prediction, commentators generally agree, that the coming of God's kingdom in power alluded to the destruction of Jerusalem; and identify with this the promise recorded elsewhere as made to St. John especially, that he should "tarry until his Lord should come"." The fact that St. John survived that great event, and that the event itself has appeared worthy of being denoted by the expression of "the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory," are very plausibly alleged in support of this view.

And yet, with respect to the application of the

sign of the Son of man in heaven," to the destruction of the holy city, it may be questioned whether we are altogether warranted in so readily adopting it. Our Lord, in his use of the words,

John xxi. 22, 23.

certainly has reference to the event; but it is more accordant with the truth, and at least equally so with his language, to suppose that the destruction of Jerusalem was not the object of his coming, but the sign that he had come; inasmuch as it involved the abolition of the temple service, and thereby supposed the establishment of a new dispensation.

Now as the former dispensation was a theocracy, this latter is naturally described under the same image. Indeed it was actually, we know, expected, that there should be a revival of that same extraordinary Providence which marked God's former government; and which naturally belonged to it, although the Jews had for some time provoked God to withdraw it; or else, God had seen good to discontinue it for certain wise ends. Such an expectation, for example, appears in the question once put to our Saviour by his own apostles, " Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" and it was in this way, no doubt, that even the more enlightened reconciled the two conflicting truths, that the

Acts i. 6.

I

Messiah was to be " Immanuel," and yet a temporal governor.

This view then of the Messiah's character and kingdom being, not indeed correct, but only in part incorrect, our Lord does not wholly discourage the language which was so held respecting him; but only qualifies it with such hints as might serve to clear up what was erroneous in it. When asked, "Wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" he replied, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power." He speaks himself of his kingdom soon coming, and of his being a king; but this he does so as to indicate, that the future theocracy in the true Israel—the new kingdom of God-was to be materially different from the former. True, it was to be restored-God's kingdom was to come again; and his disciples were taught to pray for it in those words of the prayer which he gave them, "thy kingdom come;" and in this passage of St. Mark we are told, that certain persons then alive and with him, were taught to expect that they should witness the event before their death. But then, all this was designed to be qualified with

the remarks which he elsewhere makes, that "his kingdom was not of this world;" whereas the former theocracy was;-that the new "kingdom of God came not by observation," whereas the former came with the lightnings of Mount Sinai, and was throughout addressed palpably to the senses; men walking under it by sight, and not by faith.

He tells his hearers again, that this kingdom was within them; that is, not, as before, consisting in rule and government administered from external sources and through the mediation of others, but by the indwelling of the Spirit, within its new temple. It was from that shrine that the new Paraclete was to answer when called on-it was in that kingdom the new guide and governor was to reign.

This is really what seems to be meant by "Christ's coming." The full establishment of his Holy Spirit's dispensation was the coming of his kingdom. Let us only compare with these expressions, the language which he holds when confessedly speaking of the descent of the Holy Ghost, and it will be evident that this was meant. "I will not leave you comfortless, I will come unto you.” "If a man love me, he will