Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 97:387 (Jul 1940)
Article: The Relation of the Church to the Kingdom Part 2
Author: Edwin C. Deibler

BSac 97:387 (Jul 40) p. 349

The Relation of the Church to the Kingdom
Part 2

Edwin C. Deibler

(Continued from the Apri1-June Number, 1940)

Chapter IV: The Kingdom in the Prophecies

To this foundation of kingdom truth in the covenants (Chapter III) the prophets have added a finely constructed superstructure. Their writings describe the coming King, the One who should reign on David’s throne forever. They picture the nature of His kingdom, its characteristics, its subjects, its extent. It is our purpose now to examine some of the prophecies pertinent to the development of this kingdom, and see what God says concerning this thing He is bound to do for the sake of His oath to David. Without some knowledge of the prophecies no adequate idea of the kingdom can be entertained. Kingdom doctrine is most surely a revelation from God, and He spoke through the prophets.1 If any single theme can be named as the burden of the prophets’ message, that topic centers around the kingdom. It is in the prophecies that we see the covenanted reign of David’s Son over the house of Israel expanded with magnificent detail. The first advent of Christ was the subject of much prophetic discourse, and we know that He really came in the person of Jesus of Nazareth because in that Person were literally fulfilled the predictions relating to the first coming of Messiah. So it is with the kingdom. When we observe the conditions pictured by the seers of old concerning the kingdom actually obtaining on earth, we shall know that the kingdom has truly come. Since history fails to recount any time when such conditions have prevailed, we can only deduce that the glorious age of forecast is a yet future estate.

BSac 97:387 (Jul 40) p. 350

To treat each passage of the Old Testament that delineates some phase of the predicted kingdom is obviously out of the question in this study. Dr. Biederwolf notes over sixty such references in the book of Isaiah alone.2 But even a consideration of a few major sections will enable to clarify the prophetic sketch, and serve as a foundation for establishing the basic elements of the truth that shall later be examined in the light of New Testament revelation. The selected passages will be drawn from a single book at a time, until the evidence is brought together for summary statement.

1. The Book of Psalms.

Psalm 2. The Reign of Jehovah’s Anointed.

Dr. Scofield suggests that this Psalm has outlined the order of the inauguration of the kingdom. He would note six divisions: (1) The rage of the Gentiles, the vain imagination of the Jews, and the antagonism of the rulers ...